RCA and TEA are processes used to analyze defects and improve quality. RCA seeks to determine the root cause of defects to prevent future occurrences, while TEA aims to help testing teams detect defects earlier. Both utilize defect data, with some common fields like reason introduced and development phase. RCA data is collected for all defects to drive process improvements, while TEA examines samples to spot trends and focus test improvements. Collecting and analyzing this data can help reduce costs by finding and fixing defects earlier.
Root Cause Analysis - Tools, Tips and Tricks to Get to the Bottom of Root CauseCraig Thornton
This webinar discusses and investigates how to conduct root cause analysis. Root cause analysis is something that companies really struggle with. There will be plenty of practical advice in the webinar to help with you understand the concepts and the tools.
If you would like to watch the recording of this webinar then copy and paste the below link into your web browser:
http://www.mangolive.com/blog-mango/root-cause-analysis-tools-webinar
Root Cause Analysis, The 5 Why’s, and The Fishbone DiagramInvensis Learning
Processes across industry sectors often face problems due to non-conforming parts, which eventually lead to process failure, productivity, and even rework. Even when organizations have the best of frameworks or quality controls at place, problems still persist. So, it is highly imperative to ensure problems do not reoccur and get to the root cause of the same. This is where Root Cause Analysis (RCA) comes into the picture that uses a collection of problem solving methods to get to the actual root cause of the problem.
When confronted with a problem, have you ever stopped and asked "why" five times? The Five Whys technique is a simple but powerful way to troubleshoot problems by exploring cause-and-effect relationships.
Root Cause Analysis - Tools, Tips and Tricks to Get to the Bottom of Root CauseCraig Thornton
This webinar discusses and investigates how to conduct root cause analysis. Root cause analysis is something that companies really struggle with. There will be plenty of practical advice in the webinar to help with you understand the concepts and the tools.
If you would like to watch the recording of this webinar then copy and paste the below link into your web browser:
http://www.mangolive.com/blog-mango/root-cause-analysis-tools-webinar
Root Cause Analysis, The 5 Why’s, and The Fishbone DiagramInvensis Learning
Processes across industry sectors often face problems due to non-conforming parts, which eventually lead to process failure, productivity, and even rework. Even when organizations have the best of frameworks or quality controls at place, problems still persist. So, it is highly imperative to ensure problems do not reoccur and get to the root cause of the same. This is where Root Cause Analysis (RCA) comes into the picture that uses a collection of problem solving methods to get to the actual root cause of the problem.
When confronted with a problem, have you ever stopped and asked "why" five times? The Five Whys technique is a simple but powerful way to troubleshoot problems by exploring cause-and-effect relationships.
ABOUT THE TRAINING PROGRAM :-
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a class of problem solving methods aimed at identifying the root causes of problems or events. The practice of RCA is predicated on the belief that problems are best solved by attempting to address, correct or eliminate root causes, as opposed to merely addressing the immediately obvious symptoms. By directing corrective measures at root causes, it is more probable that problem recurrence will be prevented.
DESIGNED FOR :-
Managers, Engineers, Supervisor and officers engaged in maintenance operation and engineering activities.
OBJECTIVE :-
At the end of the training program, participants will be able
- To gain a basic understanding of the problem solving and decision-making process and the applicable quality tools that support this process.
- To develop specific competencies to use the structured approach to problem solving and decision making and the supporting quality tools.
TRAINING PROGRAM COVERAGE :-
- Basic knowledge about RCA program.
- What are the RCA tools ?
- More about Why- Why analysis ?
- Videos and case studies on RCA
Managing staff poor performance handling staff capability issuesThe Pathway Group
Managing Poor Performance and capability
In order for a business to be successful, poor performance must be managed effectively. It is an essential management skill, and yet for many managers it can be one of the most stressful and difficult parts of their job. Ensuring you have a clear and well thought through process for managing poor performance is therefore vital; firstly to help managers perform well in the process, and secondly to give your staff and therefore your business the best chance of being successful.
When poor performance occurs
• Deal with poor performance immediately
• Don’t pre-judge the situation
• Be specific
• Be calm!
