CMMI for Services Blog – Special Series for High Maturity: 1st Part: This blog series on the cmmiconsultantblog.com is a systematic and structured coverage of CMMI Process Areas for CMMI Maturity Level 5: using CMMI–SVC, Version 1.3, as the Reference CMMI Model: As CMMI Consultant, during CMMI Consulting assignment if you are asked about the steps, inputs and outputs of Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR) Process Area, what would be your response:

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29th March, 2017

For the above-mentioned question, CMMI consultants may take inputs from the following.

Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR) process area helps in conducting the causal analysis on the selected results (consequences) in order to identify their causes and accordingly taking actions to improve the process performance.

Activities

Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR) process area involves the following activities:

• Collecting the data for results / consequences to be analyzed. These results / consequences are selected from defects, issues, incidents, risks so that they can be prevented from occurring in future in projects within the organization.
• Conducting the analysis of these selected results / consequences.
• Removing the analyzed causes
• Planning preventive actions to avoid recurrence of these in future
• Analyzing the data for proactive analysis in order to identify problems and preventing them from occurring
• Based on the success, adding the reasons for success into processes to improve processes and their performance

Inputs

Following are some of the inputs for the Causal Analysis and Resolution Process Area:

• Collection of data of Risks, Issues, Defects, Incidents, Testing
• Feedback from customers, end users and other stakeholders
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Reports
• Guidance on RCA techniques like Pareto analysis, Histograms Box and whisker plots for attributes, Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) etc.

Outputs

Following are some of the outputs for Causal Analysis and Resolution Process Area:

• Collection of results selected for further analysis
• Root Cause Analysis results
• Action plans to avoid future occurrences
• Organizational Process Improvement Plan

The above is not an exhaustive coverage of the Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR) CMMI Process Area but is substantive enough for CMMI Consultants to create a good foundation of Causal Analysis and Resolution in an organization.

Source: CMMI for Services, Version 1.3