Abstract: Persistent storage may contain typed data of a plurality of types, directional relationships between pairs of the plurality of types, and a conditional dependency structure for the typed data. One or more processors may be configured to: generate an essential graph from the conditional dependency structure; orient the edges of the essential graph such that they are directed in accordance with the directional relationships; generate typed directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) that can be found in the essential graph; form a t-essential graph from a union of the typed DAGs; identify an event represented as a first vertex in the t-essential graph, wherein the first vertex is of a first type; trace backward from the first vertex and through the t-essential graph to identify a second vertex of a second type; and provide a representation of the second vertex as a cause of the event.