• Offer support
This case study will detail a real nonconformance investigation using the Root Cause Analysis (RCA). The Quality Assurance of a pharmaceutical company has detected a failure during the test audit after a manufactured lot inspection. The investigation concluded that the failure was due to a defective component; which later led the supplier to authorize the return of their product, and to initiate substantial process corrective actions.
[To download this poster, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations]
The Quality Maintenance (Hinshitsu Hozen) Poster describes the systematic approach for establishing and maintaining zero-defect conditions to create 100% good products.
The poster comes in four monochrome variations. Formatted in PDF and in editable PPTX, the poster can be easily printed on an A3 or A4-sized paper from an office copier machine and displayed on employee workstations, or distributed together with your workshop handouts.
The Quality Maintenance Poster complements the 'Quality Maintenance (Hinshitsu Hozen)' training presentation materials. It serves as a takeaway and summary of your TPM and Quality Maintenance presentation.
The 8 Steps of Quality Maintenance are:
Step 1: Verify the Existing Situation
Step 2: Investigate the Processes where Defects Occur
Step 3: Identify & Analyze 4M Conditions
Step 4: Plan Action to Correct Deficiencies
Step 5: Establish Conditions that Allow Good Products to be Achieved
Step 6: Eliminate Flaws in 4M Conditions and Finalize
Step 7: Consolidate Checking Methods
Step 8: Determine Standard Values for Checks & Revise Standards
To downoad this poster, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations
The process of diagnosing product problems identified during design, manufacture or use brings many challenges. The presentation will discuss ways to alleviate these difficulties using a structured, troubleshooting-based approach, and being aware of some common errors and ways of dealing with them.
• How to analyze data for low frequency failures
• Using the information from RCA for improving both prevention and detection
• Understand why finding a product solution often isn’t enough
Basic 8D Problem Solving Tools & Methods - Part 2Tony Alvarez
I've taught many workshops on basic problem solving over the years at various companies. This 3 part presentation collects tools and methods that I've found useful and that most people tend to be able to put into practice quickly. Problem solving is ground that has been covered by many people many times in the past and this presentation builds on that work, incorporates my experience and hopefully integrates it in a way that provides some new insights. This is the 2nd of a 3 part presentation.
Want a practical approach to reducing Failures in your organization? Thing simple however think Big when it comes to an approach. This is not a recipe, it is an idea for you to expand on. Make it your own however their are ideas which are solid. Make a difference today in reducing failures.
Root Cause Analysis - When is a problem not a problem?ARMS Reliability
In Root Cause Analysis, the problem definition is critical to ensuring the investigation is meaningful and worthwhile. ARMS Reliability and the Apollo Root Cause Analysis methodology give you the skills to systematically conduct root cause analysis investigations to ensure your investigations are focussed and effective
ABOUT THE TRAINING PROGRAM :-
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a class of problem solving methods aimed at identifying the root causes of problems or events. The practice of RCA is predicated on the belief that problems are best solved by attempting to address, correct or eliminate root causes, as opposed to merely addressing the immediately obvious symptoms. By directing corrective measures at root causes, it is more probable that problem recurrence will be prevented.
DESIGNED FOR :-
Managers, Engineers, Supervisor and officers engaged in maintenance operation and engineering activities.
OBJECTIVE :-
At the end of the training program, participants will be able
- To gain a basic understanding of the problem solving and decision-making process and the applicable quality tools that support this process.
- To develop specific competencies to use the structured approach to problem solving and decision making and the supporting quality tools.
TRAINING PROGRAM COVERAGE :-
- Basic knowledge about RCA program.
- What are the RCA tools ?
- More about Why- Why analysis ?
- Videos and case studies on RCA
Managing staff poor performance handling staff capability issuesThe Pathway Group
Managing Poor Performance and capability
In order for a business to be successful, poor performance must be managed effectively. It is an essential management skill, and yet for many managers it can be one of the most stressful and difficult parts of their job. Ensuring you have a clear and well thought through process for managing poor performance is therefore vital; firstly to help managers perform well in the process, and secondly to give your staff and therefore your business the best chance of being successful.
When poor performance occurs
• Deal with poor performance immediately
• Don’t pre-judge the situation
• Be specific
• Be calm!
