Top ITIL Problem Management Best Practices that You Need to Know

Introduction

Businesses spend huge amounts on firefighting activities, making it crucial to resolve issues quickly, as they directly impact productivity. ITIL is a framework of best practices for service support and delivery, and problem management is one such process aimed at preventing incidents. However, businesses often confuse it with incident management process owing to their similarities, and many organizations do not have a dedicated problem management process. Incident management focuses on resolving issues quickly and restoring services, whereas problem management aims to provide permanent resolution and prevent recurrence, often through change management.

Understanding the differences between these two is fundamental before implementation. Problem management reduces costs by identifying and preventing critical incidents, thereby minimizing service interruptions and productivity loss. As businesses strive for service excellence, seamless support and high-quality service to their users become inevitable. Problem management is a part of the ITIL service operations lifecycle and closely aligns with other ITIL modules such as change management and release management to deploy permanent fixes. Despite its importance, most organizations overlook problem management when implementing ITIL, missing out on its business value and benefits.

This problem management guide explores the objectives, scope, process flow, techniques, benefits, feature checklist, and KPIs of problem management process, with suitable examples.

What is problem management?

Problem management is an IT Service Management (ITSM) process designed to identify, analyze, and resolve the underlying causes of IT service disruptions. It is one of the components of ITIL service operations. The primary focus of problem management is to identify the causes of service issues and commission corrective work to prevent recurrences.

Definition of a "problem" in operations or service environments

In ITIL, a problem represents the unknown cause of one or more incidents. It's the underlying issue that, when left unaddressed, continues to generate new incidents. Here's how problems differ from incidents:

• Problem: It can be defined as one or more repeated incidents with an unknown cause. Problem is the root cause of one or more incidents.

• Incident: Unplanned interruption or service disruption that affects normalcy and quality of service. Incident is the effect and problem is the cause for incidents.

• Known error: A problem with known root cause but no permanent solution. A workaround is provided for a known error.

How it differs from one-time incidents

While incident management aims to restore services quickly, problem management involves determining and addressing the root cause(s) of an incident or a series of incidents by identifying, tracking, and resolving the problems that express themselves as incidents.

Key goals and outcomes of managing problems

The primary objectives of problem management are to:

• Identify the root cause of recurring incidents

• Provide short-term workarounds for known problems

• Implement permanent resolutions to prevent frequent incidents

• Deliver proactive service support

What is ITIL problem management?

Problem management is an IT Service Management (ITSM) process to prevent problems and incidents from occurring and to resolve known problems with a permanent solution. Recurring incidents give rise to a problem. The objective of problem management is to diagnose the root cause of repeated incidents. Root cause analysis (RCA) is an important step during problem management process. Incident management aims at quickly restoring services. If a high-impact incident recurs, it is escalated to the problem management team to analyze the root cause and identify a solution. Problem management then provides a workaround or a permanent fix.

Problem management uses a shared database to track problems and maintains a known error database (KEDB) for open issues. The KEDB records known issues and any associated changes to configuration items (CIs). Problem management and configuration management work together to share CI-related details. When a problem is reported, it is essential to identify the affected CI and update it, if necessary, to ensure a permanent resolution. Maintaining consistent information across these modules is important for faster resolution of incidents and problems, as well as for timely deployments. To remain competitive, businesses must prioritize speed to market and agility.

Objectives

Uninterrupted service is the ideal for any service desk, but in reality, issues are inevitable. It is the responsibility of the service desk to respond quickly and minimize impact. However, with rising user expectations, there is increasing demand for easily accessible support channels. The primary objective of problem management is to identify and address recurring incidents by finding the root cause. It aims to proactively prevent problems and provide either a workaround or a permanent solution. By reducing the number of incidents and minimizing service disruptions, problem management reduces long-term costs and improves user satisfaction, ultimately delivering real business and customer value.

Definitions

Root cause: The underlying reason for a problem. Root cause analysis (RCA) is the method used to identify the root cause, with the goal of eliminating it permanently.

Workaround: A temporary, short-term solution to a known error.

KEDB (Known Error Database): A centralized repository that stores all known errors. KEDB is referenced when incidents occur frequently.

