1 | Options Tab:
The Options tab helps you navigate between the different pages available within the Options menu. You can switch between the following pages.
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2 | User Name: Enter the full name of the user. Note that this is an optional field; however, you are encouraged to enter a name to identify the user if you need to communicate with us for any reason. | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Email: Enter the email address you want to use. Note that this is an optional field. You cannot create tickets or receive feedback for any issues you are facing without a valid email address. We have a strict privacy policy, and your email address will not be shared with anyone. If you change your email address, click the Update button to take effect. | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Company Name: Enter the name of your company or university. Note that this is an optional field. However, you are encouraged to enter this value so that we can understand the types of users using our software application. | ||||||||||||||||
5 | Location: Enter the country where you are using this software. This is an optional field; we only use this information to aggregate the regions of the world that have installed and are using the Sigma Magic software. | ||||||||||||||||
6 | Privacy Policy: Click the link to view our privacy statement. | ||||||||||||||||
7 | Profile Picture: Click the image to upload a profile picture for your account. This is optional, and any image you upload will only be locally stored on your computer. | ||||||||||||||||
8 | Reset Button: Click the Reset Button to delete and replace the current settings with the default values. | ||||||||||||||||
9 | Help Button: You can click on the Help button anytime to view the help information on this topic. | ||||||||||||||||
10 | OK Button: Click on the OK Button to save any changes you have made to the dialog box. | ||||||||||||||||
11 | Cancel Button: Click on the Cancel Button to cancel any changes you have made to the dialog box. |
1 | Release Key: If you are using a shared multi-computer license key, then you can use this menu option to control when your computer releases the license key.
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2 | Check Updates:
This option specifies how often Sigma Magic will check for updates. Note that software checks for updates on our server; hence, Internet access needs to be enabled to check for and download any updates.
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3 | Proxy Setting: The proxy option lets you specify a proxy address and port to enable your system to connect to the Internet if you are behind a firewall. Connection to the Internet is required to validate your license keys and to submit any error reports to the company for resolution. If your company is behind a firewall, you can set the Proxy within the Internet Explorer software (under Advanced Settings). Sigma Magic software will automatically pick it up from the Explorer settings. If not, you can specify the proxy address here. Select the checkbox next to Proxy to indicate to the software that you must use a proxy to access the Internet. | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Catchup Delay: Sometimes, Excel cannot copy and paste shapes from one location to another due to limited bandwidth or lack of resources. In such cases, it helps to add a slight delay into the loop and gives Excel time to complete the copy-and-paste operation. You can specify the delay in seconds for Excel to complete this operation. Note that the longer the time you select here, the slower the copying operation will be - especially if you have many images to copy and paste. Start with a value of 0 and slowly increase it to a value required for your computer if you encounter problems with the copy and paste operation. | ||||||||||||||||
5 | Menu Language:
The menu language lets you specify the language setting of the main menu. By default, the English language is used. If you want other languages for the Main Menu, place the translated files in the Languages folder in the Install directory. Any languages defined in this folder will appear in this form for selection. Note that any changes to the language will only take effect when re-starting Excel software. The following table shows the list of languages currently shipped with the software.
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6 | Top Menus:
You can use this option to specify the menus for the Tool Wizard. By default, all tools are displayed and categorized under the following sections. This option is currently not enabled at the user end to add or modify the tools in the tool wizard.
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7 | Default Printer: It has been observed that sometimes Excel takes a long time to complete certain tasks, and it seems to be waiting for a response from the printer. You can speed up your calculations and use Sigma Magic software by switching to the default Microsoft Print to PDF printer when you are using the Sigma Magic software. | ||||||||||||||||
8 | Info Messages:
You can specify how the software displays status messages. The status messages option can be used to display the status of the progress of the calculations or if the software wants to report any problems with data entry or analysis. The following options are available:
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9 | Startup Messages:
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10 | Error Messages:
Specify how error messages should be displayed. The following options are available.
