The seven basic tools of quality are a fixed set of visual exercises identified as being most helpful in troubleshooting issues related to quality. They are called basic because they are suitable for people with little formal training in statistics and because they can be used to solve the vast majority of quality-related issues.

The seven basic tools of quality are Cause-and-effect diagram (also known as the “fishbone diagram” or Ishikawa diagram), Check sheet, Control chart, Histogram, Pareto chart, Scatter diagram, and Stratification (alternatively, flow chart or run chart.