What is ITIL problem management?

ITIL defines a problem as a cause, or potential cause, of one or more IT incidents. Problem management is a procedural way to ensure that no repeat incidents occur by delving deep to find the root cause and fix it, all while reducing the severity of the incidents through suitable documentation of known problems and providing work-arounds.

How does problem management differ from incident management?

The terms incident and problem sound similar but play distinct roles in ITSM. An incident in incident management refers to an unplanned interruption to a service or a component of the IT infrastructure. For example, a login issue in an application due to a faulty code update is an incident, and the process of restoring the app to its normal operation is incident management. Problem management refers to determining the cause of an incident and removing the potential bottleneck. For example, if an IT team observes a trend of recurring application slowdown incidents, this qualifies as a problem. The IT team performs a deep dive into the application logs to find frequent database deadlocks and query timeout errors during peak usage hours. After the initial analysis, the team rules out network latency as a possible primary issue. After performing thorough RCA using methods like the five whys and fishbone diagrams, the IT team finds the SQL queries in a newly built reporting module to be inefficiently written. The IT team then deploys a permanent fix by optimizing the code and using materialized views for frequently accessed data, thereby reducing the load on the reporting module during peak usage hours.

What are the 3 phases of problem management?

The key steps in problem management are: Problem identification – the process of identifying a problem, either through AI predictions or by grouping multiple incidents, and logging all the known information into a problem management tool. Problem control – involves prioritizing, investigating, and analyzing the logged problem. Error control – involves managing known errors and work-arounds logged in the knowledge base periodically.

AI-driven ITIL problem management software

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Security information and event management
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Low-code app development
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Identity governance
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Ensure enterprise-wide service continuity with ITIL-certified problem management

Recurring incidents and major IT snags can hamper your enterprise's organizational efficiency and profitability. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus empowers enterprises to move beyond fixing issues reactively. Leverage predictive intelligence and workflow automations to eliminate the root causes of such IT disruptions, ensuring seamless service continuity.

Visualize problem management frameworks as workflows and automate RCA

Build visual problem management workflows on a drag-and-drop canvas that enables you to standardize the problem management process and align it with popular RCA frameworks, such as the five whys.
Automate repetitive tasks like notifying stakeholders about RCA progress, updating field values, or sending approval requests.

Make organization-wide announcements
and notify stakeholders

Avoid the duplication of incident tickets by acknowledging and making organization-wide announcements about problems you are investigating. Notify stakeholders at every stage of the problem management process, from identification and investigation to resolution.

Announcements to notify the organization of outages or problems.

Get to the root causes of issues fast and fix them proactively by aligning with other ITIL practices

Whether you're managing multiple recurring incidents with the same root cause, undertaking a change, or deploying a release to fix a problem, analyze dependencies and impacts with the native CMDB in ServiceDesk Plus. Associate configuration items, incidents, changes, and releases with problem tickets for enriched context and rapid resolution.

Prevent service disruptions by fixing the root causes of IT problems

Accelerated RCA with proactive problem analysis

Ensure enterprise-wide service continuity with ITIL-certified problem management

Intelligent predictions to help teams identify potential problems faster

Visualize problem management frameworks as workflows and automate RCA

Record every problem meticulously,
including symptoms and the impact, with customizable templates

Make organization-wide announcements
and notify stakeholders

Get to the root causes of issues fast and fix them proactively by aligning with other ITIL practices

Stay ahead of recurring issues: Build a comprehensive knowledge repository and mark known errors

Talk to our experts about ServiceDesk Plus

Frequently asked questions

1. What is ITIL problem management?

2. How does problem management differ from incident management?

3. What are the 3 phases of problem management?

4. How does ServiceDesk Plus help with problem management?

Features

Free guides

Next steps

Other products

See ServiceDesk Plus in action

Identity and access management

Unified service management

Unified endpoint management and security

IT operations management and observability

Security information and event management

Advanced IT analytics

Low-code app development

Cloud solutions for enterprise IT

IT management for MSPs

Active Directory management Manage, track, and secure Active Directory

Identity governance and administrationOrchestrate user identity management and access controls for Zero Trust

Privileged access managementControl and secure privileged access to critical enterprise systems

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Customer service managementBuild a one-stop portal for customers with efficient account management

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Endpoint management and protection platform (UEM and EPP)Secure and manage endpoints to protect your IT assets effectively

Endpoint managementAchieve intelligent IT device management with zero user intervention

Endpoint securityDefend against threat actors with proactive and reactive measures

Full-stack observability and digital experience monitoringAchieve end-to-end visibility, proactive issue resolution, and enhanced security

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IT incident managementEfficiently manage and resolve IT incidents while ensuring transparency

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Cloud-native solutions for IT managementMonitor, manage, audit, and secure your multi-cloud and hybrid infrastructure

Business applications for ITBoost productivity and improve team collaboration

Custom solution builderBuild tailor-made apps to automate operations at your organization

Solutions for MSPsGrow your MSP business with scalable and secure IT management solutions

Prevent service disruptions by fixing the root causes of IT problems

Accelerated RCA with proactive problem analysis

Ensure enterprise-wide service continuity with ITIL-certified problem management

Intelligent predictions to help teams identify potential problems faster

Visualize problem management frameworks as workflows and automate RCA

Record every problem meticulously, including symptoms and the impact, with customizable templates

Make organization-wide announcements and notify stakeholders

Get to the root causes of issues fast and fix them proactively by aligning with other ITIL practices

Stay ahead of recurring issues: Build a comprehensive knowledge repository and mark known errors

Talk to our experts about ServiceDesk Plus

Other ITIL capabilities that you might be interested in

Incident management

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CMDB

Frequently asked questions

1. What is ITIL problem management?

2. How does problem management differ from incident management?

3. What are the 3 phases of problem management?

4. How does ServiceDesk Plus help with problem management?

Features

Free guides

Next steps

Other products

Active Directory
management Manage, track, and secure Active Directory

Identity governance
and administrationOrchestrate user identity management and access controls for Zero Trust

Privileged access
managementControl and secure privileged access to critical enterprise systems

Enterprise and IT service
managementDeliver a consistent employee experience across business functions

Customer service
managementBuild a one-stop portal for customers with efficient account management

IT asset
managementCentralize and automate the complete IT asset life cycle

Network and server
performance monitoringEnsure network, server, and storage reliability with AI-powered insights

IT incident
managementEfficiently manage and resolve IT incidents while ensuring transparency

Cloud-native solutions for IT managementMonitor, manage, audit, and secure your multi-cloud
and hybrid infrastructure

Record every problem meticulously,
including symptoms and the impact, with customizable templates

Make organization-wide announcements
and notify stakeholders