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11 | Help Viewer:
This option specifies how the help file will be displayed to the user.
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12 | Log File: This setting will let you save critical error information to the hard disk that can be used to troubleshoot any problems you may be having. No information is stored on your hard disk if you choose not to save the log file. The log file is stored in the temporary folder on your computer under the SigmaMagic folder. |
1 | Date Format:
This format will be used wherever data has to be displayed on the worksheet. Use one of the standard built-in formats, or choose a "Custom" format to define your format. The following options are available.
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2 | Number Format: This format will format any numeric values printed in the outputs area. Use one of the standard built-in formats, or choose a "Custom" format and specify your format. The standard format Fixed-3 means it will print all floating-point numbers using three decimal places. You can specify your custom format using standard Excel functionality, use 0 to force the printout of a digit or # to print digits where required, period to indicate the decimal place, and E for scientific, exponential notation. | ||||||||||||
3 | Graph Height: You can use this option to specify the height of the graphs on each worksheet. The graph's height is specified as the number of rows that should be used to display the graph. | ||||||||||||
4 | Graph Width: You can use this option to specify the width of the graphs on each worksheet. The width of the graph can be set to "Auto," and the system will not modify the graph width specified in the tool. The width of the graph will be set to the width of the column. However, you can choose a different width setting, and the size of the graph column can be modified. | ||||||||||||
5 | Graph Spacing: You can use this option to specify the spacing between two graphs. A value of 0 implies no spacing. The larger the value, the larger the spacing between charts. | ||||||||||||
6 | Graph Border Thickness: You can use this option to specify the thickness of the graph border. | ||||||||||||
7 | Graph Line Thickness: You can use this option to specify the thickness of the lines used within the graph. | ||||||||||||
8 | Graph Marker Size: You can use this option to specify the size of the markers used in the graph. | ||||||||||||
9 | Analysis Outputs:
Specify the types of outputs that need to be displayed in the notes window.
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10 | Reset Options: You can click on this button to reset all the settings on this page to their default values. Note that there is no undo button, and once the settings have been reset, there is no way to return to the older settings. | ||||||||||||
11 | Cancel Button: Click this button to discard all changes and exit the Optional settings dialog box. |
1 | Project Folder: Click on the Browse button to specify the default project folder. Note that you need to specify the directory of the project files. The Excel files in this folder are listed when you open a new project file. |
2 | Data File Folder: Click the Browse button to specify the default folder where data files are located. Note that you need to specify the directory of the data files. The Excel project files specified in this folder are listed when you open a new one. |
3 | Browser File: You can specify which browser you want to use to open web content. If you leave this field blank, the Sigma Magic software will try to use Microsoft Internet Explorer. To specify this file, click the Browse button and look for the browser executable file you want. |
4 | RSCript File: All Analytics tools within Sigma Magic utilize the R software in the background to perform the analysis. R software must be installed on your computer to use this analysis. Once R software is installed, click the browse button and link the RScript.exe file to Sigma Magic. A tick mark will appear next to this row if everything works fine. |
5 | Worksheet Logo: You can specify a Logo to replace the Sigma Magic logo on the worksheet. Note that this will. Replace the logo on newly created sheets, and do not alter sheets created before the logo was modified. |
5 | Default File: This field is used to set the default folder location that will be selected when the user clicks on Open button within the Manage Files group. To change this folder, click the Browse button and select the appropriate folder. This folder should usually point to your home directory or the My Documents folder. |
6 | PowerPoint Template: You can specify the PowerPoint presentation template when Sigma Magic exports data from Excel to PowerPoint. This template will control the look and feel of the PowerPoint file. You can change the PowerPoint template by clicking the browse button and pointing to another template. Note that PowerPoint templates have an extension *.pot. |
7 | Reset Settings: You can click on this Button to reset all the settings on this page to their default values. Note that there is no undo button, and once the settings have been reset, there is no way to return to the older settings. |
