Free Root Cause Analysis Template

Well there's your problem!

When something gets released to Production which adversely affects a customer, we sometimes write up a formal Root Cause Analysis to send to the customer. It basically explains what happened, and how we intend to prevent it from happening again.

Here's a free template for what we send.



{Company Logo goes here}

Root Cause Analysis (INTERNAL)

Incident Date: {the date the incident occurred}
Root Cause Analysis Author: {the author of this RCA}
Client: {the client to whom this RCA is sent}
Product: {the product impacted by this incident}


Synopsis of events:
Include a summary paragraph describing what happened. copyrightjoestrazzere

Timeline:  
Describe the timeline of events – what happened, when. Note the time of the first action leading up to the incident, the time when it first impacted clients, the time when it was resolved, and the time of any other significant events.

Root cause:
Describe the root cause which led to the incident.

Resolution:
Describe the actions which resolved the incident.

Corrective Actions to Prevent Re-occurrence: 
Describe what is being done (or what will be done) to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

And here's a doc file you can use:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1X3i44SoVGlR2xxWUtjUlY1aHc/edit


Image courtesy of Just2shutter / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality

	My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance. I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing. Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.