Lean IT Foundation EXIN exam 2014 20 q+a

Sample Questions

EXIN Lean IT Foundation

Edition August 2014

Sample Exam EXIN Lean IT Foundation (LEANITF.EN) 2

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Content

Introduction 4 Sample exam 5 Answer Key 12 Evaluation 24


Introduction

This set of sample questions consists of 20 multiple-choice questions. The real exam consists of 40 multiple choice questions. Each multiple-choice question has a number of possible answers, of which only one is the correct answer. The maximum number of points that can be obtained for this exam is 20. Each correct answer is worth one point. If you obtain 13 points or more you will pass. The time allowed for these sample questions is 30 minutes. No rights may be derived from this information. Good luck!


Sample exam

1 of 20 One of the elements in defining Value in terms of Lean thinking is to determine target costs. How are target costs determined in Lean thinking? A. The amount of resources and effort for production are calculated without the

waste. B. The customer defines the price and the producer distracts the production costs. C. The producer asks the customer what they will order, so the products will be

produced in the least possible time.

2 of 20 What would the activity of testing in a software development process in most cases be considered as? A. A value adding and necessary activity B. A value adding but not necessary activity C. A non-value adding but necessary activity D. A non-value adding and not necessary activity


3 of 20 Which of the following types of waste are generally classified as waste types in Lean terminology? (The IT equivalent of each original waste type is listed in brackets)

1. Overproduction (exceeding expectations or service levels, over-engineering software, and over documentation)

2. Waiting (tickets and/or software awaiting activity i.e. testing, approval, decisions)

3. Unnecessary/Excess movement (user-interfaces which force the user to input the same data several times or perform excessive mouse-clicks)

4. Inappropriate (or extra) processing (analysis made too late in the process, bottlenecks and excessive activities in a process)

5. Bad communication from management (unclear signals, decisions and coordination by management)

6. Inventory (hardware and software in stock, requirement specifications and releases)

7. Transportation (moving hardware around and moving physical files on a case around)

8. Defects (bugs in a piece of software and missing information on a ticket)

A. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 B. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 C. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 D. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

4 of 20 Which technique would NOT be considered a Lean Waste Analysis method? A. Frontloading B. 5 times why C. Ohnos Circle D. Kaizen

5 of 20 Which change to a support process would generate the LEAST result in terms of better flow? A. Ensure that several employees are able to perform critical/all tasks (remove

bottlenecks) B. Give more user rights to employees, to allow them to perform the complete

transaction and not have to hand over the ticket (reduce the amount of activities) C. Remove activities that do not add value (fewer handovers) D. Ensure that every ticket is checked before passing further in the process

(increased control)


6 of 20 Reducing variance in for instance a server configuration procedure will most likely result in a better flow in the work because of:

1. Higher predictability 2. Better opportunities for the HR department to create career paths 3. More employees will be able to understand the technical details of the process 4. Better ability to man the different activities to match the actual need

A. 2 B. 2 and 3 C. 1 and 4

7 of 20 Which statement describes frontloading?

1. Better match between the IT systems used in the process, and the competences needed to use them

2. Fewer errors and misunderstandings, due to more information and knowledge early in the process

3. Critical issues are moved to the top of the agenda on all status meetings 4. More involvement of customers in the beginning of the process to ensure less

waste

A. 1 B. 1 and 3 C. 2 and 4

8 of 20 What can be described as ‘Takt in a software development project’?

1. Alignment of meetings on all levels to allow the shortest amount of waiting time for decisions

2. A fixed agreement on when status meetings are held in the project 3. An agreed process for submitting timesheets and expenses 4. A template for how stakeholder management must be documented

A. 1 and 2 B. 1 and 3 C. 2, 3 and 4


9 of 20 In the past Toyota developed an alternative system for initiating activity in a process which is called the pull-system. How is an activity triggered in Toyota? A. A Kanban card is sent to a work station upstream to the station needing an item,

thus triggering the production of the needed item in the desired quantity. B. An employee walks between the different workstations overseeing the process and

spotting the need for items in the different workstations. C. The need for an item is entered into a computer system, which calculates a

production plan and sends out messages to the different stations on what and when to produce.

