Dear All,

I am a professional indulged in the Process Management of an Organization.I have been given this responsibility of start using Minitab for statistical analysis of different types of metrics. I have installed Minitab today and gone through the Minitab stats guide to brush up my statistical concepts.

Can any one of you please guide me about the best possible way to get a hang of Minitab usage.I was trying some very basic things like entering the data to calculate Standard deviation etc.

Regards,
Sachin.

Im using thier excellent documentation:
http://minitab.com/support/docs/rel14/MeetMinitab14.pdf

If you need help on specifics though, we have experts here in the Cove.
Browsing some old threads will help you.

.....Can any one of you please guide me about the best possible way to get a hang of Minitab usage.I was trying some very basic things like entering the data to calculate Standard deviation etc. Regards,
Sachin.

It is based on my experience that best way to learn Minitab (or any tool) is to actually use it as often as possible. Reading the manual and guides helps but hands on usage is more important. I would suggest you some approaches that can do concurrently.
1.Use the examples provided in the help and try recreating the example with Minitab data sheet. Compare with their official results in the help.
2.Try creating your own examples from the work similar to Minitab examples and analyze.
3.Read the White papers, articles and knowledge database in the Minitab website and try those examples hands on.

In a related note:
Minitab is planning a release Minitab 15 by end of this month. I got a mail from Minitab stating “With nearly 50 enhancements, Minitab 15 has something for everyone, whether you're looking for added functionality or improved ease of use. And though we added many improvements, we kept the overall look and feel of Minitab 15 very similar to Minitab 14, so you won't need to re-learn the software or update training and other support materials.
Here are a few of the new features waiting for you in Minitab 15:

Assign a formula to a column or stored constant -- variable updates when values in the formula change
Multiple Undo / Redo in Data Window
40 new calculator functions
New Currency and Percentage formats for data
Password protection for project files
and many more additions”

Regards,
Govind.

It is based on my experience that best way to learn Minitab (or any tool) is to actually use it as often as possible.Regards,
Govind.

I very much agree with you on this.

:topic: I also need help. Is it possible to change control limits in minitab 14 so that the Control Chart looks like this?

I have same query. If anybody can give us some guidance in this regards that would be appriciated.

:thanks:

:thanks:
Thank you all.I'll follow your advice and proceed accordingly.

MINITAB is actually one of the college classes I am currently taking (currently in my 2nd week of the class). This is an independant study (not on campus). The book used is good (so far) but does have a few small errors in it. You will only find these errors if you walk through every step of the examples given (which I do - to make sure I am understanding it correctly and come up with the same results the book shows).

It was under $60.00 at the college bookstore, but I'm sure you can find or order it through Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

It is :
MINITAB Handbook - Updated for Release 14
Fifth Edition
Ryan - Joiner - Cryer

Brooks/Cole - Thompson Learning
Belmont, CA

I very much agree with you on this.

:topic: I also need help. Is it possible to change control limits in minitab 14 so that the Control Chart looks like this?

Yes, it is possible. Add a column of numbers to indicate the two sections. That is, enter 1 for the data for the entire first section, and a 2 for the entire second section.

In the control chart menu, select Options, then the tab marked Stages. Enter the column containing the numbers that identify the two sections.

The end result should look like your example.

I'm sure there is also an option somewhere within minitab to change the control limits to something other than +/- 3 sigma. I don't have my copy of minitab handy at the moment, but I'll try to look later.

Tim F

In the control chart menu, select Options, then the tab marked Stages. Enter the column containing the numbers that identify the two sections.



Wow tnx!

:thanx: Thank you all!