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Problem Management Process

Organization: Document No:

Department: Revision: 0.1
Section: Sheet: 1 of 10

Table of Contents

1. Process Overview..............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Objectives............................................................................................................................................................ 4
1.2 Scope..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Interface with other Processes................................................................................................................... 4
2. Problem Management Process.....................................................................................................................5
2.1 Problem Management Process flow.......................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Process Description of Problem Management......................................................................................7
2.3 Key Contacts and Escalations...................................................................................................................... 9
 Problem Management Process

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1.0

1.1

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 Problem Management Process

Glossary

Term Description
Governance The structure and management processes of managing the end to end delivery
of <customer> services.
IM Incident Management
Incident An unplanned interruption to an IT service or a reduction in the availability of
an IT Service.
Problem A cause of one or more Incidents where root cause if not known.
KEDB Known Error Database
RCA Root Cause Analysis. Problem solving methods aimed at identifying the root
causes of problems or events
Third Party A 3rd Party, for the purpose of this document relates to resolvers that may be
required which fall outside the scope of an L2 vendor’s domain.
SLA Service Level Agreement

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 Problem Management Process

1. Process Overview

1.1 Objectives
A ‘Problem’ is a cause, or potential cause, of one or more Incidents.

The objective of Problem Management Process is to prevent problems by resolving the root cause
of Incidents. Another objective of this process is to reduce the recurrence of Incidents. A third
objective of the problem management process is to reduce impacts of incidents which cannot be
prevented.

Proactive Problem Management identifies and resolves Problems before Incidents occur.

1.2 Scope
Scope of Problem Management activities can be defined as:

 Identify and analyse Problem

 Identify Problem Solution
 Change Management
 Develop Problem Solution
 Release Management (Solution Implementation)
 Problem monitoring

1.3 Interface with other Processes

Incident Configuration
Management Management

Related Incidents / Use of Configuration Records

Recurring Incidents Configuration Anomalies
Potential flagging of services
e.g., as ‘failed’ or equivalent

Problem
Management

Change Service Level

Management Management

Details of probable changes to Incident management

resolve particular Problems information regarding breaches
of services

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 Problem Management Process

The Problem management process interfaces with various other Service management processes as shown
in the diagram above. This diagram depicts how Problem Management is operated and the interfaces
associated with it.

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 Problem Management Process

2. Problem Management Process

Overview:

Many problems are unique and require individual handling. There might be several incidents
which are caused by the same problem

2.1 Problem Management Process flow

In practical IT environment, Problem management operations would generally be executed as
per the below diagram:

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 Problem Management Process

System Unresolved Proactive Supplier/

Service Desk
Events/ Alerts Incidents Problem Mgmt. Contractor

Problem Detection

Problem Logging

Problem, Monitoring, tracking and communication

Categorization

Prioritization

Investigation &
Diagnosis

Yes
Provide a
Workaround?
workaround

No
Yes
Change Create known error
needed? record

No Known
Resolution Error
Database

Change
Management Closure
Process

Major Yes Major Problem

Problem? Review

No End

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 Problem Management Process

2.2 Process Description of Problem Management

This process starts with the initial detection of Problems and then raising a respective ticket.

Each Problem is recorded so that it could be tracked, monitored, and updated throughout its life
cycle.

Owner: Person identifying/

Act No: 1 Act Name: Problem Detection
reporing a problem

Description:  ITIL problem management process receives Problems through different

channels. These chnannels are the service desk (frequently reported incidents), event
management process (events and alerts), incident management process (ananlysis of
recurring incidents), proactive problem management, and supplier or contractor.

Owner: Problem Coordinator/

Act No: 2 Act Name: Problem Logging
Problem Manager

Description:  After the problem is received, the next step is that the problem is reviewed. If
required, more information is gathered by contacting the respective person(s). If the review
team find to be a problem that needs a resolution, then a problem is logged.

Output: Problem Ticket is raised

Owner: Problem Coordinator/

Act No: 3 Act Name: Categorize Problem
Problem Manager

Description:  Categorize the Problem.

