Problem Management is a process focused on preventing incidents, or reducing their impact, by identifying the underlying root causes of service issues.
A lack of Problem Management maturity in an organization will not only tie up resources in repetitive operational work, but also cause business disruptions leading to a lack of productivity and a negative perception of the IT services being provided. Here’s how you can help identify your current maturity level while focusing on value-add areas that may be missing or needing attention.
Explore how Problems are identified and managed
Before getting into the details for how the process will be managed, think through how Problems will be identified:
- In a perfect world, all user issues get reported as Incidents so easier identification of common trends can be performed. In reality, users are busy with a number of their own priorities and this does not always occur. When a user reports a unique situation to your IT Support organization, asking to see if other colleagues are facing a similar issue can help identify a particular one-off issue compared to a more systemic issue. This information can be used by IT staff to potentially replicate the issue being reported.
- IT Support and other Technical Staff often see redundant issues get reported to them for resolution. These issues should be assessed for Problem record creation to understand the root cause and potential remediation options. Interim steps such as the creation of Known Error articles can reduce resolution times or deflect Incidents altogether via self-service while permanent fixes are reviewed.
- Monitoring and analytics are commonly available within applications and systems or as standalone products. These tools can help identify reoccurring issues, provide info on known upgrades/patches available, and in some cases, allow automated remediation to eliminate the need for reactive Incidents.
Problem Management functionality is commonly integrated into most modern-day ITSM tools with some even offering automated identification of potential Problems within your environment. Based on your tools capabilities, think through the configuration requirements of your Problem Management module, the expected steps involved within the Problem record lifecycle, and who will be expected to manage and interact with those records.
Formalize your process
Whether a new trend of recurring Incidents is identified or performing root cause analysis after a Major Incident has occurred, it’s important to have a documented Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for how Problem Management is expected to be used within your environment. A few examples of information that should be created and easily accessible by those within your organization are:
- Purpose and scope of the Problem Management process
- Roles and responsibilities
- Step-by-step procedures
- Prioritization and Categorization of Problem Records
- Problem Management techniques/methods/tools
The requirements for your internal Problem Management practice will vary based on your own environment. From large organizations with an existing mature process to those just getting started, it’s important to utilize your experience and knowledge to drive best practices while also soliciting continual feedback from those involved and executing on it.
A document is not enough
Having formal documentation is a key step toward having a mature Problem Management process, but not something that can be depended on individually. Once your initial documentation is in place, think through how you are going to build adoption, train to its intricacies, and provide awareness and visibility of it while measuring its success.
Training options:
- Internal documentation
- Internal on demand/group training
- 3rd party provided
- Certifications
Metrics to consider:
- Increase of open problem records
- Increase of associated incidents to Problem Records
- Reduction of Incidents
- Increase of system uptime
- Increase of Known Error database articles
- Increase of Incidents associated to Known Error database articles
Awareness of open Problems and their current statuses should be accessible to the IT organization to take the appropriate course of action if additional related issues are reported. Similarly, a Problem Management review of open records should be performed with the responsible Problem record owners to drive prioritization, and ultimately resolution where possible, or to have discussions on whether risks need to be accepted.
Get buy-in from leadership
Finally, to have a successful Problem Management process in your organization, getting buy-in from executive leadership and technical staff is critical.
It’s not uncommon for process adoption including Problem Management to be seen as unnecessary overhead where teams don’t have the time (or sometimes desire) to prioritize it. It’s also not uncommon for discussions to become defensive if someone feels their team or service is being attacked or blamed.
It’s important to sell its value to your organization in how it should benefit them. Teach your IT staff how prioritizing both a proactive and reactive mindset to Problem Management will improve their ability to manage their day-to-day work, the services they own and their relationship with the consumers of their service. With a proper investment to Problem Management including resources, tooling and documentation, you’ll be on the right track toward success.