What is a known error?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 7. Seven ITIL practices in detail medium
Draft — not checked yet. This question was written from the published exam objectives and cites the clause it comes from, but nobody has yet read it against that clause and signed for it.
It is kept out of search results and out of mock exams until they have. Read the source below before you take the answer as settled.
The options
Not correct A documented action that reduces or eliminates the impact of an incident
That describes a workaround. A workaround is frequently associated with a known error, but the two terms are not interchangeable: one is the mitigation, the other is the analysed but unresolved problem.
Not correct An incident whose cause has been identified during diagnosis
A known error is a status of a problem, not of an incident. Incidents are closed when service is restored; they do not become known errors.
Not correct A problem for which a permanent resolution has been implemented and verified
That is a resolved problem, which is exactly what a known error is not. Known errors are the ones still outstanding after analysis.
Correct A problem that has been analysed but has not been resolved
Correct. The status changes at the point of analysis, not at the point of fixing. A problem becomes a known error once it is understood, and it remains one until it is resolved.
Why
The trigger for known error status is analysis, not resolution. This matters because it lets a provider publish what it knows — cause, symptoms and any workaround — while the decision about whether a permanent fix is worth making is still open, and sometimes never taken.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 7
- What it says
- A known error is a problem that has been analysed but has not been resolved.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 7 and space the ones you get wrong.