Problem Management Process
1 Introduction 1.1 Purpose In order to reduce the number and frequency of incidents and improve the level of service to users, it is essential that the causes of incidents are investigated and, through managed actions, permanently removed. Problem management has the potential to not only make services better but to reduce the support overhead of providing them, so minimising cost and maximising warranty. It is important therefore that it is carried out according to a clear, well designed process. This document defines how the process of problem management is implemented within [Organization Name]. According to ISO/IEC 20000 “the purpose of the problem management process is to minimise service disruption”. This will have benefits for our organization in terms of fewer service outages, so improving service availability and increasing customer and user satisfaction. Effective problem management also means that fewer incidents will be logged at the service desk thus freeing up resources within [Organization Name] and increasing user productivity within the organization as a whole. A Problem is defined by the ISO/IEC 20000 standard as a “cause of one or more actual or potential incidents”. In many cases the process of problem management will come into play when a series of incidents is logged which suggests a single unknown root cause affecting multiple users. In these circumstances an analysis of these incidents must be carried out in order to establish what the underlying cause is and what needs to be done to fix it. The resolution may then require one or more change requests to be raised. This process may also be done using historical data which highlights trends that in turn may suggest an underlying problem.
1.2 Objectives The objectives of the problem management process are to: • • • •
Proactively prevent incidents from occurring by identifying and fixing their root cause Minimise the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented by providing information about their causes and workarounds Define the way in which problems will be identified, logged, investigated, resolved and reported on so that consistency is achieved within the IT organization Ensure that the management and investigation of problems takes due account of business priorities and helps to maximise business productivity
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