FMEA Records

When adding a new record (i.e., function, failure, effect, cause, control or action), RBI will assign a unique record identifier and a record position number using the following rules:

RBI assigns the unique record identifier (the ID column in the FMEA Hierarchy) as a sequential number for records of a given type across all projects in a single database, regardless of who created the record or how the record was created. When pasting records, RBI assigns new numbers to the record identifiers.
- For example, if you create a function in Project 1, while another user pastes a function in Project 2, followed by you creating a second function in Project 1, your second function will have ID number 3.
RBI assigns a record position number based on the location of the record in the FMEA hierarchy (the # column in the FMEA Hierarchy). These numbers are unique within a particular FMEA only and they help to provide some information about how the record fits within the rest of the FMEA hierarchy.
- For example, if you have three failures associated with the second function in an analysis, the record position number of the third failure will be 3. When you use the Query Utility to search for failure records, the Failure # will be shown in terms of the full context within the analysis. In this case, the number will be 2.3, where the 2 represents the record position number of the function and 3 represents the record position of the failure.

Note: These values are not displayed in the FMEA record properties window, but can be displayed in the Analysis panel and they are also used in the Query Utility and in Reports. To hide or display columns, right-click the column headers in the FMEA hierarchy view, then click Customize Columns to select which columns you want to display. These settings are stored per computer/username in the FMEA Hierarchy page of the Application Setup, so any project that you open on this computer will have the same columns displayed.

FMEA Record Properties Windows

The FMEA record properties windows can be used to add, insert and edit FMEA records and to view all of the record properties. These windows all have a similar format and contain several common elements, which are presented in this section.

Each window includes the following areas:

The Record area which includes all record-specific fields that are specifically supported by the software and can be disabled or renamed via the project’s interface style. (The interface style can be modified via the Project Properties window.) Note that the name of this area is the same as the record type (e.g., if you have a function open this is the Function area and if you have a control open this is the Control area).
The User-Defined area includes all user-defined record-specific fields. Each record may contain up to five user-defined text fields, two user-defined date fields, two user-defined number fields and two user-defined drop-down lists. This area displays only if there are user-defined fields enabled for the record in the interface style.
The Associated Records area provides the analysis context for the record by allowing you to view the full descriptions for the item and higher-level FMEA records that it is associated with.

In addition, every window has a History area that displays information about the creation and last modification of the record. If the history log has been activated at the project level, you can click the View Item History icon to open the Record History Log for the record.

In the hierarchy and filtered views, you can click anywhere in the FMEA analysis to view/edit the properties for different records without having to open and close the properties window for each record.

When you open a properties window from the hierarchy view, a Ribbon is displayed at the top of the window, which contains two tabs:

The Home tab provides commands for adding records, with the available options depending on which FMEA record is currently selected. When applicable, it also provides the following tools:

Properties Customization opens the FMEA Properties (This Project) window where you can adjust the record properties. The available options are the same as those in the interface style as defined in the Project Properties window.

Spelling checks the spelling in all text fields within the window.

Attachments opens the Attachments window, which allows you to manage the linked and attached files for the record.

Effect Categorization opens the Failure Effect Categorization window, which allows you to identify and evaluate the effects of the functional failure. This displays for effect records only.

Task Manager opens the Task Manager window, which allows you to work with tasks assigned to causes within the FMEA and to choose an appropriate maintenance strategy by using one or both of the available task selection methods. This displays for cause records only.

Change Log opens the Record Change Log window, which displays the changes that have been made to the current record. This option is available only if a change log has been activated for the FMEA and only if changes have been made to this record since the change log was activated.

The Navigate tab allows you to quickly switch to another record in the FMEA hierarchy. For example, if you want to quickly scan through the properties for all of the functions, you can open the properties window for the first one and then keep clicking the Next Function command until you reach the bottom of the list. The commands enabled will depend on the record that is currently displayed in the properties window.

Tip: The Failure Modes and Reliability Analysis (FMRA) topic describes how to define the reliability/maintenance characteristics for the functions, failures and/or causes that have been defined for any item in the system hierarchy. These characteristics will be applicable if you wish to perform criticality analysis, use the FMEA occurrence ratings to calculate a preliminary baseline estimate of the system reliability, share system configuration/reliability data between RBI and BlockSim or perform RCM cost/availability calculations.