Home 
 1. Overview - What is Problem Management 
 What is Problem Management? 
 Who uses Problem Management? 
 Why use Problem Management 
 How Problem Management works 
 What does Problem Management cost? 
 2. Guide - How to implement Problem Management 
 Define what needs to be done to implement Problem ...  
 Prepare to implement Problem Management 
 The Problem Management implementation plan 
 Problem Management post implementation review 
 Roles and responsibilities in Problem Management 
 Problem Management resources 
 3. Operations Guide to Problem Management 
 How to operate Problem Management 
 When does Problem Management occur? 
 Who carries out Problem Management? 
 Problem Management resources 
 Problem Management reports 
 4. Problem Management toolkit 
 Problem Management checklist 
 Problem Management process 
 Using problem analysis tools 
 The Problem Management implementation plan 
 Sample document to users about the introduction of...  
  Incident diagnostics 
 5. Roles and responsibilities of Problem Management 
 DW1157_3 Roles and responsibilities in Problem Man...  
 Who uses Problem Management? 
 6. Review of Problem Management  
 Recap of Problem Management  
 Checklist  
Who carries out Problem Management?
Roles and responsibilities in Problem Management
Problem Management usually starts with an incident or as a result of monitoring.
  • The Service Desk will investigate an incident and after following guidelines will decide if it is a problem for deeper investigation and analysis.
  • A technician will start working on an incident and decide if it is a problem.
  • Network Monitoring will highlight areas that need further checking to find out how serious the problem could become.

Problem Management is the ‘black art’ bit of technical support. From the evidence, analysis and experience the technician produces a theory for what is happening / has happened. The theory needs to be believable and therefore the technician should show why the theory may work before taking action.

An approach to resolving the problem is produced, checked for soundness and then implemented. This is an iterative process that may be performed several times until the correct solution is found.
Roles and responsibilities in Problem Management
Roles and functions in the Problem Management process
    • Service desk to note the incident sheet that the problem has been passed to Problem Management
    • Service desk to log, monitor and track the progress of the problem
    • Service desk or technician to spot trends
    • Technician support to action problems raised from Incident Management
    • Technician support to progress unresolved incidents through the Problem Management process
    • Technician assisting with the handling of major incidents and identifying the root causes
    • Technician preventing the replication of problems across multiple systems
    • Any additional first line support groups, such as, configuration or change management specialists to be consulted
    • Second-line and third-line support groups, including specialist support groups and external suppliers
    • User to keep the service desk informed of any further changes to the state of the affected equipment (sometimes the computer can start working again when different incidents are resolved).

Additional functions that form part of Problem Management.
    • Developing and maintaining the problem control process
    • Reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of the problem control process
    • Producing management information
    • Allocating resources for the support effort
    • Monitoring the effectiveness of error control and making recommendations for improving it
    • Developing and maintaining problem and error control systems
    • Reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of proactive Problem Management activities.

The scale depends on the time required for the Problem Management process.
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