Basic Instructions for Using TapRooT® Software
     Software version 4.x.x

SETTING UP AN INCIDENT

• Log on to TapRooT® System Software.

• At the Incident Manager Menu, Click on [New] from the Options Menu at the bottom of the page.

• Type required Incident information:
  1. Incident Title
  2. Incident #
  3. Date of Incident
     
• If using Individual Single User PC Edition, skip steps 5-6.
  If using Workgroup or Enterprise Edition, complete steps 5-6.
  
• Press button [Select Location] in top right of screen, highlight a location, and then click [ok].

• Press button [Select Classifications], highlight a classification (If you want to Click on more classifications, hold down Control while highlighting other classifications), and then click [ok].

• Save the incident:  Click on [Save] in top right corner.  You have now saved your incident information to the main database.

DRAWING A SNAPCHART®

• Click on SnapCharT® Tab.

• Click on [New SnapCharT®] at bottom of screen.

• If not training class: click [Launch] to build a new SnapCharT® and jump to Step 13.  Appendix A is guide for drawing a SnapCharT® if you need instructions.

Optional for training class:  click on [Import] and continue with Step 11.

• Find SnapCharT® to import in C:\Program Files\TapRooT\ Chart \2 day Exercises\ “chart file name instructor will give you.”  Double Click on correct file.

• The screen will show, “This chart has been successfully imported.” Click on [OK].

• Click on [Launch] to view or modify the chart.  Appendix A is a guide for drawing a SnapCharT® if you need instructions.                                           
  

If you are in training class, be sure to mark a causal factor:

• Point arrow to edge of a condition until you get a white arrow and click.
• Right click and use pull down menu to Click on causal factor.
• A darkened triangle will appear on the SnapCharT®.

• When finished with the SnapCharT®, close SnapCharT® Application by clicking [X] in topmost right corner of the screen.
  

• Title chart by typing your title in [Description] box. (Check box for "Use Causal Factors on this chart for import into Root Cause Analysis" if it is not already checked.)  Click on [OK].

• Message box asks: "Do you want to save changes and save the incident?"  Click on [YES].  You have now saved your SnapCharT® to the main database.
  

PERFORMING ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS OF CAUSAL FACTORS

• Click on [Root Cause Analysis] tab.
  

• Click on [import causal factors from SnapCharT® marked for import] and click OK.
  

• Click on [YES] to save your changes and proceed.

• Highlight the Causal Factor you are going to analyze.
  

• Click on [Analyze Causal Factor] button.

• Click on [Root Cause Tree®] button at bottom of screen.
  

• Click once on tree item to select item (circle).  Click twice on tree item to eliminate item (cross off).  Click [Back Page] after you've completed front page of tree.

• Use Right Click and pull-down menu to get to dictionary and Corrective Action Helper® for whatever the finger cursor is pointing to on the tree.
  

• Use Right Click and pull-down menu to "Analysis Comments" to add notes to justify why you did or did not select or eliminate something.

• Use Right Click and pull-down menu to "Report Description" to add a detailed description if you want the root cause printed on the reports to read differently than the tree’s root cause.
  

• Click on [Front Page], then click on [close] to exit tree.

• On Causal Factor Editor screen, Click on [ok].

• Click [yes] to save changes.  You have now saved your root cause analysis to the main database.

DEVELOPING CORRECTIVE ACTIONS (CA)

• Click on [Corrective Actions Development] tab.

• Click on [New Corrective Action].

• Enter CA number, type in CA Details, click on all root causes under the column “Associate with this CA” that your CA fixes.

• Can highlight a root cause and click on [Corrective Action Helper®] in bottom right of screen if you want guidance for developing a CA for that root cause.

• Enter [ok] when you are done, then Click on [Yes] to save. You have now saved your corrective actions to the main database.
  

PRINTING A REPORT FROM SOFTWARE

• Click on [Save and Close] and get to Incident Manager screen.

• Click on [Reports] at bottom of screen,

• Highlight the report that you want to see - you may need to click on “+” to get to your desired report.
  

• Click on either [Display Reports] (for training class) or [Print Reports] and Click on either [Root Cause Path (direct from root cause tree)] (for training class) or [Root Cause Report Description].

• Click on [view] (for training class) or [print] (if you want a printed report).
  

APPENDIX A -- SnapCharT® Software Quick Guide

Note full information is available on the ‘Help’ in the software.

• To add event boxes, click on the box symbol on the toolbar to highlight it.

Move the mouse to the left side of the screen & double click – a box appears.

• Repeat step 2 for the number of event boxes required.

• To add the incident circle, click on the circle symbol on the tool bar to highlight it.

Move the mouse to the right side of the events & double click – a circle appears.

• To add conditions, click on the oval symbol on the toolbar to highlight it. Then double click where you want each condition to be placed.

• To join events, click the mouse in the center of the left box, hold & drag to centre of the centre of the next box, then release – an arrow will link boxes.

