Cycle Times

The Cycle Time Impact Type tracks time saved while producing a unit of work.

In the standard version of KaiNexus, Impact Types include Cost Savings, Cost Avoidance, Revenue Generation, Time Savings, Quality, Safety, Satisfaction, Health, and Environment. With the Advanced ROI Module, you gain access to additional Impact Types, including the Cycle Time Impact Type.

Suppose one of your employees comes up with an idea that decreases a unit's Cycle Time by 5 hours a month. That’s great, but wouldn’t it be even better to know how much money that time was worth? These soft savings can be calculated based on a list of your processes — your Cycle Times —and the estimated hourly rate of each process.

With this information, when someone resolves an Item with a Cycle Time Impact, you know not only how much time was saved, but how much money was saved as well.

Cycle Times can be grouped under Folders for organizational purposes. These groupings will be represented in the Process drop-down when adding a Cycle Time Impact to an Item's Resolution.

What is Cycle Time? 

Cycle Time is a metric commonly used in Lean Six Sigma to optimize processes. It is the average time required to complete one unit of work. Unlike Lead Time, Cycle Time focuses only on active processing steps and does not include time spent waiting. 

Cycle Time tracking is important for organizations focused on improving the efficiency of a process. Which process you measure will depend on your organization, but here are some examples: 

• The time it takes to resolve a customer inquiry
• The time it takes to assemble a product from start to finish
• The time it takes to fulfill an order
• The time it takes to complete a laboratory test 

Who can manage Cycle Times and Folders?

Anyone with the "Quality Administrator" permission can manage Cycle Times and Folders.

People with other Administrator permissions may be able to access the Cycle Time Administration page, but will not be able to make changes to it.

Create Cycle Times and Folders

To create a new Cycle Time or Folder, navigate to the Cycle Time administration page, then:

• Click Add at the top of the list of Cycle Times.
  
• • To create a new Folder, click Create Folder in the resulting drop-down menu and the Create Folder window will open.
    • Name (required): The name will be used to identify this Folder.
    • Description: Enter an optional description in this field.
    • Locations: Use this field to search for and select the appropriate Locations for this Folder. The selected Locations will be implicitly inherited by any Locations nested under this Folder.
    • Click Save.

• • To create a new Cycle Time, click Create Cycle Time in the resulting drop-down menu and the Create Cycle Time window will open.

• • • Name (required): The name will be used to identify this Cycle Time.

• • • Description: Enter an optional description in this field. The description will appear when hovering over the Cycle Time's name in the list of Cycle Times.
    • Rate: Enter the estimated hourly rate for this Cycle Time. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this type of process.
    • Currency: This option is only available if your organization has the Advanced ROI module enabled and is using multiple currencies. Expand the drop-down to select the currency that this type of process uses.
    • The Default checkbox: When this checkbox is enabled, this Cycle Time will be selected by default whenever someone goes to record a Cycle Time Impact, though they will be able to change that selection if necessary.
      
      Only one Cycle Time can be selected as the default.
    • Locations: Use this field to search for and select the appropriate Locations for this Cycle Time.
      
      The Location(s) entered here, as well as the Locations entered for the Folder under which this Cycle Time is nested, if any, will determine for which users and Items this Cycle Time will be available. When resolving an Item with a Cycle Time Impact, a user will only be able to add a Cycle Time that has no associated Locations, that is in their Location or below, or that is in the Item's Responsible or Originating Locations or below.
    • The Advanced section:
      • Hours/Day: Enter the number of hours per day this Cycle runs. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this Cycle.
      • Days/Week: Enter the number of days per week this Cycle runs. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this Cycle.
      • Weeks/Year: Enter the number of weeks per year this Cycle runs. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this Cycle.
    • Click Save.
• Click and drag the Cycle Time into the proper position on the list or into (or out of) a folder if necessary.

Edit a Cycle Time or Folder

To edit a Cycle Time or Folder, navigate to the Cycle Time administration page, then:

• Hover over the Cycle Time or Folder you want to edit so that it's highlighted blue, then click the pencil icon that appears to its right.
  
• • If editing a Folder, the Edit Folder window will open. Update the following information as necessary:
    • Name (required): The name will be used to identify this Folder.
    • Description: Enter an optional description in this field.
    • Locations: Use this field to search for and select the appropriate Locations for this Folder. The selected Locations will be implicitly inherited by any Locations nested under this Folder.
    • Click Save.
  • If editing a Cycle Time, the Edit Cycle Time window will open. Update the following information as necessary:
    • Name (required): The name will be used to identify this Cycle Time.
    • Description: Enter an optional description in this field. The description will appear when hovering over the Cycle Time's name in the list of Cycle Times.
    • Rate: Enter the estimated hourly rate for this Cycle Time. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this type of process. 
    • Currency: This option is only available if your organization has the Advanced ROI module enabled and is using multiple currencies. Expand the drop-down to select the currency that this type of process uses.
    • The Default checkbox: When this checkbox is enabled, this Cycle Time will be selected by default whenever someone goes to record a Cycle Time Impact, though they will be able to change that selection if necessary.
      
      Only one Cycle Time can be selected as the default.
    • Locations: Use this field to search for and select the appropriate Locations for this Cycle Time.
      
      The Location(s) entered here, as well as the Locations entered for the Folder under which this Cycle Time is nested, if any, will determine for which users and Items this Cycle Time will be available. When resolving an Item with a Cycle Time Impact, a user will only be able to add a Cycle Time that has no associated Locations, that is in their Location or below, or that is in the Item's Responsible or Originating Locations or below.
    • The Advanced section:
      • Hours/Day: Enter the number of hours per day this Cycle runs. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this Cycle.
      • Days/Week: Enter the number of days per week this Cycle runs. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this Cycle.
      • Weeks/Year: Enter the number of weeks per year this Cycle runs. This value will be used to calculate the financial impact of any time saved for this Cycle.
    • Click Save.

Organize the list of Cycle Times

Cycle Times can be nested under Folders. Folders and Cycle Times are otherwise automatically alphabetized in the list.

To move a Cycle Time in or out of a Folder, navigate to the Cycle Time administration page. Next, locate the Cycle Time you want to move, then click and hold its name and drag and drop it to its new position. A dashed line will appear in its new position before you release it. Dropping a Cycle Time directly onto a Folder will nest it under that Folder.

Delete a Cycle Time or Folder

What happens when a Cycle Time or Folder is deleted?

• Deleted Cycle Times that have already been added to an Item's Resolution will remain in place and continue to contribute to the organization's metrics until that Resolution is next updated, at which point they will need to be replaced.
• Deleted Cycle Times and Folders will no longer appear when working with Items' Resolutions or filtering Item Lists or Reports.

Delete a Cycle Time or Folder

To delete a Cycle Time or Folder, navigate to the Cycle Time administration page, then:

• Hover over the Cycle Time or Folder you want to delete so that it's highlighted blue, then click the x icon that appears to its right.
  
• In the resulting confirmation window, click Delete.