ABCi Charts - Runcharts Tool user guide

© ABCi, 2020 Capability | Innovation | Delivery
ABCi Charts Guide
Runcharts

When the ABCi Chart has opened you will find that the VBA macros in
the background additionally need activation. This happens in several
steps.
1. Click the ‘Enable Editing’ button.

The next step when opening the ABCi Chart is to respond to what
comes up on the screen next:
2. Click the ‘Enable Content’ button.
Please be patient when the ABCi Chart opens – an impressive amount
of Visual Basic code is working in the background and it may take a
little while for the tool to be ready for use. Please don’t stress Excel
by clicking a lot of buttons.

Contents
• What is a Runchart?
• Random and Non Random Variation
• Creating a Runchart
• Manual Phasing of Runchart
• Automatic Phasing of Runchart
• Stratification and Rational Subgrouping
• Stratifying your Data
• Feedback and Contact Details

• A runchart is a time series chart with a median added.
• It is a ‘universal tool’ useful for most improvement work
• It helps you understand the variation within your system –
important in order to make wise choices
• Runcharts may be used to assess whether:
 your processes are reliable (process measure)
 you are achieving your outcomes (outcome measure)
 Your changes are adversely affecting something else in the
system (balancing measure).
 Your PDSA cycles are having a positive or negative effect.
Runcharts

Variability of a process
• operating within natural limits
that do not change
• caused by many irregular and
erratic fluctuations or chance
factors …
• which can neither be anticipated,
detected, identified or eliminated.
• Results in a ‘stable’ process that is
predictable
Variability of a process
• Something has changed in the
process
• caused by known factors
• that result in a non-random
distribution of output.
• sometimes referred to as
‘exceptional’, ‘assignable’
variation.
• Results in an ‘unstable’ pro-cess
that is unpredictable
Random variation Non-random variation
It is important to understand the type of
variation your processes are exhibiting
Understanding the variation your data is showing determines the
most appropriate response

0
5
10
15
20
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
Rule 1
0
5
10
15
20
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
Rule 2
A shift:
6 or more
A trend:
5 or more
„... and this is the
period
when the cat was
away ...“
An astronomical
data point
Rule 4
0
5
10
15
20
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
Rule 3
Too many nor too few ‘runs’
4 Rules to highlight non-random variation

Creating your Runchart
To start creating your runchart you need
to input your data into the tool.
• ‘Time’ could be dates, weeks, months
or sequential instances of something
eg. patient 1, patient 2, patient 3
• The ‘Value’ is the dot you want to plot
on your graph
• Copy & paste or type the data into the
‘Time’ & ‘Value’ columns.
Don’t worry about the median boxes or
the trend check boxes, the tool will
complete this information if it is
applicable!

Creating your runchart
When you are happy that your data has been
input into the chart, you can select the ‘Make
Runchart’ button.
For a runchart you normally need at least 8
data points (dots) as a baseline. However, you
can change your baseline by typing the
number of baseline points in the ‘Baseline’ box
Complete the chart title in the ‘Title’ box, as
well as the label for the ‘y axis’ in the box
below.

Your Runchart
Congratulations, you’ve created a run chart!
The following pages will give you details on how to phase and stratify the data
in your runchart.
• The dotted median line highlights the
data included in that median calculation
(see first 8 dots above)
• A solid median line is where the median
has been fixed and extended (see solid
median above)

Phasing your runchart
Use the runchart rules to identify if there is a shift
in your runchart, if so, you will need to re-phase
your median.
To do this, identify where the shift starts and ends.
A ‘y’ should be added to the cell in the ‘Manual
Phasing’ column where:
• any ‘shift’ ends and
• in the very last cell in the data.
When you’re happy that you have identified any
‘shifts’, press the ‘Manual Phase’ button for the
chart to be phased appropriately.

• Get into the habit of interpreting and phasing your chart using the
runchart rules. However the ABCi Runchart tool enables you to see
if there is a shift by checking the ‘Higher/Lower than median’
column in the data-table
• The tool will identify any trends of 5 dots or more by highlighting
them in blue
Phasing your Runchart- tips

Automatic Phasing
• If you wish to have the chart automatically phased, you can press the “Auto-Phase”
button to see the phasing completed.
• The auto-phasing function identifies the baseline as entered to the ‘Baseline’ box
when constructing your chart. It will re-phase where a shift is in place, or where a
trend is accompanied with a shift
• The ‘Auto-Phase’ button works in stages, at each stage adding a ‘y’ in the ‘manual
phasing’ column in the data table. Each press of the button will phase the next shift
in the data. Keep pressing the ‘Auto-Phase’ button until you are notified that all
phasing has been completed.
• In order for the auto-phasing function to work, any ‘y’ which has been manually
input into the ‘manual phasing’ column would need to be removed before auto-
phasing can commence.

Stratification of your data
• Stratification is a really useful way of asking questions of your data.
• If you have a hunch that you want to test out and a dataset which includes
multiple variables, stratification can help.
• Stratification is the separation and classification of data according to selected
variables or factors
• It helps you to discover patterns that assist in understanding causal mechanisms
at work
• We are looking to gain an understanding of the underlying variation
• The ABCi Runcharts Tool enables you to do this. Your data will no longer be
arranged in a time series but in a rational subgroup.

Stratification of your data - example
• For example, you have loads of data about the ‘turn around times’ for different
tests that different laboratories perform.
• You have data for multiple variables eg. for each test, you know: the time it
took, which laboratory performed the test, the type of test, time of day test took
place, day of week test was performed.
• You have a hunch that the ‘turn around times’ for a certain test is faster in one
laboratory than in another.
• To test this hunch you can stratify your data into subgroups. Basically this means
grouping your data into the ‘turn around time’ data for Lab A, for Lab B, for Lab
C etc. Then see if there is a pattern. (see stratified chart on slide 17)

Stratifying your data
Before you can stratify the data
in your chart, it is necessary for
you to put your data into
rational subgroups, as seen in
the previous slide.
Input the group each item of
data comes under into the
‘Group’ column. This can be
broken down into categories
such as departments, labs, shift
patterns- wherever you’ve
collected your data from!

Stratifying your data
When you have completed the groups data in
the table, hit the ‘Stratified Chart’ button to
see your chart!
Your chart will show the data split into the subgroups as per the ‘Groups’
column in your table (see x axis labels). This allows you to see the differences
between each of the subgroups.
You will be looking for non-random variation between each group, rather than
within each group.

• We hope you’ve have found the ABCi Runchart tool useful!
• For more information about Runcharts, have a look at the guide as
part of the ABCi Skills for Improvement library on ABCi webpages
• ABCi Charts have been developed using ‘Storytelling with Data’ and
human factors principles.
• If you would like to give us any feedback regarding the ABCi Charts
Runchart Tool, you can do so by emailing the ABCi team at :
ABCi.ABB@wales.nhs.uk
Feedback

Aneurin Bevan Continuous Improvement
@ABCiAb
ABCi.ABB@wales.nhs.uk
01633 431731

ABCi Charts - Runcharts Tool user guide

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