• Conditions are linked by the same method. An additional method to connect shapes is to click the mouse in the center of a shape, hold & drag to white space outside of second shape, let go of everything, then move mouse to inside of second shape and click once.  A right angle connection line will appear.

Always connect lines from the causal factor to the conditions under it so that those conditions will be imported with the causal factor into the Root Cause Tree®.

Shapes can also be joined automatically but they have to be added in correct sequence – click Shapes on toolbar, then AutoConnect, if you to want to activate or disable.

• Align boxes and straighten connecting lines by highlighting box when cursor is just outside an event or condition a small box appears beside cursor, click left mouse button, then drag shape using mouse or move shape using arrow keys.

• To add text to box, place cursor in center of box, click left mouse button and then type. Box automatically expands as you type because Shapes, AutoGrow function operates by default.

• For additional pages, click Layout on toolbar, then Chart Size. Click on additional boxes – each white box selected turns into a black box and adds another page.

• To delete additional pages, clear pages of information, click Layout on toolbar, then Chart Size, click on last page you want to keep.

• To link 2 pages together, highlight connector symbol on tool bar and double click on the place you want the connector.  Use the arrow keys or pointer to position it. Type a letter or number inside the symbol to identify a connector.
• If you want to print more than one page on a single sheet, the chart can be reduced in size. Go to File, Print Setup, then Scaling Reduce or Enlarge, set % reduction, then clickOK to check the chart fits on a single page. The page orientation, portrait or landscape, can also be changed in Print Setup.

• When cursor is just outside an event or condition, a small box appears. When the right mouse button is clicked then, the following options appear:
• Style – this allows the shape to be coloured or shaded.
• Assumption – creates a dotted line.
• Causal Factor – creates a causal factor symbol on the shape.
• Subchart – creates an additional chart.
• Comment – creates a text box for comments.
• Launch – allows an existing SnapCharT® to be opened.
• Change to – allows a shape to be changed, e.g. an event into a condition.
• Date/Time – allows the date/time to be inserted above the event.

• To enter text outside the shapes, highlight “I ” on the tool bar. Remember to click on it again to switch it off after adding your text – it will flash yellow to remind you. The text box can be highlighted, then increased in size, dragged or moved with the arrow keys, or text can be changed using Text pull-down menu in tool bar.
  
• To place a chart in reports, click on Control A to select all, then Control C to copy chart, then open PowerPoint® or Word, click Control V to paste chart into the other program.

TIP ON NUMBERS OF PAGES IN CHARTS

Do not make any one SnapCharT® larger than 5 pages in one file.  If you have a SnapCharT® that will be greater than five pages, start a new file for pages 6 –10 and a third file for pages 11-15, etc..  There are sometimes some problems (charts became corrupted or may not open) with charts larger than 5 pages.  Also don’t keep more than five charts open on your computer screen at one time.

SnapCharT® Hints

Flowcharting Shapes:

Event	Action – “Who did What When?”, or “What did What When?”                 One action per box                 No personal names, only job titles                 Factual and Non-judgmental                 If you can video tape it, it is an Event
Condition	Info – Supporting information related to the Event or to actions            Factual and non-judgmental            Quantified if possible            Passive verbs OK
Incident	Action or occurrence being investigated        Usually, the worst thing that happened        First item on the SnapCharT®
	Page connector – Shows connection points across multiple pages

Cursors:  The cursor will change shapes to indicate different functions as defined below.

SnapCharT® Recovery Procedures.

There are two ways to recover a chart: One is recovering a damaged chart.
This is done while the damaged chart is open. The second is recovering a
"lost" chart that wasn't saved.

This is Method 1: Recovering a Damaged Chart for TapRooT Tech Support to
Repair:

When the damaged chart is open, you will notice a filename in the title bar
of the SnapCharT application. It will be numeric like '000000007.ecf'.
Leave the chart open but note the name.
1. Go to your start menu and select 'Run'.  Type in %temp% and select 'OK'.
This will open your temporary directory (folder).
2. Find the file that is named the same as the filename in the the title bar
of the SnapCharT (000000007.ecf in this example).
3. Right click on it and select 'copy', then right click and select to
'paste' it on your desktop or somewhere else you can easily retrieve it.
4. Once you have this .ecf file, send it to techsupport@taproot.com with
instructions to recover and repair the damaged chart.

Method 2: Rescuing an unsaved chart.

**Most Important: The user does NOT launch SnapCharT again until this has
been completed.

1. Go to Start Button - Run - and type "%TEMP%" (no quotes) and hit Enter
2. Suggest the list of temporary files by Date Modified. Near the most
recent files should be a .ecf.bak file. This is the Auto Save backup created
by the SnapCharT program. Copy this file to your desktop.
3. Rename the file from .ecf.bak to .ecf (i.e. delete the ".bak" extension
on the end)
4. Launch the TapRooT System Software, go to the SnapCharT tab, click on New
SnapCharT, then click on the IMPORT button on the right hand side. Navigate
to your desktop where we saved the .ecf.bak file and renamed it to .ecf. It
should show up in the file browser.
5. Click on the Open button on the File Browser to import the chart.