IncidentXP Software Manual - For Release 12.0
IncidentXP Software Manual - For Release 12.0
IncidentXP Software Manual - For Release 12.0
Copyright
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION 6
1.1 Purpose of this document 6
1.2 Structure of this document 6
9 ACTIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS 70
9.1 Actions as a TODO items 70
9.2 Actions as recommendations 70
9.3 Adding an action 71
9.4 Visualizing actions 73
9.5 Action reports 74
13 LINKING TO DOCUMENTATION 93
13.1 Introduction 93
13.2 Creating a document link 94
13.3 Linking a document link to the diagram 95
16 SUPPORT 103
16.1 Helpdesk 103
16.2 Software training 103
16.3 BSCAT method training 103
16.4 Tripod Beta method training 103
16.5 TOP-SET method training 103
For BSCAT: This manual combined with the DNV BSCAT Method Manual should be sufficient for
experienced investigators to use the method and software successfully.
For Tripod: Familiarity, or preferably being an accredited Tripod professional, along with this manual,
should be enough to get you going with the software.
For BFA & RCA: This manual should be sufficient for experienced investigators to use the software
successfully.
Training courses in BSCAT and Tripod Beta are available in the market. Customized training for the
BSCAT method is available through DNV (www.dnv.com). Training for Tripod Beta is available
through various parties, please contact the Stichting Tripod Foundation or the energy institute
(https://publishing.energyinst.org/tripod). For training in BFA, please contact Enablon Wolters
Kluwer at [email protected].
4. Advanced functionality; Display settings, document links, export of data and bowtie methodology
description:
5. Support options:
• Chapter 16,
Support.
2
QUICK INSTALLATION GUIDE
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Installing IncidentXP onto your computer is very simple. If, however, you run into trouble and need
more detailed information about the installation procedure or the software prerequisites and
compatibility, then this information is available in the full BowTieXP software manual.
Note: BowTieXP and IncidentXP are licensed modules within the same software application. Your
license key will determine which module you will be able to access:
• IncidentXP,
• BowTieXP
• or both.
This is the reason why you will download the IncidentXP software from the BowTieXP downloads
site.
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-framework/thank-you/net48-web-installer
Note that Windows 10 Creators Update (1703) and later come with a new enough version of the framework already
installed out of the box.
If you have purchased IncidentXP, you will need to obtain an activation code to perpetually activate
IncidentXP. Please copy the code shown in the current host ID text box and paste it into an email to
Enablon Wolters Kluwer at [email protected]. We will then send you an activation
code. After entering this code in the activation or trial code text box, the current version of
IncidentXP will run on your desktop/laptop forever.
To do so, select the “Lock to this computer with an old host id” option from the “Lock to” drop-down
menu in the Product Activation screen (see Figure 2). The screen will then display a field for the
current, as well as the activated host-id (see Figure 3).
We do not need to send you a new code. You just need to tell it the host id which belongs to the
activation code. You can do this by copy/pasting the old host id which was used to generate the
activation code into the “Activated host id” field. The host id that was used to generate the activation
code is always included in the same email as the activation code, usually in a bit of text that looks like
Figure 4:
The host-id that was used to generate the activation code is the one pointed out by the arrow in
Figure 4. When this host-id is copied into the “Activated host id’ field, the software will pick it up and
then match it to the activation code. This should result in an accepted code, returning the status
“OK”. Now click the OK button, and the software should be activated once more.
Please note that IncidentXP will check what has changed on your computer. If too many parts have
changed, or you are trying this on a different computer, the code will still not work, and you will need
to contact us for an updated code.
This screen consists of several parts that you will need to familiarize yourself with before you will be
able to start building analysis diagrams.
Along the top we find the menu bar and the main toolbar.
The diagram window is where the visual portion of your diagram will take shape, think of the
diagram window as your drawing board.
The diagram can show the timeline of an incident, the incident analysis diagram, or both. The
analysis diagram can be either a BSCAT, Tripod, BFA or RCA diagram. When you start the software
and no Incidents have been created yet, the diagram window will either show you the Case
Overview, the Incident Manager, or an empty Incident Diagram sheet.
Through this window you have access to all information in your file, such as the incidents itself, but
also reference information such as
• The incident categorizations such as types and tiers (see Incident Lookup Tables),
• Other reference information such as document links and
• Method-specific reference information such as the BSCAT chart items or Tripod BRF lists (also
Incident Lookup Tables).
When you want to add a new item, you enter the item’s details into this window. When you want to
change an item, you also have to do it in this window.
By double clicking items in the treeview or in your diagram window, the editor window will appear
which allows you to edit the various fields and reference data of an item.
Along the top we have different tabs. The leftmost one is called ‘General’ and this is where we have
all the basic data which is available for an item. In these examples, we are looking at items that have,
amongst other properties, a name, and a description.
The next tab is called ‘User Data’ and it is where you can define your own fields, if so required. Please
see the BowTieXP software manual for more information regarding this tab.
If you can’t find your diagram, you either have not selected an incident, or you have selected a different tab such
as the case overview tab instead of the diagram tab.
You can remove (hide) or add buttons from/to the diagram toolbar by clicking on the three tiny
buttons with three small dots and an arrow on it.
Check the toolbar buttons that you want to visualize in the toolbar and uncheck the buttons that
should be hidden.
To create a new incident in the software, right-click the incidents node in the treeview and
subsequently select ‘New Incident’. The editor will pop up allowing you to specify the name, date,
incident type, category, and tier. In this window you should also decide which analysis method you
want to use.
Note: Depending on which methods are activated/licensed in the software, you will be offered a choice of method.
If only one method is activated, that method is automatically selected.
After creating the new incident, the treeview presents us one or multiple empty diagrams
underneath the incident node. These diagrams can be either incident analysis diagrams or timeline
diagrams.
In chapter 3 we will explain how to create the timeline, and thereafter in separate chapters discuss
creation of BSCAT diagrams, Tripod Beta diagrams, BFA diagrams, and RCA diagrams.
You can open the Incident Manager by going to ‘View > Windows > Incident Manager’, or use the
hotkey Ctrl + Shift + J. Alternatively, if it has already been activated before, you can click on ‘incident
manager’ in your diagram tabs, as illustrated in Figure 15 by the red circle.
