Incident Management & Problem-Solving Flashcards

An analyst notices that five different users have logged the same Wi-Fi connectivity issue in the past two hours. What is the MOST appropriate next step?

Answer: Raise a major incident or problem record and link all related incident tickets

Recurring incidents affecting multiple users should be linked under a single major incident or problem record to enable coordinated resolution.

Which problem-solving technique involves asking 'Why?' repeatedly until the root cause of an issue is identified?

Answer: 5 Whys analysis

The 5 Whys technique iteratively asks why a problem occurred, typically five times, to drill down to its root cause.

A post-incident review (PIR) is PRIMARILY conducted to:

Answer: Understand what went wrong, what was done well, and how to prevent recurrence

A PIR is a learning exercise focused on identifying improvement opportunities and preventing similar incidents in the future.

In the SDI Service Desk framework, 'escalation' is categorized into two types. Which pair is CORRECT?

Answer: Functional and hierarchical

Functional escalation passes the incident to a team with greater technical skill, while hierarchical escalation involves management for prioritization or authority.

Which tool is MOST useful for identifying the most frequently occurring incident categories in order to prioritize improvement efforts?

Answer: Pareto chart (80/20 analysis)

A Pareto chart highlights the 20% of incident types that typically cause 80% of the volume, guiding prioritization of fix efforts.

An SLA states that Priority 1 incidents must be resolved within 4 hours. After 3.5 hours, the incident is still open. What action should the service desk take?

Answer: Trigger an SLA breach warning and escalate immediately to management

Approaching SLA breach thresholds should trigger automatic warnings and prompt escalation to ensure the target is met or management is aware of the breach.

Which of the following BEST describes 'impact' when classifying an incident?

Answer: The effect the incident has on business operations, services, or the number of users affected

Impact measures the breadth and depth of the business effect — how many users or critical processes are disrupted.