Root cause analysis is a technique that is primarily used in software testing to avoid treating the symptom of an issue and directly address the root cause.
Although it is primarily used in software testing, it is not limited to the testing phase and can be used in requirement analysis or development phase as well.
The intention of the technique is to use systems thinking approach to single out a cause for an issue. Hence, the technique is applicable for different phases of the SDLC.
Root cause analysis is used in strict quality procedures to improve the processes.
CAPA is corrective action preventive action is a part of quality management system of a company. This technique is used in testing phase to eliminate any non-conformities and discrepancies from the software. The aim is to collect, identify, analyze and investigate all the processes and products involved for a software. This paves way to take a corrective or preventive action.
The pareto principle is also called the 80/20 rule. It is important to note that it is a principle and a means to analyze tasks statistically that helps in better decision making. This principle is not just limited to SDLC but is also applied in business decision making, risk analysis among others.
Pareto principle is applied in requirement gathering and testing phases. According to the principle always 80% of the achievements are contributed by 20% of the efforts and 20% of the remaining achievements by the rest of the causes. For example, in testing this can be applied as 80% of the defects are caused by 20% of the code while the rest 20% defects are caused by other parts of the code. Assuming that the code could be broken down in terms of %. Similarly, for requirements you may identify that 80% of the business requirements are from a single business process while the rest of the 20% requirements are from rest of the business processes. This clearly helps the BA focus on the right business process more and reduce the wastage of resources and time for other processes.
