The Measure is the second step of the Six Sigma methodology. A base line measure is taken using actual data. This measure becomes the origin from which the team can guage improvement.

It is within the Measure phase that a project begin to take shape and much of the hands-on activity is performed. The goal of Measure phase is to establish a clear understanding of the current state of the process you want to improve. For example, a medical practioner prescribes various tests like blood test, ECG test etc for a patient admitted in a hospital. The test reports of various laboratorical tests reflect the current state of health of the patient. Similarly, a Six Sigma practioner, determines current state of health of the system under consideration in this phase.

The deliverables in this phase are refined process map, and refined Project Charter. Some of the tools used in Measure phase are :

• Flow Charts
• Fish bone diagrams
• Descriptive Statistics
• Scatter diagrams
• Stem and Leaf plots
• Histograms

These metrics will establish the base line of the current state. The outcome of applying these tools in the form of charts, graphs or plots helps the Six Sigma Practitioner to understand how the data is distributed. He or she is able to know what the data are doing. The distribution that is associated with data related to a process speaks volumes. The data distribution can be categorized into:

• Normal distribution
• Weibul
• Poison
• Hypergeometric
• Chi Square

The data can be continuous or discrete.