How is problem management different from incident management?

Incident management focuses on fast fixes to restore service, while problem management focuses on finding and solving underlying causes.

What Is Problem Management?

Q: What is problem management?

Problem management is the ITSM process of identifying root causes of incidents and implementing permanent solutions to prevent recurrence.

Problem management is the ITSM process of identifying and analyzing the root causes of incidents, then implementing permanent solutions to prevent recurrence. Unlike incident management (which fixes issues quickly), problem management focuses on long-term prevention.

Incident vs. Problem Management

Incident management: “Fix it fast” to restore service
Problem management: “Fix it right” to prevent recurrence

Problem Management Process

1. Detection: Identify recurring incidents or suspected root cause
2. Analysis: Investigate the underlying cause (RCA)
3. Workaround: Provide temporary fix while permanent solution is developed
4. Solution: Implement permanent fix
5. Close: Monitor and confirm resolution

Key Metrics

Number of problems identified
Time to identify root cause
Percentage of incidents with linked problems
Recurrence rate of fixed problems

Industry Insight

Atlassian reports that mature problem management reduces incident recurrence by 50-70%.

Learn Problem-Solving

Problem management is discussed on Wikipedia.

How TicketingNext Supports Problem Management

TicketingNext links incidents to problems, tracks RCA, and monitors recurrence. See TicketingNext features or explore use cases.

Need better problem management? Contact our team.