1 | Confidence Level: This option can be used to set the value of the confidence level. The initial default value is set at 95%. Possible values are between 0 and 100%. You can enter a value in the combo box or click on the shape to select a value. |
2 | Power Level: This option can be used to set the value for the Power of the test. The initial default value is set at 90%. Possible values are between 0 and 100%. |
3 | Model Reduction Alpha: This option can set the type I error (alpha value). The initial default value is set at 10%. Possible values are between 0 and 100%. |
4 | MSA Alpha: This option can set the type I error (alpha value) for model reduction during MSA. The initial default value is set at 10%. Possible values are between 0 and 100%. |
5 | MSA Percentage Limits: This option can set the acceptable values for the Measurement Systems Analysis when the data is continuous or discrete. The default values are 70% and 90%. Anything less than 70% is unacceptable, between 70-90% is marginal, and greater than 90% is excellent. |
6 | MSA Kappa Limits: This option can set the acceptable values for the Measurement Systems Analysis when the data is nominal. The default values are 0.7 and 0.9. Anything less than 0.7 is unacceptable, 0.7-0.9 is marginal, and greater than 0.9 is excellent. |
7 | MSA Kendall Limits: This option can set the acceptable measurement Systems Analysis values when the data is ordinal. The default values are 0.7 and 0.9. Anything less than 0.7 is unacceptable, 0.7-0.9 is marginal, and greater than 0.9 is excellent. |
8 | Regression R^2 Limits: This option specifies the acceptable values for the coefficient of determination (R^2). The default values greater than 70% are excellent, and less than 30% are poor and acceptable. |
9 | Cpk Limits: This option can be used to set the acceptable values for the process capability indices. The default values are 1.33 and 1.67. Anything less than 1.33 is unacceptable, between 1.33 and 1.67 is marginal, and greater than 1.67 is excellent. |
10 | Z Score Limits: This option can set the acceptable values for the Sigma level (Z scores). The default values are 3 and 6. Anything less than 3 is unacceptable, between 3 and 6 is marginal, and greater than 6 is excellent. |
11 | Reset Button: You can click on this Button to reset all the settings on this page to their default values. Note that there is no undo button, and once the settings have been reset, there is no way to go back to the older settings. |
1 | Install Tests: You can click this Button to run many tests and check if your software has been installed correctly. This test could be part of your initial software qualification tests. More details about this test are shown in the section below. | ||||||||||||
2 | Validation Runs: You can click on this Button to run some validation tests on your computer to ensure that the results obtained match those obtained on the development computer. You can pick which tests you want to run, and the software will run those tests and give you a report of which tests passed and which failed. | ||||||||||||
3 | Methodologies: You can use the Methodologies button to define custom methodologies that are of specific interest to you. Instead of looking through a generic list of tools that may not apply to your project, you can group the tools differently that make more sense to your project. For example, suppose your team is working on the DMAIC methodology to make improvements. In that case, you can define the DMAIC methodology and group your company's most commonly used tools for each project phase. This will enable your team to efficiently find the tools relevant to your company. More details about this feature are shown in the section below. | ||||||||||||
4 | Load Settings: You can click on this Button to load the settings you may have saved earlier. This could be useful if you have corrupted or want to replicate another user's settings. | ||||||||||||
5 | Save Settings: You can click this Button to save all your optional settings to a file. The default file name is SMSettings.ini. This file contains all the settings you have customized for your software and save it to a file. You can reload the settings later if you need to reinstall the software or move the settings to another computer. You can also share these settings files with your friends and colleagues, and they can replicate your settings on their computers. Note that some settings, such as file folders, may not work on other computers. For example, if your default file folder is set to C:\Users\Sam. The same file folder may not be available on another computer as the user name will probably differ. Hence, if you share the settings with other users, ensure that all the personalized information, such as your specific directories, is not included in your Options settings before you save the file. | ||||||||||||
6 | Shortcut Keys:
You can click this Button to specify the mapping for the shortcut keys. By default, the software will map the following shortcut keys on your computer.
