Like Twins: 3 pairs of similar terms ITIL
The ITIL library is a detailed set of IT service management practices that has been used since the eighties. But the confusion in the terms used and their meaning still haunts those who are just starting to implement appropriate methodologies.
In this article we will try to distinguish between three pairs of similar terms:
On the basis of examples we will show what each of them is for.
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/ Flickr / dennis / CC
IT specialist and author of ITIL training sessions Michael Scarborough (Michael Scarborough) emphasizes that the following relationship is established between the terms: problem - cause, incident - effect.
The second difference, according to Michael, is that the incident can be resolved only for a certain time. When we say "resolved the incident," it means that we have temporarily restored some service (for 10 years or just 1 minute). That is, it is very likely that this situation will repeat in the future.
The problem is the cause of the incidents. ITSM expert Professor Ross Wise (P. Ross S. Wise) believes that the first symptom of the problem is the question of why you ask yourself.
Look at the examples given by Hornbill Marketing Director Peter Summers (Peter Summers).
Incident: the user calls the support service and reports that he cannot print the document. The technician who accepts the call detects that the specified file has caused an error in the print queue. In order to continue the work, the specialist suggests the user to temporarily use the printer in the neighboring office.
Problem: A printer incident is a sign of a global problem. This user is the first of many to call support today. Suppose we were able to establish that the cause of the incidents was the update of office software last night. If you fix the update bugs, the problem will be solved and there will be no more print bounce for this reason.
For clarity, we take a more mundane example. You are driving a car, and it has a wheel burst. This is an incident because the puncture violated your plans: you have to stop to replace the wheel. In this case, the incident is considered settled. But now you have a problem - you are driving a spare wheel. To fix the problem, you need to patch the tire.
Another example: driving a bald rubber is a problem. If you continue to ignore it, the likelihood of an incident will increase, the tire is likely to burst.
To simplify the question of delimiting the meanings of these two terms, Philip Yuson, CEO of Concept Solutions Corporation, recommends asking the following questions:
If you answered “yes” to one of these questions, most likely you are faced with an incident.
We have already figured out the difference between the incident and the problem, so it will be easier to distinguish between these two processes. ITIL defines these two terms as follows:
Incident Management - manages the life cycle of all incidents. The goal: the early restoration of IT services for users.
Problem Management - manages the life cycle of all problems. Objective: To prevent future incidents.
Let's look at examples from Microsoft experts. Imagine a scenario: a user turned to a tech support specialist who could not view the email due to restrictions. The support creates a new incident using the e-mail incident template to quickly resolve the situation and handle similar cases in the future.
In a problem management scenario, a tech support specialist creates a request for code changes. When the team finds and corrects the cause of the problem, it will solve the problem and automatically eliminate incidents related to it.
For greater clarity, let us give a couple of examples from life. Incident management is similar to the work of firefighters. They come to the scene and try to extinguish the fire as efficiently as possible. The same thing happens with incident management. You need to restart the infrastructure quickly.
Then begins problem management and detailed incident investigation. This process is similar to the work of an expert or investigator. It was not in place when the fire was extinguished, but it can determine the cause of the fire and give recommendations that will help avoid such situations in the future.
To get started, look again at the official ITIL terminology.
Service Desk is a single point of contact (SPOC) between the service provider and customers. Functions: manages incidents, service requests.
Help desk is a point of contact for users. Functions: records incidents.
The term “support service” is often used as a synonym for the Service Desk, which is the main cause of confusion in terms. Chris Coffey (Cris Coffey), marketing manager at BMC Software, who has been working in the Help Desk market for 20 years, highlights the following differences between these two services.
Service Desk: fully integrates with other ITSM processes, helps organizations comply with service level management agreements, integrates with configuration management database and asset management process.
Help Desk: keeps track of all incoming incidents, automatically tracks email notifications, offers limited integration with other ITSM processes, provides self-service for end users.
Let's see how it looks in practice. Help Desk example: driver for printer Joe broke, and he needs to print copies of documents up to 10 hours. Help Desk will help Jo to restore the printer or find another way to get prints on time. The task of the service - to make sure that the printouts were in the hands of Joe to 10 hours.
In the same situation, the Service Desk will notice that over the past week several people from this floor have contacted the service with the same problem. This means that the problem is deeper than it seems. Service Desk sends a specialist to establish the root of the problem with the printer. The task of the service is to eliminate the root cause.
Finally, summarize all the parsed moments:
PS Another couple of materials from our blog:
In this article we will try to distinguish between three pairs of similar terms:
- Incident and problem
- Incident Management and Problem Management
- Service desk and Help Desk
On the basis of examples we will show what each of them is for.
