Problems & Known Errors

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What it is

Problem Management tracks the underlying causes behind incidents, kept separate from the individual tickets. Where a ticket is "the printer is down again", a problem is "why does this printer keep failing". Confirmed causes that have a workaround become Known Errors, so agents can resolve repeat incidents quickly.

Working a problem

  1. Raise a problem and link the tickets it explains, which groups the symptoms under one root cause.
  2. Record the investigation, the root cause once found, and any workaround.
  3. Promote the entry into the Known Error database so the workaround is easy to find and can be attached to future tickets.
  4. Raise a Change to deliver the permanent fix, and close the problem when the fix is in place.

Why it matters

Separating problems from tickets stops the same issue being re-diagnosed every time it recurs. The Known Error database turns hard won knowledge into a shortcut for the whole team.