D. A workstation may trigger a song to play when an item is needed, thus informing the manager, that he/she needs an item.

10 of 20 For what purpose is a pull system (or Kanban system) introduced? A. To control the initiation of new work B. To visualize what is being developed

11 of 20 What is the purpose of a Kanban card? A. To communicate the status of the product to the customer B. To inform the manufacturing process about the status of the product C. To visualize the loop holes in the manufacturing process

12 of 20 Which description BEST matches the reason for using control charts in an organization? A. With control charts management is better able to monitor and control employees. B. Control charts are created and maintained for each asset in the company to keep

track of master data, maintenance information etc. C. A control chart tool is used to track the results of a process and show trends in

performance over time as well as special events.


13 of 20 Many companies that have implemented Kaizen, have implemented it using Kaizen boards and Kaizen meetings. How often are these regular Kaizen meetings usually held? A. Every hour B. Every week C. Every 6 months D. Every year

14 of 20 Why is it important that management deeply understands the principles and methods of Lean? A. To create sustainable improvements B. To quickly deliver results C. To set goals for the team

15 of 20 When progressing from a Lean project to a Lean organization, there are several pitfalls to be avoided, in order to have a better chance of success in the long term. Which of the following are important factors to succeeding in the long term with Lean?

1. Making Lean part of the culture in the company 2. Ensuring that benefits are actually achieved 3. Focus on continuous improvements 4. Management understanding and support

A. 2 and 3 B. 1, 2 and 3 C. 3 and 4 D. All of them


16 of 20 Which situation would be considered waste in an operations process?

1. Pieces in stock 2. Preventive maintenance on a server 3. The technician requesting address information from the customer 4. Making and storing backups

A. None B. 1, 2 and 3 C. 1 and 3

17 of 20 What is NOT one of the five Lean principles? A. Pull B. Continuous Improvement C. Optimization D. Flow

18 of 20 What is the CORRECT definition of a Value Stream? A. A sum-up of the entire value stock of any company B. All activities involved in jointly delivering the product or service C. The process by which a service is added value to its target customers D. A standard flow of products in a company covering both initial manufacturing and

final shipment to the customer

19 of 20 What would be the next step in the standard work process? 1st Establish 2nd Communicate 3rd Follow 4rth ? A. Strengthen B. Inform C. Act D. Improve


20 of 20 What is a major possible barrier for the value flow? A. Muri B. Poka-yoke C. Kaban D. Jidoka


Answer Key

1 of 20 One of the elements in defining Value in terms of Lean thinking is to determine target costs. How are target costs determined in Lean thinking? A. The amount of resources and effort for production are calculated without the

waste. B. The customer defines the price and the producer distracts the production costs. C. The producer asks the customer what they will order, so the products will be

produced in the least possible time. A. Correct. This is a Lean way of defining target costs: calculate the costs as if there were no waste in the process. (Literature A. Chapter 2) B. Incorrect. Although this seems very customer focused this is not a realistic scenario. C. Incorrect. This is a traditional definition of value. 2 of 20 What would the activity of testing in a software development process in most cases be considered as? A. A value adding and necessary activity B. A value adding but not necessary activity C. A non-value adding but necessary activity D. A non-value adding and not necessary activity A. Incorrect. B. Incorrect. C. Non-Value Adding Activities are any activities that 1) do not add value to the customer and 2) do not meet the three criteria for a Value Adding Activity. Non-Value Adding Activities include rework, inspection, and movement. (Literature B. Figure 8.4) D. Incorrect.


