Manage a Problem Solving process through a workflow

Your company’s business processes might require that you complete certain tasks at each stage of a Problem Solving process. After completion, the tasks must be reviewed and approved before the assignees can proceed to the next stage. Reviewers can either approve the tasks or reject the tasks and ask for more information or additional work to be done before approval.

Problem Solving provides workflows to ensure that the business processes are implemented correctly with the appropriate tasks and approvals at each stage. Workflows guide a Problem Solving process through the different phases of the process: authoring, review and approval, execution, and closure.

Note

For more information about workflows, see Workflow Designer for Active Workspace.

Problem Solving provides the following workflows:

Workflow	Description
Problem Solving Process	Verifies that the Problem Solving process is completed successfully through all the stages from creation to closure. When you complete a stage and receive approval, the next child workflow is automatically triggered to ensure that the Problem Solving process moves to the next stage. This is an end-to-end workflow that uses the following child workflows: Establish The Team for PS Define Problem Description Defect Perform Root Cause Analysis for PS Perform Closure of Problem Solving
Establish The Team for PS	Verifies that the Problem Solving process creator assigns a Team Leader to the Problem Solving process. If a creator assigns themself as the Team Leader, their acceptance is automatically assumed, and they do not receive any notification to work on the Problem Solving process. If a creator assigns another user as the Team Leader, the Team Leader receives a notification to review the Problem Solving process and to accept the task. If the Team Leader accepts the assignment, the Team Leader assigns team members and Champions to the Problem Solving process. After the assignment, the Team Leader marks the assigned task as Complete. Subsequently, the workflow sends notifications to the assigned team members and Champions. The team members can review and accept or reject the assignment. If a team member rejects the assignment, the Problem Solving process returns to the Team Leader to assign another team member. The process of assigning new team members continues until the required number of team members accept the assignment. Champions must mandatorily review the Problem Solving process.
Define Problem Description Defect	Verifies that the Team Leader creates a problem description defect and then sends a notification to the assigned team members to view the defect. The workflow also sends a notification to the assigned Champions to review and approve this defect. If you have multiple Champions, and even one of them approves the problem description defect of the Problem Solving process, the process moves to the next stage. If even one Champion rejects the problem description defect, the process returns to the Team Leader for rework. Optionally, the Team Leader can also add problem items, affected items, reference items, and internal and external links that provide supporting information to resolve the Problem Solving process.
Perform Root Cause Analysis for PS	Verifies that the Team Leader or team members perform the root cause analysis and identify the root causes. The workflow also verifies that the Team Leader or team members complete or cancel the quality actions assigned to a defect, a 5Why, a Why, an Ishikawa, or an Ishikawa cause. The Team Leader or team members can review the status of all the quality actions in one location in the ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS QUALITY ACTIONS OVERVIEW section. To view this section, select the problem description defect in the Root Cause Analysis work mode, and click the Quality Actions tab. This section helps the Team Leader or team members to avoid navigating to each defect, 5Why, Why, Ishikawa, or Ishikawa cause, and reviewing the status of the associated quality actions. In the Root Cause Analysis work mode, after the root cause analysis is done and the root causes are identified, the Team Leader sets the Evaluation status to Valid or Invalid for the problem description defect to proceed to the next stage in the workflow. When the Team Leader marks the task as Complete, the workflow sends a notification to the assigned team members to review and approve the root causes. After the assigned team members approve the root causes, the workflow sends a notification to the assigned Champions to review and approve the root causes. If you have multiple Champions, and even one of them approves the root causes of the Problem Solving process, the Problem Solving process moves to the next stage. If even one Champion rejects the root causes, the Problem Solving process returns to the Team Leader for rework. Reviewers can either approve the root causes or reject the root causes. They can also ask for more information or additional work to be done before approval.
Perform Closure of Problem Solving	Verifies that the Team Leader completes or cancels the assigned containment actions, planned corrective actions, confirmation-of-effectiveness corrective actions, implemented corrective actions, and preventive actions before closing the Problem Solving process. The workflow sends notifications to the assigned team members and Champions to review and approve the closure of the Problem Solving process. The Problem Solving process is closed only when all the assigned team members and Champions approve the closure. Note After the Problem Solving process is closed, you cannot add, edit, or delete any objects in the Problem Solving process. You can generate a report of the Problem Solving process or reopen it by submitting it to the Problem Solving Reopen Request workflow. You can also create a new Problem Solving process from the closed Problem Solving process by choosing More Commands > New > Save As.
Problem Solving Reopen Request	Sends a notification to the assigned Champions to reopen a closed Problem Solving process when the Team Leader submits a closed Problem Solving process to this workflow. If a Champion approves the reopening, the workflow sends a notification to the Problem Solving process creator that the Problem Solving process is reopened for updates. Note If a Champion submits a closed Problem Solving process to this workflow, the workflow automatically reopens the Problem Solving process for updates.

