Industry Variations

"The dimensions are universal. The observables are industry-specific."

The 6D Foraging Methodology applies across all industries — but the signals, metrics, and cascade patterns vary by context. This guide shows you how to adapt the framework to your industry.

Core Principle

What stays the same:

The six dimensions (Customer, Employee, Revenue, Regulatory, Quality, Operational)
The 3D lens (Sound × Space × Time)
Cascade pathway logic
Multiplier calculation methodology

What changes:

Observable signals and data sources
Trigger keywords and severity thresholds
Metrics and targets
Primary cascade pathways
Regulatory complexity and multipliers

Healthcare

Dimension Adaptations

Standard Dimension	Healthcare Variation	Key Observable	Data Source
Customer (D1)	Patient Outcomes	Readmission rates, HCAHPS scores, patient complaints	EHR, CMS reports, patient surveys
Employee (D2)	Clinical Staff	Nurse-to-patient ratios, burnout scores, turnover	Staffing systems, engagement surveys
Revenue (D3)	Reimbursement	Claim denials, payer mix, revenue cycle days	Revenue cycle management, AR
Regulatory (D4)	HIPAA/CMS Compliance	Survey deficiencies, CMS stars, accreditation status	State surveys, CMS reports, TJC
Quality (D5)	Clinical Quality	Infection rates, mortality rates, adverse events	Quality reporting, patient safety
Operational (D6)	Care Delivery	ED wait times, OR utilization, bed turnover	Capacity management, scheduling

Healthcare-Specific Trigger Keywords

High Urgency:

"patient safety event"      "sentinel event"          "CMS survey"
"never event"               "mortality review"        "immediate jeopardy"
"license suspension"        "harm to patient"         "abuse/neglect"

Medium Urgency:

"readmission"               "hospital-acquired infection"  "medication error"
"falls"                     "pressure ulcer"          "near miss"
"claim denial"              "quality measure failure" "deficiency"

Healthcare Cascade Example

Problem: Hospital-acquired infection spike (Quality issue)

QUALITY (Origin): HAI rate increases 40%
    │
    ├── REGULATORY (90% in healthcare)
    │   CMS quality measures fail
    │   Star rating drops
    │   Reimbursement penalties
    │
    ├── CUSTOMER/PATIENT (85%)
    │   Patient outcomes worsen
    │   HCAHPS scores drop
    │   Reputation damage
    │
    └── REVENUE (80%)
        Value-based purchasing penalties
        Reduced patient volume
        Payer contract risk

Healthcare Multiplier: Regulatory cascades carry 10-15× multipliers due to:

CMS reimbursement penalties (can be millions)
Accreditation risk (entire facility revenue at stake)
Malpractice exposure
Public reporting impact on market share

Healthcare Metrics

Dimension	Leading Indicator	Lagging Indicator	Target
Patient Outcomes	Real-time safety event reports	30-day readmission rate	<15%
Clinical Quality	Hand hygiene compliance	CLABSI/CAUTI rates	0 events
Regulatory	Mock survey findings	CMS deficiencies	0 immediate jeopardy
Revenue	Claim denial rate	Days in AR	<50 days

Financial Services

Dimension Adaptations

Standard Dimension	FinServ Variation	Key Observable	Data Source
Customer (D1)	Client Trust	AUM flows, relationship tenure, referrals	CRM, custody systems
Employee (D2)	Advisor/Banker	Series 7 turnover, production metrics	FINRA, HR, branch reports
Revenue (D3)	Fee/Interest Income	Net interest margin, fee compression, wallet share	GL, product analytics
Regulatory (D4)	SEC/FINRA/OCC	Examination findings, capital ratios, suspicious activity	Compliance, BSA/AML
Quality (D5)	Trade Accuracy	Error rates, break resolution, reconciliation gaps	Middle office, ops
Operational (D6)	Transaction Processing	STP rates, settlement failures, custody breaks	Trade systems, custody

