[3 minutes reading time]
The Problem Management team is continuing to make the Problem Management process in ServiceNow work better for you.
We’ve already made a few changes; we’re now changing the problem stages (or states, as they’re known in ServiceNow) to reflect what is actually happening on the Problem record.
The old states were too specific and they have not been used accurately for some time. We are now renaming them so that you can show what stage in the Problem process you are in.
What are the new states, and what do they mean?
Outline of Problem process map:
- New
- Assess
- Duplicate/Cancelled: Goes to Closed
- Root Cause Analysis
- Accept risk: Goes forward to Closed
- Fix in Progress
- Accept risk: Goes forward to Closed
- Resolved
- Not fixed: Goes back to Fix in progress
- Closed
New
Anybody in IT can log a Problem record. When you do, it is in a ‘new’ state – this is like a draft state, where you can add what you need to it before it is officially a live problem.
Assess
When you’re happy with the Problem, it moves to an ‘assess’ stage for Problem Management to review. We’ll let you know if there is anything missing, or if a Problem already exists for the issue. We’ll confirm with you and the potential owner that it’s valid, and then assign the Problem for investigation.
Root Cause Analysis
This is the stage where you investigate the cause of the issue and also create new or improved workarounds to avoid downtime for users.
Fix in Progress
When the cause has been discovered, the Problem becomes a ‘Known Error’. During this stage, the resolving group work on finding and implementing a permanent fix. You will need to provide an estimated time for the resolution at this stage.
Resolved
Once the fix has been developed and successfully implemented, you can move the Problem to ‘resolved’ state. The Problem Management team will do some final checking to ensure the issue is permanently resolved and then Close the Problem.
Closed
This means the issue has been diagnosed and the cause addressed.
When will the changes be made?
The changes to the Problem form will be made on Monday 26 October. You don’t need to do anything to your current Problems, as they’ll be mapped over to the new states.
If you want to discuss anything related to this improvement, or anything else Problem related, please contact Faith Thomas, Problem Specialist, via Microsoft Teams or email.