A problem management team is asked how problems come to be identified in the first place. Which answer best reflects the practice as ITIL describes it?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 7. Seven ITIL practices in detail medium
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The options
Not correct Automatically, whenever an incident exceeds its agreed target resolution time
A breached target says the incident was slow to resolve, which may have many causes. It is not evidence that a distinct underlying cause has been identified.
Not correct Only once at least one incident has been recorded and closed against the underlying fault
This drops the 'potential causes' half of the purpose. A problem may be identified from a supplier advisory or a monitoring trend without any incident having happened.
Not correct By the service desk, at the point a user reports that a service has been interrupted
That describes how an incident is captured. Problem identification is analytical work performed on records and other information, not a report taken at the point of contact.
Correct By analysing incident records and trends, and also by proactively examining other information such as supplier notifications and monitoring data, before any incident has occurred
Correct. The purpose refers to actual and potential causes, so identification is both reactive, from incidents already seen, and proactive, from information that suggests a cause that has not yet bitten.
Why
Problem identification is a distinct phase, ahead of problem control and error control, and it draws on more than the incident log. Treating it as purely reactive is the common mistake, and it is the reason 'potential causes' appears in the purpose statement alongside 'actual causes'.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 7
- What it says
- Problem identification activities identify and log problems, including analysis of incident records and trends and identification of potential problems from other sources.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 7 and space the ones you get wrong.