Problem Management

Finding the leak

Incident management mops up the water. Problem management climbs into the ceiling, finds the leaking pipe and replaces it, so you stop needing the mop.

Problem management finds the root causes of incidents and removes them, so the incidents don’t come back. It complements incident management, which restores service quickly without necessarily knowing why it failed.

Term	Meaning
Problem	The underlying cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents
Known error	A problem whose root cause has been found and documented, usually with a workaround
Workaround	A way to reduce or remove the impact of an incident without fixing the cause
Known error database (KEDB)	The store of known errors and workarounds that the service desk uses to fix incidents faster

A workaround isn’t a resolution. The problem stays open until the root cause is removed, or the risk is formally accepted.

The process

Identify problems from major incidents, repeat incidents, trend analysis, monitoring or supplier notices.
Log and prioritise the problem, linking the related incidents to it so the business impact is visible.
Investigate with root cause analysis.
Record a known error with its workaround.
Resolve it by raising a change for the permanent fix. Problem management doesn’t get to skip change approval.
Close once the incidents have stopped; review major problems.

The CMDB helps here: it shows which components different incidents have in common.

Root cause analysis

Five whys tracing failed file transfers to missing certificate expiry monitoring.

The five whys is the simplest technique: keep asking “why?” until you reach something you can fix for good. Others include fishbone (Ishikawa) diagrams, fault tree analysis and timeline analysis.

Reactive and proactive

Reactive problem management responds to incidents that have already happened.
Proactive problem management analyses incident trends, monitoring data and vendor information to find and fix weaknesses before they cause incidents. It’s a sign of a mature process. Without trend analysis, problem management can only ever be reactive.

Example. Over three months, 60 incidents of failed overnight file transfers are logged and closed after manual resubmission. Problem management traces them to an expired certificate on one partner’s server and no expiry monitoring. A change adds certificate monitoring across all integrations, and the incidents stop.

How the exam asks about it

If the question asks…	The answer is usually…
Primary goal of problem management	Find and eliminate root causes; prevent recurrence
Problem with a known root cause and workaround	Known error
Proactive problem management	Trend analysis to prevent incidents before they occur
How the permanent fix is implemented	Through change management
Best indicator problem management works	Fewer recurring incidents

In short

Problem management identifies the root causes of incidents and prevents them from recurring.
A problem is the underlying cause of one or more incidents; a known error is a problem with a documented root cause and workaround.
Reactive problem management responds to incidents; proactive problem management analyses trends to find issues before they cause incidents.
Root cause analysis techniques include the five whys, fishbone (Ishikawa) diagrams and fault tree analysis.
Permanent fixes are implemented through change management.
The known error database helps the service desk resolve incidents faster.

Exam traps

Problem management isn't about restoring service fast; that's incident management.
A workaround isn't a resolution; the problem stays open until the root cause is removed or the risk is accepted.
Fixes found by problem management still need change approval.
Without incident trend analysis, problem management is purely reactive.

Slides

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