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Prerequisites

Before generating FMEA reports, ensure:
  • At least one FMEA document (System FMEA, DFMEA, or PFMEA) exists in the Risks space
  • Failure modes have Severity, Occurrence, and Detection ratings assigned
  • Action Priority (for DFMEA) or RPN (for PFMEA) values are calculated
  • Post-mitigation ratings are completed for risk controls already implemented

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Access FMEA Reports Dashboard

  1. Navigate to Documentation space from the sidebar
  2. Click FMEA Reports from the space dashboard or favorites
  3. You’ll see two report categories:
    • Design FMEA (DFMEA) — System/subsystem/component failure analysis
    • Process FMEA (PFMEA) — Manufacturing process failure analysis
diagram

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Generate System DFMEA Report

  1. Click View System DFMEA Report button from the DFMEA card
  2. The report displays:
    • Summary Cards: Total failure modes, Action Priority distribution (High/Medium/Low)
    • Pre-Mitigation Distribution: Action Priority breakdown before controls
    • Post-Mitigation Distribution: Action Priority breakdown after controls
    • FMEA Document Inventory: Table showing all DFMEA documents with per-document AP distribution
    • Critical Items Table: High-priority failure modes requiring immediate action (if any exist)

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Understanding DFMEA Report Sections

SectionPurpose
Pre-Mitigation BucketsShows inherent risk before controls (Low: 1-5, Medium: 6-8, High: 9-10)
Post-Mitigation BucketsShows residual risk after controls; high count here indicates mitigation gaps
Document InventoryPer-document AP distribution enables system/subsystem drill-down
Critical ItemsOnly appears if post-mitigation High-priority items remain
If the report shows a red danger alert with critical items table, these failure modes have post-mitigation Action Priority = High (9-10). This indicates controls are insufficient. Review each item and either strengthen existing controls or add new risk controls.

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Generate System PFMEA Report

  1. Click View System PFMEA Report button from the PFMEA card
  2. The report displays:
    • Summary Cards: Total process failure modes, RPN distribution (High/Medium/Low)
    • Pre-Mitigation Distribution: RPN breakdown before process controls (Low: 1-40, Medium: 41-100, High: >100)
    • Post-Mitigation Distribution: RPN breakdown after process controls
    • PFMEA Document Inventory: Table showing all PFMEA documents with per-document RPN distribution
    • High-RPN Items Table: Process failure modes with post-mitigation RPN >100 (if any exist)

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RPN Classification Thresholds

The PFMEA report uses three-tier RPN classification: 
RPN = Severity × Occurrence × Detection

Low Risk:     RPN 1-40     (Acceptable — periodic review)
Medium Risk:  RPN 41-100   (Monitor — track trends)
High Risk:    RPN >100     (Unacceptable — immediate action)
Compare pre-mitigation vs post-mitigation RPN distributions. Effective process controls should shift the majority of failure modes from High/Medium to Low. If post-mitigation distribution shows >20% High or Medium, review control plan adequacy.

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Interpret Report Alerts

FMEA reports display conditional alerts based on post-mitigation risk distribution:
Alert TypeConditionMeaningAction
DangerpostHigh > 0High-priority items remain after mitigationReview critical items table, strengthen controls
⚠️ WarningpostHigh = 0, postMedium > 0No high-priority items, but medium-priority items existMonitor medium-priority items, plan incremental improvements
✅ SuccesspostHigh = 0, postMedium = 0All items mitigated to LowRisk adequately controlled, maintain periodic review

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Export FMEA Report to PDF

  1. From the DFMEA or PFMEA report page, click the browser’s print function (Ctrl+P or Cmd+P)
  2. Select Save as PDF as the destination
  3. Adjust margins and orientation (Landscape recommended for wide tables)
  4. Click Save
The exported PDF includes all summary cards, distribution charts (rendered as tables), document inventory, and critical items if present.
Velocity-based reports export as static snapshots. Polarion wiki page links in the PDF will not be clickable. For interactive navigation, use the live web report.
From the report’s FMEA Document Inventory table, click any document name to:
  • Open the FMEA in Risksheet for detailed analysis and editing
  • View the complete failure mode hierarchy with causes, effects, controls
  • Update post-mitigation ratings after implementing new controls
Each row shows per-document AP/RPN distribution, enabling targeted review of high-risk documents.

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Verify Report Accuracy

After generating the report, confirm:
  • Failure mode count matches expected FMEA coverage (e.g., 260 DFMEA + 16 PFMEA)
  • Document inventory includes all FMEA documents from Risks space
  • Post-mitigation distribution reflects controls already implemented
  • Critical items table only appears if genuinely high-risk items remain
If documents are missing from the inventory, verify:
  • Document naming includes “FMEA” or “PFMEA” (case-sensitive)
  • Document resides in Risks space
  • Document contains failureMode or processFailureMode work items
Generate FMEA reports quarterly or after major design changes to track risk reduction progress. Compare post-mitigation distributions over time to demonstrate continuous improvement for ISO 26262 Part 4-7 audits.

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See Also