What makes COMET better than other RCA tools?
I regularly get asked what differentiates the dominant proprietary Investigation and Root Cause Analysis systems in the market and how best to rate them in terms of competitive advantage.
That often leads to the familiar comparison of Unique Selling Proposition (USP) vs Unique Value Proposition (UVP).
Specifically, why our own RCA solution, COMET?
Regarding COMET, I prefer to promote the ‘unique’ terminology as Value over Selling (UVP). Why? Clearly, the price of a product is an obvious buying factor; however, when you're dealing with tools that help prevent harm, protect your reputation, and improve how you work, the real question is not "What costs less?" It's "What gives you the most value?"
So, back to the conundrum of which RCA product will bring the most value (not cheapness) to an organisation…if you’re curious, here are my 5 Top Tips. These are also the reasons COMET stands out.
1. Built by people who know what real investigations involve
Select a system where the architects of its philosophy and design fully embraced the investigative challenges its users would face and developed solutions to help overcome them…an expert system built by expert investigators
2. Turns every investigation into long-term learning
Select a system that delivers powerful and progressive organisational learning. Having a fixed and coded Root Cause taxonomy enables an organisation to learn not simply from one incident at a time, but from the holy grail of multi-incident cumulative learning.
3. Works across all types of incidents
Select a system that is agnostic in terms of organisational failure type and industry application. Root Causes don’t come with an incident label such as safety, so don’t fixate on any given type. Learn from the full spectrum of organisational opportunity.
4. Helps reduce bias and supports Human Factor Analysis
Select a system that helps avoid the many investigation bias traps and ensures investigators retain a blame free open mind. It’s a fact that human error is a feature of most investigations but let the understanding of error be your starting point not the end – Human Factor Analysis is a must have!
5. Works for all levels of severity
Select a system that addresses the challenges of incident scalability and severity. Using one RCA process to investigate the serious stuff whilst using something else for the rest is a massive lost opportunity. Root Causes don’t come with a hierarchy of seriousness so don’t create one!
But COMET isn’t just for when things go wrong. It also helps you stay ahead of potential issues by supporting proactive investigation and analysis. You can use the same structured approach to track audits, inspections, and assurance activities by spotting patterns, identifying risks early, and preventing incidents before they happen. It provides your team with the tools to act with confidence, not just react under pressure.
So, if you are in the business of procuring an investigation and RCA system for your organisation, or simply curious as to whether your existing system is meeting your organisational learning needs, I suggest you keep the following five questions in your back pocket:
- Who designed your system, and what were their professional investigative credentials?
- Does your system have the functionality and taxonomy to analyse and trend multi-incident Root Cause Data in a way that will help progressively identify systemic root causes?
- Does your system have the power to investigate multi-incident types including Safety, Equipment Failure, Environmental, Business Loss, Quality and Security?
- Does your system have the integrated Human Factor guidance to help take the investigator beyond human error to analyse the Performing Influencing Factors that drove that error?
- In terms of incident severity, does your system have the scalability to allow the organisation to investigate their full spectrum of incidents through the same investigative lens?
And one last thing. If the thought of rolling out a new system fills you with dread, you’re not alone. But this is where COMET is different. It has been purposefully designed to integrate smoothly into your organisation. No lengthy configurations. No costly training programmes. No need for workaround solutions to bridge functionality gaps.
COMET is not a beast to implement.
COMET also works seamlessly with the tools you already use, including Intelex, Enablon, Cority, IBM Maximo, and more. There’s no need to replace your existing systems. Instead, COMET enhances them, unifies your data, and streamlines your processes, all while giving you clearer, smarter insight through a single immersive investigative environment.
Want to see what that looks like in practice? Read our step-by-step implementation guide to see how other organisations are up and running quickly without any hassle.
Book a discovery call today and see how effortlessly you can get started with COMET.
About the author
Alan Smith is Head of Investigations at COMET and the original architect behind its methodology. A former Detective Superintendent with Police Scotland, Alan has led major crime investigations and offshore incident inquiries, bringing decades of real-world experience into the development of COMET. Since 2008, he has trained and advised global organisations on how to improve investigation outcomes and reduce repeat failures through structured Root Cause Analysis and Human Factors insight.
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