What is root cause analysis?
Also called: RCA
Last updated
Root cause analysis, or RCA, is a structured way of finding the underlying cause of a problem, rather than its symptoms, so that fixing it stops the problem coming back. It gathers the facts, works back from what happened to why, and checks the cause against the evidence before any action is chosen.
In more detail
Common methods include the 5 Whys, which asks why repeatedly until it reaches a cause that can be acted on; the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram, which sorts possible causes into groups such as people, methods, machines and materials; and 8D, an eight-discipline problem-solving process used widely in manufacturing.
Most problems have more than one cause, and the useful causes are usually about processes and conditions rather than individual mistakes. An RCA that ends with “human error” has usually stopped too early.
Example
A customer receives the wrong order twice in a month. Asking why: the picker took the wrong item; the two products share a shelf; the shelf was reorganised and the labels not updated; nobody owns label changes. The fix is a labelling step in the shelf change procedure, not more care from pickers.
Root cause analysis in CheckFlow
In CheckFlow an RCA can run as a checklist: the problem statement, evidence and each why recorded in fields, with File Upload for photos and data. A halt stops the actions being chosen before the cause is agreed, and a Linked Checklist field can start the corrective action as its own checklist.
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