E-Mail Account Optimization

Project Leader:

Michael Madl, Systems Engineer

Start Date:

March 2002

Master Black Belt: Steven Bonacorsi

Six Sigma in Action E-Mail Account Optimization

Customer Profile 1400 seat financial service company Business Problem & Impact
E-mail accounts residing on the clients production servers P ro P ro ce ce s s sDD aa ta ta which their email vendor charges on a per account basis. The US UL SL 55 .0 .00 00 00 0 T aTa rgrg e te t * client was incurring charges from their e-mail vendor for 1160 *** LS LL SL Me Me an an 11 11 .6 .63 34 41 1 unused accounts, resulting in charges of $3,480 per month. Sa Sm am p le p le NN 8 82 2
S tD S tD ev e (S v (S T) T) 00 .3 .3 6 61 11 18 8 66 .6 .6 6 62 21 17 7

P Pro roccee ss ssCC aa pa pa bility bility Ana Ana ly s ly is s is fo rfo To r ta To l ta Da ly D sa y s

Process Capability Before

US UL SL

ST LT

Measure & Analyze

S tD S tD ev e (L v (L T) T)

Po Pte o te n tia n tia l (S l (S TT) ) CC aa pp aab bility ility Data Collection: After a one time cleanup of the 1160 Cp Cp * * CP CU PU -6 -6.1 .12 2 accounts, the data still showed the average time to eliminate CP CL PL * * Cp Ck pk -6 -6.1 .12 2 the e-mail account for exiting employees was 11.6 days Cp Cm pm * * Root Causes: Variation in the processes used to eliminate O ve O ve rara ll ll (L (L T T) ) CC aa pp aa bbility ility accounts, a web form which client managers found to be too ** Pp Pp PP PU PU -0 -0.3 .33 3 complex, vendor case processing time and rework loops PP P L PP L ro c e s s Dwithin * * a ta Pp Pkp k -0 -0.3 .33 3 USL 5 .0 0 0 0 0 HR-owned process steps were contributing to long cycle times T a rg e t *

-10 -1 0

00

10 1 0

20

20

30

30

P ro c ees s C a p a b ility A n aTly sP is fo r T o ta lD a y s O Ob bssee rve rve ddPP e rfo rfo rm rm an ac n ec e E xp Ee xp c te ed c te Sd P Se Trfo e rm rfo a rm n ce a n ce E xp e c Ete xp de Lc T te P de L rfo Trm Pe arfo n ce rm a
P PP PM M< < LL S S LL P PP PM M> >U U SS LL P PP PM M To To ta ta ll * * P PP MP <M L< SL L S L After * Process Capability * PPM P <P LS ML< L S L * 93 99 30 92 04 2.3 49 .3 9 93 99 30 92 04 2.3 49 .3 9 P PP MP >M U> SL U S L1 0 0 1 0000 0 .0 00 0 0 .0 0 P PP MP To M ta Tl o ta l 1 0 0 1 0000 0 .0 00 0 0 .0 0

UP S PL MP To Pta Ml T o ta l8 4 0 3 2 8 44 .70 03 2

PPM P >P UM SL > U S8 L4 0 3 2 8 44 .70 03 2

Improve & Control - Streamlined process from 12 to 7

steps. Created one centralized DB to minimize errors and delays in data transfers. Worked with the vendor to create a P o te n tia l (S T ) C a p a b ility new web interface resulting in a reduced cycle time C p for vendor * CPU 1 .3 4 steps to one day. Improved average time to 3.4 days from 11.6 CPL *

LSL Me a n S a m p le N S tD e v (S T ) S tD e v (L T )

* 3 .4 2 1 0 5 19 0 .3 9 4 0 1 1 0 .7 7 9 2 7 6

Results/Benefits - Annualized savings realized by the

PPL Ppk

Cpk Cpm

1 .3 4 *

2
O b s e rve d P e rfo rm a n c e PPM < LSL * PPM > USL 0 .0 0 P P M T o ta l 0 .0 0

4
E xp e c te d S T P e rfo rm a n c e PPM < LSL * PPM > USL 3 0 .7 0 P P M T o ta l 3 0 .7 0

client to date are $42K, and additional savings may exist O ve ra ll (L T ) C a p a b ility Pp * based on the future employee exit rate PPU 0 .6 8
* 0 .6 8

E xp e c te d L T P e rfo rm a n c PPM < LSL PPM > USL 2 1 3 7 3 .6 P P M T o ta l 2 1 3 7 3 .6

Annual savings to the client of US$42K