An analyst reviews several months of incident records and notices a repeating pattern of similar failures that had each been resolved individually. Which phase of problem management is this activity part of?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 7. Seven ITIL practices in detail medium
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The options
Correct Problem identification
Correct. Trend analysis of incident records to detect duplicate and recurring issues is a core problem identification activity, alongside input from major incidents, suppliers, and development and test teams.
Not correct Problem control
Problem control begins after a problem has been identified: it analyses the problem and documents workarounds and known errors. The analyst here is still discovering that a problem exists.
Not correct Error control
Error control manages known errors that have already been analysed. Nothing has yet been analysed or recorded as a known error at this point.
Not correct Incident resolution
The individual incidents were already resolved. Looking across them for patterns is problem management work, and it is not a phase of the practice in any case.
Why
Problem management has three phases: problem identification, problem control, and error control. Identification is where problems are found — most commonly by analysing incident records for trends and repeats, but also from major incidents, supplier information, and internal development and test teams.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 7
- What it says
- Problem identification activities include performing trend analysis of incident records to detect duplicate and recurring issues.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 7 and space the ones you get wrong.