Problem management in ITIL service lifecycle

Problem management is a part of the ITIL service operation that interacts with several other processes in the ITIL service lifecycle. Within ITIL service operation, it closely interacts with incident management to address recurring incidents and prevent major incidents. In the service design phase, historical problem data support availability management, while during service transition, knowledge management plays a key role by recording known errors and workarounds as knowledge base articles. During RCA, problem management interfaces with knowledge management to identify existing solutions. In the continual service improvement phase, proactive problem management contributes to enhancing the overall service quality.

Given its importance across all ITIL lifecycle stages, neglecting problem management when implementing ITIL processes in your organization can be a costly oversight. When selecting a service desk solution, ensure that it supports all essential features needed to perform the problem management process effectively.

Benefits of effective problem management

The average organization handles approximately 1200 IT incidents per month, with around 13% being repeat incidents. Robust problem management practices deliver significant business value by addressing the root causes underlying these disruptions.

Reduced recurrence of incidents and downtime

Around 38% of IT problems are 2 to 3 months old at the time of closure, and 13% take between 7 months to a year to resolve. By systematically addressing the root causes, organizations can dramatically reduce these recurring disruptions.

Enhanced IT service quality and stability

Proactive problem management shifts the focus from reactive firefighting to consistent and reliable IT service delivery.

Faster problem detection and resolution

By leveraging data analytics, generative AI, and cross-functional collaboration, organizations can rapidly identify, predict, and resolve problems.

Improved resource allocation and efficiency

Minimizing repetitive incidents frees up IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives, boosting productivity and employee satisfaction.

Better knowledge management and documentation

Resolved problems become organizational knowledge, building a comprehensive database that accelerates resolution of future problems.

Problem management process flow

ITIL problem management follows a sequence of steps to identify, diagnose, and resolve problems. This predefined framework ensures that problem management is executed effectively and not confused with incident management. The process flow provides clear guidance for organizations to handle problems systematically. The scope of the problem management process flow includes:

Problem detection

The first step in problem management is problem detection, which can be done through various channels. A designated problem manager is responsible for identifying problems during daily operations or through historical reports that highlight recurring incidents. Tier I team escalates incidents that cannot be resolved. A problem may also be identified by reviewing incident reports—especially when multiple incidents occur with unknown causes. In such cases, a problem record should be created. If a known problem is already documented, the new incident can be linked to the existing problem record. Otherwise, a new problem record must be created, and all related incidents should be linked to it. Timely problem detection saves resources by enabling faster and more effective diagnosis. The common symptoms of a problem include:

• Escalation from Level I teams unable to resolve incidents

• Frequently recurring incidents under similar conditions

• The same issue reported by multiple users across the organization

• Proactive identification of problem based on patterns and alerts from monitoring tools

Problem logging

Every detected problem must be logged in the problem record for tracking purposes. It is essential to capture problem details such as problem type, description, associated incidents, affected CIs from CMDB, category, user information, status, resolution, and closure. This information is necessary for tagging known errors and managing them within the known error database. Every problem record has two attributes—impact and urgency. Impact refers to the number of users or CIs affected due to this problem, while urgency refers to how quickly the issue needs to be resolved. These factors determine the Service Level Agreement (SLA), which sets the due date for problem resolution. This information is crucial for the problem management team to perform root cause analysis. Service desk ticketing systems enable problem logging via structured form templates, facilitating efficient data capture and easier generation of problem reports from a centralized database.

Investigation & diagnosis

Prioritization and categorization of problem records help determine which issues should be investigated first. During investigation, stakeholders collaborate to discuss potential root causes. RCA is then performed using various problem management techniques. Investigation typically involves cross-functional teams, with diagnosis carried out by the problem research team. While investigating a problem record, it is recommended to initially search in KEDB to determine whether the issue is a known problem.

KEDB

After problem diagnosis, the problem record may either be added to the KEDB or resolved permanently and closed. In some cases, investigation results in a workaround, which serves as a temporary fix until a permanent resolution is found. Until then, services are restored using the workaround, which should be promptly documented in the KEDB. Maintaining an up-to-date KEDB is essential. When new incidents or problems arise, service desk agent should first consult the KEDB to check for existing workarounds or known issues.

Resolution

Problem resolution often involves coordination with other ITIL processes such as change management and release management. The problem management team raises a request for change (RFC). The change management process handles the evaluation, planning, and execution of the change. Depending on the nature and urgency, a suitable change type—standard, normal, or emergency—is selected. The change management team assesses the impact and finalizes the plan. The release management team is responsible for the actual deployment of the approved changes, which involves packaging, testing in a sandbox environment, and deploying the change to the production environment. It is necessary to document the final resolution provided to the user and link the problem record to the corresponding change and release records. The closure of the problem record can be handled through automation where possible.

