Glossary

Key terms and definitions used throughout SixGrid.

Term	Definition
% of the opportunity	How a project's benefits compare to its COPQ. A progress measure, not a savings claim — the only place hard and soft benefits appear together, and only as a percentage.
Admin	A system role with full access to all projects, people, groups, and reports. Can do everything the Owner can except manage billing.
Annualized Value	The dollar value of a benefit or cost on a per-year basis.
Attachment	A file uploaded to a project. Can be attached to a specific item (note, to-do, benefit, cost, milestone, metric) or to the project in general.
Baseline	The starting measurement before the project begins making changes.
Benefit	A positive financial outcome of the project (e.g., cost savings, revenue increase).
Billing Portal	A secure Stripe-hosted page where Owners and Admins can update payment methods, view invoices, and manage subscription details.
Business Case	The justification for why this project should be done — its scope, stakeholders, and expected impact.
Captured	A benefit's status once finance has confirmed the value is real. Means the same thing everywhere in SixGrid: validated, realized value. Benefits start as Estimated.
Category	A built-in project field with colored options (Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost by default) that shows on project tiles and chips. See Project Field.
Champion	A senior leader who sponsors and supports the project from above.
Charter	The foundational document for a project — captures the problem, goal, scope, and classification.
Charter Status	Whether the charter document is Draft or Final. Independent from the project's lifecycle status.
Contributor	A project role tier (Champion, Mentor, Financial Rep, Team Member) with limited edit access — can create to-dos and notes but cannot edit the charter, financials, or milestones.
COPQ	Cost of Poor Quality — the annualized cost of the problem a project is targeting. An estimate by nature; set early, refine as you learn. The sizing of the problem, not an audit — benefits are measured against it, never reconciled with it.
Cost	A negative financial outcome of the project (e.g., operating expenses, capital expenditure).
CTQ	Critical to Quality — a key characteristic that must meet customer requirements.
Current	The most recent measurement of a metric.
DMAIC	Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control — the structured problem-solving methodology used in Six Sigma.
Email Notification	An automatic email sent when someone is added to a project, assigned a to-do, or when a milestone is due soon. Sent from noreply@sixgrid.com.
Executive	A system role providing read-only access across the entire app. Designed for executives, stakeholders, and sponsors who need visibility into program progress without editing.
Files Tab	The project tab that shows all attachments in one aggregated view.
Financial Rep	The person who validates and verifies the financial impact of a project.
Full Access	A project role tier (Creator, Leader, Associate Leader) with complete edit access to everything within a project.
Goal Statement	A specific, measurable description of the improvement the project is targeting.
Grace Period	A 3-day window after a trial ends without payment. During this time, the account still has access to paid features. After the grace period, the account is downgraded to the Free plan.
Group	An organizational unit (team, department, site) used to categorize projects and people.
Hard savings	Benefits that tie to the P&L — Cost Savings and Revenue Increase — which finance validates against the ledger. Costs net against hard savings only. Never added together with soft savings.
Just Do It	A simple improvement project that doesn't require a full DMAIC cycle — the solution is already known.
Kaizen	A rapid improvement event, typically lasting a few days, focused on a specific process.
KPI	Key Performance Indicator — a measurable value that shows how effectively a goal is being achieved.
Lean	A methodology focused on eliminating waste and improving flow in processes.
Lean Six Sigma	A combined methodology that uses Lean (waste reduction) and Six Sigma (variation reduction) together.
Manager	A system role for scoped leadership. Has full access within assigned groups — can see projects, people, and manage group settings. Can invite Users into their groups.
Mentor	An experienced practitioner who coaches the project leader on methodology and tools.
Milestone	A key checkpoint or event in a project's timeline (e.g., phase completion, review gate).
Net hard savings	Hard savings minus total costs. Shown as "—" until a project has a hard benefit. In rollups, netting is per project — the sum of each project's own net, over projects that have a hard benefit.
Note	A journal entry attached to a project for quick updates and context.
Owner	The organization owner. Full access to everything including billing (when available). One per organization. Cannot be removed.
Primary Metric	The main measurement that the project is trying to improve.
Problem Statement	A clear, measurable description of the current problem the project addresses.
Project Field	An org-defined single-select on every project. Three are built in (Project Type, Project Level, Category) and Owners and Admins can add up to three more, such as Business Unit or Plant. Each project holds one option per field, and every field is optional. Fields drive the filters on Projects, Program, Ideas, and Reports, and one Projects by report per field.
Project Leader	The person driving the project day to day, responsible for execution and results.
Project Level	A built-in project field for the belt or certification level of the project. The default options run from White Belt to Master Black Belt, plus roles like Champion and Executive. Owners and Admins can change the options in Settings, Projects.
Project Type	A built-in project field for the methodology used. The default options are Lean Six Sigma, Lean, Kaizen Event, Plan Do Check Act, A3 Problem Solving, and Just Do It. Owners and Admins can change the options in Settings, Projects.
Seat	One user on the Professional plan. The org is charged per seat. Adding a user increases the seat count; removing a user decreases it.
Secondary Metric	Additional measurements tracked alongside the primary metric.
Settings	The billing and organization management area. Accessible via the Settings link in the sidebar (Owner and Admin only).
Six Sigma	A data-driven methodology focused on reducing variation and defects in processes.
Soft savings	Benefits with real value that doesn't tie directly to the P&L — Cost Avoidance, Safety Impact, Compliance Impact, Environmental Impact, Other. Reported separately from hard savings, never added to them.
Subscription	The billing relationship between an organization and SixGrid. Can be Free (no Stripe), trialing, active, or canceled.
System Role	A person's role across the entire organization (Owner, Admin, Manager, User, Executive).
Target	The goal measurement that the project is trying to achieve.
To-do	An actionable task within a project that can be assigned, tracked, and linked to a milestone.
Trial	A 14-day free period on a paid plan. One trial per organization, no credit card required.
User	A system role for standard practitioners. Belongs to a group and can see and contribute to projects in that group. Has full access to projects they create. Cannot invite people or manage groups.