Problem Management
Introduction
A Problem is the root cause of a technical support request (incident). The Problem Management process standardizes and controls how the root causes are identified, documented, and resolved.
This process is very important, because very often requests are resolved and closed without knowing what caused them. If the root cause is not resolved, similar new requests may be generated in the future. It is therefore appropriate to carry out an analysis to identify and resolve the root causes of requests, even when the requests themselves have been resolved and closed.
In summary, it can be said that Requests Management treats the symptoms, while Problem Management attempts to identify and cure the illness.
Scope of application
This process is applied every time a Problem is identified. A Problem can be identified in two different ways:
- Reactively, when a Technician realizes that there is a root cause that needs to be investigated.
- Proactively, when the Problem Manager actively looks for problems.
Process
The Problem Management process is as follows:
Process Summary
- The Problem Management process starts by identifying a problem. This may happen in two different ways: The support technician may detect a Problem during a Request Management process, or the Problem Manager may detect problems proactively.
- Once a Problem has been identified, Procedure 1. Registering problems is applied. This procedure consists of documenting the problem, linking requests that may be related to the Problem, and assigning it to the corresponding Specialist for analysis.
- The specialist applies Procedure 2. Root cause analysis to analyze the Problem, identify the root cause, and develop a solution. The Specialist first attempts to determine whether the Problem is a known error (for example, a software bug that is in the manufacturer's Knowledge Base). If it is not a Known Error, the Specialist attempts to develop a solution to resolve the Problem. If the urgency of the associated requests requires it, the Specialist can first propose a workaround to resolve the associated requests while he looks for a definitive solution to the Problem.
- Once a definitive solution has been developed to resolve the problem, the Specialist will apply procedure 3. Corrective actions, which consists of documenting the solution and carrying out the corresponding corrective actions.
- Once all the corrective actions have been implemented, procedure 4. Verification and closure is applied to determine whether the problem has truly been resolved. A review is made to ensure that the linked requests have also been resolved, and if so, the solution is sent out and the Problem is closed.
Roles
In the Problem Management process, a distinction should be made between the following roles or profiles:
- The Technician is the person to whom corrective actions (Tasks) are assigned.
- The Specialist is the person to whom the problem is assigned based on his area of expertise. This is the person who works on resolving the problem.
- The Problem Manager is the person entrusted with the responsibility of identifying Problems. He does this by performing a periodic review of requests.