Once you’ve built multiple incidents, the start screen of your Incident Manager will look different. It
will contain an overview of all the incidents within your case file, displayed as tiles. Clicking on one
will directly take you to that particular incident.
As an alternative way to create an incident you can click on ‘Add Incident’ within the Incident
Manager to create a new incident. In this example, we used ‘Conveyer belt fire’ as a fictional incident
taken from our test file. After creating a new incident and filling in its basic details, your screen will
look like this:
incident (see
Figure 17 – ).
There are 4 grey buttons near the top of this page as shown in the image below.
The first button will open the ‘Edit Incident windows’ and allows you to change the details of the
incident. The second button allows you to add new actions, which can be viewed under
‘Recommendations’. The third button allows you to add a new incident diagram. The fourth button
completely deletes the incident from your case file. It will give you a warning before being able to
delete an incident. Moreover, you can undo it using the undo button (or Ctrl + Z).
Investigation
The ‘Investigation’ tab contains a reference to your timeline diagram. See chapter 3.4 ‘Creating a
timeline’ for more information on the timeline. Left click on ‘Timeline Diagram’ to go to the timeline
diagram.
Note that there is an add new timeline diagram button on this page as well.
Analysis
The analysis tab gives an overview of all the analysis diagrams you have of an incident. Left clicking
on, for example, ‘Top Set RCA’ (or one of the other incident techniques), will take you to that
respective incident diagram.
Note that there is an add new incident diagram button on this page as well.
It is also possible to click on the pen on paper icon to change the original name of the incident and
set its status to ‘Completed’.
For more information on the different incident analysis techniques, please see chapter 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8.
Additionally, there are three buttons on this page (as shown in red). The first button lets you add
additional general actions, i.e. actions that are not related to any shape of the incident/timeline
diagram. The second button allows you to export your action list to Excel. The third button only
shows up if you select an action and allows you to delete the selected action.
Attachments
The ‘Attachments’ tab gives an overview of all the documents attached to this incident. For example,
it is possible to add picture evidence, interview reports, building blueprints etc. The software allows
for almost any type of file to be attached, from .jpeg to .pdf. ‘Attachments’ differs from ‘Document
Links’: Be careful not to attach too many large documents, as this will add to the file size of your
bowtie file. Clicking on the paper with paperclip button will allow
you to add attachments.
Report
The ‘Report’ tab gives an overview of the reports of an incident. There are 5 buttons on this page (as
shown in red).
1 2 3 4 5
The first button will allow you to choose a template for your report. You can choose between the
built-in template (see Figure 26) or a custom made one. The first page of the built-in template can be
seen in
Figure 26. Templates use predefined tags that draw their information from IncidentXP to
automatically fill in a report. For more information on how this works see chapter 14.2.2.
The second button creates a report based on the template we defined using the first button. Left
click it to save it on your computer, and it will automatically open a word document. The third button
uploads existing documents. For example, you can link the report you just made using the first two
buttons. The fourth button refreshes the report that was saved on the computer. This is to ensure
that the linked report you made using the third button can be updated when you have updated your
existing incident analysis in IncidentXP.
The fifth button only shows up if you’ve selected a report and allows you to unlink the selected
report, so you will not be able to see it in the reports list for updating. Note: There will be no warning
nor can this be recovered by clicking “Undo” or Ctrl + Z.
The settings icon will take you to a pop-up screen that will allow you to choose what diagram to
use (you can choose only one) and what timeline diagrams to involve (you can choose multiple) in
that particular report with every update.
To add a timeline diagram to an existing incident, right-click an incident in the treeview and select
‘New Incident Diagram’. Select methodology ‘Timeline’ in the add incident diagram dialog and give
the timeline a name.
In this window you will also be able to select the ‘Diagram Status’, which is linked to a functionality in
BowTieServer. You can choose to ignore this when you are not a BowTieServer user. You can filter
out the data of draft incident diagrams on bowtie diagrams by means of the incident filter when
using IncidentXP in combination with BowTieXP.
Select a date and time and a date/time format. Subsequently select ‘OK’ to add the column. A
qualitative date and time can optionally be inserted to highlight a particular moment with a
qualitative description (e.g. First Deviation) that will be shown at the top of the column.
Another way of adding a timeline column is to drag an existing timeline column to the right or left
side of the diagram.
Note: A red exclamation mark will appear when timeline columns are not in chronological order.
Note: The term actor can refer to a person but also to an item, machine, system, or other item which can cause
actions (or influence the flow of events).
To add a new timeline actor, move your mouse over the top (or bottom) of an existing timeline actor
and click the green plus button that appears. Add a name in the field that appears and press ‘Enter’.
Double click a timeline event to specify the name, description, actor, location, category and
confidence level. See next paragraph for more information on editing different elements.
Note: There will be a new actor row added to the timeline diagram when a new actor is created in the timeline
event editor. An actor can be added in the timeline event editor by selecting this icon
We can also drag timeline events to other positions within the diagram. Dropping it onto a different
cell will implicitly alter the timestamp and actor accordingly.
Unused actors will be hidden from the diagram by clicking this button in the toolbar. If you
cannot find this button in the toolbar you have to add it first to the toolbar using the ‘add or remove
buttons’, see chapter 3.1.4.
Copying an event from an analysis diagram to the timeline is also possible. Make sure that you select
the header of a timeline column to paste an element into the timeline. It will automatically snap onto
the NULL or No Value Assigned row at the bottom of the timeline.
Note: Refer to DNV’s BSCAT method manual for a more thorough elaboration.
4.1.1 Introduction
The BSCAT method refers to a method that links modern risk–based safety management approaches
to systematic cause analysis (SCA) incident investigation. The “B” refers to barrier–based as each
barrier identified in an event scenario is assessed on why it failed.
SCAT stands for Systematic Cause Analysis Technique, a well-established root cause analysis
approach which incorporates the DNV loss causation model. The model is a sequence of dominos
establishing the hierarchy of accident progression from the immediate cause back to fundamental
root causes and system failures.
The SCAT model was developed to help incident investigators apply the DNV loss causation model to
actual events. This is done by means of the SCAT chart. The chart was created to build–out an event
using standardized event descriptions that can fit a whole range of incidents and near misses. Due to
using a standardized list, incident analyses are suitable for data aggregation, leading to more insight
into the weak areas of your safety management system.
