Description:

This Master Prompt establishes the conceptual and methodological foundations required to conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) as a rigorous investigation rather than a simple search for the most obvious explanation. RCA should be framed as a structured causal investigation that seeks to explain why an undesirable event, failure, anomaly, deviation or performance problem occurred, how it developed, which conditions enabled or amplified it, and which causes should be addressed to reduce the likelihood of recurrence. This framing is consistent with the literature emphasizing that RCA concerns underlying causes rather than merely detecting abnormal variables or describing symptoms.