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Problem Management Process in ITSM

Role: IT Staff / Problem Coordinator / ITIL Resolver
Available for Teams: All Support Teams

A Problem is defined as the underlying cause of one or more incidents or service disruptions.

ITSM Problem Management is a process that focuses on identifying the root cause of recurring requests, implementing temporary workarounds, and deploying permanent solutions to minimize business disruptions.

Access and Roles

  • IT Staff & Problem Coordinators: Full permissions to create, update, analyze, and resolve problem records.
  • End Users: Cannot submit or view problem tickets from the employee portal.

ITSM Problem Lifecycle States

The problem ticket progresses through a defined state machine, tracked by the step-progress bar at the top of the record:

  1. New: The initial state when a problem record is drafted.
  2. Assess: The problem is evaluated by the assigned group.
  3. Root Cause Analysis (RCA): The root cause is investigated. Requires documenting a Workaround and Cause Notes under the Analysis Information tab.
  4. Fix In Progress: A permanent resolution is developed. Transitioning to this state requires a Fix Note.
  5. Resolved: The permanent solution is applied and verified.
  6. Closed: The ticket is finalized and archived (read-only).
  7. Cancelled: The ticket is cancelled (requires a Canceled reason).

Incident & Request Integration

In the ITSM application, proactive problem management is driven by linking a problem to a source request: - During creation in the New state, the creator must specify the Reported by request. - Clicking View opens a pop-up search modal listing all available Service Requests, Incident Requests, and Catalog Requests. - Selecting a request automatically imports key data into the problem ticket, including the requester's name, category, service, offering, and configuration item.

Permanent Fix vs. Risk Acceptance

When working on a problem in the Fix In Progress state, there are two potential closure paths:

1. Permanent Fix (Standard Path)

  1. Apply the permanent solution.
  2. Click Resolve to move the ticket to Resolved.
  3. Click Close Problem to move the ticket to Closed.

2. Accept Risk (Alternative Path)

If a permanent fix is not feasible (e.g., due to cost, legacy constraints, or vendor limitations): 1. From the Fix In Progress state, click Accept Risk. 2. A popup modal will prompt you to enter a Risk Accepted Reason, document the Workaround, and check the Workaround Applied checkbox. 3. Confirming the risk acceptance transitions the ticket directly to the Closed state with a resolution code of "Closed".

Problem Management Workflow Interface

The ITSM interface consists of two main layouts:

1. Form Fields and Progress

Shows the current state steps, the linked reported request, category/service dropdowns, assignee, impact/urgency, and the statement/description.

Problem Form and Lifecycle States

2. Information Tabs & Activity Feed

Shows the Work Notes area, the timeline of activities (which lists who made updates and what changed), Analysis details (Workaround/Cause notes), Resolution details, and tracking metadata.

Tabs and Activities Logs