3 of 20 Which of the following types of waste are generally classified as waste types in Lean terminology? (The IT equivalent of each original waste type is listed in brackets)

1. Overproduction (exceeding expectations or service levels, over-engineering software, and over documentation)

2. Waiting (tickets and/or software awaiting activity i.e. testing, approval, decisions)

3. Unnecessary/Excess movement (user-interfaces which force the user to input the same data several times or perform excessive mouse-clicks)

4. Inappropriate (or extra) processing (analysis made too late in the process, bottlenecks and excessive activities in a process)

5. Bad communication from management (unclear signals, decisions and coordination by management)

6. Inventory (hardware and software in stock, requirement specifications and releases)

7. Transportation (moving hardware around and moving physical files on a case around)

8. Defects (bugs in a piece of software and missing information on a ticket)

A. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 B. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 C. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 D. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 A. Incorrect. B. Correct. Based on the definition of the seven types of waste with accompanying IT examples (Literature A. Chapter 3.3). Waste type 5 is not part of the originally identified 7 types of waste in Lean literature. C. Incorrect. D. Incorrect.


4 of 20 Which technique would NOT be considered a Lean Waste Analysis method? A. Frontloading B. 5 times why C. Ohnos Circle D. Kaizen A. Correct. Frontloading is the principle of adding value to the earlier steps in a process by inducing more knowledge (and potentially also effort). Therefore frontloading is not a technique to analyze waste. (Literature A. Chapter 3.6) B. Incorrect. 5 times why is a fundamental part of Lean Problem solving and as such a way of analyzing for waste. C. Incorrect. Ohno’s circle is a method developed by Ohno, where a circle with a radius of 1 meter is drawn around a person. The person is then “invisible” to the room, and may not overstep the circle, but only observe the room and note down observed potential waste. D. Incorrect. Kaizen is the fifth principle of Lean, and focuses on striving for perfection through continuous improvement, and as such also analyzing waste. 5 of 20 Which change to a support process would generate the LEAST result in terms of better flow? A. Ensure that several employees are able to perform critical/all tasks (remove

bottlenecks) B. Give more user rights to employees, to allow them to perform the complete

transaction and not have to hand over the ticket (reduce the amount of activities) C. Remove activities that do not add value (fewer handovers) D. Ensure that every ticket is checked before passing further in the process

(increased control) A. Incorrect. B. Incorrect. C. Incorrect. D. Correct. Option D is the only option, which actually adds activities to the process. The activity added is a control, which generally is considered non-value adding and would generally hinder the flow by entering a requirement that all tickets must go through this control to move on in the process. (Literature A. 3.3)


6 of 20 Reducing variance in for instance a server configuration procedure will most likely result in a better flow in the work because of:

1. Higher predictability 2. Better opportunities for the HR department to create career paths 3. More employees will be able to understand the technical details of the process 4. Better ability to man the different activities to match the actual need

A. 2 B. 2 and 3 C. 1 and 4 A. Incorrect. B. Incorrect. C. Correct. Reducing variance in any process would generally result in higher predictability and thus also increase the ability to match the demand for resources with the amount of resources available. However, the ability of the HR department to create career paths is not affected by the variance of a process, since this is not affected by the variability of a process. Furthermore, the amount of variance should not affect the complexity of the process per se, and thus should also not affect the employees’ ability to understand a process. (Literature A. Chapter 4) 7 of 20 Which statement describes frontloading?

1. Better match between the IT systems used in the process, and the competences needed to use them

2. Fewer errors and misunderstandings, due to more information and knowledge early in the process

3. Critical issues are moved to the top of the agenda on all status meetings 4. More involvement of customers in the beginning of the process to ensure less

waste

A. 1 B. 1 and 3 C. 2 and 4 A. Incorrect. B. Incorrect. C. Correct. Frontloading is defined by adding more knowledge earlier in a process, perhaps by involving customers more heavily. Thus options 2 and 4 are correct. Frontloading is not related to or dependent on an IT-system as such, and would also not affect the priority of issues on the agenda in a department meeting. (Literature A. Chapter 4.2)


8 of 20 What can be described as ‘Takt in a software development project’?

