Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Template

Failure Modes

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a popular method for managing product or process risks. You can use this approach to identify potential failure modes, their causes, and effects on the system or stakeholders. For each identified cause and effect, you can assess its risk and determine corrective actions.

You can organize failures by items or process step into sections with the following hierarchy: Function → Failure Mode → Potential Cause → Corrective Action.

For more information see book Effective FMEAs by Carl Carlson.

Document Template

To create a new document describing risks, click Project and select Add Document. In the New Document dialog, choose Predefined, and then Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA).

Instructions

If you create a new document from this template then the application displays detailed guidance in the Instructions pane:

Attributes

Common Attributes

Name	Identifier	Type	Description
Id	id	string	Unique identifier within the document

Function Attributes

Name	Identifier	Type	Description
Type	type	enum	Set to “Function”
Heading	heading	string	Short description of the function item or process

Failure Mode Attributes

Name	Identifier	Type	Description
Type	type	enum	Set to “Failure Mode”
Heading	heading	string	Short description of the failure
Potential Effects	effects	xhtml	Potential impact of the failure on the system or users
SEV	severity	int	Severity rating of failure potential effects as a number from 1 (least severe) to 10 (most severe)

Potential Cause Attributes

Name	Identifier	Type	Description
Type	type	enum	Set to “Potential Cause”
Heading	heading	string	Description of the potential cause
Detection Mode	detection	xhtml	Description of the existing design controls detecting the cause or preventing the failure from occurring
SEV	severity	int	Severity rating of the failure potential effects as a number from 1 (least severe) to 10 (most severe)
PROB	probability	int	Probability rating of failure potential cause as a number from 1 (least likely) to 10 (most likely)
DET	detectability	int	Detectability rating of the failure potential cause as a number from 1 (best detectable) to 10 (least detectable)

Corrective Action Attributes

Name	Identifier	Type	Description
Type	type	enum	Set to “Corrective Action”
Text	text	string	Description of the action for reducing the occurrence of the cause or improving the detection
Potential Effects	effects	xhtml	Potential impact of the failure on the system or users after the corrective action is applied
Detection Mode	detection	xhtml	Description how the corrective action improves design controls detecting the failure or preventing the failure from occurring
SEV	severity	int	New severity rating of the failure potential effects as a number from 1 (least severe) to 10 (most severe)
PROB	probability	int	Probability rating of the failure potential cause as a number from 1 (least likely) to 10 (most likely)
DET	detectability	int	New detectability rating of the failure potential cause as a number from 1 (best detectable) to 10 (least detectable)
Responsibility	responsibility	xhtml	Name the responsible person
Target Date	targetDate	date	Date when the corrective action should be finished

Example

Check the RISKS document in the Example Project.

References

• Effective FMEAs by Carl Carlson

 Try ReqView