Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Mean?

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a method for failure analysis. It developed in the middle of the 20th century to examine issues with military IT.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

In general, IT professionals can use failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) as part of a greater reliability study for an IT architecture. Here, the various parts of the system are put together and reviewed to show how they work together. Different kinds of FMEA, including functional, design and process FMEA, are generally organized into simple worksheets or other documents.

Failure mode and effects analysis is generally an engineering tool. Through deductive analysis, it helps experts looking at IT systems to figure out the different kinds of risk and liability, as well as how failure would most likely occur. These kinds of high-level planning help to safeguard investments in IT and provide project backers with more assurance of quality testing and high-level engineering review.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.