1. Alignment of meetings on all levels to allow the shortest amount of waiting time for decisions

2. A fixed agreement on when status meetings are held in the project 3. An agreed process for submitting timesheets and expenses 4. A template for how stakeholder management must be documented

A. 1 and 2 B. 1 and 3 C. 2, 3 and 4 A. Correct. Takt in any process relates to the frequency and regularity in which the activities in the process are carried out. In a software development process, tact could be defined by the definition of releases, meeting schedules etc., which means that options 1 and 2 would be correct. 1 in particular since it involves alignment of several activities to a certain tact. (Literature A. Chapter 4.3) B. Incorrect. Option 3 relates to a process being defined and adhered to, which in itself is not a sign of takt (no frequency is part of option 3). C. Incorrect. Option 4 relates to a template being documented, which also does not imply any frequency or regularity in the use of the template.


9 of 20 In the past Toyota developed an alternative system for initiating activity in a process which is called the pull-system. How is an activity triggered in Toyota? A. A Kanban card is sent to a work station upstream to the station needing an item,

thus triggering the production of the needed item in the desired quantity. B. An employee walks between the different workstations overseeing the process and

spotting the need for items in the different workstations. C. The need for an item is entered into a computer system, which calculates a

production plan and sends out messages to the different stations on what and when to produce.

D. A workstation may trigger a song to play when an item is needed, thus informing the manager, that he/she needs an item.

A. Correct. The original use of Kanban implies sending a physical token or card upstage in a process in order to signal a pull for a certain product or service. The token or card would most often include information on what quantity is actually needed and precisely when it is needed. (Literature A. Chapter 5) B. Incorrect. A person trying to overview the need for products or services in a process would not be considered pull as his/her function is not built into the process as an automatic function. C. Incorrect. Entering a computer system to a process to introduce pull is not likely to produce the desired result, as the system will represent a delaying factor and as such a hindrance for flow in the process. D. Incorrect. Using a song to indicate a certain situations is something Toyota uses to signal when a particular part of the line is down, and needs an engineer/manager. As a pull signal, it would lack the information about quantity and desired time of delivery. 10 of 20 For what purpose is a pull system (or Kanban system) introduced? A. To control the initiation of new work B. To visualize what is being developed A. Correct. (Literature A. Chapter 5.) B. Incorrect. Pull systems don't have end-product planning and scoping as part of the focus.


11 of 20 What is the purpose of a Kanban card? A. To communicate the status of the product to the customer B. To inform the manufacturing process about the status of the product C. To visualize the loop holes in the manufacturing process A. Incorrect. The status of the product is not communicated to the customer throughout the manufacturing process. B. Correct. During the production process information is added to the Kanban card, accurately showing the status of the product. (Literature A. Chapter 5) C. Incorrect. Loop holes are found in mapping value streams. 12 of 20 Which description BEST matches the reason for using control charts in an organization? A. With control charts management is better able to monitor and control employees. B. Control charts are created and maintained for each asset in the company to keep

track of master data, maintenance information etc. C. A control chart tool is used to track the results of a process and show trends in

performance over time as well as special events. A. Incorrect. Control charts are not intended to be a tool to monitor the performance of individual employees as such. Control charts showing occurrences based on the performance of individual employees may occur though, but only as a means to identify outliers to be either improved upon or learned from. B. Incorrect. Control charts are used for tracking process capability. C. Correct. (Literature A. Chapter 3.2.1).


13 of 20 Many companies that have implemented Kaizen, have implemented it using Kaizen boards and Kaizen meetings. How often are these regular Kaizen meetings usually held? A. Every hour B. Every week C. Every 6 months D. Every year A. Incorrect. B. Correct. For those companies who have implemented Kaizen using boards and regular meetings, it is most common to have meetings every week. (Literature A. Chapter 6.4) C. Incorrect. D. Incorrect. 14 of 20 Why is it important that management deeply understands the principles and methods of Lean? A. To create sustainable improvements B. To quickly deliver results C. To set goals for the team A. Correct. When management understands Lean it will not be a temporary 'thing' for the rest of the organization. Literature A. Chapter 7. B. Incorrect. C. Incorrect.


15 of 20 When progressing from a Lean project to a Lean organization, there are several pitfalls to be avoided, in order to have a better chance of success in the long term. Which of the following are important factors to succeeding in the long term with Lean?

