Create Your First FMEA Document

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What you will achieve

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Prerequisites

• TestAuto2 — Automotive Safety Solution installed and configured
• User account with permissions to create documents in the Risks space
• At least one System Element defined in your project (see Create System Hierarchy)
• Basic understanding of FMEA methodology (optional: review AIAG-VDA FMEA Methodology)

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Step 1: Navigate to the Risks space

1. From the Polarion navigation sidebar, click Risks under the Spaces section
2. You will see the Risks space dashboard with statistics and document inventory
3. Click the ➕ Create Document button in the toolbar

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Step 2: Configure the new FMEA document

1. In the Create Document dialog, set the following properties:
   • Space: Risks (pre-selected)
   • Document ID: DFMEA-ComponentName (replace ComponentName with your component, e.g., DFMEA-SensorHousing)
   • Document Type: Component DFMEA
   • Title: [Component Name] - Component DFMEA (e.g., Sensor Housing Assembly - Component DFMEA)
2. Expand the Custom Fields section and select:
   • System Element: Choose the component you’re analyzing from the dropdown
3. Click Create

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Step 3: Open the document in Risksheet

1. After creation, Polarion opens the new document in LiveDoc view
2. You will see an empty document with the Risksheet widget embedded
3. Click the ** Open in Risksheet** button in the document toolbar
4. The Risksheet interactive editor launches in a new browser tab

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Step 4: Add your first failure mode

1. In the Risksheet table, click the ➕ Add Row button
2. A new row appears with editable cells
3. Fill in the failure mode details:
   • Characteristic: Enter the design characteristic (e.g., Housing Wall Thickness)
   • Failure Mode: Describe how the characteristic can fail (e.g., Insufficient wall thickness - structural failure)
   • Effect of Failure: What happens to the system (e.g., Camera module dislodges during crash, AEB system fails)
   • Cause of Failure: Why it might occur (e.g., Injection molding defect, material degradation)
4. Press Enter or click outside the row to save

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Step 5: Assess risk ratings

1. Move to the Risk Assessment column group
2. Click the Severity cell dropdown and select a rating from 1-10:
   • 9-10: Hazard without warning (safety-critical)
   • 7-8: Hazard with warning
   • 4-6: Major functional loss
   • 1-3: Minor inconvenience
3. Select Occurrence (1-10): likelihood the failure will happen
4. Select Detection (1-10): likelihood current controls will detect it before reaching customer (1 = almost certain detection, 10 = cannot detect)
5. Watch the Action Priority (AP) column automatically calculate H (High), M (Medium), or L (Low)

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Step 6: Link a risk control

1. Scroll right to the Risk Controls column group
2. In the Mitigation Action cell, click the **** link icon
3. A picker dialog appears showing available Risk Control work items
4. Click ➕ Create New Risk Control if none exist yet
5. Fill in the risk control form:
   • Title: Design specification: minimum wall thickness 3.5mm
   • Description: Detailed mitigation approach
   • Control Type: Select Prevention (stops cause) or Detection (finds failure early)
6. Click Create and Link

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Step 7: Assess post-mitigation risk

1. In the Post-Mitigation column group, enter revised risk ratings:
   • Post-Mitigation Severity: Usually stays the same (effect doesn’t change)
   • Post-Mitigation Occurrence: Reduced (mitigation prevents or reduces likelihood)
   • Post-Mitigation Detection: Improved (better controls increase detection)
2. Watch the Post-Mitigation AP calculate automatically
3. Verify the risk was reduced (e.g., from H to M or L)

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Step 8: Use progressive workflow views

1. At the top of the Risksheet interface, locate the View dropdown
2. Select Initial Assessment view—hides post-mitigation columns for faster data entry
3. Complete several failure modes in this view
4. Switch to Mitigation Planning view—shows only risk controls and post-mitigation columns
5. Return to Complete View to see all columns

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Step 9: Save and close Risksheet

1. Click the 💾 Save button in the Risksheet toolbar
2. Wait for the “Saved successfully” notification
3. Close the Risksheet browser tab
4. Return to the Polarion LiveDoc tab
5. Click Refresh in the document toolbar to see your changes reflected

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Step 10: Submit for review

1. In the LiveDoc toolbar, locate the Workflow dropdown (currently shows Draft)
2. Click Send for Review
3. The document transitions to In Review status
4. Project approvers are automatically notified and added as required signers
5. Once approved, the document can be published for formal release

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Verification

• At least 5 failure modes identified (industry best practice: 10-20 per component)
• All failure modes have S, O, D ratings assigned (no blank cells)
• All High and Medium AP failures have linked risk controls
• Post-mitigation AP shows risk reduction for all mitigated failures
• Document status is In Review or Approved

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What you learned

• How to create a DFMEA document linked to a system element
• How to use Risksheet interactive editor for failure mode entry
• How to assess risk using Severity, Occurrence, Detection scales
• How AIAG-VDA Action Priority (H/M/L) automatically calculates
• How to link risk controls and demonstrate risk reduction
• How to use progressive workflow views for team efficiency

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Next steps

• Define Failure Modes — Best practices for comprehensive failure identification
• Link to Risk Controls — Advanced mitigation linking techniques
• Generate FMEA Reports — Export DFMEA/PFMEA reports for compliance
• FMEA Risksheet Configuration Reference — Column formulas, levels, and customization
• AIAG-VDA FMEA Methodology — Deep dive into the standard