CAR Process

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CenturyLink IT Services

Causal Analysis and Resolution Process
CenturyLink India CenturyLink IT Services

- Internal Use Only - Page 2
Version History

Document History
All revisions of this document are listed in chronological order.
Document
Version
Date Description Author Reviewer Approv
er
0.1 4
th
april
2011
Initial Draft Vijaykrishna
Ranganatha
n
SEPG team
1.0 25
th
April
2011
Initial Baseline after review
comments
Vijaykrishna
Ranganatha
n
SEPG Team
+ PA
owners
PGG
2.0 24
th
April
2012
Rebranded to CTLI

Changes done as per PIR
872(format changes)
Afshan
Sahar
Puthiyaveett
il,
Sreenivasan
SEPG
2.1 12/09/2012 Rewriting the process for ML4-
ML5 requirements
Sreenivasan
.V.P
PA Owners SEPG
3.0 12/10/2012 Baselined Version CMMI High
Maturity expectations
incorporated
Sreenivasan
.V.P
PA Owners SEPG
3.1 14/07/2013 Elaborated CAR process
definition.Updated Entry criteria
Updated tasks/ Sub process and
tools and techniques.
Kiran/Kanika
Vij
Kiran
Rajanna
Kiran
Rajanna

Copyright
Copyright 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Unpublished and confidential property of CenturyLink.

Trademarks
The trademarks contained in this document are the property of their respective owners.


Table of contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Audience ................................................................................................................................ 1
1.3 Acronyms and Definitions .................................................................................................... 1
1.4 References ............................................................................................................................ 2
2 Causal Analysis and Resolution Process Definition ........................................................... 3
2.1 Applicability .......................................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Entry Criteria ......................................................................................................................... 3
2.3 Triggers for CAR : ................................................................................................................ 3
2.4 CAR Process : Flow diagram ............................................................................................... 4
2.5 Tasks/Sub process ................................................................................................................ 5
2.6 Exit Criteria .......................................................................................................................... 9
2.7 Measurements ........................................................................................................................ 9
2.8 Techniques and Tools used for performing CAR : ................................................................ 9
3 Appendix A Additional Information............................................................................... 10

1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose
Purpose of the CAR (Causal Analysis and Resolution )process is to provide a standardized
process of identifying & prioritizing problems. Identify causes of variance outcomes and take
actions to address the problem areas and evaluate improvements on continuous basis.
1.2 Audience
The target audience, for this process is CenturyLink India Project teams. This process is
applicable to all projects across the lifecycle and addresses outcomes found during the project
execution.
CAR process can also be applied for any other / every area where there is a need to adopt a
standardized method of problem solving and would involve multiple levels of expertise spanning
across muiltiple disciplines

1.3 Acronyms and Definitions
Sl No. Acronyms Definitions
1 CAR Causal Analysis and Resolution
2 SQA Software Quality Analyst
3 MOM Minutes of the Meeting
4 PMT Project Metrics Tool
5 V&V Verification and Validation
6 QC Quality Center ( Tool )
7 PHI Project Health Indicator
8 CC Configuration Coordinator/Controller
9 RCA Root cause analysis
10 Outcome Defects/problems/issues/positive trends


1.4 References

Project Management Plan
Project Schedule
Project Management Process
Risk Management Process
Risk and Issue Tracker
Product and Process Quality Assurance Process
Configuration Management Process
PHI checklists
CM audit reports
Metrics report
Refer to Measurement and analysis guidelines for more information about aligning measurement
and analysis activities and providing measurement results
Refer to organizational performance management process for more information about selecting
and implementing improvements for deployement
Refer to Quantitative project management guidelines for more information about quantitatively
managing the project to achieve the projects established quality and process performance
objectives

2 Causal Analysis and Resolution Process Definition
CAR provides a standard mechanism for projects & organization to evaluate their processes
performance & variations with respect to the set objectives. CAR also helps to take necessary corrective
action on a regular basis & evalute improvements.

2.1 Applicability
This process is applicable for all situations across the organization where there is variation from the
set objectives and a root cause for the variation is to be arrived and necessary Corrective actions need to
be taken to reduce variation.This process can also be applied to any continous improvement programs.