A barrier-based accident investigation still applies the SCAT model but now it is applied to each
barrier separately, not to the incident as a whole.
The BSCAT chart is the latest update of the SCAT approach. It includes all the historical occupational
safety topics and underlying causes, and moreover has added process risks to the list (e.g. fires and
explosions) and is in general more suitable for barrier analysis.
As already seen, the software supports building the timeline in a user-friendly manner. See section
3.4, Creating a timeline.
3. After creating the timeline, key events are identified and placed in an event flow diagram.
The software supports building these diagrams in two manners – in the completely free form, but
also using pro-active bowtie risk analysis as a source for event flow information – this is known as
building a templated BSCAT diagram.
For free-form building of a BSCAT diagram, see section 4.2, Creating a BSCAT diagram.
For templated building of a BSCAT diagram, see section 10, Linking incidents with bowtie.
4. Barriers thereafter are identified and inserted between the key events (only in the free-form
building).
5. Barriers are then analyzed; Which have failed? Which were missing? Etc.
6. A BSCAT analysis is performed for each (failing) barrier.
Steps two to five are repeated for each hypothesis about the accident causation.
The BSCAT tool supports many different reports and output methods to provide you with all
information needed to create a full report. See section 14, Getting data out of the program.
Optionally, the barriers identified in the investigation can be linked to barriers on pro-active bowtie
risk analyses to provide aggregation and insight into a scenario based context. If applicable bowties
do not (yet) exist, they can be built (given you have a BSCAT IncidentXP + BowTieXP license). For
linking incidents with bowtie risk analysis, see section 10, Linking incidents with bowtie.
When selecting the BSCAT method in creating a new incident (see section 3.2, Creating an incident &
incident analysis diagram), the software automatically provides the first event of a BSCAT diagram, so
you can get started on the BSCAT diagram immediately.
To create a new BSCAT diagram, you have to right-click the incident node and select ‘New Incident’.
Select the BSCAT methodology in the add incident diagram dialog and give the diagram a name.
Note: It is also possible to add BSCAT events by selecting events (top event, threats, or consequences) from a bowtie
diagram. In section 10, Linking incidents with bowtie you can read how to do this.
To add a new BSCAT event hover your mouse over the right or left side of an existing BSCAT event
and click the green button that appears. The left button will add an incoming event (a previous event
leading to this one). The right button will add an outgoing event (an event which happened after this
one).
It is also possible to add a new BSCAT event by clicking this button in the toolbar:
You can edit an event by right clicking an existing event and choose Edit event. Other option are to
double click the element or use the pencil icon. Give the BSCAT event a name and decide about the
appearance of the event – it can be shown as a normal event, a threat, a consequence, a top event as
well as a potential event (one which did not happen, but could have taken place).
These appearance options are to differentiate the types of events. The first event (red) is the default
BSCAT event appearance. The next three events are mainly used in the bowtie theory. The last is an
exceptional element to specifically stand out.
We can reposition the events by dragging them around the diagram. A background grid is shown to
assist you in spacing your diagram. Shapes will automatically snap to the grid when dropping them.
This is called the assisted layout and is used by BSCAT diagrams by default. There is also a free grid
layout. This means that the diagram shapes can freely be distributed across the diagram space. To
change the layout grid, please see section 11.4 Layout grid.
When we move the mouse over the connector, we see two buttons appearing. When clicking the
blue icon, an event is automatically created in between the other events.
Note: It is also possible to add BSCAT events by selecting events (top event, threats, or consequences) from a bowtie
diagram. In section 10, Linking incidents with bowtie you can read how to do this
When we click this button, we can add an event parallel to the other event.
The same can be done if multiple initial events result in one following event.
Besides giving the barrier a title, we can enter a description, barrier type, enter how the barrier
failed, both in a short description and in a longer multiline format, as well as choose the barrier state
– also known as the failure state: failed, missing, unreliable, inadequate or effective. We can enter
the barrier challenge and response in the ‘Barrier Challenge/Barrier Response’ tab. Also we can add
information in a tab called ‘User Data’ where we can define our own fields, if so required. Please see
the BowTieXP software manual for more information regarding this tab. More information regarding
the ‘Document Links’ tab is available in chapter 13
Linking to documentation.
Using the skills described above we can quickly build more complex diagrams:
To add a new BSCAT causation path you can move your mouse over the bottom of an existing BSCAT
incident barrier and click the light red button that appears.
Some users like to add both the descriptions and assign the BSCAT chart values as well, other users
choose only one of these two options.
The editor tab in the BSCAT causation editor window allows you to add a description of the
immediate cause, basic cause and management system factor, and you are also able to indicate what
particular kind of inadequacy of the management system lead to this barrier failure (toggle the
appropriate option).
Note #1: If you want to add a second BSCAT causation to the same incident barrier, right click the incident barrier
and choose Add → BSCAT causation.
Note #2: The Expand/Collapse buttons and the Filter are useful features in the edit window to quickly find the chart
values you are looking for.
Note #3: The BSCAT chart values can also be assigned to an incident barrier by dragging and dropping them from
the treeview.
Expand the ‘parent’ to be able to see all the ‘children’ within one BSCAT category.
Note: The layout engine in the BSCAT software has been optimized for BSCAT diagrams – diagrams with a limited
number of parallel paths. If you attempt to create for instance a fault tree or event tree type diagrams, you will
quickly run into the limitations of the automatic layout function.
Breaking the move of items you want to accomplish into separate steps will alleviate this problem. With separate
steps we mean more than one drag and drop operation. Instead of trying to move an item immediately to the
wanted end position, do it in smaller steps. E.g. first move it left, and then move it up. This also helps you understand
what the layout engine is trying to do and make the system work for you, instead of against you.
5
THE TRIPOD BETA METHOD
5.1 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TRIPOD BETA
METHODOLOGY
Note: Please see Stichting Tripod Foundation’s Tripod Beta User Guide for a more thorough elaboration.
