REASON® Root Cause Analysis

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The REASON RCA System

Introduction

REASON® brings professional level Root Cause Analysis capabilities to the Quality / Safety / Operations professional that no other system can begin to match for ease of use, accuracy and cost effectiveness.

REASON is both a method and an expert system software. The REASON method is a standard operating procedure that guides you to ask the right questions at the right time to get the right answers.  This dynamic, state-of the-art methodology is programmed into the expert system of the software, which will then guide you, step by step, through the root cause analysis process. Professional REASON training focuses on the method but includes abundant “hands on” practice in applying the method with the use of the software tool. Together, the REASON method, tool, and training make a powerful root cause analysis system that that all of your employees can use and that will greatly increase the productivity and reliability of the operations in your organization.

REASON Root Cause Analysis is a multifaceted discipline that leads a user through the investigation of an event using a standard, repeatable inquiry process. This process guides the user to logically reconstruct an event from the causal facts. The method of inquiry is not based on predetermined questions found in a list or template but is a process that dynamically creates a line of questioning based on the very nature of the facts themselves. The REASON process ensures that the questions logically required by an event are indeed asked.  It is a dynamic, systematic process that guides the investigator to discover the relevant facts, their causal relationship and potential solutions.

 Following this process creates a tree model of the event. The tree visually represents the discrete facts of the event and graphically depicts how these discreet facts networked to produce the overall event being investigated. The tree also indicates solutions could have interrupted the causal network, thus achieving prevention of the unwanted event.

 When the model is finished, REASON generates a series of reports and analyses automatically. Simply select the report elements desired, including cover sheet, report narrative and tree model, and REASON will automatically assemble your report for printing or for editing.

Find out why NASA contractors, nuclear sites, major power utilities, national laboratories, electronic manufacturers, chemical companies, and oil refineries use the REASON root cause analysis system when they must get the right answer quickly . . . and the first time. REASON® is the best of both worlds: so accurate that it can solve problems and support decisions on a nuclear submarine; so easy that anyone can learn and use the system in a few hours.

We believe that you will catch the excitement: new skills, new capabilities; new goals; new levels of achievement.

The Right Tool “Scaled” to Fit the Size of the Problem

 REASON now offers three "tiers" to its root cause analysis software. Each tier is a version of the REASON tool designed to provide the appropriate amount of guidance and rigor depending on the criticality and risk involved with the problem being investigated.

 When beginning a REASON investigation, a case assessment is conducted to determine the criticality level of the problem to be investigated. The case assessment tool then recommends which tier in REASON is most appropriate. All three tools apply the same basic concepts, and cases generated with all three tools can be submitted and searched in the Lessons Learned system.

 REASON Professional offers the highest level of guidance and discipline in the process of eliciting and analyzing relevant case facts.

 REASON Express offers flexibility in how much guidance and discipline the software provides in the process of eliciting and analyzing relevant case facts

 REASON FrontLine was designed to provide minimal guidance for situations in which an experienced worker already knows the solution or perhaps several possible solutions; he/she just needs a tool to get this information into the organizations' knowledge system.

 The REASON Root Cause Analysis Process

 You start at the final outcome of the event and work back through time.

 Step-by-Step Guidance

At each step in the investigation, the logic principles determine the next necessary piece of information, and REASON asks the appropriate question. In this way, the method guides the direction of the investigation by providing focused questions logically required by each new fact that is ascertained. You simply respond to the question by typing the answer into a box.

 Identify Causal Relationships

The process assembles the facts into “sets” of causal factors. These “sets” provide a causal explanation for every factor in the event which networked to bring it about. For example, when lighting a match, leaking gas, and oxygen combine to produce an explosion, those factors form a “set,” with the explosion as the outcome of their coming together.

 Construct a Model of the Event

From these sets reason builds a model of the event. The model graphically depicts the causal structure that brought about the event in a clear, easy-to-understand manner.

 Verify Causal Relationships

After each set is built, the process then guides you to validate each fact within the set. This process uses a simple validation process that applies the principles of causal reasoning known as “necessary and sufficient” logic. This validation step ensures that no set within the investigation has facts not causally relevant to the event being investigated.

 Discover Root Causes or Corrective Opportunities

This process is continued until you come to factors which can be eliminated by applying some sort of “business process” – that is, a policy, practice or procedure within the organization. The absence of such a business process is a root cause of the event. A root cause may address a business process that already exists, or it may call for establishing a new business process to address the problem. REASON will guide you, step by step, in determining what is needed.

 Compare Solution Options

Each root cause represents a corrective opportunity, a solution option. The greatest advantage to the REASON method is that the process ensures that you include every causal factor in the event, thus ensuring that every possible avenue toward prevention is considered. This means that you will probably uncover several solution options in your investigation. REASON provides an analysis feature that allows you to measure and compare each solution option to determine which provide the greatest benefit.

 Reporting the Findings

 Automatic Reporting Features

With just the click of a few buttons, REASON generates a report on your investigation automatically and assembles it into a report editor. The report can then be printed and saved as a MS WORD document file.

 Lessons Learned Reports

REASON® investigations feed a Lessons Learned (LL) system that warehouses the knowledge from investigated cases. These cases are "organizational experiences" recorded with both their pertinent facts and their solutions.

 Broadcasting knowledge

The LL system provides an account-based (or push-based) system to automatically match up the cases submitted to LL with the people who need that knowledge.. 

 Mining knowledge

REASON also provides a pull-based system in which users can actively search the LL system for knowledge that they need about the events happening in the organization. The ability to search for trends and patterns across the organization's problems provides a "birds-eye" view of the company. Having this ability allows organization to measure improvement or loss of control in organizational processes throughout the company.