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7 | Fonts & Colors: You can specify the fonts and colors for various template elements, including the notes and graphs section. See the below section for more details. | ||||||||||||
8 | View Log File: To troubleshoot any problems you face, you can set the Log File setting to "Yes" under the Install Settings tab, and from this point onwards, the software will continue to log all your steps into a log file, which is saved in the temp folder. By Clicking on the View Log File button, you can view the Log file's contents. You can share this log file with the developers to help them identify any problems you may be facing with the software. Note that if you turn on the logging of steps, this may slow down your analysis. Hence, once your troubleshooting is completed, you should disable the generation of the log file under Install Settings. | ||||||||||||
9 | Unload Software: If you are not planning to use the software for a while and want to unload it from Microsoft Excel, click the Unload Software Button. This will remove the Add-In from Excel, and the Sigma Magic software icon will not appear on the Excel main menu bar. Note that this will not remove the software from your computer or delete any files. To reload the Sigma Magic software, go to Excel > Options > Add-Ins and reselect the Sigma Magic software to load it back into Excel. If you want to permanently remove Sigma Magic software from your computer, uninstall it from the Control Panel. |
# | Description |
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1 | Check if the OS is suitable for this install. A green checkmark next to this test indicates the test has passed. |
2 | Check if there is sufficient disk space for this software to run properly. If the disk space exceeds the minimum requirement, a green checkmark will be placed next to it. |
3 | Check if the computer has sufficient memory for the software to run. If the physical memory is sufficient, a green checkmark will be placed next to it. |
4 | Check if this software supports the region settings on the computer. A green checkmark indicates if the check is passed. |
5 | Check if the Internet connection is available for the software to acquire and release licenses. A green checkmark indicates if the check is passed. |
6 | Check if the default Microsoft Print to PDF printer is installed on your computer (for performance-related issues). A green checkmark indicates if the check is passed. |
7 | Check if this software supports the Excel version of the software. A green checkmark indicates if the check is passed. |
8 | Check if you are currently using the latest version of the Sigma Magic software. A green checkmark indicates if the check is passed. |
9 | Check if R software has been installed on this computer - which is required for Analytics. A green checkmark indicates if the check is passed. |
10 | Run some standard function tests to see if the computer is generating outputs as expected. A green checkmark indicates if the check is passed. |
11 | Check if script execution has been blocked on your computer due to some IT admin policy. If so, some functions may not be available within Sigma Magic software. |
1 | Checks: Ensure all the checks for each test are in green for a successful test installation. If any indicators show a red cross mark, you must investigate and fix this problem before using the software. |
2 | Report Date: The date this report is generated is listed on the screen for documentation purposes. |
3 | Camera: Click on the Camera button to take a snapshot of the dialog box for your documentation. You can attach this image to your reports as required. |
4 | Help Button: Opens the help file for this dialog box. |
1 | Validation:
A blank worksheet called Validation is added to this workbook. The different columns that are in the validation worksheet are:
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2 | Analysis Setup: Click on the Analysis Setup button to open the dialog box and pick the tests to run. |
1 | Select Test: Select the tests you would like to run. Note that you can only run one set of tests in each workbook. Each test contains information about the test name, the number of tests the file contains, and the expected time to complete the tests. |
2 | Run Tests: Click on the Run Tests button to run the tests. The software will run the tests and update the Validation worksheet. |
Test | Description |
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Anal 01 | Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Correspondence Analysis, Heat Maps |
