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Steps and Tips for implementing ITIL Problem Management

http://knowledgemanagementarticles.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/steps-and-tips-for-implementing-itil-problem-management/

By harry5599

ITIL defines an "event" as any unplanned interruption to an IT service or reduction in the quality of IT services

and ITIL defines a "problem" as the cause of one or more of these events. The main objective of the acquisition

ofproblem management are to avoid problems and eliminate interference, which takes its own initiative, torecurring events and minimize the impact of events that can not be prevented. Problem Management is a ripesubject Incident> Management process.

Although it is possible to start early with problem management, this process is highly integrated with incident

management. Thus, it is best for the implementation ofproblem management, after you have implementedthe Incident Management. They are incident data, impact, frequency and require Incident trends in order to

determine the relevance and the usefulness of working on problems later.

Often, it is possible to start with Problem ManagementActivities without a formally defined scatterproblem

management process. Instead of the activities related to process design, would consider deployment of support

tools and documentation at the beginning of the project for quick results. You can start with actions like thefollowing:

* Enter the top-5-10 incidents

* If necessary, manual incident management / service desk, as ever incidents

* Find someProblems and solve them!

An important measure in the problem management is the cause of one or more incidents of concern and

recommend a permanent solution. Choosing the right people for the job is crucial. Analytical people with the

right technology background will be best in such roles. This need not be a permanent role. If fact, mostcompanies do not assign someone to be "The Problem Manager. Problem Manager can best be identified andallocated on the basis of the task (s) at hand.Sometimes a task force could be appointed, rather than a single

person. Besides the technical skills of the assigned problem manager (s) would preferably result in problem-solving skills and experience to blame with techniques such as KepnerTregoe, Pain-value analysis and use of

Ishikawa diagrams to isolation and resolution of problems.

At a certain stage of the process would be so designed, documented and formal rollout throughout the

organization. IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) would require aan excellent framework and guidelines for thedefinition of process activities and measures. Roles and responsibilities for the problem managementneeds to

be formally defined and a process owner must be assigned for this process. The responsibility of the owner of

the process to ensure it would be that the process is documented, the role and responsibilities are communicatedclearly, are the people with the process and it is the continuous improvement in the process. Reports and Figuresmustdefined. Examples include:

* Number of problems and known errors in a period of status, service or category.

* Percentage of problems solved by category and period.

* Average time to find the cause for each group.

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* Average time resolution of problems and known errors in each category.

* Effort to problems through to resolution and expected effort invested per period required for the closure(measured after resolution of the time).

* Number of Problemsthat may occur again. Unlike dissolved Incident Management metrics such as share

within the limits of time, "

Problem Management metrics are generally not explicitly included in Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Setting up a Known Error Database (KEDB) is another important activity. A known bug is a problem that is a

documented cause and remedy or solution has. The KEDB maintains information about the problems (ie,isolation and resolution procedures) and the correspondingWorkarounds, scripts, links to patches, FAQs and

resolutions. To facilitate the KEDB orknowledge database must be flexible retrieval of information,preferably by keyword search.

However, the KEDB is not worth much if the Incident Management process is too immature to use

efficiently. Many organizations have a KEDB system, without notable success, due to the fact that the incidentmanagement or service desk staff was too immature to helpInformation and use the system to aid in first-line

diagnostics. Thus, the establishment of a KEDB system is in itself not enough. A knowledge-managementmentality and culture is also necessary. Incentives and metrics should be introduced to motivate the right

behavior in the incident and problem management staff.

Implement a tool for the preparation and prosecution of Problem and Known Error records should be considered

in support. Given the close relationship between the incidentandproblem management, integration of incidentand problem management and workflow records in the tool is important. Most commercially available tools

such as BMC Remedy and HP Service Manager is purchasable with separately but integrated modules forincident management, problem management, change management and configuration management database

(CMDB), system management and storage of records and Configuration Item (CI )Information.

Finally, like any other ITIL processes, the problem management process improvements will go through thePlan-Do-Check-Act cycle and over time and refined.