Problem Management

Problem management seeks to identify the underlying causes of incidents in an IT infrastructure and to remove those causes. The problem management process addresses the causes of incidents reactively and proactively.

1. Reactive problem management--problem control activities:

   • What mechanisms currently exist in your organization to respond to reported incidents and to find their causes?
   • How are problems currently identified and recorded? Are records of identified problems available to everyone who needs them?
   • How is responsibility for investigating problems allocated?
   • When a cause and a workaround for a problem are discovered, how is that information cascaded to the rest of the IT department?
   • How is information about causes and workarounds shared with the rest of the company?

2. Reactive problem management--error control activities:

   • What mechanisms or processes are used to determine the cost of resolving a known error?
   • How are the benefits of resolving a known error measured? Who holds responsibility for determining which known errors will be resolved?
   • How are those decisions made?
   • What mechanisms are used to ensure that decisions to fix known errors are carried out correctly?
   • Under what conditions are known errors considered closed?

3. Proactive problem management:

   • What methods are used to identify potential problems in the infrastructure?
   • What criteria are used to determine which components of the infrastructure should be examined for potential problems?
   • What steps are taken to analyze trends in reported problems?

Change Management

Change management is an IT service management process that controls the way changes are introduced in an IT environment. Careful management ensures changes will be more orderly and less disruptive. Companies that implement change management minimize the negative impact of IT changes on the quality of service delivered to users of the company's information systems.

1. Change request and approval:

   • What mechanisms currently exist in your organization to propose changes to the IT infrastructure?
   • What person or group holds responsibility for evaluating proposed changes?
   • What criteria are used to accept or reject proposed changes?
   • How do the criteria for accepting or rejecting proposed changes relate to the business goals of the company?
   • How are proposed changes scheduled?
   • How is the schedule of changes communicated to those who must execute them?
   • How is the schedule communicated to the rest of the company?

2. Change review:

   • What mechanisms exist to review whether completed changes were successful?
   • What criteria are used to gauge the success of a change?
   • Under what conditions is a planned change considered closed?

3. Step of Change Management

   • Filter change requests
   • Assess the impact of changes
   • Authorize changes
   • Review changes
   • Close requests for changes

4. Output of Change Management

   • Change Management Reports
   • Request for Change
   • Change advisory board decisions
   • Forward schedule of changes

5. Responsibilities of Change Manager

   • Receive and filters requests for change
   • Coordinate the activities of the change advisory board
   • Issues and maintains the forward schedule of changes
   • Closes RFCs
6. Critical factors for the success of change management
   • Appropriate tools
   • Supporting processes
   • Management commitment