Incident and Problem Management

Don’t let persistent problems govern your department.
 Join Now

If you're already a member, click here to log in.

Major Business Pain Points

  • IT infrastructure managers have conflicting accountabilities. It can be difficult to fight fires as they appear while engaging in systematic fire prevention.
  • Repetitive interruptions erode faith in IT. If incidents recur consistently, why should the business trust IT to resolve them?
Incident and Problem Management-Pain Points

Recommendations

Key Points

  • Don’t risk muddling the chain of command during a crisis. Streamline the process. When senior technical staff are working on incidents, they report to the service desk manager.
  • Incidents defy planning, but problem management is schedulable. Schedule problem management; reduce unplanned work.
  • Just because a problem has not caused an incident doesn’t mean it never will. Get out in front of problems. Maximize uptime.

Approach

Incident and Problem Management-Recommendations
  • Define the roles and responsibilities of the incident manager and the problem manager.
  • Develop a critical incident management workflow that will save money by streamlining escalation.
  • Create a problem management standard operating procedure that will reduce incident volume, save money, and allow upper tier support staff to engage in planned work as opposed to firefighting.
 Subscribe to Premium

Methodology and Tools

Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why sub-optimal incident management could be costing you money, and how to implement incident, problem, and proactive problem management best practices.

  • Incident and Problem Management – Executive Brief
  • Incident and Problem Management – Phases 1-3

1. Identify and manage major/critical incidents

Develop a plan to identify critical incidents and to resolve them with as little friction as possible.

  • Incident and Problem Management – Phase 1: Identify and Manage Major/Critical Incidents
  • Critical Incident Management SOP
  • Incident Severity Assessment Tool
  • Knowledgebase Article Template
  • Incident Manager
  • Problem Manager

2. Develop problem management procedures

Systematically identify problems, and develop a procedure for opening, resolving, and closing problem tickets.

  • Incident and Problem Management – Phase 2: Develop Problem Management Procedures
  • Problem Ticket Template
  • Risk Assessment Tool
  • Problem Management SOP
  • List of Sample Problems

3. Engage in proactive problem management

Develop thresholds for event management, predict problems, and communicate the importance of proactivity to stakeholders.

  • Incident and Problem Management – Phase 3: Engage in Proactive Problem Management
  • Incident and Problem Management Communication Deck

All resources on this page are provided to Cyber Leadership Hub members under license from third parties including Info-Tech Research Group Inc, a global leader in providing IT research and advice.