Managing Problem Entities

Introduction

A problem is a condition from numerous incidents that are related or have common issues. Problem management is the process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems that happen or could happen.

The primary objectives of problem management are:

To prevent problems and resulting incidents from happening
To eliminate recurring incidents
To minimize the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented

It may take several incidents to occur before Problem Management has enough data to understand the root cause. Once Problem Management identifies the factor and develops a workaround, then the problem becomes a “known error.”

Problem management processes activities in the following manner:

Problem diagnosis and resolution - Achieved by categorization, prioritization and root cause identification. This may include a change request to resolve the Problem.
Determination of workaround - Workarounds are provided to reduce service interruptions until Problem is resolved.
Documentation of known errors - Known errors are added to Knowledge Base along with related incidents and relevant workarounds.

ITIL Definition

ITIL defines a problem as an underlying cause of one or more incidents.

Example: An incident of a server hang is reported. The server becomes functional after a reboot. Later on, the incident repeats and the root cause of failure is analyzed and found as a faulty motherboard. The root cause is reported as Problem.

Configuring problem entity settings

Customize Problem details by creating custom fields in addition to the predefined fields.

If you select Client, the settings are applied to all users within the client. If you do not select a client, the chosen settings apply to all clients within the partner.

To configure Problem settings:

From All Clientst, select the client.
Go to Setup > Service Desk > Configuration > Settings.
Click Problem tab.
From PROBLEM SETTINGS, configure the Property settings.
Click Update.

Creating problem entities

Problem entities are created on Service Desk.

To create a new problem:

Select Service Desk from the drop-down menu.
Click + and select Problem.
In the New Problem page, provide the required details.
Click Create.

Supported fields

Problem Entity Fields
Field name	Description
Partner	Select the partner.
Client	Select the client.
Subject	Title or short summary of Problem
Description<	The information required to describe Problem scenario. This can include the actual behavior, expected behavior, and steps to reproduce the issue.
Attach file	The artifacts required to support Problem. Example: error messages, screenshots, excerpt from log files. Supported file types: `.txt`, `.jpg`, `.zip`, `.docx`, `.odt`, `.odg` and `.xlsx`. File size limit: 32 MB
Requested By	User who requests Problem
Assignee Group	User group that manages Problem
Assign to	User who acts on Problem
Resources	Devices on which Problem is identified
Category	Category to which Problem is mapped
Sub Category	Subcategory under the category to which Problem is mapped
Priority	Measure of how soon Problem needs to be fixed
Root Cause	Factor(s) upon resolution of which the causal incidents can be prevented or healed
Work Around	Temporary method for achieving the given task when the planned method is not working due to Problem. The workaround is abandoned when the Problem is fixed.
Application	Application(s) on which the Problem is detected
Known Issue	Whether the Problem has occurred in the past
Articles	KB articles that refer to similar Problems in the past
Attach Change Request	Change request required to fix the Problem
Estimated Hours	Planned time duration for Problem resolution