Root Cause Analysis is performed by Solitaire when an objective, third-party is needed to attribute effects to the contributing source. This is most frequently needed in the case of critical system problems, such as system miss-sizing and contractual performance issues. Solitaire will model the problem system and calibrate it with reported operational characteristics. Once this calibration is done, a full contribution analysis is run. This process produces a set of contribution factor weightings that identify which components of the system have contributed what portion of the problem. This is far from simplistic in nature, so it is normal for a large group of contribution matrices to be produced. SIL will rank those contribution matrices to identify the primary contribution pattern, and will also create a general alleviation impact analysis. This provides insight into the amount of effort and time that will be required to provide some relief or a solution to the problem.

When the RCA is part of a legal proceeding, SIL can act as an expert witness, as long as there is no conflict of interest with existing and ongoing clients. Those arrangements have to be made on a case-by-case basis.

Do you need to understand why a system is not performing as expected? Solitaire can assist with Root Cause Analysis (RCA), and let you know how you got here from there! This can be something as specific as a single in-house development, to radical under-sizing of a vendor solution, to a full deployment by a third-party. All of these situations can be clarified with a RCA by Solitaire.