About Identifying a Problem

The Problem Manager routinely browses through incidents to determine the potential for problems. For example, the Problem Manager may identify a problem if there is a pronounced spike in the number of incidents logged against the same service or against the same category within a short period of time.

You can identify a problem in two ways:

•Identifying a Problem Using the Dashboard

•Identifying a Problem Using a Saved Search

Identifying a Problem Using the Dashboard

This process refers to the default Problem Manager dashboard. Your administrator might have configured this dashboard differently.

Follow these steps to identify a problem using the Problem dashboard:

1.Log in to the application as a Problem Manager.

2.Open the Problem dashboard.

3.Open an incident that is a problem.

4.From the Action Menu, choose System > Add Problem.

5.Enter information into the problem record. See Working with Problems.

6.Click Save.

Identifying a Problem Using a Saved Search

This process refers to the default Problem Manager dashboard. Your administrator might have configured this dashboard differently.

Follow these steps to identify a problem using a saved search:

1.Log in to the application as a Problem Manager.

2.Open the Incident workspace.

3.From the Saved Searches menu, choose Active Incidents this Year.

4.Open the related incident record.

5.From the Action Menu, choose System > Add Problem.

6.Enter information into the problem record. See Working with Problems.

7.Click Save.

Investigating a Problem

As a Problem Manager, you should routinely check for newly-logged problems and investigate them. If you determine that the logged problem is not actually a problem, you can set its status to canceled. Only Problem Managers can set the status of a problem to canceled.

Perform these steps for problems that are in the logged state:

1.Log in to the application as a Problem Manager.

2.Open the problem to investigate.

3.Set the status to investigation.

4.Provide the details of the diagnostic activities. Under the Activity History tab, click New > New Notes.

5.Enter detailed investigating information, then click Save. See About Activity History for more information on this feature.

6.Add information to the problem as needed. See Working with Problems.

7.Identify individuals from the Problem Review Board to help in the investigation or to help oversee the problem process. See Working with the Problem Review Board.

8.Click Save.

The system notifies the problem owner of the status change. If you added an ad-hoc reviewer from the Problem Review Board tab, the system notifies the reviewer.