IncidentLiveThe 8D report, drafted from the incident.
Writing an 8D report usually means piecing the incident back together from chats, tickets and memory. IncidentLive already has all of it on one timeline, so it drafts D1 to D8 for you, with a source behind every statement. Your team checks, completes and approves it.
What is an 8D report?
An 8D report describes a problem and how it was solved in eight steps, the eight disciplines D1 to D8. The method comes from the car industry, where carmakers ask their suppliers for an 8D report after a complaint. Quality teams in many other industries use it too, because it makes one thing hard to skip: proving the cause before you fix it.
What IncidentLive fills in from the timeline
- D1
Team
Who works on the problem, with the knowledge and the authority to solve it.
IncidentLive fills in: Everyone who took part in the incident, with their role.
- D2
Problem description
What happened, where, when and how much, as specific as possible.
IncidentLive fills in: The title, severity, time window, the first report and the linked tickets. The impact stays a to do until someone writes it down.
- D3
Containment
What was done right away to protect the customer until the real fix is in place.
IncidentLive fills in: The workarounds, restarts, rollbacks and other quick measures from the timeline, including what coding agents did.
- D4
Root cause
Why it happened. Proven, not guessed.
IncidentLive fills in: Only a cause a person has confirmed. Until then the report says the root cause is not yet confirmed, and lists suspicions as suspicions.
- D5
Corrective actions
The permanent fix for the root cause, with an owner and a date.
IncidentLive fills in: The confirmed follow-ups that change code, configuration or capacity.
- D6
Implement and validate
Putting the fix in place and showing that it works.
IncidentLive fills in: The tickets of those follow-ups. This step is only complete once there is evidence that the fix works.
- D7
Prevention
Making sure the same problem can't happen again, here or somewhere similar.
IncidentLive fills in: The confirmed follow-ups for monitoring, tests, processes and documentation.
- D8
Closure
Closing the report, keeping the lessons learned and thanking the team.
IncidentLive fills in: Who approved the report and when. The lessons learned are for your team to write.
How IncidentLive drafts the 8D report
The draft comes from the incident's own timeline: tickets, alerts, notes, files and what coding agents reported, in the order it happened. Nothing goes into the report that the timeline doesn't say.
Every point has a source. Every gap stays visible.
Each point links to the timeline entries it comes from, so anyone can open the original. What the timeline doesn't say, such as impact, owners or dates, becomes a to do for a person.
- Nothing is made up to make the report look complete
- A hypothesis stays a hypothesis until someone who manages the incident accepts it
- If the incident changes after the draft, the report says so, and updating it keeps what people decided
People finish it. A person approves it.
Your team confirms or rejects each point and adds what is missing. A reviewer adds notes, sends the report back or approves it.
- By default nobody approves a report they submitted themselves
- An AI model can suggest wording, which only counts once a person confirms it
- Until approval every page of the PDF says it is not approved yet
Want to see your next 8D report drafted like this?
Become a pilot teamWhy not just use an 8D template?
A template gives you the headings. Filling them in is still the work.
An 8D template
- Eight empty headings
- Filled in days later, from memory
- Who did what, pieced together from chats
- Statements nobody can trace back
IncidentLive
- D1 to D8 drafted from the timeline
- Recorded while the incident is handled
- Who did what, taken from the timeline entries
- Every statement links to its source
Questions about 8D reports
When do you need an 8D report?
Usually when a customer complains about a defect, above all in the car industry, where IATF 16949 and the VDA expect a structured way of solving problems. Many companies also write one after serious incidents in their own production or IT.
Who writes the 8D report?
The team that solved the problem, usually led by someone from quality. With IncidentLive the team checks and completes a draft instead of starting from an empty page.
Does the AI decide the root cause?
No. D4 only names a cause that a person has confirmed. Before that, the report says the root cause is not yet confirmed.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Yes. IncidentLive runs on your own servers, and the draft is built from the timeline without an AI model. A local model only helps with the wording, if you switch that on.
What is the difference between 8D and CAPA?
Both describe a problem, its cause and what was done about it. 8D is common in the car industry, CAPA in medical devices, pharma and food. IncidentLive drafts both from the same timeline: more about the CAPA report.
Three reports, one timeline
CAPA report
For medical devices, pharma and food, with an effectiveness check that stays open until there is proof.
- ISO 13485
- EU MDR
- IFS Food
NIS2 reports
For companies that fall under NIS2: the early warning, the incident notification and the final report.
- NIS2
- BSI
8D report
For carmakers and their suppliers, and anyone whose customers ask for 8D.
- IATF 16949
- VDA
This page
Let's try it with your incidents.
We're looking for a few pilot teams. If your 8D reports take longer to write than the incident took to fix, tell us about your setup and we'll get IncidentLive running with you.
- You write or callTell us which tools you use and how incidents run for you today.
- We set it up with youOn your own servers, connected to the tools your team already uses.
- Your team tries it on real incidentsAnd the next 8D report starts from the timeline, not from an empty page.