Problem Form

Use the Problem Form to log, edit, and track Problems. The form is made up of four main areas:

  1. Default Form: Displays Problem number, status, and Created By information.
  2. Form Arrangement: Dynamically displays linked records (Child Records) that are in a relationship with the parent Problem Record.
  3. Form Area: Displays the form fields for the tab selected in the Form Arrangement. The Overview form contains the most of the information needed to perform the Problem workflow.
  4. Actions List: Dynamically displays a list of actions that are available for the current Incident.
    • Assign to Me: Make yourself (Current User) the User owner for the Problem.
    • Select Other Status: Choose a different status from a dialog box.
    • Notify Impacted Customers of Update: Send an e-mail message to the Customers associated with Incidents linked to the Problem.
    • View Impacted Configuration Items: Opens a window with a visualization of the affected Configuration Item(s).
    • Generate Root Cause Analysis Tasks: Tasks associated with root cause analysis appear in the Tasks tab in the Form Arrangement.
    • Resolve Linked Incidents: Change the status of linked Incidents to Resolved.
    • Create Knowledge Article: Create a Knowledge Article using the text from the Workaround field.
    • Publish to Top Issues in Customer Portal: Publish the text from the Diagnosis and Workaround fields to the Portal. Customers can access the update by clicking the Top Issues link in the Portal.
    • Publish Workaround to Customer Portal: Adds the Problem and workaround to the Active Problems section in the Portal.
    • Publish Known Error to Customer Portal: Adds the Known Error to the Portal.

The following table describes the fields on the form.

Field Description Comments
Form Area - Overview    
Step 1: Identify and Classify Record the basic details.  
*Title A concise description of the Problem.

*Required.

*Description A detailed description of the Problem. *Required. Full-Text field (searchable).
Service Classification

Service, category, and subcategory affected by the Problem.

For more information, see Service Categorization.

Primary Configuration Item Main CI involved in the Problem.  
Assigned Team/Assigned To Select a User owner for the Problem. The Team owner is populated by the selected User owner's default Team.  
*Priority Indicates the established timescales and effort to resolve a Problem. Priority is derived from an impact and urgency Priority Matrix. *Required. For more information, see Priority.
Resolve By Assign a required resolution date.  
Step 2: Analyze the Problem    
Symptoms Problem symptoms.  
Probable Causes Possible causes for the Problem.  
Root Cause Enter a Root Cause, if known.  
Cause Category
  • Hardware Failure
  • Human Failure
  • Procedure Failure
  • Software Failure
  • Update Failure
 
Step 3: Resolve the Problem Record the workaround and update Customers.  
Workaround Provide an explanation of a workaround for the Problem. The Workaround field is required to create a Knowledge Article. The new Knowledge Article pulls information from the following fields: Short Description, Detailed Description, Service Classification, Workaround, Diagnosis, and Resolution.
Solution Determine if the solution is No Solution, Known Error, or Permanent Fix.  
Form Arrangement    
Overview Overview of the current problem.  
Journals Displays related Journal records that are created to track User notes/comments, Customer requests/comments, field and status changes, Queue history, and e-mail correspondence.  
Tasks Displays related Tasks.  
Configuration Items Displays CIs that are related to/support this Problem (example: Primary CI). For more information, refer to About CMDB.
Incidents Displays related Incidents that linked to/affected by the Problem.  
Change Request Displays Change Requests that involve this Problem. For more information, refer to About Change Requests.