• Offer support
This case study will detail a real nonconformance investigation using the Root Cause Analysis (RCA). The Quality Assurance of a pharmaceutical company has detected a failure during the test audit after a manufactured lot inspection. The investigation concluded that the failure was due to a defective component; which later led the supplier to authorize the return of their product, and to initiate substantial process corrective actions.
[To download this poster, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations]
The Quality Maintenance (Hinshitsu Hozen) Poster describes the systematic approach for establishing and maintaining zero-defect conditions to create 100% good products.
The poster comes in four monochrome variations. Formatted in PDF and in editable PPTX, the poster can be easily printed on an A3 or A4-sized paper from an office copier machine and displayed on employee workstations, or distributed together with your workshop handouts.
The Quality Maintenance Poster complements the 'Quality Maintenance (Hinshitsu Hozen)' training presentation materials. It serves as a takeaway and summary of your TPM and Quality Maintenance presentation.
The 8 Steps of Quality Maintenance are:
Step 1: Verify the Existing Situation
Step 2: Investigate the Processes where Defects Occur
Step 3: Identify & Analyze 4M Conditions
Step 4: Plan Action to Correct Deficiencies
Step 5: Establish Conditions that Allow Good Products to be Achieved
Step 6: Eliminate Flaws in 4M Conditions and Finalize
Step 7: Consolidate Checking Methods
Step 8: Determine Standard Values for Checks & Revise Standards
To downoad this poster, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations
The process of diagnosing product problems identified during design, manufacture or use brings many challenges. The presentation will discuss ways to alleviate these difficulties using a structured, troubleshooting-based approach, and being aware of some common errors and ways of dealing with them.
• How to analyze data for low frequency failures
• Using the information from RCA for improving both prevention and detection
• Understand why finding a product solution often isn’t enough
Basic 8D Problem Solving Tools & Methods - Part 2Tony Alvarez
I've taught many workshops on basic problem solving over the years at various companies. This 3 part presentation collects tools and methods that I've found useful and that most people tend to be able to put into practice quickly. Problem solving is ground that has been covered by many people many times in the past and this presentation builds on that work, incorporates my experience and hopefully integrates it in a way that provides some new insights. This is the 2nd of a 3 part presentation.
Want a practical approach to reducing Failures in your organization? Thing simple however think Big when it comes to an approach. This is not a recipe, it is an idea for you to expand on. Make it your own however their are ideas which are solid. Make a difference today in reducing failures.
Root Cause Analysis - When is a problem not a problem?ARMS Reliability
In Root Cause Analysis, the problem definition is critical to ensuring the investigation is meaningful and worthwhile. ARMS Reliability and the Apollo Root Cause Analysis methodology give you the skills to systematically conduct root cause analysis investigations to ensure your investigations are focussed and effective
Course material from my Object-Oriented Development course.This presentation covers the analysis phases and focuses on class discovery, domain modeling, activity diagrams, and sequence diagrams.
Software Testing is a very time consuming activity and consumes enormous amount of effort in any software project. It makes sense to improve productivity of software testing as well as to reduce the defect density in the software, so that overall economy in the project is achieved. In order to do this, we need to understand the defects, their root causes and be able to predict their outcome in advance during estimation.
This presentation by Oaksys is an attempt to share its experience of over 10 years (1998-2008) with the practitioners.
HCLT Whitepaper: Landmines of Software Testing MetricsHCL Technologies
http://www.hcltech.com/enterprise-transformation-services/overview~ More on ETS
It is not only desirable but also necessary to assess the quality of testing being delivered by a vendor. Specific to software testing, there are some discerning metrics that one an look at, however it must be kept in mind that there are multiple factors that affect these metrics which are not necessarily under the control of testing team. The SLAs for testing initiatives can, and should, only be committed after a detailed understanding of the customer’s IT organization in terms of culture and process maturity and after analyzing the various trends among these metrics. This white paper lists some of the popular testing metrics and the factors one must keep in mind while reading in to their values.
Excerpts from the Paper
The estimates and planning for testing is based on certain assumptions and available historical data. However if there are higher number of disruptions (than anticipated) to testing in terms of environment unavailability or higher number of defects being found and fixed, the quality time available for testing the system would be less and hence higher number of defects slip through the testing stage. We must ensure that the data on defects on all subsequent stages are also available and are accurate. Production defects are usually handled by a separate Production support team and testing team is at times not given much insight in to this data. Also, since multiple projects and/or Programs would be going live, one after another, there are usually challenges in identifying which defects in Production can be attributed to which Project or Program. Inaccuracies in assignment would lead to inaccurate measure of test stage effectiveness.
