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Create MSA Template

Create MSA Template builds a blank worksheet laid out for a measurement system analysis: the columns in the right places, the gage and part information fields, space for the specification limits, and printed instructions for whoever takes the measurements.

Find it at QXL Stat Tools > MSA / Gage R&R > Create MSA Template.

Use it before you collect data. Once the sheet is filled in, run the analysis on it directly.

When to use it

Use it when you are planning a study and want the data collection sheet laid out correctly, rather than building the columns by hand. It is optional: the analysis tools read any worksheet with the right columns, however it was made.

The advantage of a template is that the analysis can be launched straight from it. The template records the specification limits and gage information under defined names, and the analysis reads them back, so those do not have to be re-entered.

What it produces

A template block written onto the worksheet, containing:

  • a data table sized to the number of operators, parts and replications you asked for, with one column per operator trial
  • a gage and part information area, with fields for the specification limits, the date and who performed the study
  • printed instructions beside the table, describing what to do in numbered steps

You can add more than one template to the same sheet with Add Template, and each block is written below the previous one. Remove deletes the selected template from the list before the sheet is written.

The instructions it writes

The instructions are printed on the sheet next to the table, so the person taking the measurements does not need the help system. For a quantitative study they read:

  1. Enter the gage and part information.
  2. Enter the USL and LSL if known (needed for %Tolerance).
  3. Have each operator measure each part in random order; type each result under that operator's trial column.
  4. When the table is full, run the MSA analysis on this template.

Running the analysis from a template

When you launch a Crossed, Nested or Extended analysis and Quantum XL finds a template on the sheet, it offers the estimation method directly rather than making you fill in the Data tab again. The method dialog lists:

  • Automatic (balanced: EMS; unbalanced: REML)
  • Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML)
  • Expected Mean Squares (EMS) - Equivalent to ANOVA when balanced
  • Xbar and Range (XbarR)

These are the same four methods the analysis dialog's Estimation Method group offers, and they are described on Crossed > Options. The fourth is spelled XbarR there and Xbar and Range (XbarR) here; they are the same method.

Attribute templates

The Data Format choice offers Qualitative (Attribute) as well as Quantitative (Variable). An attribute template collects pass and fail ratings rather than measured values, and it is read by the attribute MSA tools further down the MSA / Gage R&R menu rather than by Crossed, Nested or Extended.

Those attribute tools are from the previous version of Quantum XL. See Attribute Analysis - Crosstabulation and Attribute Analysis - Analytic.

See Also