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This topic provides a brief overview of the major analysis, data management and reporting capabilities provided by Xfmea.
You can also review an introduction to the Synthesis Platform and a list of what's new in Xfmea Version 8.
As described in the Project Properties Window topic, Xfmea provides predefined profiles for all major reporting standards, which makes it easy to configure the analysis workspace to fit any of the supported standards. In addition, the software offers flexible capabilities to customize any of the sample profiles or create your own profiles to meet the specific needs of your organization. Some of the configuration options include the ability to:
Define the data fields you want to capture and display.
Set the classifications, categories and other drop-down lists throughout the software.
Determine the rating scales and other criteria that will be used for risk assessment.
Define the logic that will be used for risk discovery analysis.
Xfmea’s unparalleled capabilities for finding and using data from existing analyses, templates or phrase libraries can help to speed up and improve the quality of your analyses. These flexible ways to utilize existing data can save time on data entry and help to ensure consistency among analyses. They also provide a powerful brainstorming tool. Some of Xfmea’s most useful features for data entry and management include:
Cut/Copy/Paste or Drag and Drop: Xfmea makes it easy to copy or move data within and between analyses.
Import/Export via Excel: You can define your own custom templates for importing and exporting data via Microsoft Excel® files.
Import from Database or Template: You can browse for data from an existing analysis or predefined template and then automatically import selected records.
Import Existing: You can use up to three search terms to query for data from existing analyses or predefined templates and then automatically import selected records. For example, the utility can provide a list of causes that have been associated with a failure mode that contains the word "leak."
Select Existing: For any text field within the software, Xfmea provides easy access to a list of existing descriptions from specified data sources. Each list can be sorted automatically or filtered to match specific search criteria. For example, the utility can provide a list of failure modes that contain the word "fatigue."
Find and Replace: The flexible Find and Replace utility provides a quick and easy way to find and update specific text, dates, numbers or selections from drop-down lists.
Links and Attachments: The ability to link or attach independent files to any record in your analysis makes it easy to keep related information (such as flowcharts, design drawings, reliability analysis files, procedure instructions, etc.) together with the rest of the analysis.
Xfmea’s flexible system hierarchy interface allows you to manage large, multi-level system configurations with as many levels as you need (and any number of items per level). You can fully define the properties for each item (e.g., supplier, part number, expected operating environment, etc.) and perform FMEA and related analyses at any level within the system configuration (e.g., system, subsystem and/or component).
You have the option to import system configuration data from an outside file (e.g., Bill of Materials) or use built-in features to build the configuration "from scratch" within the software.
Xfmea’s new DFR planner allows you to track and manage the stages in the Design for Reliability (DFR) process for a particular system, assembly or component. You can configure the plan templates to fit particular processes and needs. You can also utilize Xfmea’s powerful action management capabilities to keep track of the DFR activities that need to be performed by different members of the team.
The Analysis Plan utility allows you to keep track of team members, ground rules, estimated completion dates, scheduled work sessions and other details that will help you to plan and manage your analysis projects. The software makes it easy to generate a high-level overview of all pending analysis projects and also to generate a report for each individual project plan.
An FMEA Block diagram (or Boundary Diagram) can help to define the scope of a particular analysis project and also may provide additional information that will be useful to the analysis team when they attempt to identify potential failure modes. Xfmea provides a utility that allows you to build these diagrams and store them together with your FMEAs. You can build each diagram from scratch or with blocks transferred from the system configuration. You also have the option to save or copy these diagrams as metafile graphics (*.wmf) that can be pasted into other document files, such as Microsoft Word®, PowerPoint®, etc.
Three Complementary Views of the FMEA Data
The FMEA tab in the Analysis panel offers three complementary views of the information contained in your FMEAs. It is easy to switch back and forth between the views so you can choose the display that is best suited for a specific task.
The hierarchy view, which displays the analysis records in a hierarchical tree, tends to be good for viewing a lot of information in a small amount of space. It can be especially useful when copying and pasting data or when scanning the analysis to find a particular section of the FMEA.
The worksheet view, which follows the traditional tabular format that most FMEA practitioners are familiar with, allows you to type directly into the worksheet cells and tab through the analysis as you would in a spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel.
The filtered view presents a sortable list of all records of a particular type. For example, you may wish to see all cause records sorted by RPN or all overdue actions. This view allows you to generate these lists on-the-fly as you work on the analysis.
Risk Assessment: RPNs, Criticality Analysis and Related Techniques
Xfmea makes it easy to configure the analysis project to fit any of the risk assessment methodologies that are commonly employed in conjunction with FMEA.
Risk Priority Numbers (RPNs) are calculated automatically by the software based on your selections from the fully configurable rating scales for severity, occurrence and detection. Xfmea 8 also supports related metrics, including SxO (Severity x Occurrence), SOD (Severity, Occurrence, Detection) and SD (Severity, Detection). These metrics can be displayed in the FMEA worksheet and other queries/reports/charts generated by the software (e.g., list of effects ranked by severity, list of causes ranked by RPN, Severity/Occurrence Matrix, etc.). In addition, the flexible Priority Highlights feature can be configured to categorize issues based on criteria established by your organization and then highlight issues based on this prioritization.
Xfmea also provides full support for Qualitative Criticality Analysis or Quantitative Criticality Analysis patterned after MIL-STD-1629A.