Whitepaper: How to perform better test on SAP PI/PODaniel Graversen
This white paper covers how users are testing their SAP PI/PO solutions.
It shows you how why your interfaces are important to your business and SAP Landscape.
Then you will see what good tests will do to lower the expected failures and stability of your system.
You will see what the different ways of automating the testing are and how you can make your SAP PI/PO testing even faster. Then finally you will see how you can make a full automation of the test using Figaf IRT
Application Performance: 6 Steps to Enhance Performance of Critical SystemsCAST
See more ways to improve application performance: https://www.castsoftware.com/use-cases/Improve-adm-quality
This white paper presents a six-step Application Performance
Modeling Process using software intelligence to identify potential performance issues earlier in the development lifecycle. Enriching dynamic testing with structural quality analysis gives ADM teams insight into the performance behavior of applications by highlighting critical application performance issues, especially when combined with runtime
information.
By adding structural quality analysis, ADM teams learn important information about violations of architectural and programming best practices earlier in the development lifecycle than with a pure dynamic testing approach. Structural quality analysis as part of the performance modeling process allows for fact-based insight into application complexity (e.g. multiple layers, dynamics of their interactions, complexity of SQL, etc.) and allows ADM managers to anticipate evolution of the runtime context (e.g. growing volume of data, higher number of transactions, etc.). The combined approach results in better detection of latent application performance issues within software. Resolving application performance issues early in the development cycle, these alerts help to not only save money but also prevent complete business disruptions.
See more ways to improve application performance: https://www.castsoftware.com/use-cases/Improve-adm-quality
Early introduction of requirement analysis helps QA teams to collaborate with development teams in the identification of complex requirements early enough to develop thorough tests ahead of the code’s arrival.
RCA on Residual defects – Techniques for adaptive Regression testingIndium Software
One of the important issues associated with a system lifespan view that we have ignored in past
years is the effects of enduring defects – defects that persist undetected – across several
releases of a system. Many studies performed to date have evaluated regression testing
techniques under the limited context such as short term assessment which do not fully account
for the industry based solutions.
Reports estimate that regression testing consumes as much as 80% of the overall testing
budget and can consume up to 50% of the cost of software maintenance.
A core banking system (CBS) is a central system dedicated to the processing of banks’ transactions. It also handles accounts, securities, payments of loans, and so on. A Core Banking Transformation, in turn, is the process of replacing, upgrading, or outsourcing this core system. As CBS is the very heart of a bank, transforming it has a high chance of disrupting day-to-day operations. In the face of such costly disruptions, software testing can act as a reliable safeguard. This paper offers the strategies that QA teams can adopt to mitigate the risk and thus ensure the success of this radical transformation.
Non functional performance requirements v2.2Ian McDonald
How to write and structure non-functional requirements. Focusing upon performance requirements. This is a quick get you going guide in how to avoid writing untestable requirements and make sure what you want is delivered.
These slides contain general advice for considering an ALM tooling solution. This includes management of requirements, tests and defects. It is a draft release.
This presentation is aimed to stimulate improvement at requirements review, with the intent of improving defect injection. Some specific mention is made of non-functional requirements - specifically performance and security. This is one slide pack of a set.
2. Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
The importance of a good CMM profile is to
achieve:
Better customer satisfaction
Increased quality
More accurate schedules
Lower development costs
Substantial return on investment
Improved employee morale and reduced
turnover
2
3. CMM Levels
The levels within CMM are:
2. Initial (chaotic, ad hoc, individual heroics) - the starting
point for use of a new process.
3. Managed - the process is managed according to the
metrics described in the Defined stage.
4. Defined - the process is defined/confirmed as a
standard business process, and decomposed to levels
0, 1 and 2 (the latter being Work Instructions).
5. Quantitatively managed
6. Optimizing - process management includes deliberate
process optimization/improvement.
3
4. Optimisation CMM Level 5
1. Level 5 is about not only collecting metrics, but using
these to feedback into the company processes to
improve the process further.