5.1.1 Introduction
Developed in the early 1990s, Tripod Beta is an incident investigation methodology designed in line
with the human behavior model. It was explicitly created to help accident investigators model
incidents in a way that allows them to understand the influencing environment, and to uncover the
root organizational deficiencies that allowed an incident to happen.
Working back from the 'main event' (the incident) allows us to fully understand what happened and
how an incident happened.
A set of shapes consisting of an agent, an object and an event is called a trio and is the basic building
block of the Tripod beta method. Events themselves can also be objects or agents, allowing us to
chain these trios into a contextual diagram.
As already seen, the software supports building the timeline in a user-friendly manner. See section
3.4, Creating a timeline.
3. After creating the timeline, the trio’s (agent, object, and event) are identified and linked to
each other which forms an event flow diagram. Linking an event to an agent results in a
combined node called ‘event-agent’. Linking an event to an object results in a combined
node called ‘event-object’.
The software supports building these diagrams in two manners – in the completely free form, but
also using pro-active bowtie risk analysis as a source for event flow information – this is known as
building a templated Tripod Beta diagram.
4. Barriers are identified and inserted between the event and agent or object.
5. Barriers are analyzed; Which have failed? How did they fail? Which were missing?.
Please see Stichting Tripod Foundation’s Tripod Beta User Guide for a thorough elaboration on this.
The Tripod Beta tool supports many different reports and output methods to provide you with all
information needed to create a full report. See chapter 14, Getting data out of the program.
Optionally, the barriers identified in the investigation can be linked to barriers on pro-active bowtie
risk analyses to provide aggregation and insight into how barriers relate to real life events. If
applicable bowties do not (yet) exist they can be created (given that you have a Tripod IncidentXP +
BowTieXP license). For a templated building of a Tripod Beta diagram, see section 10, Linking
incidents with bowtie.
Note: The Tripod Beta diagrams shown in this manual may slightly deviate from the Tripod Beta rules which are set
by the Stichting Tripod Foundation. These differences may especially occur within the description of barriers. This
manual will often use the bowtie risk assessment guidelines for describing barriers.
The Tripod diagram consists of events, agents and objects, which are connected through connectors.
To start a diagram, we must start with a single event.
To create a new Tripod Beta diagram, right-click the incident node in the treeview and select ‘New
Incident’. Name the Tripod diagram and select methodology ‘Tripod Beta’.
When the method ‘Tripod Beta’ is selected whenever an incident is created (see section 0, Creating
an incident & incident analysis diagram), the software automatically creates the first event of a
Tripod diagram, so you can get started on the Tripod diagram immediately.
Double click the outlines of the Agent and Object to open the editor and edit the elements’ name
and appearance:
This dialog box also allows you to change the appearance of the element – which can be shown as
Agent, Object, Event, Event-Agent, Event-Object as well as a Potential event (an event that did not
happen, but could have occurred). You can also convert shapes into bowtie appearances: Threat,
Consequence, and Top event. Please refer to chapter 15 for details on this.
Note: this sub-chapter describes IncidentXP functionality that is not part of the official Tripod Beta guidelines that
are issued by the Energy Institute. In the official guidelines, there can be only one object against an agent.
If you want to add a second object to an existing Tripod trio, move the mouse over the left side of
the event, and a green button will appear. When we click this button, a second object will
automatically be added. Alternatively, you can right-click on an event and select “Add Event to the
left”. The editor pops up and we can enter the details of the object and change the appearance, for
instance to Object or Agent.
Note: the newly added element(s) might be partially placed over existing element(s). Use the free layout to drag
and drop the elements to the preferred position.
Note: It is also possible to add Tripod elements by selecting events (top event, threats, or consequences) from a
bowtie diagram. In section 10, Linking incidents with bowtie you can read how to do this.
When we hover with the mouse over a connector, we can see both a grey barrier button and a blue
event button. If we click the grey barrier button, we can add a barrier to the connector.
Right click on a barrier and click Edit Incident Barrier. In this editor box, we can give the barrier a
name, enter a description, choose a barrier type, enter how the barrier failed, both in a short
description and in a longer multiline format, as well as choose a barrier status – also known as the
failure state: failed, missing, unreliable, inadequate (or effective when not failed). We can provide
the barrier challenge and response in the ‘Barrier Challenge/Barrier Response’ tab. Additionally, we
can add information in a tab called ‘User Data’ where we can define our own fields, if so required.
Please see the BowTieXP software manual for more information regarding the ‘User Data’ tab. More
information regarding the ‘Document Links’ tab is available in chapter 13
Linking to documentation.
Using these software options allows you to quickly build complex diagrams such as:
Note: The ‘Unreliable’ barrier state is not part of the official Tripod Beta guidelines that are issued by the Energy
Institute. In the official guidelines, this state does not exist. It is however part of IncidentXP for it is used within
other methods that IncidentXP supports (i.e. BFA and BSCAT)
To add a new Tripod causation path, move your mouse over the bottom of an existing incident
barrier and click the grey button that appears.
Right click on the Immediate Cause that appeared in the diagram, and select Edit Tripod Immediate
Cause. In the Immediate Cause editor window we can fill in the details of the immediate cause.
When we click OK the immediate cause is added to the barrier. You can drag the immediate cause to
position its place above or below the barrier:
You can add one or more precondition(s) and underlying cause(s) by following the same steps. This
time move the mouse over the left side of the immediate cause and precondition to let a blue and
yellow button appear instead.
The Tripod Beta causation path is completed after adding the underlying cause.
Note #2: IncidentXP supports categorizing your immediate causes, preconditions, and underlying causes. The list of
categories can be defined within the Incident Lookup Tables node of your case file.
A BRF code can be visualized on an underlying cause by using the small eye icon on the causation
element:
6
THE BARRIER FAILURE ANALYSIS (BFA)
METHOD
6.1 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF BFA METHODOLOGY
Barrier Failure Analysis (BFA) is a pragmatic, un-opinionated, general-purpose incident analysis
method. It has no affiliation with any particular bureau, authority or organization.
BFA is a way to structure incidents and to categorize certain parts of incident taxonomy. The
structure consists of events, barriers and causation paths. Events are used to describe a causal
sequence of events that we want to prevent from cascading. This means that each event causes the
occurrence of a next event. There can also be parallel events that combined cause the next event to
happen.