Problem management techniques

There are several problem management techniques available. Below are some commonly used techniques that can be implemented easily.

Brainstorming

This technique involves discussing the problem statement and possible causes with key stakeholders through group discussions that encourage full participation.

• It is often conducted using a round-robin format that ensures participation of all members

• Brainstorming helps generate a large volume of ideas in a short span

• It is a fast method that produces a diverse set of perspectives

Kepner Tregoe problem analysis

This is a logical and structured approach to problem-solving and involves four systematic phases of RCA—situation appraisal, problem analysis, decision analysis, and potential problem analysis. The possible causes are vetted, tested, and the true cause is identified. Kepner Tregoe is applicable for both proactive and reactive problem management, and it is particularly useful for complex problem analysis.

Cause and effect analysis

This technique identifies relationships between a problem and its possible causes. Also known as Ishikawa or fishbone diagram, it helps analyze the primary and secondary causes of a problem. It categorizes causes into groups such as people, product, process, and partners. For example, a network outage might be caused by a router malfunction, configuration error, or even a natural disaster. This method is commonly used in reactive problem management. It is important to define the problem statement precisely.

• List down all possible causes for an effect/situation

• Suitable for complex problem analysis

• Includes many possible causes and contributing factors

• Discuss action items to improve the process

5 Whys

One of the most straightforward and widely used RCA tools is the 5 Whys method, which involves asking "why?" (typically five times) until the underlying root cause is identified. 5 why strategy is a core six sigma technique to identify the root cause by asking subsequent "why" questions and implement appropriate countermeasures to prevent its recurrence. This technique helps in understanding the relationships between various root causes. However, properly framing each "Why" question is crucial to uncover the actual root cause. Asking five "whys" is a guideline—not a rule—and it may vary based on problem complexity.

Expert tips to improve problem management

Focus on actionable, experience-based recommendations

Shifting from a reactive to a proactive problem management approach is one of the most effective ways to reduce repeat incidents and avoid unnecessary downtime.

Enhancing RCA techniques

RCA should become second nature when addressing recurring or high-impact incidents. To improve the effectiveness of RCA, consider adopting advanced RCA strategies including:

• Data-driven analysis: Leverage metrics and trends to identify patterns

• Cross-functional collaboration: Involve team members from different domains to bring diverse perspectives into the investigation

• Systematic documentation: Maintain well-documented RCA findings to build a reusable knowledge base for future problem solving

• Continuous refinement: Regularly evaluate and improve RCA processes to adapt to evolving systems and challenges

Fostering cross-team collaboration

The service desk manager should maintain direct communication with the problem manager, as they are often the first to notice a cluster of critical or high-priority incidents.

Best practices for effective collaboration are to:

• Establish clear communication channels between teams

• Define roles and responsibilities for efficient problem resolution

• Create shared documentation and centralized knowledge repositories

• Implement regular cross-team problem review sessions

Integrating problem reviews into change advisory board meetings

Include problem management stakeholders in change advisory board meetings to:

• Ensure that problem-driven changes receive appropriate review and oversight

• Share insights from RCA

• Coordinate resolution timelines with planned change schedules

• Prevent conflicts between problem fixes and other changes

Proactive vs reactive problem management

Reactive problem management

Reactive problem management responds to recurring incidents by identifying their root causes and implementing long-term fixes. It is crucial to identify these repeating incidents as problems. While incident management aims at restoring services quickly, it often overlooks the underlying causes. Therefore, the incident management team must transfer unresolved, high-impact incidents to the problem management team for a detailed research and analysis. The timing of this handover is crucial to maintain service integrity.

The service desk manager should maintain direct communication with the problem manager, as they will likely be the first to be alerted when a cluster of critical or high-priority incidents are opened. The incident management team should share key information such as incident category, affected CIs, criticality, and impact level. Reactive problem management process begins by reviewing incident patterns and historical data. This data is used to perform a detailed RCA, submit RFC, and update the problem record in the KEDB.

Problem control occurs during the investigation phase. It focuses on identifying the root cause, conducting RCA, and converting problems into known errors.

Error control happens during the resolution phase. It involves managing known errors from the KEDB and working toward permanent fixes.

