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Problem Identification and Management

Problem Management seeks to address the root cause of incidents and then initiate actions to improve or correct the situation. Incident records are escalated to problem records by associating the incident with a problem record. When a problem record is closed, all incidents that are associated with the problem record are closed as well. Problem Management includes notification, root cause analysis, and impact analysis.

The HelpDesk agent adds a problem record to the database, and then links the associated incident records to the problem record. If solutions and workarounds exist, they are detailed in the problem record.

In the IT Service Management Service Support process, a problem is identified when the following conditions exist:

• Data reveals that incidents are recurring.
• Data shows that incidents are not associated with existing known errors.
• An IT infrastructure analysis shows that a problem could lead to incidents.
• A major incident occurs for which a structural fix is needed.

Figure 3 illustrates the workflow as described in the preceding paragraphs for working with problem management.

Figure 3. Problem Management Workflow