Incident Management & Problem-Solving Flashcards

A service desk analyst is handling an incident where the priority has not yet been set. According to best practice, priority should be calculated based on:

Answer: A combination of impact and urgency

Priority is derived from combining impact (breadth of business effect) and urgency (time-sensitivity of resolution).

Which scenario is the BEST example of 'functional escalation' at a service desk?

Answer: An analyst transfers an incident to the database administration team because the issue requires specialist skills

Functional escalation transfers the incident to a team with the technical expertise needed to resolve it, rather than involving management authority.

After a major network outage is resolved, which document should be produced to capture lessons learned and improvement actions?

Answer: A Post-Incident Review (PIR) report

A PIR report formally documents what happened, what was done well, what could be improved, and assigns action owners to prevent recurrence.

An analyst receives an incident where a user cannot access a business-critical financial system at month-end. How should the analyst classify the impact?

Answer: High — a business-critical process is disrupted at a critical business time

Disruption to a business-critical system during a high-pressure period such as month-end significantly elevates impact regardless of the number of users.

Which of the following BEST supports continuous improvement in incident management?

Answer: Regularly reviewing incident data, trends, and KPIs to identify patterns and drive process improvements

Continuous improvement relies on systematic review of incident trends and KPIs to identify recurring issues and refine processes over time.

A service desk receives an incident about a system outage affecting the entire organization. Who typically declares a 'Major Incident'?

Answer: A designated Incident Manager or senior authority following predefined criteria

Major Incidents are declared by a designated Incident Manager or senior authority using predefined impact and urgency thresholds.

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

Answer: Raising a problem record after a major incident to determine and eliminate the root cause

Reactive problem management is triggered by incidents that have already occurred, with the goal of eliminating their root cause to prevent recurrence.