Proactive problem management

Embrace automation and AI: Use tools that automatically detect issues and predict future problems, thus freeing your team to focus on bigger challenges. Proactive problem management acts as a gatekeeper in continuously identifying potential issues and avoiding them. It does not wait for incidents to occur and aims to prevent incidents/problems from occurring in the future. This process is a preventive technique that involves big data and trend analysis. Patterns are identified from historical incident and problem data to prevent potential issues before they occur. Proactive problem management requires analysis of past incidents and major events, performing asset health checks, and conducting situational appraisals. Kepner Tregoe analysis is one such technique that supports proactive problem management through structured data analysis. Examples of proactive activities include preventive maintenance, periodic audits, and trend monitoring. These activities help in:

• Reducing firefighting activities

• Preventing major IT failures, thus acting as a gatekeeper

• Improving efficiency and maintaining productivity

Inter relationships with other ITIL modules

Incident management

Problem management typically begins after incident management. A problem record can be created either from one or more incidents or independently based on trend analysis or monitoring. Problem management focuses on analyzing recurring incidents to identify their root cause. It relies on inputs from incident management such as incident description, impacted users, affected assets, and incident criticality. These details help determine whether the issue is a known error or requires further investigation. Therefore, in most cases, incident management acts as a prerequisite to problem management.

Change management

Once the environment is stabilized and productivity is restored through a workaround, problem managers must evaluate whether permanently fixing the root cause is economically viable or if the workaround should become a permanent solution. If problem management is unable to implement a permanent solution, the issue transitions to the change management process. The RCA conducted by product management is crucial for change management to understand the associated risks and urgency of implementing a permanent fix. While change management is responsible for deploying the solution, problem management simplifies the evaluation phase by providing detailed RCA findings. Based on the impact and criticality of the problem, change management process then determines the appropriate change schedule. The change advisory board (CAB) includes stakeholders from the problem management team to help assess and approve the planned change. Known errors or known problems typically lead to an RFC, and the corresponding problem records are linked to the change record for effective execution.

Configuration management

Recurring incidents demand an asset health check to identify the root cause. While problem management is responsible for RCA, it is essential to work closely with the configuration management team to understand asset details, ownership, and its interdependencies with other assets, impact, and vendor-related information. With the help of these details, the problem research team suggests the next steps—either to execute a change in the CI or provide a suitable workaround. These two modules are closely connected, and the problem analysis phase revolves around CIs to minimize impact.

Knowledge management

Problem management leverages knowledge management by accessing the central repository and solution database. Knowledge base articles are fundamental to trend analysis. For both proactive and reactive problem management, knowledge base articles help in speedy resolution. Relevant knowledge articles are linked to problem records to support investigation and resolution. The known error database, which contains known errors and documented workarounds, is maintained within the broader knowledge management system. Once a permanent fix is identified, it is added to the knowledge base for future reference.

Problem management best practices

Effective problem management requires more than just understanding the theory—it demands applying practical, proven approaches that deliver measurable outcomes. Here are key best practices that drive real results:

DOs

Learn from historical incidents. Analyze patterns and eliminate major incidents through data analysis. This approach significantly reduces time and resource expenditure.

Integrate problem management with other ITIL modules for seamless information flow and consistent record-keeping. Proper associations across incident, problem, and change records enable quicker reference and traceability.

Assign a dedicated problem manager with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, aligned with ITIL standards. The problem manager acts as a bridge between incident management and change management teams.

Plan an effective communication strategy across change management, incident management, and configuration management. As soon as a workaround is identified, it is essential to communicate this to the related incident owners and subsequently to the affected end users. Use automation capabilities available in the service desk tool to streamline this process.

Understand proactive as well as reactive approach to problem management. Both have specific use cases. However, it is important to understand the differences between the two approaches and process flow, and apply them as appropriate to reduce disruptions and improve service quality.

Understand that problem management has its own SLA, and it is important to resolve them before the due date. SLA is decided based on priority. Incident priority is transferred to problem priority.

Learn various problem management techniques to identify and resolve the actual root cause.

DON'Ts

Don't confuse problem management with incident management. While both processes are interrelated and work in tandem, they serve distinct purposes. Problem management focuses on identifying and eliminating root causes, whereas incident management aims to restore service quickly. However, incident data is a critical input for problem management analysis.

