There are 4 main entities you need to know about in smartQED:

Incidents or Problems

We use these terms interchangeably. You can open a new problem case in smartQED using the slash command ‘addprob’. A fishbone visualization is automatically created for any new problem, based on the settings for the user account and application. The head of the fishbone corresponds to the problem or incident as a whole.

Causes

Each incident or problem can have a hierarchy of potential causes and sub-causes associated with it. Each cause and sub-cause can have its own status, notes and attachments, investigators (assignees), pinned clues, and actions.

Clues or Symptoms

Symptoms are the errors and anomalies seen when the incident or problem occurred. Clues are symptoms that are notable and relevant for resolving an incident or problem. A clue is typically observed in a specific component of the system, which you can select while adding a clue. A clue can also be ‘pinned’ to a cause for which it is relevant, as evidence for decision-making and also for future recommendations and searching.

Actions

These are the steps that are taken by the investigation team in the course of resolving the problem. They can be associated with a specific cause, or with the problem as a whole (represented by the head of the fishbone).