Application of fault tree analysis to the service process: service tree analysis approach

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to propose a tree‐based analytic tool that may be used in analyzing a large‐scale and complex service process. The tenet of this tool is based on the Boolean logic and named service tree analysis (STA). The proposed STA aims to reflect the customer participation perspective and to propose how to analyze the service process and deduce useful information.Design/methodology/approach – Fault tree analysis is used as an underlying methodology since it has a Boolean logic to describe the customer's selection of each element and identifies critical events. Taking these advantages of the fault tree, the proposed STA consists of three main parts; service tree construction, qualitative analysis, and quantitative analysis. First, a service tree is constructed depending on how the service elements are selected by the customer; If the subordinate events are always selected by customers, they are linked with an AND gate, otherwise, with an OR gate. Next, in the qualitative analysis, service el...