Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is when you analyze a problem at the root or from the source as opposed to addressing the symptom of a problem each time. If you apply a Root Cause Fix (RCF), the issue doesn't keep popping up each time. This way, you don’t have to keep applying a solution each time a problem arises.

For example, if you want to prevent mass replies to one email that you send to an email distribution list via Gmail, you could remind people to refrain from reply-all. The root cause fix for this instance is to change the settings of the email distribution list to only allow you or a few people to reply to the email distribution list since the system won’t even allow anyone to send a message to it.