2.2 Entry Criteria
Any outcome where there is Variation from the set objectives/ Goals, which would impact the
outcomes and a formal root cause analysis need to be performed to asertain the Causes .
Need to improve the current performance to a desired level or one which improves the business
performance . CAR shall be adopted in areas where:
Need to remove causes and prevent the recurrence of those types of defects and problems in
future
Proactively analyze data to identify potential problems and prevent them from occurring
Incorporate the causes of successes into the process to improve future process performance
Control Charts will give outliers but logical grouping of repeated outliers merits a full fledged CAR.
Eg: Productivity, Defect Density etc - if any outlier exists *ie. above or below the UCL or USL(goal
set)

2.3 Triggers for CAR :

1. Triggers : Organization level CAR
When a stable process does not meet its specified quality and process performance
objectives
When a process performance exceeds expectations
Defects which are not within the acceptable range

Problems/Issues identified as part of the Organizational performance analysis
Posititive trends analyzed at the organization level
2. Triggers : Project level CAR

2.4 CAR Process : Flow diagram

Customer reported issues/defects
SLA misses
Major Non Compliances found during internal Audit/Reviews
Increasing defect trends noticed as well as other issues
Inputs from PPB and Process capability issues
Deviation in KPI and Metrics from the organizational/project goals
Outputs from risk and issue tracker
Project planning and Project monitoring reports requiring corrective action

Incident Identification of
the problem
Planning for
CAR
Data gathering
and Analysis of
the problem

Create action
Plan
Implement the
Action plan
Evaluate
changes and
Follow up(AS
IS and TO BE
Process Map

Stop
Problem
Resolved
N Y

Evaluate
Actions

changes


2.5 Tasks/Sub process
Step 1: Select outcomes for analysis
Step 2 : Determine which outcome to be analyzed further
Step 3: Analyze causes
Step 4 : Come up with action proposal
Step 5: Prioritize action proposals
Step 6: Implement action proposals
Step 7 : Evaluate the effects of change
Step 8: Capture CAR learnings in CAR database

SUB PROCESS STEPS ELABORATION
Step 1: Select outcomes
for analysis
This activity contains practices which includes identifying triggers for
CAR and gathering data for analysis .
CAR could be triggered by an event at the project level or at the
organization level
Refer Section 2.3 where triggers for CAR are listed.
Gather data for analysis : Gather data as per the triggers and list out
the gathered data in the CAR workbook under Pareto analysis and
Histogram for further analysis
For Defect Prevention, Project team members should log the defects
and problems/issues reported by them as well as the customer as per
the V&V Plan in the Review log, Test Reports, QC, Outage
Central/Remedy Reports etc as the case may be. Team members
MUST classify the defects into appropriate defect types and severity
as per the Defect Classification Guideline.
Problems/issues related to metrics: Variances should be logged into
the Metrics Action Tracker, which is part of the Metrics Report
(Generated from PMT) can be triggers for CAR
Audit Non compliances are recorded in the Projects PHI Audit Report
SQA should review the Metrics Sheets, Logs, Test Reports,
QC data for completness and correctness , as this is the basis
for conducting an efficient CAR.
Use CAR Case" to define Problem Statement and other relevant
details for the CAR approach



Step 2 : Determine which
outcomes to be analyzed
further

Since it is not practical to perform CAR on all outcomes , selecting a
few outcomes to perform CAR is necessary.
From the data gathered , determine which outcomes will be analyzed
further . The following factors can be considered while selecting the
outcomes to be analyzed further.
Impact of the defects on Business outcomes
Frequency of occurrence of the defects
Similarity between defects
Pareto analysis and Histograms as given in the CAR workbook can be
used for this purpose .
The graphical representation of the data using CAR techniques and
tools can be represented in the Data analysis tab of the CAR
workbook.
Refer CAR Guidelines for the usage information on Pareto analysis
and histograms
Remember: While it is left to the teams to decide which defects
they would like to analyze from a prevention point of view, It is
recommended that all Critical and Major defects be analyzed
on priority.

Step 3: Analyze causes
Purpose of Causal analysis is to identify root causes which lead to the
problem and define actions that will address selected outcomes
Coordinator of the Causal analysis meeting or project leader gives an
understanding of the outcomes to the team. Information shared at this
point include description of the outcomes , the symptoms of the
outcomes , possible fixes and solutions
Perform brainstorming : Participants are expected to come up with
various reasons as to what leads to the problem or defect.
Brainstorming will typically be unstructured to start with and then will
be structured once all participants have exhausted all reasons for the
defect. The objective of the Brasinstorming exercise is to come up with
maximum reasons for the cause.
Tips for Brainstorming
Use out of the box thinking to come up with reasons.
Do not validate any cause while brainstorming
Do not be biased with cause
Weed out unwanted causes with valid reason
Arrive at the final set of Causes
Group the Causes into themes like( Not restricted only to )
o Process
o People
o Tools
Use Cause and effect diagram (Fishbone diagram) as given in the
CAR Workbook for this purpose
Perform Root cause analysis for each cause to arrive at the root
cause. Use the 5 Why techniques to determine the root cause .