The causation consists of three steps, which are respectively called Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
level. These labels can be customized. The method does not specify whether the analysis should end
on an organizational level or not, this is merely what the software allows you to do. Each level in the
causation path can additionally be categorized to your own fit. By default there are no categories
defined in the software. This allows you as a user the flexibility to create relevant, custom categories
specific to your own organizational context.
Any organization should go through an initial period of testing and iterating these categories. At
some point a steady state should emerge that will capture most incidents and provide relevant
insights. Whenever diversions from this structure were to occur more often, it is possible to keep this
learning process alive and reconsider the initial categorization.
If the method BFA is selected when creating an incident (section 3.2, Creating an incident & incident
analysis diagram), the software automatically creates the first event of a BFA diagram, in order for
you to get started on the BFA diagram immediately.
To create a new BFA diagram, you have to right-click the incident node in the treeview and select
‘New Incident’. Name the diagram and select the ‘BFA’ as your analysis methodology.
Note: It is also possible to add BFA events by selecting events from a bowtie diagram (top event, threats, or
consequences). In section 10, Linking incidents with bowtie you can read how to do this.
To add a new BFA event move your mouse over the right or left side of an existing BFA event and
click the green button that appears. The left button will add an incoming event (a previous event
leading to this one). The right button will add an outgoing event (an event which happened after this
one). Alternatively, you can right-click on an event and select “Add - Event to the left (or right)”.
It is also possible to add a new BFA event by clicking this button in the toolbar:
Right-click on an existing event and choose Edit Event to give the BFA event its name and appearance
– it can be altered into an event, a threat, a consequence, a top event as well as a potential event
(something that did not happen, but could have happened).
These appearance options are to differentiate what kind of event we are considering. The first
appearance (event) is the default BFA event appearance. The appearances threat, consequence and
top event refer to the bowtie theory. Potential but not reached is an addition to highlight possible
outcomes that did not happen in the incident.
We can reposition the events by dragging them around the diagram. A background grid is shown to
assist you in spacing your diagram. Shapes will automatically snap to the grid when dropping them.
This is called the assisted layout and is used by BFA diagrams by default. There is also a free grid
layout. This means that the diagram shapes can freely be distributed across the diagram space. To
change the layout grid, please see section 11.4 Layout grid.
When we move the mouse over the connector, we see two buttons appearing. When clicking the
blue icon, an event is automatically created in between the other events.
A similar exercise can be performed the other way around when multiple events result in one event.
Besides giving the barrier a title, we can enter a description, barrier type, enter how the barrier
failed, both in a short description and in a longer multiline format, as well as choose the barrier state
– also known as the failure state: failed, missing, unreliable, inadequate or effective. We can enter
the barrier challenge and response in the ‘Barrier Challenge/Barrier Response’ tab. Besides that you
can add information in a tab called ‘User Data’ where we can define our own fields, if so required.
Please see the BowTieXP software manual for more information regarding this tab. More information
regarding the ‘Document Links’ tab is available in chapter 13
Linking to documentation.
To add a new BFA causation move your mouse over the bottom of an existing incident barrier and
click the grey button that appears.
Note: How to import your own company’s incident causation chart is described in section 6.5.1
Incident causation chart. By default, this list will be empty for the BFA categories within the software.
Accordingly, custom incident causation charts can be found under the BFA Primary causes, BFA
Secondary causes and BFA Tertiary causes tabs in the BFA causation editor. These tabs allow you to
link the BFA chart values to the causation descriptions. Select one of these tabs and move the
applicable chart value from the left to the right window, using either the appointed arrows or by
dragging and dropping the value. Defaulted in the software, the causation charts in the tree view are
empty.
Figure 93 - Incident causation chart value linked to the BFA causation (now empty)
Note: If you want to add a second incident causation path to the same incident barrier, right-click the incident
barrier and choose Add → BFA causation.
How to adjust the lookup tables can be found in section 11.3, Adjusting lookup tables.
Note: The layout engine in the IncidentXP software has been optimized for BFA diagrams – diagrams with not too
many parallel paths. If you attempt to create very complex diagrams, you could run into the limitations of the
automatic layout function.
Breaking the movement of items into separate steps will alleviate this problem. With separate steps we mean more
than one drag and drop operation. Instead of trying to move an item immediately to the wanted end position, do
it in smaller steps. E.g. first move it left, and then move it up. This also helps you understand what the layout engine
is trying to do and make the system work for you, instead of against you.
As a downside, a traditional root cause analysis has the potential to turn into a jumble of elements.
We felt this could be improved, so we did two things in our software solution. Firstly, we added some
categorizations to see at a glance where the core problem areas accumulate. This enables you to
perform a concise analysis that is easier to communicate. Secondly, you can separate the main
diagram into smaller sub-parts. This avoids you losing overview. Expectedly these changes to RCA will
help you create better analyses.
When selecting the method RCA for incident analysis (see section 3.2, Creating an incident & incident
analysis diagram on page 13), the software automatically creates the first event of a RCA diagram, so
you can get started on the RCA diagram immediately.
Another way of adding an event is done by right-clicking the event and subsequently selecting Add →
Add Event to the Left/Right.
It is also possible to add a new RCA event by clicking this button in the toolbar:
Using the pen icon in the bottom right of an event shape you can name the RCA event and decide
about the appearance of the event. It can be shown as a 'Regular event’, a ‘Root cause’, a
‘Contributing cause’, ‘Confirmed not a cause’, ‘More info needed’, and a ‘Stop’ event.
You can also assign a category and an equivalent Incident diagram. When an equivalent incident
diagram is chosen, a link will be created from this particular event to another incident diagram. See
section 7.6, for more information.
These appearance options are to differentiate what kind of event is at hand. The first event (regular)
is the default RCA event appearance. When we click OK the event is added to the diagram:
We can reposition the events by dragging them around the diagram. By default, RCA diagrams use a
free layout grid. The free layout allows the user to distribute the diagram shapes freely on the
diagram space by simply moving them or using cutting and pasting movements. In this way, RCA
diagrams can easily be rearranged. To change the layout grid, please see section 11.4 Layout grid.
Take the following steps to connect an RCA diagram to an RCA event from a different diagram within
the same incident.
