A problem is a Service Manager record that you create to minimize the chance that similar problems, or related incidents, will occur in the future, or to minimize the impact of an issue that you cannot prevent. Service Manager allows related incidents to be closed when a problem that they are related to is resolved.
Creating problem records
You can create problem records manually from the Service Manager console by performing the following steps:
1. Select the Problem Management node in the Work Items workspace of the Service Manager console.
2. In the Tasks menu, click Problem Management, and then click Create Problem.
3. On the Problem form, shown in Figure 1, provide the following information:
- Title A name for the problem.
- Description A description for the problem.
- Assigned To The person responsible for resolving the problem.
- Source Source of the problem request.
- Category Problem category.
- Impact Impact of the problem. This is used to calculate priority.
- Urgency Problem urgency. This is used to calculate priority.
FIGURE 1 Problem form
Linking incidents to problems
Service Manager allows you to link incidents to problems. For example, a number of incidents reported to the help desk may have the same root cause, such as users contacting the help desk because they are unable to sign on to their computers. In this scenario, the root cause might be the failure of the DHCP service on the organization’s DHCP server. By fixing the DHCP service, the separate sign on failure incidents will also be resolved.
To link incidents to an existing problem, perform the following steps:
1. Select the Active Problems node under Problems in the Work Items workspace of the Service Manager console.
2. Select a problem, and then click Edit in the Tasks pane.
3. On the Related Items tab of the problem dialog box, click Add next to Work Items.
4. On the Select Objects dialog box, add the incidents you want to relate to the problem, as shown in Figure 2.
FIGURE 2 Select objects
5. Verify that the incidents are listed under work items, as shown in Figure 3.
FIGURE 3 Related incidents
Resolving problems and related incidents
An advantage to linking incidents with problems is that you are able to resolve all incidents that are linked to a problem automatically when you resolve that problem. To resolve a problem and its related incidents, perform the following steps:
1. In the Work Items workspace of the Service Manager console, locate the problem that you want to resolve in the Active Problems node, under the Problem Management node.
2. Select the problem, and click Edit in the Tasks pane.
3. Select the Resolution tab. In the Tasks pane, click Resolve, and then select Auto-Resolve All Incidents Associated With This Problem under Resolution Details, as shown in Figure 4. Also select a resolution category and an appropriate resolution description.
FIGURE 4 Resolution
4. Click OK to resolve the problems and the associated incidents.
