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Write a root cause analysis report

Turn your rough notes on a problem that happened into a root cause analysis report that separates what happened from direct causes, contributing factors and possible root causes, with each cause tied to evidence in your notes and a fix for each possible root cause.

Sample results: runs and scores on this page are illustrations while testing is set up. How we test

Bring: Your notes on the problem

Use This TemplatePrepare a prompt for your own AI chat.
  • Who it is for: Supervisors, project and site administrators, quality leads, customer service leads and office managers who have to explain a problem and propose fixes.
  • Time: 20 minutes
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Other Formats and Files

The Step 1 chat prompt under Use This Template is the quick start. Choose a full prompt chain, checklist, Claude skill or n8n file when that destination fits your work. Checked Instructions, below, run the whole job with a hard check after every step.

Choose one format

  • Prompt chain

    Copy each step into ChatGPT or Claude, one after another.

Checked Instructions

The whole job as one set of instructions. Paste it into a new chat in your own AI tool: it works step by step, runs a hard check after each one, shows the evidence, and leaves the final call to you.

Read the Instructions
ROLE
You are a fair-minded analyst who asks why a problem happened without blaming a person and writes down what the notes say and nothing more. Work in one pass, show your working, and use only the material I give you. Never invent a fact or a number.

WHEN TO USE
A delay, a service failure, a repeat error or an incident has happened, I have my own notes on it, and I need a report that asks why it happened and what would stop it happening again. Not for proving fault, or a report that goes to a client or into a claim or complaint without your manager or legal lead reading it first.

WHAT I GIVE YOU
PROBLEM NOTES: what I know, in any order, with times or dates where I have them: what happened, what I was told, and what has been tried. Use roles, not names, and leave out health and other personal details.

HOW TO RUN
Do steps 1 to 3 in order. After each step, run its checks and print one line per check: Passed or Failed, with the evidence. If a check fails, repair only the failed part, rerun that check, and try at most 2 times; then write "Needs a person" and the reason, and carry on. Where a step says YOU DECIDE, show the evidence and stop; do not choose for me. Each step names the AI size that suits it (small, medium or large). If my tool lets me switch, I will. If not, do your best and tell me which steps I should read myself.

STEP 1: List what happened in order [small]
List every event in PROBLEM NOTES, in the order it happened. An event is something that happened or was done; opinions, guesses and reasons are not events. Quote each event word for word, as short as you can, but write a role in place of any person's name. In When, give the time or day exactly as the notes give it, or not stated; do not work one out. One row for each event; merge none and add none. Table: # | When | Event (quote).
Checks:
- Quote the words in PROBLEM NOTES behind each Event. Failed if an Event differs from them other than a person's name replaced by a role, or if a name is left in. Fix: Replace the event with the notes' own words, using a role for any name.

STEP 2: Sort each possible cause by how well the notes support it [medium]
List every reason PROBLEM NOTES gives or suggests for the problem. Quote each word for word, but write a role in place of any person's name, one row each; if there are none, write one row with none. Level is exactly one of: direct cause, contributing factor, possible root cause, unproven, none. Direct cause is what immediately led to the problem. Contributing factor is a condition that made it worse or more likely. Possible root cause is a gap in a process, a form, a rule or a tool that, if fixed, would stop it coming back. Unproven is a guess, a belief or a claim about a person that the notes do not back with an event. A claim that a person should have known or tried harder is always unproven; never make a person the root cause. In Support, quote the event or fact in the notes that backs the reason, or write none in the notes. Table: # | Reason (quote) | Level | Support (quote).
Checks:
- Confirm each Level is direct cause, contributing factor, possible root cause, unproven or none. Show the row count. Fix: Replace any other word.
- Quote the Support for each row marked possible root cause. Failed if one says none in the notes or has no real quote. Fix: Change the level to unproven.
- Quote any row marked direct cause, contributing factor or possible root cause that names a person or says a person should have known or tried harder. Failed if one is found. Fix: Change the level to unproven.

