IT Problem Management

Chapter 4. Problem Identification

The first step in the problem management process is problem identification (see Figure 4-1). Problem identification is simply the processes, methods, and tools used by the service center to identify problems. Problems must be discovered and then reported to the service center. Problems, incidents, and requests are discovered by customers, IT staff, service center agents, and monitoring tools. The problems are then reported to the service center through a variety of access methods, including telephone, email, a Web gateway, tool-to-tool interfaces, person-to-person communication, and facsimile. Any or all of these access tools can be employed by a service center. Choosing the right combination of access tools ...