Incident Management & Problem-Solving Flashcards

According to ITIL-aligned SDI practices, what is the PRIMARY difference between an incident and a problem?

Answer: An incident is a disruption to service; a problem is the underlying cause of one or more incidents

An incident is any unplanned interruption to a service, while a problem is the root cause behind one or more incidents.

A service desk agent receives a call about a network outage affecting 200 users. What should the agent do FIRST?

Answer: Log the incident and check for an existing major incident record

The agent should log the incident and check whether a major incident has already been declared to avoid duplicate efforts.

Which metric best measures how quickly the service desk restores normal service after an incident?

Answer: Mean Time to Restore Service (MTRS)

MTRS measures the average time taken from incident detection to full service restoration.

During major incident management, the role of the 'Incident Manager' is to:

Answer: Coordinate all resolver groups and communicate updates to stakeholders

The Incident Manager coordinates resolver teams and ensures stakeholders receive timely, accurate communications throughout the major incident.

A workaround is BEST described as:

Answer: A temporary solution that reduces or eliminates the impact of an incident while a permanent fix is developed

A workaround provides temporary relief from an incident's impact until a permanent fix is implemented.

Which of the following is an example of 'proactive problem management'?

Answer: Analyzing incident trends to identify and eliminate potential problems before they cause incidents

Proactive problem management uses trend analysis to prevent future incidents before they occur, rather than reacting after the fact.

What is a 'Known Error' in the context of problem management?

Answer: A problem that has a documented root cause and an identified workaround or fix

A Known Error is a problem whose root cause has been identified and for which a workaround or permanent fix has been documented.