At each stage of the Problem Solving process, the workflow updates the Closure, Disposition, and Maturity properties of the Problem Solving process to indicate the progress. You cannot edit these properties. These properties are updated only by the workflow.

Stage	Closure	Maturity	Disposition
Create a Problem Solving process.	Open	Initiated	None
Establish the team.	Open	Elaborating	None
Define the problem description defect.	Open	Reviewing	Investigate
Create the containment actions.	Open	Reviewing	Investigate
Perform the root cause analysis.	Open	Reviewing	Investigate
Create the corrective actions.	Open	Implement	Implement
Implement the corrective actions.	Open	Implement	Implement
Create the preventive actions.	Open	Implement	Implement
Close the Problem Solving process.	Closed	Closed	Approved
Cancel the Problem Solving process.	Cancelled	Rejected	Disapproved
Put the Problem Solving process on hold.	Hold	Reviewing	Deferred

You can choose to use the individual workflows to complete a specific stage in a Problem Solving process. You can also use the Problem Solving Process workflow as an end-to-end workflow to complete all the stages of a Problem Solving process.

Procedure

1. As a Problem Solving process creator, create a Problem Solving process.

2. In the Team tab of the Problem Solving process, assign a Team Leader.

Example The creator assigns ed as the Team Leader.

3. As a Team Leader, open the Problem Solving process, and assign the team members and Champions.

Example The Team Leader, ed, assigns the bob as a team member and alice as a Champion.

4. Submit the Problem Solving process to the Problem Solving Process workflow as follows:

Choose More Commands > Manage > Submit to Workflow.

In the Submit to Workflow panel, select Assigned to view the available Problem Solving workflows.

From the Template list, select Problem Solving Process.

Specify a Name or accept the default.

(Optional) Enter the Description.

Click Submit.

The workflow sends a notification to the team member to accept the task of working on the Problem Solving process. Example The workflow sends a notification to the team member, bob.

The workflow also adds the Task to Perform section in the Overview tab to track the progress of completing the tasks in the workflow. This section displays information about the next task to be performed in the workflow. As you progress through the various workflow tasks, this section displays information about the upcoming task.

5. The team member reviews the Problem Solving process and accepts the task of working on it as follows:

In the Inbox, select the Perform Signoffs task for the required Problem Solving process.

In the Overview tab, under Targets, view the Problem Solving process for review.

Under Action, provide your Comments related to the review task.

Click Approve or Reject.

Example The team member, bob, reviews the Problem Solving process, and accepts the task of working on it.

After the team member accepts the task of working on the Problem Solving process, the workflow sends a notification to the Champion to review the Problem Solving process.

6. As a Team Leader, open the Problem Solving process in the notification, create a problem description defect, and set the Evaluation status to Investigating.

Note If you have derived the Problem Solving process from an issue, the problem description defect is already created from the issue's symptom defect.

Example The Team Leader, ed, opens the Problem Solving process in the notification, creates a problem description defect, and sets its Evaluation status to Investigating.

7. After creating the problem description defect and setting its Evaluation status to Investigating, mark the task as Complete.

You can mark the task as Complete in the Inbox or in the Workflow tab of the Problem Solving process.

The workflow sends a notification to the Champion to review the problem description defect.

Example The workflow sends a notification to the Champion, alice.

8. The Champion reviews the problem description defect as follows:

In the Inbox, select the Perform Signoffs task for the required Problem Solving process.

In the Overview tab, under Targets, view the Problem Solving process for review.

Under Action, provide your Comments related to the review task.

Click Approve or Reject.

Example The Champion, alice, reviews and approves or rejects the problem description defect.

If the Champion approves the problem description defect, the workflow creates a task for the Team Leader to create the required containment actions and perform a root cause analysis. If the Champion rejects the problem description defect, the workflow the workflow creates a task for the Team Leader to close the Problem Solving process by either canceling, reworking, or putting it on hold.

9. If the Champion approves the problem description defect, do the following:

As a Team Leader, open the Problem Solving process in the notification, and create the required containment actions.

Example The Team Leader, ed, opens the Problem Solving process in the notification, and creates the required containment actions.

After creating the containment actions, mark the task as Complete.

You can mark the task as Complete in the Inbox or in the Workflow tab of the Problem Solving process.

When you create the containment actions, the default Quality Action workflow is triggered for the containment actions.