FinServ-Specific Trigger Keywords

High Urgency:

"SEC investigation"         "FINRA sanction"          "capital violation"
"material weakness"         "wire fraud"              "insider trading"
"suspicious activity"       "AML violation"           "Wells notice"

Medium Urgency:

"exam finding"              "deficiency letter"       "consent order"
"customer complaint"        "trade error"             "break"
"reconciliation issue"      "control gap"             "policy exception"

Financial Services Cascade Example

Problem: Trade error affecting high-net-worth client (Quality issue)

QUALITY (Origin): $500K trade error
    │
    ├── CUSTOMER/CLIENT (95% in wealth management)
    │   Trust erosion
    │   AUM outflow risk
    │   Referral pipeline damage
    │
    ├── REGULATORY (70%)
    │   FINRA reporting required
    │   Best execution review
    │   Form ADV amendment
    │
    └── REVENUE (60%)
        Client reimbursement
        Relationship manager time
        Legal/compliance costs

FinServ Multiplier: Client trust issues carry 8-12× multipliers due to:

High AUM concentration (losing one client = $10M+ AUM)
Referral network effects (one client refers 3-5 others)
Regulatory scrutiny (pattern of errors triggers exam)
Reputation in tight-knit community

Financial Services Metrics

Dimension	Leading Indicator	Lagging Indicator	Target
Client Trust	Client contact frequency	AUM flows, net new relationships	Positive flows
Trade Accuracy	Pre-settlement breaks	Trade error rate	<0.01%
Regulatory	Control testing results	Exam findings	0 MRAs
Operational	Straight-through processing %	Settlement fails	>95% STP

Manufacturing

Dimension Adaptations

Standard Dimension	Manufacturing Variation	Key Observable	Data Source
Customer (D1)	OEM/Distributor	On-time delivery %, quality claims, forecast accuracy	ERP, customer portals
Employee (D2)	Production Workers	Absenteeism, safety incidents, grievances	Timekeeping, safety, HR
Revenue (D3)	Production Revenue	Contribution margin, capacity utilization, backlog	ERP, production planning
Regulatory (D4)	Safety/Environmental	OSHA incidents, EPA compliance, ISO certifications	Safety, environmental
Quality (D5)	Production Quality	First-pass yield, scrap rate, customer PPM	QMS, inspection
Operational (D6)	Production Efficiency	OEE, changeover time, downtime	MES, SCADA

Manufacturing-Specific Trigger Keywords

High Urgency:

"line down"                 "safety incident"         "recall"
"OSHA citation"             "environmental release"   "customer stop-ship"
"major defect"              "contamination"          "equipment failure"

Medium Urgency:

"scrap"                     "rework"                  "downtime"
"changeover delay"          "quality hold"            "supplier issue"
"capacity constraint"       "maintenance overdue"     "yield drop"

Manufacturing Cascade Example

Problem: Production line equipment failure (Operational issue)

OPERATIONAL (Origin): Line down 48 hours
    │
    ├── REVENUE (90% in manufacturing)
    │   Production capacity lost
    │   Customer penalties for late delivery
    │   Margin impact from expediting
    │
    ├── QUALITY (80%)
    │   Rushed startup after repair
    │   First-pass yield drops
    │   Scrap increases
    │
    └── CUSTOMER (70%)
        Late deliveries
        Allocation decisions
        Relationship strain

Manufacturing Multiplier: Operational issues carry 6-10× multipliers due to:

Fixed cost absorption (line down = revenue lost forever)
Customer penalty clauses (automotive OEMs are brutal)
Cascade to other production lines (bottleneck effect)
Expediting costs (air freight, overtime, etc.)