1. Double click the RCA event which should be linked to the other RCA diagram.
2. Choose the RCA diagram that should be linked to this event.
3. Click OK.
Note: it is only possible to link to RCA diagrams within the same incident investigation (node).
A blue arrow button will appear next to the event once a link has been created. You can click this
arrow to navigate to the linked RCA diagram instantly.
As a downside, a traditional root cause analysis has the potential to turn into a jumble of elements.
We felt this could be improved, so we did two things in our software solution. Firstly, we added some
categorizations to see at a glance where the core problem areas accumulate. This enables you to
perform a concise analysis that is easier to communicate. Secondly, you can separate the main
diagram into smaller sub-parts. This avoids you losing overview. Expectedly these changes to RCA will
help you create better analyses.
The Kelvin TOP-SET RCA method is a more structured approach than the regular RCA method. The
TOP-SET acronym stands for Technology, Organization, People, Similar events, Environment and
Time. It emphasizes on not to quit investigating too rapidly. We have all heard the phrase, “We all
know what has happened here”, where the temptation is to make the RCA fit this early conclusion.
Kelvin TOP-SET RCA encourages you to keep digging deeper until you arrive at the Root Cause of an
incident.
NOTE: Kelvin TOP-SET makes use of reference lists to ensure better quality incident investigations. Our software
however, supports with the analysis part of incident investigation mostly. We advise you to contact Kelvin TOP-SET
directly to gain a better understanding on their full methodology.
The Kelvin TOP-SET RCA diagram consists of events, which are connected through connectors. To
begin a diagram we start off from a single event.
When selecting the TOP-SET RCA method for incident analysis (chapter 3.2 Creating an incident &
incident analysis diagram), the software automatically creates the first event of a TOP-SET RCA
diagram, enabling you to start the TOP-SET RCA diagram immediately.
Aside from automatically creating an event, it also shows the structure on which you can map your
analysis.
Another way of adding an event is done by right-clicking the event and subsequently selecting Add →
Add Event to the Left/Right.
It is also possible to add a new RCA event by clicking this button in the toolbar:
Using the pen icon in the bottom right of an event shape you can name the RCA event and decide
about the appearance of the event. It can be shown as a 'Regular event’, a ‘Root cause’, a
‘Contributing cause’, ‘Confirmed not a cause’, ‘More info needed’, and a ‘Stop’ event.
You can also assign a category and an equivalent Incident diagram. When an equivalent incident
diagram is chosen, a link will be created from this particular event to another incident diagram. See
section 7.67, for more information.
These appearance options are to differentiate the type of event. The first event (regular) is the
default RCA event appearance. When we click OK the event is added to the diagram:
We can reposition the events by dragging them around the diagram. By default, RCA diagrams use a
free layout grid. The free layout allows the user control over the layout of the diagram. This means
that the diagram shapes can be freely distributed on the diagram space by simply moving them or
with cutting and pasting movements. In this way, RCA diagrams can easily be rearranged. To change
the layout grid, please see chapter 11.4 Layout grid.
Take the following steps to connect an RCA diagram to an RCA event from a different diagram within
the same incident.
1. Double click the RCA event which should be linked to the other RCA diagram.
2. Choose the RCA diagram that should be linked to this event.
3. Click OK.
Note: it is only possible to link to RCA diagrams within the same incident analysis (node).
A blue arrow button will appear next to the event once a link has been created. You can click this
arrow to navigate to the linked RCA diagram instantly.
Some examples of actions as improvements are: correcting an error in a procedure, adding a new
railing or changing the accountable party for a barrier. The improvements do not need to be
recurring, but are implemented on a singular basis to improve the overall level of safety.
Actions to create a new barrier are usually displayed on the associated event within the diagram,
while (short-term) improvements on existing barriers are usually placed on the barrier itself.
Improvements that cover deeper lying systemic causes (long-term) can be added to the causation
path. An example could look like this:
Note: the action icon in the toolbar will only be activated once an element is selected, since actions need to be
linked to a specific element of your diagram and can’t “float” in the diagram space.
The action editor will open and will allow you to add the following data:
For Action Shapes, select either ‘None’ to hide all actions, choose ‘Overdue’ to show all uncompleted
actions with an overdue target date, tick ‘Uncompleted’ to show only uncompleted actions or select
‘All’ to see every action shape.
In the Colors tab you can choose to color your actions by Priority, Category, Overdue or Completed
status.
Note: If you are using BowTieXP in combination with IncidentXP, actions found in these reports can be a
combination of bowtie actions and incident related actions (i.e. recommendations).
10
LINKING INCIDENTS WITH BOWTIE
Note #1: To create templates containing bowtie information, or to link incident information to bowties, you will
need an IncidentXP + BowTieXP license.
The IncidentXP software allows you to have a full integration of incident and risk analysis, by using
and linking existing risk assessment information (bowties) to your incidents.
If relevant bowtie diagrams are available to use in your incident investigation, you can take entire
scenario lines from the bowtie and pin them directly into your incident analysis diagram. This results
in a better fit between incident and risk assessment analysis, which in turn allows you to improve the
(initial) risk assessment.
This allows organizations to analyze incidents in a barrier-based framework with minimal bowtie
training. Creating a barrier-based incident diagram requires training. However with this templated
software approach, all incident scenarios which already exist on bowties can be quickly plotted and
analyzed using any licensed incident analysis method.
After completing the incident analysis, the incident data and recommendations can be linked back to
the bowtie risk assessment and visualized on existing barriers. Plotting all your incidents data onto a
single BowTieXP case file allows you to aggregate barrier failure information and allows users to
perform incident trend analysis and visualize weak spots within your management system.
In short, the linking process allows you to gauge barrier effectiveness and availability on your bowtie
model(s), based on real-world information from incident analyses.
By selecting the ‘Add Event from bowtie’ button, you will be presented with a drop-down menu
allowing you to choose a bowtie element (top event, threat or consequence) to start from:
Note: The link between the incident analysis and the bowtie diagram is automatically created when the incident
analysis diagram is created by using existing bowties.