Don't reinvent the wheel. When related incidents are reported, continue linking them to the existing problem record. If a published workaround has already been applied for an end user, mark those newly linked incidents as "resolved." Always begin by checking the KEDB for existing solutions and workarounds—this is a foundational step in effective problem management.

Don't skip documentation. Always document the resolution in detail. This information is shared across multiple teams, including incident management, to ensure clear communication with end users.

Don't ignore any step in problem management process flow. Problem management is most effective when each step—from detection to resolution and closure—is followed consistently. Skipping steps can lead to incomplete analysis, recurring incidents, or missed improvement opportunities.

Problem management key performance indicators (KPIs)

Problem management leveragesknowledge managementby accessing the central repository and solution database to accelerate both reactive and proactive problem resolution. Knowledge base articles play a vital role in trend analysis and enable faster diagnosis and resolution of known issues. Relevant knowledge articles are linked to problem records to support investigation and resolution. The known error database, which contains known errors and documented workarounds, is maintained within the broader knowledge management system. Once a permanent fix is identified, it is added to the knowledge base for future reference. The key metrics for measuring problem management performance are:

• Number of problem records reported

• Average problem resolution time

• Percentage of problems resolved within SLA

• Total number of known errors

• Problem backlog (number of unresolved problems)

• Total number of incidents linked to problems

• Percentage of problems with an identified root cause

• Percentage of problems with a workaround

Problem manager roles and responsibilities

Although the problem manager role is often missing in many organizations, it is a critical component of the ITIL framework. A problem manager acts as a bridge between incident management and change management. The responsibilities of a problem manager include:

• Managing the problem management process

• Overseeing the entire lifecycle of problem records

• Maintaining the quality, integrity, and consistency of problem data

• Acting as a liaison across teams, including incident, change, and configuration management

• Defining and maintaining the problem management process flow

• Performing continuous review and improvement of the problem management process

• Coordinating stakeholders to identify the root cause of a problem and implement workarounds or permanent solutions

• Preventing incidents from occurring

• Producing and maintaining the KEDB

• Ensuring that the right resources are available for investigations to identify root cause of a problem

• Conducting trend analysis using historical incident and problem data

• Ensuring problems are resolved within SLA

• Logging RFC when necessary

• Preparing periodic reports on performance of problem management team

• Delivering cost–benefit analysis of RCA activities

Metrics and KPIs to measure problem management success

Effective problem management isn't just about fixing infrastructure—it's about improving the customer experience. Instead of focusing solely on technical pain points, align your metrics with customer impact, service quality, and business value.

Key performance indicators

Volume metrics

• Number of problem records reported

• Total number of known errors

• Problem backlog (unresolved problems)

• Ratio of problems to incidents

Efficiency metrics

• Average problem resolution time

• Percentage of problems resolved within SLA

• Mean time to resolution (MTTR) for problems

• First-time resolution rate

Effectiveness metrics

• Percentage of problems with identified root cause

• Percentage of problems with documented workarounds

• Reduction in repeat incidents

• Customer satisfaction with problem resolution

Trend analysis metrics

• Problem volume trends over time

• Top recurring problem categories and patterns

• Proactive vs. reactive problem ratios

• Estimated cost avoidance through problem prevention

Take your problem management to the next level with Freshservice

Transform your reactive IT operations into a proactive, efficient problem-solving engine with Freshservice. Freshservice empowers IT teams to identify, analyze, and resolve problems faster—driving real business value. It provides comprehensive ITSM capabilities that support these problem management best practices through:

Advanced problem management features

Intelligent problem detection

• AI-powered incident pattern analysis

• Automated problem creation from recurring incidents

• Predictive analytics for proactive identification of potential problems

• Integration with monitoring tools for early detection

Comprehensive root cause analysis tools

• Built-in RCA templates and workflows

• Cross-functional collaboration tools to streamline RCA and resolution

• Structured evidence collection and documentation features

• Knowledge base integration for historical insights

Integrated ITSM module support

• Seamless integration with incident management

• Automated change request creation

• Configuration item relationship mapping

• Knowledge management integration

Automation and efficiency

Workflow automation

• Automated problem escalation and routing

• SLA management and compliance tracking

• Notification and communication automation

• Report generation and distribution

Advanced analytics

• Real-time dashboards and metrics

• Trend analysis and predictive modeling

• Custom reporting capabilities

• Performance benchmarking tools