CATWOE Analysis

CATWOE is a model and reliable tool organizations use to collect data as a crucial step in “Root Cause Analysis” to find the root cause of a problem, which can be physical, human, or organizational.

What is CATWOE Analysis?

This tool was developed by David Smyth in 1975. He was a member of the British systems thinker Peter Checkland’s team, who subsequently added (W) in the approach. They first published their work on CATWOE in 1976. CATWOE helps you to see the problem from different perspectives.

CATWOE is an acronym that stands for:

• C: Customers
• A: Actors
• T: Transformation process
• W: Worldview
• O: Owners
• E: Environmental constraints

Customers: They are the users who benefit from the system. And who will be affected if a problem took place?

Actors: They are the employees who are responsible for carrying out work, implementing plans, and achieving goals.

You need to identify the actors and know their abilities, qualities, and interests to be able to know their impact on the system.

Transformational process: It is the operation of transforming inputs (raw materials, manpower, time, effort) to outputs (products and services), including all details and requirements.

World view: This is the most crucial aspect in CATWOE analysis because it is about the bigger picture including all stakeholders in the environment of the business and the influence they make on it and vice versa.

Owners: This usually refers to the owners or investors who have the highest authority and the ability to make decisions.

Environmental constraints: Mainly they are limitations and restrictions, including legal, social, and organizational constraints.

A CATWOE Analysis example:

This example is about Courier Company improving delivery procedures which reduce loss and make delivery timings more efficient. However, they received late delivery complaints.

Applying CATWOE analysis will cover the following:

C – Customers

They are anyone purchasing online or by phone. Also, the stores which provide customers’ needs. Both customers and stores will be affected by any error in the system.

A – Actors

They are the employees who carry out the whole process including operators, deliverymen, and warehouse managers.

T – Transformation Process:

According to the company’s system, the delivery process has been changed significantly, because it shifted from manual to fully automated, which requires less human intervention and will guarantee more control and follow-up.

The new process will be the following:

• The customer places the order through an online store or by phone.
• The store contacts the courier to deliver the item from place of origin to destination. According to the new system, the store should fill an online form including details about the item and the address of delivery, which will be recorded at the courier’s database to place the order.
• The operator places an order to pick the item from the store.
• The deliveryman receives the item from the store and delivers it to the warehouse.
• The warehouse manager receives the item and includes it in the inventory to make it ready for delivery to the consignee.
• According to the new system, the operator automatically receives an e-mail from the warehouse including all items and destinations to place delivery orders and appoint deliverymen.
• The system informs the consignee that the package is on delivery while he can track it through the company’s application.

W – World view

The worldview in this example includes everyone or entity that plays a role in the industry either directly or indirectly. They are the banks who are responsible for money transactions, airlines, which ship items from abroad, customs, programmers, IT professionals, and the company’s suppliers.

O – Owners

They are the company’s owners and investors who will eventually approve or disapprove of the new approach according to their assessment of the situation.

E – Environmental Constraints

The environmental constraints significantly influence the system. Including laws, economic conditions, labor unions, and social constraints.

Collecting data, led to the following facts:

• The system would require less manpower in inventory and operations and will reduce 10% of it.
• Losing manpower is a great loss for the company because it is a loss of cumulative experience they gained during working for the company.
• Laying off 10% of the workforce will make a negative impact on morale. Moreover, some employees might lose trust in their management.
• In addition, employees have to attend three weeks course to be able to operate the new system professionally. Which will require four extra working hours per day to attend the course.
• According to labor law and union regulations, compensations have to be paid to the employees whose contract will be unreasonably terminated. Consequently, the union will make pressure on the company to either keep the unneeded employees or compensate them.
• The management received complaints from the staff about faulty computers, inefficient communication equipment, and damaged vehicles.

CATWOE helped the problem solving team to address the problem and identify it as the following:

The company improved its approach to make deliveries more efficient in condition and time frame in order to satisfy the customers and maintain the leading position in the industry; however, the company has a problem in motivation and resources. This led to frequent complaints from the customers.

Different data collection methods that organizations can use:

• Case Studies: A case study is a thorough description of a process, structure, or experience at one organization. Case studies use surveys, statistics about usage, and qualitative data collection techniques. While performing research quantitative data is gathered first and then the qualitative strategies are used.
• Usage Data: Already collected data can be useful for making decisions. Example: Computer usage data and the data about the gates and headcount of the existing building etc.
• Checklists: A list structure of points that needs to be observed or evaluated. Using this technique, you can mark the presence or absence of criteria or can note down short comments about a topic.
• Observation: A data collection technique that is performed by monitoring or viewing the subject. Sometimes observations are performed continuously or in a set of time periods. There can be different types of observations like structured, unstructured, and semi-structured. The limitation of observations is that it consumes time and it affects the behavior of the participants.
• Interviews: Another data collection technique. For collecting the data through this technique, interviews are performed in groups or on a one-on-one basis. During interviews, the data can be collected using stenography, vide/o recordings, audio recordings, or written notes.
• Focus Groups: This data collection technique is used for understanding the work habits of participants, assignment types, and much more.
•  Surveys: they are performed through questionnaires. A standard set of questions are used for
  performing the survey of any specific topic.
• Documents and Records: It includes checking the existing data from the databases, reports, minutes of a meeting, financial records, and newsletters, etc. It is a cost-effective technique for data collection. However, sometimes it may not be the complete data source.