In this example we choose a road safety bowtie and have selected the threat ‘Blowout (tire)’. This
event then will be added to the diagram. When usually hovering over the green button to add
another event, we get another small orange button allowing to choose the next logical step in the
(bowtie) event flow:
In using the Tripod Beta methodology, you are forced to alter some events manually (see section 5.2,
Creating a Tripod Beta diagram ). Tripod Beta uses trio’s instead of straight event lines, therefore you
will need to rework your events methodically. Each (threat) event must be split up into two
elements: an agent and an object. Because of this you will probably need to replace some of the
barriers, according to the correct event lines. You can do this by ‘Cut’ (selecting a barrier and press
Ctrl + X) and ‘Paste’ (selecting the alternate connector and press Ctrl + V).
In all methods, after creating the diagram, every barrier needs to be assessed and assigned a barrier
state (failed, missing, unreliable, inadequate or effective), and provided with a causation assessment.
For each method specifically, see:
Note: The name of the elements in your incident analysis diagram can be adjusted without losing the connection
with the linked bowtie diagram, nor altering its content.
Select the corresponding bowtie barrier(s) within the ‘Available’ window and move it to the
‘Assigned’ window by either dragging and dropping or using the arrows in between. The filter can be
used to search for a specific barrier.
The process of linking an incident event to a bowtie event (threat, top event or consequence) works
almost the same. Again, double click the incident event and this time search for a corresponding
bowtie event in the tabs Hazards, Threats, Consequences and Escalation factors.
Select the corresponding bowtie element(s) within the ‘Available’ window and move it to the
‘Assigned’ window by either dragging and dropping or using the arrows in between. The filter can be
used here as well.
Here is a cut out of a bowtie diagram showing the incident barrier states:
Incidents
You can choose which incident(s) you would like to display within the ‘Incidents’ selection screen.
General
You can change various general visibility settings, underneath the option ‘General’:
• Show Incident count: show the number of incidents the barrier was linked to.
• Show Failure Percentages: show the percentual barrier failure from the incidents it was
linked to.
• Show linked item count: show the number of incident shapes the bowtie element was linked
to. As incident diagrams tend to be more specific (where bowties are more general/abstract),
it can happen that a single bowtie barrier will be linked to multiple incident barriers within
one incident.
• Show item state count: show the number of counts of the defined status within your
incident diagrams (e.g. failed, inadequate, unreliable, missing, or effective). See figure 135
for an example.
• Include draft Incident Diagrams: this can be used to in- or exclude draft incident diagram
data onto the bowtie diagrams. The incident diagram status can be altered (between
‘Working Draft’ and ‘Completed’) by double clicking an incident diagram in the tree view, or
within the Incident Manager.
BSCAT/BFA
You can change various BFA/BSCAT diagram related visibility settings, underneath the option
‘BSCAT/BFA’:
Tripod
You can change various Tripod diagram related visibility settings, underneath the option ‘Tripod’:
For the date filter within the incident filter, it is possible to use the predefined date options, or to
define a custom date range.
This makes it easier to discover which organizational units contain relevant incident information.
11
CONFIGURING THE DIAGRAM
IncidentXP has diagrams which are configurable in many ways – there are multiple options to tailor
the display to your specific needs. You can apply various colors and show all kinds of extra
information. This chapter will explain all the various settings.
By clicking the eye-shaped icon, a dialog box will appear which allows you to customize the display of
the item. It lists all the items can be shown on the diagram as additional information box below the
element. Choose from this list by selecting the radio button on the S or L column. S stands for Short
format and L stands for Long format.
You can also select which property is to be used to color the shape itself – this is done by selecting a
check box in the color column:
As an example, the above settings result into the visualization shown below:
Figure 144 - Incident barrier colored by barrier state and displaying document links
You can adjust the display for all elements on the diagram. If you need to adjust overall display
configurations, you can also use the overall diagram display options dialog, discussed in the next
section.
On the right-hand side, you can choose per element which information to display and again whether
to use a Short or a Long format to do so.
Figure 147 - Diagram display options - right hand side of ‘Show’ tab
On the left-hand side of this tab we can configure the action shapes’ color, and if we want colors to
appear in the additional information boxes. If some colors lead to bad readability of the information,
we can also choose to display its color only in the left corner of the information box (option ‘Show as
flag next to text’).
In the right hand side of this tab we can select which property to use to color the element itself.
Right-click a lookup table node to add, edit or delete a value in the list or change the value order.
Within this sub-editor we can thereafter choose a pattern and/or a color. Use the Background color
to adjust the coloring of the additional information boxes within the diagram.
The software has a default color that is used when no value is assigned to an item. This color can also
be adjusted: Select Case > ‘Edit null value colors’ in the upper menu toolbar. This will bring up the
dialog below Clicking an item will again bring up a color picker dialog.
To select ‘Assisted Layout’ or ‘Free grid Layout’, use this icon in the toolbar.
When this icon is selected, various options are presented. To select a main layout option, pick the
assisted or free layout option.
In the grid options drop-down, there are various other grid display options, such as showing/hiding
the grid, or showing the grid as lines as dots.
Below the grid options menu it is possible to select ‘Perform Automatic Layout’. This can be used
when you have been creating a diagram using the free grid layout, but you want the shapes to snap
to the grid to make them more readable. This is because shapes can have the possibility (until a
certain extend) to overlap when using the free grid layout.
12
CASE FILE TOOLS
12.1 LISTVIEW WINDOW
Go to View > Windows > Listview. The listview window sums up underlying information of a selected
tree view node. The listview is especially useful for the display of backlinks.
When a document link is referenced on say, a barrier, there’s a virtual arrow pointing from the
barrier to the location in the tree view where the document link is defined. This arrow is called the
link. We can also follow this arrow in the reverse direction, from the document links to all the
barriers where it is used. These are called the backlinks. The backlinks are a summation of all places
where the item is used.
From the drop-down box at the top of the window, select the report you want from the list. Once
you have selected a report, the window is populated with its results. To refresh the list of items, click
the button with the blue circular arrow. The quality checks are extremely helpful in identifying
missing data in your analysis.
The Case overview is a separate tab in the diagram window. Activation of this tab can be done
through the main menu selecting View > Windows > Case overview.
Using the drop-down menu on the toolbar labeled Overview Perspectives, you can change the
overviews’ perspective.
When information in the case file changes, the case file overview will update automatically. If, for
some reason, you want to rebuild the output you can do so with the ‘reset/reload’ button ( ).
