Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis is a method to find the original cause of the fault in a product or process that the person or company faces. A Business Analyst uses tools and techniques to find out the root cause of an issue which can be described below:

1. The issue or possibility needs to be elaborated: It’s mandatory to describe the problem in easy terms. The issues can be broken into smaller parts and could be prioritized to external or internal factors. The issue needs to be checked if it happened only once or repeated many times.

2. Gather facts: Collect as much as facts and data about the issue as much as we can. Stakeholders can be involved to give an input to the solution.

3.Diagrams- The root cause analysis can be depicted using diagrams like Fishbone.

4. Use the 5 Why’s: It’s a simple technique used where group of people will brainstorm the cause by ask a why followed by an answer to it which will lead to the main cause of the problem.

5. Create the issue again: We can create the issue in a tested environment to detect the root cause of the problem.

6. Find the best cause-From all the causes that are determined, there’ll be a cause that will be seen. This cause can be considered as the root analysis cause and solutions from it needs to be determined to avoid this cause further repeated.

7. Solution needs to be found out- All possible solutions are determined and the best one is chosen to define the cause. The stakeholders can be involved in to get their feedback in selecting the best solution.

8. Test the solution-The solution can be tested in a testing environment. This type of testing needs to be included in SDLC.

9. Get sign-off- The findings can be approved documental so that everyone agrees with the solution. This information can be used to update the document.
10. Take action: The solution can be applied, and it can be applied to the existing project.

Root cause analysis is  the difference between a one time fix and maintenance that can be preventive