Use Action Plan tab of the CAR workbook to enter the details of
Causal analysis done
Refer CAR guideliens to understand the steps to perform Causal
analysis using Cause and effect diagram

Step 4 :Come up with
action proposal

Further brainstorm with the team and come up with actions that help
address the root cause
Action proposal include Corrective and Preventive actions
All selected root causes will be analyzed further inorder to come up
with Corrective and Preventive actions
Grouping of selected root causes according to the Cause category is a
necessary activity at this point
Propose and document actions that need to be taken to correct the
existing issues and to Prevent the future occurrence of similar
outcomes
The action proposals are usually grouped (But not limited to )into the
following areas :
People area : These are suggestions in the areas of human
resources practices and policies inorder to prevent such defects
from occurring
Process area : Suggestions related to process improvements so
as to prevent the defects
Infrastructure : Suggestions related to which tools , software or
hardware components
Training area : Suggestions related to closing or narrowing the
skill gaps by organizing various training programs

Refer CAR guidelines to understand the Brainstorming technique
Refer Defect guidelines section in the CAR Workbook to understand
the root cause categories used in Century Link India .
Refer CAR guidelines to understand the definitions of Corrective
action and Preventive action
Use Action Plan tab of the CAR workbook to enter details of action
proposals

Step 5: Prioritize action
proposals
Analyze the action proposals and determine their priorities. Use the
Solution Prioritization Marrix provided in CAR wookbook to arrive at
the priority
Document the prioritized action proposals in the CAR Workbook under
the Action plan tab
Criteria for prioritizing action proposals may include the following :
Implications of not addressing the outcomes
Cost to implement process improvements to address the
outcome
Expected impact on quality : Refer DAR guidelines to select from a
set of alternatives using a formal evaluation criteria



Step 6 : Implement
Action proposals

Select the action proposals that will be implemented and create action
plans for Implementing the prioritized list of action proposals
Action proposals may be either categorized as Project level or
Organization level plans .
Organization level action items may be raised as PIR and the same
can be tracked as Process improvement request using the PIR site
The result of implementation is tracked and communicated to
relevant stakeholders
Track the closure of action proposals
Use Action plan tab of CAR workbook to enter details of action
proposals

Step 7 : Evaluate the
effects of change

Use Effectiveness Analysis tab of the CAR workbook to enter details
of effectiveness analysis related measures
List out the Pre causal analysis data and the data after the CAR is
done (Post causal analysis data ) in the effectiveness analysis tab
of CAR template
Hypothesis testing is used for validating the improvement statistically
Benifit based on PPM's Certainty Levels on Objectives- show Initial,
Projected and Actual performance.Test results graphs if any are
plotted
Statistical inference , Projects inference,Process impacted are
documented
Refer CAR guidelines for the list of measures considered for
evaluating the effectiveness of change
Refer CAR guidelines to understand more about hypothesis testing
Based on changes made evaluate planned improvement with
achieved goal, refer to process flow captured under currentAS IS and
proposed process flow TO BE in Process analysis.

Step 8: Capture CAR
learnings in CAR
Database CAR database
is still on hold
Process improvements /Lessons learnt from CAR conducted across
the organization will be captured and documented in the CAR
database
Use the Action Plan tab of the CAR Database to document the
Process improvements / Learnings from CAR
CAR Database will be used only by SEPG team
Refer CAR Database template for more information

2.6 Exit Criteria
Filled CAR template with root causes , corrective , prevention action plans and their status
Risk Tracker updated as required
Actions implemented result in Improvements

2.7 Measurements
Effort spent in CAR, Planned vs achieved improvements etc are also measured
No. Of CARs performed
Reduction in cost
Improvement trend
2.8 Techniques and Tools used for performing CAR :
Minitab
Crystal ball
CAR Workbook
Brainstorming
Histogram
Run Chart
Pareto Analysis
Five Whys
Cause and Effect Diagram (Fish Bone Analysis)

o Refer CAR Guidelines for detailed description about the tools and techniques used for
conducting CAR


3 Appendix A Additional Information
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