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Knowledge Bank

The Knowledge Bank is a reusable library of failure modes, causes, effects, and controls that your organization builds over time. Instead of starting each FMEA from scratch, draw on institutional knowledge.

Overview​

The Knowledge Bank stores failure mode entries organized by category and industry. Each entry includes:

  • Component name
  • Failure mode description
  • Effects, causes, and controls (prevention + detection)
  • Typical S, O, D ratings
  • Industry standard reference
  • Usage count (how often this entry has been applied)

Access the Knowledge Bank from the Knowledge Bank tab in the FMEA Workspace.

Categories​

Entries are organized into categories by component type or industry:

Examples:

  • Electrical Connectors
  • Printed Circuit Boards
  • Hydraulic Systems
  • Welding Processes
  • Software Modules

Categories can be:

  • Organization-scoped — visible to all projects in your organization
  • Global — shared across organizations (admin-managed)

Creating Categories​

  1. Click "New Category" in the Knowledge Bank
  2. Enter a name and optional industry tag
  3. Start adding entries to the category

Adding Entries​

Manual Entry​

Click "New Entry" and fill in:

FieldDescriptionExample
Component NameWhat component this applies to"NTC Temperature Sensor"
Failure ModeHow it can fail"Sensor reads incorrect temperature"
EffectsWhat happens when it fails"BMS does not detect overheating"
CausesWhy it fails"Sensor drift due to aging"
Prevention ControlsHow to prevent"Calibration schedule every 6 months"
Detection ControlsHow to detect"Cross-check with redundant sensor"
Typical SeverityCommon S rating (1-10)8
Typical OccurrenceCommon O rating (1-10)4
Typical DetectionCommon D rating (1-10)3
Industry StandardApplicable standard"ISO 26262"

Save from Analysis​

After completing an FMEA analysis, save your failure modes to the Knowledge Bank:

  1. Open the analysis
  2. Select the failure modes you want to save
  3. Click "Save to Knowledge Bank"
  4. Choose or create a category
  5. The entries are saved with their current ratings and controls

This is the recommended way to build the Knowledge Bank — capture real analysis results rather than theoretical entries.

Using Knowledge Bank Entries​

Apply to a New Analysis​

When adding failure modes to an FMEA analysis:

  1. Click "From Knowledge Bank" (instead of adding a blank failure mode)
  2. Search by component name, failure mode text, or industry
  3. Select an entry
  4. The failure mode is created with pre-filled fields from the Knowledge Bank
  5. Adjust ratings and controls for your specific context
Ratings Are Starting Points

Knowledge Bank ratings are typical values. Always review and adjust S, O, D ratings based on your specific design, process, and controls.

Search and Filter​

The Knowledge Bank supports:

  • Text search — Search across failure mode descriptions, component names, and causes
  • Industry filter — Show only entries tagged with a specific standard (e.g., ISO 26262, DO-178C)
  • Category filter — Browse by category
  • Usage count — Sort by most-used entries to find the most relevant ones

Building a Strong Knowledge Bank​

Start with High-Priority Items​

Save failure modes from completed analyses that had:

  • High Action Priority (these are the most important to remember)
  • Effective mitigations (capture what worked)
  • Industry-specific patterns (reusable across projects)

Maintain Quality​

  • Review periodically — Remove outdated entries, update ratings based on new data
  • Standardize terminology — Use consistent failure mode descriptions across entries
  • Tag with standards — Include the applicable industry standard for each entry
  • Track usage — High usage count entries are your organization's most valuable knowledge

Cross-Project Learning​

The Knowledge Bank is shared across all projects in your organization. When one team discovers a new failure mode or develops an effective mitigation, saving it to the Knowledge Bank makes it available to every other project.

Best Practices​

  1. Save after every analysis — Make it a habit to save high-priority failure modes to the Knowledge Bank
  2. Use meaningful categories — Organize by component type rather than project name
  3. Include controls — The most valuable entries have both prevention and detection controls documented
  4. Review with the team — Periodically review the Knowledge Bank in team meetings to share knowledge
  5. Adjust ratings on use — Don't blindly accept Knowledge Bank ratings — they're starting points

What's Next?​