Icon Description
Expand all
Collapse all
Reset/reload
Export to Excel
13
LINKING TO DOCUMENTATION
13.1 INTRODUCTION
A lot of information which is present in a case file refers to things which have already been
documented elsewhere, and in a lot of places in a case file you might want to refer to that
information. Besides that, evidence is often captured in a separate document, which should be linked
to the incident analysis as well.
To solve this need, both BowtieXP and IncidentXP offers a document links module. Document links
are pointers to external documentation which can be linked to various elements within your case file.
In this chapter you will learn how to make efficient use of them.
Document links are defined in a central hierarchy within the tree view, and are then linked to all
relevant (diagram) items throughout the rest of the case file. When assigned they can be shown on
the diagram, and quickly accessed by means of the ‘open/go to’ icon :
Figure 160 - Barrier showing documents links along with "open" button
A document link contains a code, a name, a description and a location. The location defines where
the actual document resides. This can be either a URL or a file path.
14
GETTING DATA OUT OF THE PROGRAM
14.1 INTRODUCTION
Putting information into case files is useful, but it is even better to also have the opportunity to get
all the information out of the case files in various perspectives and formats, in order to share them
with your desired audience.
In this chapter you will learn all the different methods for outputting information. We will discuss:
• The output of the various reports,
• The export of the diagrams.
The dialog box depicts already in advance which reports are offered as an Excel file. Deductively the
other reports will be generated in Word.
After running a report you can thereafter save the report under a name of your choosing.
1. Open the Developer tab. You can add fields with the “Aa” icon. The tooltip describes it as a
“Plain Text Content Control”.
3. To make sure the field is filled with the right data, select the field and click “Properties” in
the ribbon.
4. In the “Tag” field, you can insert one of the tags that are available (see Table below). If you
want to see these tags in the document, you have to turn on the “Design Mode”.
Available tags:
• Incident.Code
• Incident.Description
• Incident.LongDescription
• Incident.WhatHappened
• Incident.DateAndTime
• Incident.DateAndTimeTimeZoneId
• Incident.DateAndTimeFormat
• Incident.IncidentType
• Incident.IncidentCategory
• Incident.IncidentTier
• Incident.OrgUnit
• Incident.Latitude
• Incident.Longitude
• Incident.PlotPlan
• Incident.PPL_X
• PPL_Y
• PPL_S
• IncidentDiagram.DiagramStatus
• IncidentDiagram.WorkingDraftStatusDescription
• IncidentDiagram.CompletedStatusDescription
• IncidentDiagram.TopSetZone1a
• IncidentDiagram.TopSetZone1b
• IncidentDiagram.TopSetZone2
• IncidentDiagram.TopSetZone3
• IncidentDiagram.TopSetZone4
• IncidentDiagram.Name
• IncidentDiagram.MethodologyType
• IncidentDiagram.UseTopologicalLayout
• IncidentDiagram.IsSIRDiagram
• IncidentDiagram.ShowZones
• IncidentDiagram.ShowConnectorLabels
• TimelineDiagram.TimelinePictures
• IncidentDiagram.TreeOverview
• IncidentDiagram.TreeCutUp
• IncidentDiagram.Counts
• IncidentDiagram.Actions
• IncidentDiagram.DocumentLinks
• IncidentDiagram.AllL1Causes
• IncidentDiagram.AllL2Causes
• IncidentDiagram.AllL3Causes
5. Save your template and close Word. You cannot run the report while it is opened in Word.
6. In IncidentXP, go to View > Windows > Incident Manager > Global settings.
You can edit and change the report, then update the tags by selecting the same word file again (step
9). All fields will then be updated, without changing the information around it.
If you work with BowTieXP as well you may notice a small difference in how the templates are used.
In the case of custom reports for bowties you can save templates and reuse them from a dropdown
list. However, in the case of cusotm reports for incidents you will need to browse for the Word file
you want to use for that specific report. Bear in mind that you need to close your Word file before
you generate the report using a custom template.
Icon Description
Export as svg drawing: allows you to export picture and save it as an XML
based scalable vector graphic.
Note: We only support use of Visio 2002 – Visio 2007. Everything thereafter is not supported however it might still
work. We discourage the use of Visio because not all diagram info can be exported. Instead we recommend using
export to svg, export to png or the use of the BowTieServer WebViewer.
Risk in the bowtie methodology is represented by the relationship between hazards, top events,
threats and consequences. Barriers are used to display what measures an organization has in place to
control the risk.
15.1 HAZARD
The word “hazard” suggests that it is an unwanted entity, but in fact it is the opposite: it is exactly
the thing you want or even need in order to create business. It is an entity with the potential to cause
harm but without it there is no business. For example in the oil industry; oil is a dangerous substance
(and can cause a lot of harm when treated without special care) but it is the one thing that keeps the
oil industry in business! When a hazard is managed or under control, it can be of no harm.
15.4 CONSEQUENCES
When a top event has occurred it can lead to certain consequences. A consequence is a potential
event resulting from the release of the hazard, which entails damage, loss, or injuries/fatalities.
Consequences in bowtie methodology are therefore unwanted events that an organization ‘by all
means’ wants to avoid. For example: oil leaking into the environment.
In bowtie methodology there are proactive barriers (on the left side of the top event) that prevent
the top event from happening. For example: regularly corrosion inspections of the pipelines. There
are also reactive barriers (on the right side of the top event) that prevent the top event resulting into
unwanted consequences. For example: leak detection equipment or concrete floor around oil tank
platform.
Note the terms barrier and control are the same construct and depending on industry and company,
one or the other is used. Barrier is the defaulted term in our software tools.
Escalation factors are also known as defeating factors or barrier decay mechanisms – which term is
used is dependent on industry and company. The term escalation factor is defaulted in our software
tools.
16
SUPPORT
16.1 HELPDESK
There is a helpdesk for users that have bought an IncidentXP license with a valid support and
maintenance contract. This helpdesk assists people that have technical and user-related questions
regarding IncidentXP.
Please refer to https://bowtiexp.com/support for our Support & Maintenance overview. It explains
what customers receive when purchasing support & maintenance.
[email protected]
http://www.kelvintopset.com/