Anal 02 | Bayes Modeling, Decision Trees, Discriminant Analysis, Neural Networks, KNN, Regression Models, Support Vector Machines, Bagging, Boosting |
Change 01 | Stakeholder Analysis, Force Field, RACI, Team Charter, Team Roles, Communication Plans |
Change 02 | Change Audit, Change Curve, Culture Map, PEST, SWOT, Coaching, Team Roles, Mission & Vision, Change Impact, Sustaining Change |
DOE 01 | Fractional and Full Factorial Design of Experiments |
DOE 02 | General Factorial |
DOE 03 | Response Surface Methods |
DOE 04 | Plackett-Burman Designs |
DOE 05 | Taguchi Design of Experiments |
Graphs 01 | Bar Chart, Pie Chart, Box Plot, Dot Plot, Histogram, Time Series Plot |
Graphs 02 | Individual Value Plots, Interval Plots, Run Chart, Contour Plot, Matrix Plot, Multi-Vari Chart, Scatter plot, Waterfall Chart, Probability Plot |
Graphs 03 | Pareto Charts |
Lean 01 | Hoshin, Lean Maturity, True North, 5S Audits, OEE, Spaghetti, Standard Work, Kanban, SMED, TAKT, Time Study, Workload Balanced, 5 WHys, Kaizen Report, Waste Analysis, A3 Reports, Leader Standard Work, One Point Lessons |
Lean 02 | Value Stream Mapping |
Projects 01 | Kano, VOC Table, Scorecard, Financials, Project Filter, Project Charter, CE Matrix, Check Sheet, Is vs Is Not, Benefit Effort, FMEA, Multi Voting, Pugh Matrix, Solution Selection, TRIZ, Control Plan, Design Scorecard, Implementation Plan, Minutes, Closure Form |
Projects 02 | QFD, Process Map, Relationship Diagrams, SIPOC, Fishbone, Tree Diagram, Fault Tree Analysis, GANTT Charts |
Stats 01 | Basic Statistical Analysis |
Stats 02 | Normality Tests, Probability Calculations, Random Numbers, Transform Data (Box-Cox, Johnson) |
Stats 03 | Sample Size Calculations, Compare Samples (1-Sample t, 2-Sample t, 1-Proportion, ANOVA, 2-Proportion, Non-Parametric) |
Stats 04 | Correlation & Regression Analysis (Simple, Multiple, Logistic) |
Stats 05 | Capability Analysis (Normal and Non-Normal, Binomial, Poisson) |
Stats 06 | Control Charts (I-MR, Xbar-R, P Chart, U Chart, C Chart, NP Chart) |
Stats 07 | Distribution Identification |
Stats 08 | Gage Linearity and Measurement Systems Analysis (Gage R&R) |
Stats 09 | Reliability Analysis |
Stats 10 | Time Series Analysis (Auto Correlation, Moving Averages, Trend Analysis, Seasonality) |
1 | Validation Accuracy: The overall validation accuracy and total time to run all the tests are shown at the top. If the validation accuracy is 100%, all the tests in that file have passed. |
1 | Methodology: Click on this Button to switch between the different methodologies. If this Button appears blank, then no methodology has been defined. Make sure to explain the methods from the top to the bottom. If a particular button has been selected, it will be shown in blue font; otherwise, it will be in black font. Note that you can define up to 5 different methodologies using this manager. |
2 | Acronym: Each methodology has an acronym, which you can define here. For example, the Six Sigma improvement methodology is called DMAIC; in Lean, we have a PDCA methodology (4 steps). Similarly, you can define and devise an acronym relevant to your project. Note that we can have a maximum of 5 steps in any methodology. If you have more than five steps in a method, you can group some steps into a single step to meet the 5 step limit. |
3 | Step Description: You can click on this label for each methodology step and edit it if required. The default names provided are Step 1, Step 2, etc. You can change these into Define, Measure, or those relevant to your acronym. |
4 | Available Tools: Drag and drop the tools from the available tools to the selected ones on the right. Use the search button to narrow the search for available tools. Note that each step in the methodology can have up to 10 tools listed. If you have more than ten tools per step, list the ten most important steps here. Double-click on a selection to remove it from the list. When you add a new tool, it appears at the bottom of the list, so if order is important, you need to add the tools in the same order you want them to be listed. |
5 | Selected Tools: You can use generic tools if multiple tools make sense for your project. For example, instead of listing 1-Sample t-Test, 2-Sample t-Test, ANOVA, etc., you can choose to Compare Samples, which houses all of these tools in the same user interface. |
6 | Reset: Clicking on this Button will clear everything for the selected methodology. It will clear the acronym at the top, the definitions of each phase, and the tools you have already selected. If you have clicked by mistake, click on Cancel to exit this dialog box without saving it, and go back and make edits after you return. |