Tracking the Completion of Recommended Actions
One of the most costly mistakes among FMEA practitioners is the failure to properly follow up and track the completion of recommended actions. As described in the FMEAs topic, Xfmea provides multiple features that will help to ensure that your organization implements the actions identified during the FMEA project so that you can achieve the benefits that come from improving the design and reducing the risk. Some of the most useful features include the ability to:
Capture all of the details that are necessary to fully define and track the recommended action. This may include the description, person responsible, due date, completion date, actions taken, expected cost, actual cost, action category, action priority and other details. You also have the option to configure up to 11 user-defined fields.
Update action records with periodic status reports.
Capture "Review and Approval" details for completed actions.
Use detailed reports and graphical charts that present actions sorted by due date, responsibility, completion status and other characteristics to track the progress on completing assigned tasks.
Xfmea can be configured to send notification e-mails to the person who is responsible for completing an action and others who may need to stay informed about the progress. These e-mails can be sent automatically (based on specified conditions) or initiated manually. In addition, the My Portal window, which is personalized for each individual user, also displays a list of actions that may be of interest to the user and makes it easy to open and edit these records with a simple double-click.
When an authorized user activates the change log for a particular FMEA or DVP&R, the software records a history of the specific changes that were made in each tracked revision to the analysis since the log was activated. Depending on your selections, the log can record the date/time of the change, the user who made the change, the property that was changed, the value before, the value after and the reason (or justification) that the user provided at the time of the change. If desired, this utility also can be used to store an electronic record of the users who have reviewed and approved each version of the analysis.
The DVP&R tab in the Analysis panel provides a configurable worksheet for design verification plans and reports (DVP&Rs). You can create each plan "from scratch" or transfer data from the FMEA that has been defined for the same item. For example, you may wish to transfer the controls (and perhaps some recommended actions) from the design FMEA (DFMEA) to be the starting point for the new DVP&R.
You can leverage existing knowledge by automatically transferring relevant data from the design FMEA (DFMEA) to provide the starting point for a new process FMEA (PFMEA). For example, the causes of failure that have been identified for your design can be transferred as failure modes to consider when analyzing the manufacturing process. Xfmea’s flexible Transfer Projects utility allows you to specify what information will be transferred and how it will be "mapped" to the new analysis.
A process flow diagram (PFD) provides a logical, visual depiction of the process that is being analyzed. Xfmea 8 now allows you to integrate the diagram into a worksheet that captures more specific details about each step in the process. This worksheet records the specific operations that are performed and also starts to identify the key product/process characteristics that need to be kept under control during manufacturing. Xfmea makes it easy to automatically transfer relevant data to the process FMEA (PFMEA) and process control plan (PCP).
The Control Plan tab in the Analysis panel provides a configurable worksheet for process control plans (PCPs). You can create each plan "from scratch" or transfer data from the FMEA that has been defined for the same item. For example, you may wish to transfer the process steps (i.e., items or functions) and current controls from the process FMEA (PFMEA) to be the starting point for the new process control plan.
The DRBFM tab in the Analysis panel provides a configurable worksheet for design reviews based on failure mode (DRBFMs). Developed within Toyota Motor Corporation, this methodology uses a modified version of the FMEA worksheet to evaluate proposed changes to an existing design. Xfmea’s DRBFM worksheet provides two views of the analysis, one for the design engineer to prepare the initial draft of the analysis and one for the entire review team to expand on the initial draft and identify appropriate corrective actions. The software also provides the option to import selected functions from the FMEA that has been defined for the same item and also allows you to transfer selected data from the DRBFM to append to the existing FMEA.
You can use the new failure modes and reliability analysis (FMRA) to integrate statistical reliability analysis calculations into your FMEA activities. Specifically, this view can be used to:
Display all of the FMEA records that could have an impact on system reliability in a single hierarchical tree. Assuming a simple series reliability-wise configuration, this includes the occurrence of any failure mode that prevents the item from performing an intended function or the failure of any lower-level sub-items.
View and set the reliability characteristics for any item, function, failure or cause defined for the system.
Calculate the "probabilities of failure" values required for a quantitative criticality analysis.
Use the occurrence ratings that have been defined in the FMEA to generate a preliminary baseline reliability estimate for the system that can be improved later when actual failure data becomes available.
Integrate with BlockSim’s reliability block diagrams (RBDs) or fault trees, which facilitate more realistic system modeling (e.g., consider redundancy, common cause failures, etc.).
Of course, Xfmea makes it easy to generate report output in the tabular worksheet format that is commonly used for FMEAs and related analyses. However, since all of the analysis information is stored in a relational database, Xfmea is able to go beyond these basic worksheets to provide a complete range of options for presenting the data in ways that will effectively communicate results and facilitate decision-making.
The Reports window provides a set of predefined report forms and also allows you to build and manage your own report templates. You can use this flexible tool to build a complete report document that will be generated in Microsoft Word or Excel.
The Query Utility allows you to search the project or database for the records that meet your specific search criteria. Since you also have the option to specify which data fields will be included in the tabular results and the order of the columns, this utility also functions as another flexible custom reporting tool. Query results can be exported directly to Microsoft Excel and you can also integrate saved queries into the documents that you create via the Reports window.
The Plot Viewer provides an array of flexible options for you to create attractive graphical charts based on analysis data. These charts can be saved or copied as graphic files (*.wmf, *.jpg, *.gif or *.png) that can be inserted into other document files.
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