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Problem Tasks: Root Cause Analysis

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What a problem task is
  • The two problem task types
  • A simple way to find the root cause
  • How Ravi found the VPN cause

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: Creating Problems from Incidents and Linking Them. You learned how to create a problem from an incident, link related incidents, and set them to Awaiting Problem.

1 “Who’s actually investigating?”

PRB0040012 is in Root Cause Analysis. A week goes by.

  • Grace owns the problem, but she isn’t a network engineer.
  • Network Support thinks Grace is looking into it.
  • Nothing happens.

🎯 The problem: If the investigation isn’t assigned to someone, it doesn’t happen.

👉 The fix: create a problem task for root cause analysis, and assign it to the team that can do it.

2 Problem tasks

Key term: Problem task

A piece of work under a problem, assigned to a team or person.

Key term: Root cause

The real reason something keeps breaking.

Key term: Root cause analysis (RCA)

The work of finding the root cause.

Problem task type Use it for
Root cause analysis Investigating why it happens
General Any other work, like collecting logs or talking to a vendor

3 Asking “why” five times

The 5 Whys for PRB0040012. Why do VPN connections drop? Because the gateway resets connections every few hours. Why does it reset them? Because the security handshake fails. Why does the handshake fail? Because the gateway's certificate has expired. Why did it expire? Because nobody tracked its renewal date. Why was it not tracked? Because the certificate wasn't recorded anywhere. Root cause: an expired, untracked certificate on snwr-vpn-gw-01.
Figure 1. Keep asking why until you reach a cause you can fix.

💡 Good to know: Stop when you reach something you can fix, and that would stop the problem coming back.

📝 Note: The cause has two parts: the expired certificate, and the fact that nobody tracked it. A good fix handles both.

4 Recording what was found

  • Ravi writes the findings in his RCA task and closes it.
  • Grace copies the cause into the problem’s Cause notes.
  • The problem is ready for a workaround, and a fix.

⭐ Remember: Assign the RCA as a task. Ask why until you can fix it.

5 Let’s try it: assign a root cause analysis task

  1. Open your problem. Move it to the Root Cause Analysis state.
  2. In the Problem Tasks related list, click New.
  3. Type: Root cause analysis. Assignment group: SNWR Network Support. Assigned to: Ravi Iyer.
  4. Write the 5 Whys in the task’s notes, then close the task.
  5. Add the root cause to the problem’s cause notes.

6 Quick recap

  • A problem task gives investigation work to a team
  • Two types: root cause analysis and general
  • Ask why until you reach a cause you can fix
  • The VPN root cause: an expired, untracked certificate
  • Record the cause on the problem

7 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 Grace isn’t a network engineer. How does the RCA get done? Show answer

She creates a root cause analysis task and assigns it to SNWR Network Support.

2 What are the two problem task types? Show answer

Root cause analysis and general.

3 When do you stop asking why? Show answer

When you reach a cause you can fix that stops the problem coming back.

4 What was the VPN root cause? Show answer

An expired, untracked certificate on snwr-vpn-gw-01.

Nice work! The VPN root cause is found. 🎉
Next up: Known Errors and Workarounds

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