7 | Help: Clicking on this Button will open the help file for the Options dialog box. |
8 | Cancel Button: Clicking on this Button will close the dialog box without making any changes. |
9 | OK Button: Clicking on this Button will save your changes to all the methodologies you have made. When you click the Tool Wizard, you will find these methodologies listed. An example screen for the DMAIC methodology is shown below. |
1 | User Action:
Select the action for which you want to define the shortcut from the dropdown combo box. The available options are:
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2 | Shortcut Keys: Specify the key to use to map the shortcut. The available options are the function keys (F1 through F10), the Alt Key, the Shift Key, the Ctrl Key, etc. For function keys, no additional character is required. | ||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Shortcut Chars: If the shortcut key is not one of the function keys, you will have to specify the character for the shortcut. For example, if you specify the shortcut key as Ctrl and the character E, the shortcut is activated when you click Ctrl-E. | ||||||||||||||||||||
4 | System Keys: Clicking on this Button will reset the specified shortcut keys to what was available in the Excel system before you started Sigma Magic software. | ||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Reset Button: Click this Button to remove all the changes and set the shortcut keys as originally defined within Sigma Magic software. | ||||||||||||||||||||
6 | Cancel Button: Cancel any changes you have made and exit this dialog box. The changes are not saved. | ||||||||||||||||||||
7 | OK Button: Save any changes you have made and apply the changes so that the shortcut keys are effective immediately on closing this dialog box. Any changes will also be reflected when you close and open Excel the next time. |
1 | Color Theme:
You can use these settings to change the layout of colors used on the tools using a custom layout. Different colors are used for the various sections of the worksheet and the dialog box. Using the theme colors will change the entire set of colors as a group. You can click on the Color Theme dropdown box to change the default colors for a group of settings simultaneously. The following default colors are currently available for the Theme setting.
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2 | Select Colors:
You can click and change individual colors for specific elements separately. If you click on the color box next to an element, you can change its color. You can specify each element's foreground color (FG) and background color (BG) separately. The following elements are defined in the first section.
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3 | Standard Colors: You can specify the colors for the various standards. For example, what colors should be used for averages, limits, targets, data, outliers, fitted lines, and the pass, warning, and fail indicators? | ||||||||||||||||||||
4 | Group Colors: You can specify the background (BG) and foreground (FG) colors that should be used for any groups on the charts. The groups are used when multiple elements are plotted. For example, if a chart uses two lines, the first line belongs to group 1, and the second line belongs to group 2. | ||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Reset Button: You can click on this Button to reset all the settings on this page to their default values. Note that there is no undo button, and once the settings have been reset, there is no way to go back to the older settings. |
1 | Font Element:
You can use these settings to change the fonts for the following elements. By font, we can specify the font name, the font size, and the font style to use for that element.
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2 | Font Name:
Specify the name of the font you want to use for this element. The following font names are currently available to be changed via this menu.
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3 | Font Size:
Specify the font size of each element.
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4 | Font Style:
Specify the style of the font to use for this element.
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5 | Reset Button: You can click on this Button to reset all the settings on this page to their default values. Note that there is no undo button, and once the settings have been reset, there is no way to go back to the older settings. |