Other project planning tools. Prioritization matrix charts, relationships charts, and tree diagrams. The prioritization matrix chart is ideal for mutually exclusive selection of a machine or a software package. The most popular type of matrix chart is the L-Matrix. This allows you to quantify the attributes of an item you wish to evaluate for purchase. This means identifying categories that are important in the selection of your item, such as certain costs or training for that item, and placing a weight to each attribute. We give the purchase cost a weight of 30%, or 0.30. All of the criteria headings are assigned weights according to importance, adding up to one. The body of the matrix is filled with its own evaluation of the machine characteristics. Each machine and criteria is evaluated between 1 and 4, and the higher the better. For instance, for the installation cost, those evaluating machine A is given a rubric that indicates the following. If the machine has an installation cost included in the purchase cost, use 4. If the machine has a separate installation cost, but it's insignificant, use 3. If the machine has a separate installation cost, but has a significant cost to it, use 2. If the machine has a separate installation cost, but it is highly significant, or a highly extra charge for that, use 1. A similar rubric can pertain to other criteria headings. The number 3 was assigned for the install cost, so it's multiplied by 0.20 to get 0.60. Then the row is totaled for an overall score. The totals reveal that machine A is the logical choice to make. A relationship chart is used to explore the cause and effect or the influence multiple items may have relating to a problem. This is simply an XY chart that has the items in the first column and items across the top as column titles. This simplified chart shows an example of relationships. The relationships can be in different stages of relationship. For example, let 0 be no relationship, 1 equals a strong relationship, 2 equals a moderate relationship, and 3 could equal a weak relationship. In looking at this chart, you can see that there's a relationship between, for instance, wrong delivery and computer glitch of a 2. That means that there's a moderate relationship between the two. You can also see that we have a strong relationship between wrong delivery and scheduler at fault, which would be a 1. And if you'll also notice that we have a 0, meaning that there's no relationship between damaged items and scheduler at fault. Tree diagrams are popular and looks like an organization chart. This can also be accomplished during a brainstorming session. The problem is represented at the top, while the affinities or categories are branched out along with the possible problem areas to explore. The tree diagram can be used to develop elements for a new product. It could be used to show relationships of a production process. It can be used to create new ideas and problem solving. It can also be used to just outline steps needed to implement a project. In this example, we see that the paint inspection failed. Possible areas of concern could be the paint booth, it could be the adhesive assembly, or it could be simply the design. So we break that down even further to say, well, what is it we're going to look at within these areas? So you see, for instance, the paint booth. We see that the sprayer could be broken. It could be an overspray or under spray. It could be the paint booth. If it's on an assembly line, it could have a line speed issue. Or you could have the wrong paint. So these areas are explored by the team.