Situation
A failure across several systems blocked consumer registration and the purchase path.
A systematic investigation was required to locate the root cause in the event-flow.
System flow
Traceability of ownership and gate dependencies across systems.
Cross-System Account Creation RCA sequential logic
- Storefront registration — Partner-owned storefront (Partner-owned delivery)
- Local authentication — External provider integrations (Partner-owned delivery)
- Age-verification path — Verification flows (Partner-owned delivery)
- Commerce account creation — Final registration gate (Partner-owned delivery)
- Failure investigation — Andrew-led data checks (Andrew led)
- Root cause — Andrew-led diagnosis (Andrew led)
- Vendor fix and recurrence action — Joint resolution (Shared ownership)
My scope
Andrew owned or led
- •Incident investigation and evidence collection
- •Challenging vendor assertions with API logs
- •Defining recurrence prevention criteria
Partner or external ownership
- •Technical system architecture maintenance
- •Delivering the code-level hotfix
Decisions & execution
Decision 01
Reframed a disputed cross-system incident around evidence, root cause and recurrence prevention
Why it mattered
Moved the vendor away from unsupported QA assertions to locate the underlying system conflict.
Key Execution Actions
- Analysed API request and response logs across boundaries.
- Obtained a documented corrective action and prevention commitment from the vendor.
Outcome & attribution
Outcome & System Change
Root cause, corrective fix and recurrence action were documented and agreed jointly.
Individual Contribution & Boundary
Led the root cause analysis, challenged unsupported QA assertions with API logs, and established recurrence prevention criteria.