As a Team Leader, open the Problem Solving process in the notification, perform a root cause analysis, and mark the root causes.

Example The Team Leader, ed, opens the Problem Solving process in the notification, performs a root cause analysis, and marks the root causes.

After marking the root causes, the Team Leader sets the Evaluation status to Confirmed or Invalidated for the problem description defect in the Problem Solving process to proceed to the next stage in the workflow.

The Team Leader opens the task and marks it as Complete.

Note Before you mark the task as Complete, ensure that all quality actions assigned to a defect, a 5Why, a Why, an Ishikawa, or an Ishikawa cause are either completed or canceled.

You can mark the task as Complete in the Inbox or in the Workflow tab of the Problem Solving process.

The workflow sends a notification to the team members to review the root causes.

The team member reviews the root causes and approves them as follows: In the Inbox, select the Perform Signoffs task for the required Problem Solving process.

In the Overview tab, under Targets, view the Problem Solving process for review.

Under Action, provide your Comments related to the review task.

Click Approve or Reject. Example The team member, bob, reviews and approves the root causes.

The workflow sends a notification to the Champion to review the root causes. Example The workflow sends a notification to the Champion, alice.

The Champion reviews the root causes and approves it as follows: In the Inbox, select the Perform Signoffs task for the required Problem Solving process.

In the Overview tab, under Targets, view the Problem Solving process for review.

Under Action, provide your Comments related to the review task.

Click Approve or Reject.

Example The Champion, alice, reviews and approves the root causes.

The workflow creates a task for the Team Leader to create the required corrective and preventive actions.

As a Team Leader, open the Problem Solving process in the notification, create the required planned corrective actions, confirmation-of-effectiveness corrective actions, implemented corrective actions, and preventive actions.

Example The Team Leader, ed, opens the Problem Solving process in the notification, and creates the required planned corrective actions, confirmation-of-effectiveness corrective actions, implemented corrective actions, and preventive actions.

After creating the required corrective and preventive actions, mark their respective tasks as Complete.

You can mark the task as Complete in the Inbox or in the Workflow tab of the Problem Solving process.

The workflow sends a notification to the Team Leader to close the quality actions of the Problem Solving process.

As a Team Leader, ensure that all the quality actions of the Problem Solving process are either completed or canceled, and mark the task as Complete.

Note Ensure that all quality actions assigned to the containment actions, planned corrective actions, confirmation-of-effectiveness corrective actions, implemented corrective actions, and preventive actions are either completed or canceled. You can close the Problem Solving process only after all quality actions are either completed or canceled.

The workflow sends a notification to the team members to review the Problem Solving process and approve its closure.

The team member reviews the Problem Solving process and approves its closure as follows: In the Inbox, select the Perform Signoffs task for the required Problem Solving process.

In the Overview tab, under Targets, view the Problem Solving process for review.

Under Action, provide your Comments related to the review task.

Click Approve or Reject. Example The team member, bob reviews the Problem Solving process and approves its closure.

The workflow sends a notification to the Champion to review the Problem Solving process and approve its closure.

After the team member approves the closure of the Problem Solving process, the Champion reviews the Problem Solving process and approves its closure as follows: In the Inbox, select the Perform Signoffs task for the required Problem Solving process.

In the Overview tab, under Targets, view the Problem Solving process for review.

Under Action, provide your Comments related to the review task.

Click Approve or Reject.

Example The Champion, alice, reviews the Problem Solving process, and approves its closure.

The Problem Solving process is closed. You cannot add, edit, or delete any objects in the Problem Solving process. You can generate a report of the Problem Solving process or reopen it by submitting it to the Problem Solving Reopen Request workflow. You can also create a new Problem Solving process from the closed Problem Solving process by choosing More Commands > New > Save As.

10. If the Champion rejects the problem description defect, do the following:

As a Team Leader, in the Inbox, select the Decision: Team Leader task for the required Problem Solving process.

To either cancel, rework, or put the Problem Solving process on hold, do one of the following:

Click Cancelled to pause work on the Problem Solving process. The workflow also updates the Disposition as Disapproved and Closure as Canceled in the Problem Solving process.

Click On Hold to pause work on the issue. The workflow also updates the Disposition as Deferred and Closure as On Hold in the Problem Solving process.

Click Rework to ask the Team Leader to provide additional details and perform the required rework on the problem description defect of the Problem Solving process. The workflow sends a notification to the Team Leader to rework the problem description defect of the Problem Solving process. After the Team Leader completes the required rework, the Team Leader marks the task as Complete.

After the Team Leader marks the task as Complete, the workflow sends a notification to the Champion to review the updated problem description defect.