Manufacturing Metrics

Dimension	Leading Indicator	Lagging Indicator	Target
Customer	Customer scorecard	On-time delivery %	>98%
Production Quality	In-process inspection results	First-pass yield	>95%
Safety/Environmental	Near-miss reports	OSHA recordable rate	<2.0
Efficiency	Real-time OEE	Overall equipment effectiveness	>85%

SaaS / Technology

Dimension Adaptations

Standard Dimension	SaaS Variation	Key Observable	Data Source
Customer (D1)	User Experience	Adoption rate, feature usage, NPS, churn signals	Product analytics, CRM
Employee (D2)	Engineering/CS	Deployment frequency, on-call burden, turnover	JIRA, PagerDuty, HR
Revenue (D3)	ARR/MRR	Net revenue retention, expansion rate, CAC payback	Billing, SaaS metrics
Regulatory (D4)	SOC2/GDPR/HIPAA	Security findings, data breaches, compliance gaps	InfoSec, compliance
Quality (D5)	Technical Debt	Code coverage, bug escape rate, tech debt ratio	GitHub, JIRA, code analysis
Operational (D6)	System Reliability	Uptime, incident frequency, MTTR	APM, incident management

SaaS-Specific Trigger Keywords

High Urgency:

"system down"               "data breach"             "P1 incident"
"security vulnerability"    "customer escalation"     "churn notice"
"data loss"                 "outage"                  "rollback"

Medium Urgency:

"bug"                       "performance degradation" "integration failure"
"tech debt"                 "deployment blocked"      "on-call fatigue"
"feature request"           "competitive pressure"    "usage decline"

SaaS Cascade Example

Problem: Major platform outage (Operational issue)

OPERATIONAL (Origin): 4-hour outage
    │
    ├── CUSTOMER (95% in SaaS)
    │   Cannot access product
    │   Productivity loss
    │   Trust erosion
    │
    ├── REVENUE (80%)
    │   SLA credits issued
    │   Churn acceleration
    │   Expansion pipeline stalled
    │
    └── EMPLOYEE (75%)
        All-hands incident response
        Engineering burnout
        Support team overwhelmed

SaaS Multiplier: Availability issues carry 8-15× multipliers due to:

Immediate customer impact (entire customer base affected)
Viral social media (outage = Twitter storm)
Compounding churn (one outage triggers reviews of all accounts)
NRR impact (existing customers don't expand after outages)

SaaS Metrics

Dimension	Leading Indicator	Lagging Indicator	Target
User Experience	Daily active users, feature adoption	Net Promoter Score	>40
System Reliability	Error rate, latency p95	Uptime %	>99.9%
Revenue	Expansion pipeline, usage trends	Net revenue retention	>110%
Technical Debt	Code coverage, static analysis	Bug escape rate	>80% coverage

Industry Comparison Matrix

Factor	Healthcare	Financial Services	Manufacturing	SaaS
Highest Multiplier Dimension	Regulatory (10-15×)	Customer/Client (8-12×)	Operational (6-10×)	Customer (8-15×)
Most Common Cascade	Quality → Regulatory	Quality → Customer	Operational → Revenue	Operational → Customer
Fastest Cascade Velocity	Patient safety events (minutes)	Trade errors (hours)	Line down (hours)	System outage (minutes)
Regulatory Complexity	Very High (CMS, HIPAA, TJC)	Very High (SEC, FINRA, OCC)	Medium (OSHA, EPA)	Medium (SOC2, GDPR)
Detection Difficulty	Medium (clinical data lag)	Low (real-time trade data)	Low (sensor data)	Very Low (APM, logs)

Adapting 6D to Your Industry

Step 1: Map Your Dimensions

For each dimension, identify:

Industry-specific name (e.g., Customer → Patient)
Key observables specific to your context
Data sources you already have
Trigger keywords your teams actually use

Step 2: Calibrate Cascade Pathways

Study your historical incidents:

Which dimension is the most common origin of problems?
Which cascade path appears most frequently?
Which cascades have the highest severity?

Update cascade probabilities based on your reality.

