Delays in expense reports. The Accounting Department Quality Improvement Team is studying problems in handling expense reports. Many employees have complained about long delays in receiving reimbursement of expenses. A number of factors were identified that might cause varying processing times. The following three factors were selected as the most likely causes:

1. Reports originated in the field versus headquarters 2. Processing group: two groups handled field reports and two other groups handled reports from headquarters 3. Variation in the clerks processing the expense reports Data were collected for the 18 expense reports processed during the next week to investigate the problem.

Analyze these data as a three-factor nested design. Prepare a run order plot and a dot-frequency diagram. (Note: This example was developed by Rob Stiratelli of Rohm & Haas Company).

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Expense report Originating Processing Processing location group Clerk time (days) 1 Field B 2 6 234 Headquarters C 1 4 Headquarters C 2 2 4 Headquarters D 2 58 5 Field A 2 6 Field A 1 7 Field B 1 8 Field B 2 9 Headquarters D 1 10 Headquarters D 2 11 Field B 3 12 Field B 3 13 Headquarters C 1 14 Headquarters C 2 15 Field A 2 16 Headquarters D 1 17 Field B 1 18 Field A 1 9 62 a 6-7582 5 3 455 9 1