2. This presentation addresses the opportunities for
improvement from the collection of Defect Record
Metrics. In particular two processes as part of the life
cycle:
3. Root Cause Analysis (RCA) – covered within this
presentation.
4. Test Escape Analysis (TEA) – covered in a further
presentation, but mentioned here for clarification.
4
5. Cost of Defect Fixing
It can take one person 10 minutes to find a
defect in requirements, 10 minutes to fix
the document. Cost £10 per defect
(2010).
Finding the same defect in Functional Test
and then Fixing. Cost £211 per defect.
Finding the same single defect in System
Integration Testing. Cost £587 per defect.
Cost following delivery £? + £Reputation.
5
6. RCA vs TEA
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) allows us to
learn, rectify and avoid future defect
injection. Providing we use the data.
Test Escape Analysis (TEA) in contrast
allows us to become more efficient at
testing and avoid future defects from
escaping detection. Provided we use the
data.
6
7. Cost of Defect Fixing
It can take one person 10 minutes to find a defect in
requirements, 10 minutes to fix the document. Cost £10
per defect.
Finding the same defect in Functional Test and then
Fixing. Cost £211 per defect.
Finding the same single defect in System Integration
Testing. Cost £587 per defect.
Cost following delivery £? + £Reputation.
Ideally we want to prevent the defect injection in the first
place and be able to find those defects that do occur a
lot sooner. RCA and TEA ultimately lead to budget
savings and faster delivery.
7
8. Purpose
Root Cause Analysis is aimed at
the code programming – why
was the defect introduced.
Analogy why did the tightrope
walker fall
TEA in contrast is about why a
defect was not detected.
Analogy why did we not catch the
falling tightrope walker.
8
9. Purpose
We do RCA to improve our
development techniques. This might
result for example in changes in design
methods, review check lists updated,
training, new tools deployed, etc. RCA is
targeted at developers.
We do TEA to learn how to detect
more defects and how to detect them
sooner and smarter. The ultimate goal is
to drive down the number of defects
leaking to the customer by finding those
defects ourselves first.
9
10. TEA and RCA Handling
Both RCA and TEA are handled as part of the Defect Management
process. Collecting data within the Defect Management Database,
using the Defect Management Tooling deployed.
TEA is handled on a statistical bases by development team (a tester
and developer – to assist in setting the context of the defect fix). The
process helps the test team to prioritise specific test design
approaches (e.g. methods as described within BS7925-2 and other
such test design methods such as Classification Tree). The outcome
is to ensure that we learn from the experience and apply the right test
design techniques or right test tooling far sooner in the development
and test lifecycle. That means we spend less time and money testing
and fixing defects.
TEA is targeted at a particular phase of a project, to avoid future
defect leeks beyond that phase. It uses only a sample of defects
(e.g. Customer Reported Critical and High Severity), it will aim
typically to address 80% of the defects within the targeted group and
is about spotting trends. TEA accepts that not all defects will be
capable of being identified as being able to prevent earlier.
10
11. TEA and RCA Handling
RCA in contrast is carried out for ALL defects. at
all levels of the product life cycle. It can be
carried out by the development team as defects
are reported and fixed. However it is mandated
to be completed by the time the defect is declared
fixed and ready for test. The test team need to
ensure that the RCA process has been
completed at the time the Defect is received,
before closing the defect. This is important since
the RCA report may prompt additional targeted
testing. Consequently RCA also has a side
benefit in that it can prompt improved defect fix
testing.
11
12. Benefits of RCA
This is about collecting data that influences change for the better. The information may
lead for example to:
An individual ABC has always used a particular method to set up a call to a procedure,
this quick method has been passed onto other team members. However on the new
project this often causes problems, which is fixed later by the defect fixing team.
Spotting this reoccurring problem will mean that we can simply talk to the team and
point out the reoccurring problem and prevent this type of defect being re-injected. We
might also want to update the project review check list, to spot these problems sooner.
We may have specific problems with a COTS package, which may lead to a
commercial decision to create a specific support process or use a different package.
We may be interfacing with customer legacy code that is being maintained by another
team or company. Having the metrics that show that we are having problems with
changes that break links can be helpful in changing process operating procedures.
We might have issues with operating system changes.
