What is the problem management process?

Key Takeaways: The problem management process is the series of steps an IT team follows to identify, investigate, and eliminate the root causes of incidents — detection, categorization and prioritization, investigation and diagnosis, known error records, workarounds, and resolution.

• What it is: A core ITSM practice that runs alongside incident management: incidents restore service fast; problems make sure the same incident doesn't happen again.

• Why it matters: Without it, teams fix the same outage repeatedly; done as an isolated, bureaucratic function, problems pile up in a backlog no one owns — so the process should sit with the teams who can actually investigate.

• How Jira Service Management helps: Links problems to the incidents they cause, tracks known errors and their workarounds that agents can see, and connects problem resolution to change management so fixes ship safely.

The problem management process is the sequence of steps an IT team follows to identify, investigate, and eliminate the root causes of incidents: detecting problems, categorizing and prioritizing them, diagnosing the cause, recording known errors and workarounds, and resolving the problem for good. When done well, it prevents repeat incidents and stops critical incidents before they start. It's a core component of ITSM frameworks, including ITIL.

When problem management is a heavy, siloed, and separate process, companies can end up creating a dumping ground of problems. This backlog is where problem issues go to die in some teams. It’s best to get problems in front of the teams that can handle and do valuable investigations.

Jira Service Management links problems to the incidents they cause and to the changes that fix them, so teams work from one record with full context. As we mentioned, it’s best when incident management and problem management go hand in hand. Let’s walk through the problem management process to understand how this works best. This guide walks through each step of the process and how it fits into ITIL.

What is the problem management process?

1. Problem detection - Proactively find problems so they can be fixed, or identify workarounds before future incidents happen.

2. Categorization and prioritization - Track and assess known problems to keep teams organized and working on the most relevant and high-value problems.

3. Investigation and diagnosis - Identify the underlying contributing causes of the problem and the best course of action for remediation.

4. Create a known error record - In ITIL, a known error is “a problem that has a documented root cause and a workaround.” Recording this information leads to less downtime if the problem triggers an incident. This is typically stored in a document called a known error database.

5. Create a workaround, if necessary - A workaround is a temporary solution for reducing the impact of problems and keeping them from becoming incidents. These aren’t ideal, but they can limit business impact and avoid a customer-facing incident if the problem can’t be easily identified and eliminated.

6. Resolve and close the problem - A closed problem is one that has been eliminated and can no longer cause another incident.

The role of the problem management process in ITIL

ITIL v3 defined problem management as one of its core processes. ITIL 4, the current edition, reframes it as one of 34 management practices, giving organizations more room to shape the process around their own circumstances and needs. The steps above map to the ITIL 4 problem management practice's three phases: problem identification, problem control, and error control.

Overall, however, an effective problem management process delivers valuable service improvements while identifying and eliminating the driving forces behind incidents.

Learn more about how Jira Service Management can transform your problem management process.