Why Use Cause Mapping?
The benefits of Cause Mapping are an integrated and clear analysis, a comprehensive and complete investigation, facilitation of the analysis, and inherent documentation of the issue.
Integrated and Clear Analysis
A Cause Map integrates the information about an issue and presents it in a concise format that is easy to communicate to others. Everyone involved in an analysis works from the common Cause Map, which is easily expanded to add information or reflect a new perspective on the issue. Cause Maps cross boundaries within and between organizations to incorporate all of the knowledge about an issue.
- Organizational Structure Whether the organization is divided into regions, departments, product lines, or projects, there will be challenges communicating information and lessons learned between groups. A Cause Map helps determine where other groups can add detail to the analysis.
- Suppliers/Vendors - Suppliers and vendors will quickly become defensive when their product may be causally related to a problem. Cause Maps keep the analysis objective by focusing on the evidence and on improving the process from beginning to end. The analysis can improve how things are done at the supplier, how things are done at the purchaser, and how the supplier and purchaser interact to produce the best result. When the overall system is more effective, the purchaser will be more successful, which will in turn make the supplier more successful.
- Customers - When a customer has a complaint about a product, a Cause Map of the issue is easy for the customer to understand and demonstrates that the causes of the problem are well understood with a thorough analysis. The Cause Map shows how the proposed solutions will be effective at preventing the causes of the problem in the future.
- Regulators - Cause Mapping is a proven root cause analysis method for responding to regulatory issues and audit findings. A Cause Map breaks a complex issue into manageable parts that are connected so that the entire issue is understood. Identifying the impacts to high-level goals establishes a common ground and the focus on evidence ensures that the analysis is accurate.
For presentations, the visual nature of a Cause Map is excellent for quickly communicating the causes of an incident, the supporting evidence, and the basis for the proposed solutions. Cause Maps can be zoomed out to a high-level perspective for management briefs and zoomed in when necessary for more detail.
Comprehensive, Complete Investigation
Cause Mapping is a straightforward method for performing a complete and comprehensive investigation.
- Problem - Defining the problem with the Impact to Goals ensures that the analysis captures the impact to the entire organization.
- Analysis - The Cause Map reveals all of the causes and is an end-to-end view of the incident.
- Solutions - Solutions are developed after revealing all of the causes, which makes it possible to consider all of the affected systems, equipment, and processes for improvement.
The Cause Map is a convenient place to collect all of the evidence for the analysis, which includes timelines, photographs, diagrams, and laboratory reports. Paste the evidence directly on the Cause Map or use an attached sheet. Spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel, have the capability to include multiple sheets of information within a single file. Process Maps, which are the complementary tool to the Cause Map for understanding an issue, can also be captured in the spreadsheet file. In this way, all of the information from a complete and thorough investigation is consolidated in a single file.
Facilitation of the Analysis
Cause Mapping is an easy method for performing a thorough analysis because the method is simple and structured, yet powerful. The starting point of the analysis is always clearly defined by the Impact to Goals. The Cause Map is created by asking “Why?” questions and gathering evidence. The focus of the investigation team is on the details of the Cause Map rather than personal arguments or speculation.
Since the Cause Map is the analysis, the current state of the investigation is always captured. This makes it more efficient to adjourn the analysis to gather more evidence and reconvene the team without losing track of where the analysis stands. Large meetings are often unnecessary, since members of the investigation team can add detail to the common Cause Map independently.
The Cause Mapping method can be used by individuals and groups. It can be used by:
- One person working on their own.
- One person collecting information from others one at a time (one-on-one).
- Small groups collaborating by adding causes and evidence as a team.
- Large groups with members of team providing information to a facilitator who builds the Cause Map in front of the group.
Since everyone sees the same information as it is captured on the Cause Map, the focus is on completing an accurate analysis and away from interpersonal discussions. This approach also minimizes revisiting information that was already discussed and incorporated in the analysis.
Inherent Documentation of the Issue
At the end of an investigation, the Cause Map is the documentation of the issue, including its impact, causes, evidence, and solutions. The Cause Maps for an organization provide a record of past issues for reference, trending, and training. Frequent reviews of and training on past incidents is a primary tool used by high reliability organizations to build a culture of safety and reliability.