We may need to adapt to a different compiler (e.g. we are using techniques that only
worked on the previous one in a different project).
We may need to update our company training. e.g. we may have issues with the way
requirements are defined and reviewed. OR we may find that we are letting too many
defects through at review and we may want to look at how the review process is
running.
We may have race conditions in code that require that in future we do specific timing
checks, or use specific methods to prevent future conditions arising.
12
13. When Triggered in Defect Life Cycle
RCA data can be collected at any point within a defect
lifecycle. This is because information about the cause of
the defect starts to become available at the moment the
defect is reported. This information can later be
updated, however by the time the defect is declared
fixed and ready for test RCA is mandatory.
TEA can be triggered in a number of ways:
By a defect being raised to the triggered criteria (e.g. Customer
Reported, Critical or High Severity, Defect Fixed and an RCA
report raised).
By manually choosing to include a TEA report.
Either as an early report for the targeted classification of defects.
OR for any other type of defect.
13
14. Commonality between TEA and
RCA
Within the defect data fields, there will be some
commonality between TEA and RCA, as both
processes will want to use SOME common data
e.g:
Reason fault introduced
Development Phase fault introduced (we will
want this to fit the delivery life cycle
management process)
Code designed from (e.g. Customer
Requirements, Engineering Requirements, API
Specification, etc)
14
15. Reason Introduced
A shared field with the main Defect between RCA and TEA. The record can
be changed from any of the reports.
Fields include:
Code Missing
Code not fully built or tested Stage Defect Introduced:
Coding Error “Earliest stage in the processes
Design Incorrect that the defect could have been
Design Missing or Incomplete prevented”.
Design Unclear Reason Introduced:
Environment Unavailable “Provide finer detail as to the initial
root cause of the defect”.
Initial Fix Incomplete
Initial Fix Incorrect
Requirement Incorrect
Requirement Missing or Incomplete
Requirement Unclear
Standards Not Followed
Typing Mistake
Other (free text)
15
16. Development Phase
Requirements Review,
Design Review,
Code Review, Phase Defect Introduced:
“Earliest phase in the processes
Unit Test, that the defect was introduced”.
This should ideally fit within the
Delivery Life Cycle process.
Component Test,
Component Integration Test,
System Test
16
17. Code Designed From
API Spec,
Detail Design, What was the source used,
from which the code with the
Requirement, defect was created?
Standards,
Functional Specification,
Developer Led Requirements,
Other (Selecting Other allows a free text
field to be used).
17
18. Typical data to collect within RCA
In addition with the data that is common with TEA, one
may want to consider the following.
However one can update and change this list. It may be
for example that in looking at System Architecture that
we have a lot of defects and we decide to provide sub-
clauses to help us manage these. On the other hand we
may find that coding contains too many options to be
useful and we decide to reduce or group options. The
point being is that we collect data to bring about
improvement and we do not collect data for the sake of
it.:
This is considering a Software project and Hardware
projects will need different data collecting.
18
19. RCA Data Capture
Recursion
Database Error Resource
Coding Error “Identify list of common coding problems.” • Null Pointer
Arithmetic • Un-initialised Pointer
Division by zero • Data Type
Arithmetic overflow • Access Violations
Arithmetic Underflow • Memory Handling
Precision • File Handling
Rounding • Buffer Overflow
Arithmetic Stability • Storage Violation
Boundary Condition or Off Bye One Error (OBOE) • Stack Overflow
Compatibility Security – Coding Issue
Browser • Buffer Overflows
• Format Strings
Operating System • Canonicalization
Interface • Privilege Checking
GUI Related • Script Injection
Logic • Information Leakage
Infinite Loops • Error Handling
Busy Wait Loops Syntax
Deadlock – two or more actions are each waiting for
the other to finish Team working - clashes due to conflicting changes
Memory Access Violation within code
Race Condition
Hardware Compatibility
System Architecture Error
Other (plus free text)
19
20. Summary
For projects where products are continually
revised and updated, TEA can help to reduce
defect leakage.
It can also be useful for large programmes
targeting reviews at past phases.
The defect record fields need to be set up to
accommodate TEA.
TEA reviews are targeted at sample batches
the reviewers are seeking patterns to discover
where to target test improvement.
20