STEP 3: Draft the report [medium]
Write the report under Summary, What Happened, Direct Cause, Contributing Factors, Possible Root Causes, Fixes, What We Do Not Know. Summary is two or three sentences of fact. What Happened lists the events from the events table, one line each, with a role in place of any person's name. Under Possible Root Causes use only reasons marked possible root cause, beginning: These are possible root causes, not confirmed ones. Do not name a person as a cause; write about roles, forms, rules and tools. Under Fixes write one fix for each possible root cause, with an owner role from the notes; if the notes name no role, write: Owner: role to be set. Do not invent a role. For the date use only a date in the notes, otherwise write: date to be set. Under What We Do Not Know list each reason marked unproven, in neutral words, and what a person should check. The report describes causes and fixes; it does not accept fault. End with exactly: Check this report with the people who were there before you share it. If it goes to a client, or a claim or complaint is possible, have your manager or legal lead read it first.
Checks:
- List each number in the report apart from the Result line, and the place in PROBLEM NOTES it came from. Failed if one has no place. Fix: Remove the number, or copy it again from PROBLEM NOTES.
- Confirm the report includes the line: Check this report with the people who were there before you share it. Show the line. Fix: Add the line.
- Quote any line that names a person, or says a person should have known or tried harder, as a cause. Failed if one is found. Wording about a role, a form, a rule or a tool is fine. Fix: Rewrite the line about the role, form, rule or tool.
- Count the possible root causes and the fixes under Fixes, and quote each possible root cause that has no fix. Failed if the counts differ. Fix: Add the fix.
- Quote any owner role or date under Fixes that PROBLEM NOTES does not give, other than Owner: role to be set and date to be set. Failed if one is found. Fix: Replace it with Owner: role to be set or date to be set.
- Search the report and the Reasons table for any first or last name. Quote each one found. Failed if one is found. Fix: Replace it with the role.
- Compare What Happened with the events table. Quote any event that is missing, or changed other than a name replaced by a role. Failed if one is found. Fix: Put the event back as the table says.
- Ask me: Has someone who was there read the report and said the events match what they remember, and, if it goes to a client or a claim or complaint is possible, has your manager or legal lead read it first?
YOU DECIDE: Whether the report is shared, and whether each possible root cause is real.

OUTPUT, IN THIS ORDER
1. "Result:" line with the number of reasons at each level, then on the next line exactly: This report comes from the checks above. An AI tool can miss things, so read the flagged parts yourself.
2. The report under Summary, What Happened, Direct Cause, Contributing Factors, Possible Root Causes, Fixes, What We Do Not Know, ending with the reminder line.
3. "Reasons" table: # | Reason (quote) | Level | Support (quote).
4. "Events" table: # | When | Event (quote).
5. "Checks" table: Step | Check | Result | Evidence.
Use roles, not names. Invent no time, date, owner or cause. This is a drafting aid, not a finding of fault or legal advice.

START
Ask me for anything missing from PROBLEM NOTES, then begin.

Using a download:How to use this in n8nHow to install a Claude skill

Use This Template

Add your material below. Logic Lab prepares Step 1; you copy it into your own AI and check the answer there. The site does not run the workflow.

Example materialSample
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Short notes with one clear cause, one gap behind it and one fix.

Step 1 Chat Prompt

Review the exact prompt, then paste it into your own AI. For later steps, use the chat chain in Other Formats and Files.

You are a careful analyst who writes down what happened and nothing more.

Your task is to list every event in the notes below, in the order it happened.

The notes:
The front office printer jammed twice on Monday morning. The weekend cleaner loads the tray with thick paper and the tray setting says standard. Nothing tells the cleaner to match the setting to the paper. When the setting was changed to thick paper, there were no more jams.

Rules:
- An event is something that happened or was done. Do not list opinions, guesses or reasons as events.
- Quote each event from the notes word for word, as short as you can. Do not correct it and do not reword it.
- In the When column, give the time or day exactly as the notes give it. If the notes give none, write not stated. Do not work out or guess a time.
- One row for each separate event. Do not merge two events and do not add one the notes do not have.

Return one markdown table and nothing else:
| # | When | Event (quote) |
Copy and open ChatGPTCopies this result and opens a blank chat. Paste and review it there.

This copies step 1. The other steps follow below.

Before Step 2, check: Every event is quoted word for word from your notes.

What This Sample Should Produce

Mark the wrong paper tray setting as the direct cause and the missing step to match the setting to the paper as a possible root cause, report no unproven reasons, and give one fix for it.

A result guide for this invented input, not an AI reply.

Want to see where the materials, steps and checks fit? Watch this template being built.