In statistics, sigma is a measure of variation. When applied to a business process, it's a measure of how many defects or failures are likely to occur per million opportunities; the; the greater the sigma number, the fewer the defects. The average product or process defect rate at most major companies is about four sigma, or more than 6,000 defects per million. At the Six Sigma level, by contrast, the expectation is just 3.4 defects per million.

DMAIC and DMADV road maps: Consistent with the quality process, the SSQC focuses on product/process quality improvement process (known as DMAIC) and product/process design process (known as DMADV).

Dynamic User Interface: (My Project)

Personalized Content Delivery Engine (PCDE)®: SSQC incorporated the wide range of GE businesses and can be personalized to meet different needs and requirements for different businesses according to user's profile.

Multimedia: Graphics, sound, animation, and downloadable files to reinforce the coaching/mentoring process.

Searchable content: Content can be searched using any key words if users are unsure of what content they are looking for.

In 1995, GE adopted a disciplined methodical program called Six Sigma, a statistical term describing fewer than four defects per million opportunities. GE's aggressive target is to be a Six Sigma company by the year 2000. To meet this "stretch goal", GE has trained nearly 4,000 quality leaders, known as Black Belts and their leaders , known as Master Black Belts, from the 11 major GE businesses. In turn, those full-time quality leaders have trained and mentored more than 30,000 Green Belts (novices) who have learned how to integrate Six Sigma projects and methods into their daily work.

Green Belts are GE employees who work in one of seventeen functional areas and whose jobs include quality improvement projects. Black Belts are full time quality improvement leaders responsible for implementing Six Sigma methodology in quality improvement projects. Master Black Belts are full time mentors, trainers and coaches of Black Belts and Green Belts.
Prior to the introduction of the GE Six Sigma Quality Coach in 1998, employees would receive up to two weeks of Green Belt training. They would then return to their jobs and implement their training with the aid of a Black Belt or Master Black Belt. If the Green Belt had a question or a problem with her project, she would have to consult with her Black Belt or Master Black Belt. This often resulted in delays to the project completion schedule in addition to keeping the Black Belt/Master Black Belt from working on his projects. Also, variation existed in the way in which the methodology of Six Sigma was presented and variation is the root cause quality problems.

The typical GE Six Sigma Quality Coach user is a college educated, exempt professional with or without previous Six Sigma Green Belt training working in in one of seventeen functional areas in any of the eleven major businesses that make up GE. company for which he or she works – (need to confirm this)

The GE Six Sigma Quality Coach (SSQC)'s database shows that there are over 12,000 active internal users worldwide. The accumulated online hours of usage have reached 2,305,776 as of June 1, 1999.

A recent ROI analysis conducted by GE Information Services (GEIS, June 1999) showed that on average, SSQC has reduced project coaching response time per question to less than 50 minutes as opposed compared to a typical 13 hours of response time from a Black Belt. The study surveyed 800 users in two of the GE businesses, GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE) and GE Medical Systems (GEMS) and concluded that 3 weeks20% of project cycle time reduction per project have been realized since the release of the SSQC in April 1998 accelerating economic benefits to the businesses.