# Analyze why a compliance breach happened and prevent repeats

Analyzes a breach or incident to separate people, process, system, and governance causes and recommend fixes that prevent repeats.

- Topic: Legal & Compliance
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Legal, Analyze, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/analyze-why-a-compliance-breach-happened-and-prevent-repeats

## Prompt

```text
Help me do a root cause analysis of a compliance breach or control failure.

**What happened:** [FACTS - timeline, what was breached, how it was detected]
**Impact:** [customers affected, financial, regulatory, reputational - only what is known]
**Relevant policy or control:** [PASTE]
**People and teams involved (by role):** [ROLES]
**What has been done so far:** [CONTAINMENT and any immediate fixes]

Work through:
1. **Timeline** - key events in order, including the moments it could have been prevented or detected earlier.
2. **5 Whys** - at least two separate chains, not just one.
3. **Cause categories** - people (knowledge, capacity, incentives), process (unclear steps, handoffs), technology (system gaps, manual workarounds), governance (ownership, oversight, escalation), culture (pressure, tone).
4. **Why existing controls did not prevent or detect it.**
5. **Similar exposures** - where else the same root cause could exist.
6. **Recommendations** table - columns: Root cause addressed, Action, Type (preventive/detective/corrective), Owner role, Effort, Priority.
7. **Notification check** - questions to ask legal about whether this triggers reporting to a regulator, customers, or others, and by when.

Rules: "human error" is never a final root cause - ask why the error was possible and why it was not caught. Do not assign blame to individuals. Mark assumptions [CONFIRM].
```

## What to fill in

- FACTS - timeline, what was breached, how it was detected
- PASTE
- ROLES
- CONTAINMENT and any immediate fixes
- CONFIRM

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.