Categorization is assigning the Category, Type and Item (CTI), to allow the correct assignment
of the ticket. Some of the problems are related to the 3 rd party and they are not assigned to the
L2-L3 support teams. Such tickets are assigned directly to the 3rd party vendor.
The same categories that are used in incident categorization should be used for problem
categorization
Output: Categorized Problem

Act Name: Categorize and Prioritize Owner: Problem Coordinator/

Act No: 4
Problem Problem Manager

Description:  Prioritize the Problem.

Prioritization of Problem would be done based on impact and urgency of issue. (Urgency is
defined as the timeframe in which the business needs the problem resolved. The impact is
defined as the extent to which the problem could cause damage to the business). Problems are
prioritized into P1, P2, P3 or P4 based on company’s prioritisation. While prioritizing the
Problem, it gets treated based on the criticality.
Output: Prioritized Problem

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 Problem Management Process

Act No: 5 Act Name: Investigation and diagnosis Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group

Description:  Assign the Problem to the appropriate L2 resolution group. Assignment is based
on the categorization/ prioritization of the Problem. During diagnosis, the incident related to
the problem is analysed and any further testing is done.

Output: Resolver group identified and Problem is investigated

Decision
Act Name: Is there a Workaround? Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group
Box

Description:  After initial investigation and diagnosis, the next step is to check if there is any
workaround available for the problem which can be used to avoid impacting on the users until
the problem is fixed permanently. Problems can take months to resolve which is why it is
important to have workarounds for problems.
Output: Decision on Workaround

Act No: 6 Act Name: Provide Workaround Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group

Description:  If a workaround is available, it is tested thoroughly on few samples before

creating a Known Error record. A workaround helps the service desk to restore services with a
temporary solution until the real cause of the problem can be solved.
Output: Workaround

Act No: 7 Act Name: Create Known Error Record Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group

Description:  While the Resolver Group searches for a permanent solution, the problem is
recorded in the known error database (with its workaround if available. When a workaround
is documented, service personnel can use the workaround to deal with the problem quickly as
it occurs).
Output: Known Error Record in database

Decision Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group /

Act Name: Is Change Required
Box Change Management Process

Description:  Resolving a problem means that the root cause of the problem and the solution
to the problem has been identified. It is checked if the solution of the problem requires a
change. If change is required, change management process is triggered, a request for change is
initiated. Change Management Process is followed.
Output: Resolution identified and if it requires a change, then Change Request is raised

Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group/

Act No: 8 Act Name: Resolution Provided
Problem Manager

Description:  Resolution is provided to the Problem. At this stage, since the permanent
solution for the problem is provided, the known error database is updated to remove the
record. The Problem ticket is updated with resolution activities. All service personnel are
informed about the resolution.
Output: Resolved Problem

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 Problem Management Process

Decision Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group/

Act Name: Is it a Major Problem?
Box Problem Manager

Description: Check if the Problem is a Major Problem.

Output: Decision whether it is a Major Problem

Owner: L2-L3 Resolver Group/

Act No: 9 Act Name: Major Problem Review
Problem Manager

Description:  After the closure of the problem, if it is a major problem, major problem review
is executed. The major problem review is a process step necessary to avoid future problem.
Sometimes, senior management may need to be updated.

Output: Major Problem Reviewed

Act No:
Act Name: Closure Owner: Problem Manager
10
Description:  Update status of ticket to “Closed”. Capture and record Lessons Learnt.

Output: Ticket status set to “Closed”, Updated Lessons learnt information

Act No: Act Name: Problem Monitoring and

Owner: Problem Manager
11 Tracking
Description:  Throughout the process, the status of problem and resolution is monitored/
tracked in order to maintain focus and momentum. Sometimes the problems resolution can
take a long time. Periodic review meetings can help this monitoring activity.

Output: Minutes of review meetings, Problem tracking sheet

2.3 Key Contacts and Escalations

Phone Phone
N Title/ Title/
Key Contacts Number/ Escalate to Number/
o. Department Department
Email Id. Email Id.
1 <Name> <Name>

2 <Name> <Name>

Document No: Sheet: 10 of 10

Revision No: Issue Date: xx-xxx-xx