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Chapter 7 ■ Service Operations
In the problem management process lifecycle, I have used seven steps to achieve the
objectives. I will explain each of the steps in the following sections.
7.5.4.5.1 Step 1: Problem Detection
As with the incident management process, problems need to be detected for the process
to be triggered. A problem can be identified from any source; it can come as an action
item from the customer, a threat notification from regulatory departments, or loopholes
identified by hackers. In the problem management lifecycle, I have considered the
most common triggers for a problem. Remember that the triggers need to be identified
beforehand to ensure that the process is well controlled and does not spiral into
directions that were not factored in.
7.5.4.5.1.1 Event Management
These days, event management tools play a large role in keeping a finger on the pulse
and to standardize monitoring and capture events that are of significance to IT service
management. I discussed the application of event management tools in the incident
management process. In a similar vein, these tools can be programmed to detect
problems as well. For example, if a server being monitored goes down, an incident
ticket is raised. Suppose the same server alternates between being offline and online at
a preconceived number of times. The tools can then be programmed to raise a problem
ticket for the problem manager to start investigation-related activities.
That being said, it is rare to see the event management tools used to raise problem
tickets. I have seen such instances with a handful of implementations. To program
problems on the automation solutions requires a certain amount of maturity for the
service management organization to design, execute, and control.
7.5.4.5.1.2 Major Incidents
The most common source for triggering problems are major incidents. It is a common
sighting in the process world to see major incidents tagged to problem investigations.
Normally, toward the resolution of a major incident, a problem ticket gets created by the
incident manager. While the major incident resolution brings logical closure to the major
incident management process, it also gives rise to the problem management process to
initiate investigations.
This is a good practice as major incidents can cause massive damage to clients,
financial, productivity, brand image, among others. It is in the interests of all stakeholders
that a problem investigation is performed for the major incident to identify the loopholes
and come up with a preventive measure to ensure such outages do not happen in the
future.
7.5.4.5.1.3 Partners/Suppliers
We live in a world where no single IT service provider organization can afford to provide
all IT services. There is a need for having suppliers. I discussed this in Chapter 5.
Suppliers handle specific areas in the delivery of IT services. Let’s say that a particular
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