Cause

Introduction

Causes are maintained under the System Wide section under Setup. A Cause can be assigned to a Failure when investigating different types of quality exceptions in SmartSolve©. A Root Cause is the initiating cause of a causal chain which leads to an outcome or effect of interest. Commonly, root cause is used to describe the depth in the causal chain where an intervention could reasonably be implemented to change performance and prevent an undesirable outcome.

Causes can be attached to Failure Modes.  It is not required for Failure Modes to have Causes attached; however, if Causes are known for Failures that have occurred in the past, they can be attached to Failure Mode in order for the Exception Owner and/or Investigators to see them when performing Root Cause Analysis at a later date from the Exception or Issue record.

Failure Mode Causes are grouped by Cause Category for better reporting.  See How to Create Cause Categories.

Example Cause Matrix

Cause could be used in any of the following SmartSolve© solutions:

User Rights

The following Rights must be assigned to a user to manage or view Causes:

See Rights Groups to assign Rights Groups to users.

Global vs. Local

·         Global Causes will be inherited by all Local Organizations. 

·         Local Causes will only be viewed and used within that Local Organization.

How to Create Causes

1.     From the Portal Page, click Smart Solutions tab > Admin and Report > Setup. Under System Wide, select Cause.

The Cause list displays.

2.     Select Action > Add from the main menu.

Note: the Analysis Code is an additional field used for reporting (not used by Pilgrim Customers at this time and can be hidden).  

See Forms Designer if you want to hide this field.

3.     Enter Cause and Description.

4.     Select a Category.

5.     Click the Save button

The new Cause has now been added to the Cause list.

Managing Cause Data

Cause can be Edited, Deleted, and Deactivated. These options are available in the Cause object and can be managed by an administrator.

How to Edit Causes

1.     From the Portal Page, click Smart Solutions tab > Admin and Report > Setup. Under System Wide, select Cause.

The Cause list displays.

2.     Select the   icon to switch to Local view (if applicable).

3.     Select the check box of the Cause to edit, then select Action > Edit from the main menu.

4.     Edit any information for your Cause.

5.     Click the Save button.

All changes should now be reflected in the Cause.

How to Delete Causes

Causes can only be deleted from SmartSolve© if the Cause is not currently been attached to any SmartSolve© records.

1.     From the Portal Page, click Smart Solutions tab > Admin and Report > Setup. Under System Wide, select Cause.

The Cause list displays.

2.     Select the   icon to switch to Local view (if applicable).

3.     Select the check box of the Cause to delete, then select Action > Delete from the main menu.

4.     Click the Save button.

The Cause has now been removed from the system.

How to Deactivate Causes

See Deactivation Setup in the SmartSolve Utilities and Settings Help System to Deactivate a Cause.

How to Attach Causes to Failure Modes

1.     From the Portal Page, click Smart Solutions tab > Admin and Report > Setup. Select Process Failure Mode from Process or Product Failure Mode from Product.

The object list displays.

2.     From the Failure Mode list left click over the  Failure Mode and select Cause.

3.     From the Cause window select Action > Add from the main menu.

4.     Zoom from the Cause field and select the Cause(s) to be attached to the Failure Mode

5.     Click the Save button.

The Cause(s) has now been attached to the Failure Mode.