Step 3: Set Industry-Appropriate Multipliers

Research industry benchmarks:

What do regulatory penalties actually cost in your industry?
What's the typical customer acquisition cost (for churn multipliers)?
What are production/downtime costs per hour?
What do employee turnover and hiring actually cost?

Step 4: Align Metrics to Industry Standards

Use metrics your industry already tracks:

Healthcare: CMS measures, HCAHPS, CLABSI rates
FinServ: AUM flows, NIM, STP rates
Manufacturing: OEE, first-pass yield, on-time delivery
SaaS: NRR, uptime, deployment frequency

Don't invent new metrics. Map 6D to what you already measure.

Industry-Specific Resources

Healthcare

CMS Quality Programs: Hospital Value-Based Purchasing, Hospital Readmissions Reduction
Patient Safety: AHRQ Common Formats, National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI)
Regulatory: The Joint Commission standards, CMS Conditions of Participation

Financial Services

SEC: Form ADV, Custody Rule, Reg BI
FINRA: Rule 3110 (Supervision), Rule 4530 (Reporting)
Banking: FDICIA, CAMELS ratings, OCC guidance

Manufacturing

Quality: ISO 9001, IATF 16949 (automotive), AS9100 (aerospace)
Safety: OSHA 300 logs, Process Safety Management (PSM)
Efficiency: SEMI E10 (equipment), OEE standards

SaaS

Security: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001
Privacy: GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA (for health tech)
Reliability: SRE principles, SLA best practices

Next Steps

📖 Observable Properties — Adapt signals to your industry

📊 Cascade Pathways — Calibrate cascades to your context

🎯 Scoring Methodology — Use industry-specific multipliers

📖 Case Studies — See cross-industry examples

Remember: Your industry is unique, but the dimensions are universal. Adapt the observables, not the framework. 🪶

Industry Variations ​

Core Principle ​

Healthcare ​

Dimension Adaptations ​

Healthcare-Specific Trigger Keywords ​

Healthcare Cascade Example ​

Healthcare Metrics ​

Financial Services ​

Dimension Adaptations ​

FinServ-Specific Trigger Keywords ​

Financial Services Cascade Example ​

Financial Services Metrics ​

Manufacturing ​

Dimension Adaptations ​

Manufacturing-Specific Trigger Keywords ​

Manufacturing Cascade Example ​

Manufacturing Metrics ​

SaaS / Technology ​

Dimension Adaptations ​

SaaS-Specific Trigger Keywords ​

SaaS Cascade Example ​

SaaS Metrics ​

Industry Comparison Matrix ​

Adapting 6D to Your Industry ​

Step 1: Map Your Dimensions ​

Step 2: Calibrate Cascade Pathways ​

Step 3: Set Industry-Appropriate Multipliers ​

Step 4: Align Metrics to Industry Standards ​

Industry-Specific Resources ​

Healthcare ​

Financial Services ​

Manufacturing ​

SaaS ​

Next Steps ​

Industry Variations

Core Principle

Healthcare

Dimension Adaptations

Healthcare-Specific Trigger Keywords

Healthcare Cascade Example

Healthcare Metrics

Financial Services

Dimension Adaptations

FinServ-Specific Trigger Keywords

Financial Services Cascade Example

Financial Services Metrics

Manufacturing

Dimension Adaptations

Manufacturing-Specific Trigger Keywords

Manufacturing Cascade Example

Manufacturing Metrics

SaaS / Technology

Dimension Adaptations

SaaS-Specific Trigger Keywords

SaaS Cascade Example

SaaS Metrics

Industry Comparison Matrix

Adapting 6D to Your Industry

Step 1: Map Your Dimensions

Step 2: Calibrate Cascade Pathways

Step 3: Set Industry-Appropriate Multipliers

Step 4: Align Metrics to Industry Standards

Industry-Specific Resources

Healthcare

Financial Services

Manufacturing

SaaS

Next Steps