1. Making Lean part of the culture in the company 2. Ensuring that benefits are actually achieved 3. Focus on continuous improvement 4. Management understanding and support

A. 2 and 3 B. 1, 2 and 3 C. 3 and 4 D. All of them A. Incorrect. B. Incorrect. C. Incorrect. D. Correct. - the more ingrained in the culture Lean is, the better success you may have on the long term (Toyota is a perfect example of this); - an actual effect being derived would be the basis for survival of any approach, and thus also Lean; - not stagnating in the move towards becoming better is a critical element in retaining momentum and gaining maximum benefit of the Lean approach. The world changes, needs change, and as such, the value of working with Lean will slowly depreciate over time, if continuous improvement is not part of the culture; - for anything to be a part of the long term success of any company, it is imperative that management is involved and support the effort. (Literature A. Chapter 9; Bell/Orzen Chapter 11)


16 of 20 Which situation would be considered waste in an operations process?

1. Pieces in stock 2. Preventive maintenance on a server 3. The technician requesting address information from the customer 4. Making and storing backups

A. None B. 1, 2 and 3 C. 1 and 3 A. Incorrect. Completing and storing backups is not waste since backup is a necessary process. How the activities are carried out however may be wasteful. B. Incorrect. Option 2 is not considered waste since timely preventive maintenance lowers the risk of downtime of the server. Downtime of a server would most likely be quite damaging for the customer, and is to be avoided. C. Correct. Options 1 and 3 represent waste in an operations process because pcs in the stock may become faulty, undesired and cost money to keep. The technician not getting the needed information relating to a particular ticket, represents waste since obtaining the required information will induce waiting time and potential errors in the process. (Literature A. Chapter 3) 17 of 20 What is NOT one of the five Lean principles? A. Pull B. Continuous Improvement C. Optimization D. Flow A. Incorrect. B. Incorrect. C. Correct. Optimization (of the flow of customer value) is one of the reasons to embark on a Lean transformation, it is not a Lean principle. (Literature A. Chapter 1.3) D. Incorrect.


18 of 20 What is the CORRECT definition of a Value Stream? A. A sum-up of the entire value stock of any company B. All activities involved in jointly delivering the product or service C. The process by which a service is Added value to its target customers D. A standard flow of products in a company covering both initial manufacturing and

final shipment to the customer A. Incorrect. Stock should be closely monitored because too much stock is waste. B. Correct. This represents the end-to-end process that delivers the value to the customer. (Literature A. Chapter 3.1) C. Incorrect. A service is part of the value stream, or it is not and then it is waste. D. Incorrect. This standard flow of products can still contain a lot of waste. 19 of 20 What would be the next step in the standard work process? 1st Establish 2nd Communicate 3rd Follow 4rth ? A. Strengthen B. Inform C. Act D. Improve A. Incorrect. B. Incorrect. C. Incorrect. D. Correct. (Literature A. Chapter 8.1.2 and Bell/Orzen Chapter 11)


20 of 20 What is a major possible barrier for the value flow? A. Muri B. Poka-yoke C. Kaban D. Jidoka A. Correct. Muri or overburden (in working procedures and work hours) is, together with Mura or inconsistency and variation, a major barrier that can lead to Muda and the production of defective products. Literature A. 4.1 B. Incorrect. Poka-yoke is a Lean tool that can be used to help eliminate waste. C. Incorrect. Kanban is signal or sign board or card used for conveying information about picking up or receiving the production order. D. Incorrect. “Jidoka” or “Autonomation” means automation with a human touch.


Evaluation The table below shows the correct answers to the questions in this sample examination. number answer points 1 A 1 2 C 1 3 B 1 4 A 1 5 D 1 6 C 1 7 C 1 8 A 1 9 A 1 10 A 1 11 B 1 12 C 1 13 B 1 14 A 1 15 D 1 16 C 1 17 C 1 18 B 1 19 D 1 20 A 1


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Lean IT Foundation EXIN exam 2014 20 q+a