')
/ Flickr / dennis / CC
Incident and problem
IT specialist and author of ITIL training sessions Michael Scarborough (Michael Scarborough) emphasizes that the following relationship is established between the terms: problem - cause, incident - effect.
The second difference, according to Michael, is that the incident can be resolved only for a certain time. When we say "resolved the incident," it means that we have temporarily restored some service (for 10 years or just 1 minute). That is, it is very likely that this situation will repeat in the future.
The problem is the cause of the incidents. ITSM expert Professor Ross Wise (P. Ross S. Wise) believes that the first symptom of the problem is the question of why you ask yourself.
Look at the examples given by Hornbill Marketing Director Peter Summers (Peter Summers).
Incident: the user calls the support service and reports that he cannot print the document. The technician who accepts the call detects that the specified file has caused an error in the print queue. In order to continue the work, the specialist suggests the user to temporarily use the printer in the neighboring office.
Problem: A printer incident is a sign of a global problem. This user is the first of many to call support today. Suppose we were able to establish that the cause of the incidents was the update of office software last night. If you fix the update bugs, the problem will be solved and there will be no more print bounce for this reason.
For clarity, we take a more mundane example. You are driving a car, and it has a wheel burst. This is an incident because the puncture violated your plans: you have to stop to replace the wheel. In this case, the incident is considered settled. But now you have a problem - you are driving a spare wheel. To fix the problem, you need to patch the tire.
Another example: driving a bald rubber is a problem. If you continue to ignore it, the likelihood of an incident will increase, the tire is likely to burst.
To simplify the question of delimiting the meanings of these two terms, Philip Yuson, CEO of Concept Solutions Corporation, recommends asking the following questions:
- Service is unavailable?
- Has the quality of service deteriorated?
- Have business processes been affected?
- Has the quality of service been affected?
If you answered “yes” to one of these questions, most likely you are faced with an incident.
Incident Management and Problem Management
We have already figured out the difference between the incident and the problem, so it will be easier to distinguish between these two processes. ITIL defines these two terms as follows:
Incident Management - manages the life cycle of all incidents. The goal: the early restoration of IT services for users.
Problem Management - manages the life cycle of all problems. Objective: To prevent future incidents.
Let's look at examples from Microsoft experts. Imagine a scenario: a user turned to a tech support specialist who could not view the email due to restrictions. The support creates a new incident using the e-mail incident template to quickly resolve the situation and handle similar cases in the future.
In a problem management scenario, a tech support specialist creates a request for code changes. When the team finds and corrects the cause of the problem, it will solve the problem and automatically eliminate incidents related to it.
For greater clarity, let us give a couple of examples from life. Incident management is similar to the work of firefighters. They come to the scene and try to extinguish the fire as efficiently as possible. The same thing happens with incident management. You need to restart the infrastructure quickly.
Then begins problem management and detailed incident investigation. This process is similar to the work of an expert or investigator. It was not in place when the fire was extinguished, but it can determine the cause of the fire and give recommendations that will help avoid such situations in the future.
Service desk and Helpdesk
To get started, look again at the official ITIL terminology.
Service Desk is a single point of contact (SPOC) between the service provider and customers. Functions: manages incidents, service requests.
Help desk is a point of contact for users. Functions: records incidents.
The term “support service” is often used as a synonym for the Service Desk, which is the main cause of confusion in terms. Chris Coffey (Cris Coffey), marketing manager at BMC Software, who has been working in the Help Desk market for 20 years, highlights the following differences between these two services.
Service Desk: fully integrates with other ITSM processes, helps organizations comply with service level management agreements, integrates with configuration management database and asset management process.
Help Desk: keeps track of all incoming incidents, automatically tracks email notifications, offers limited integration with other ITSM processes, provides self-service for end users.
Let's see how it looks in practice. Help Desk example: driver for printer Joe broke, and he needs to print copies of documents up to 10 hours. Help Desk will help Jo to restore the printer or find another way to get prints on time. The task of the service - to make sure that the printouts were in the hands of Joe to 10 hours.
In the same situation, the Service Desk will notice that over the past week several people from this floor have contacted the service with the same problem. This means that the problem is deeper than it seems. Service Desk sends a specialist to establish the root of the problem with the printer. The task of the service is to eliminate the root cause.
Finally, summarize all the parsed moments:
Incident and problem
- The problem is the cause, the incident is the effect.
- The incident is eliminated immediately. After it we look for the source of the problem, we solve it.
Incident Management and Problem Management
- Incident management is fast, and problem management is thorough.
- We eliminate the problem - we prevent incidents related to it.
- Eliminate the incident - helping the user to continue.
Help Desk and Service Desk
- Service Desk - strategy, Help Desk - tactics.
- Service Desk works for employees and customers, and Helpdesk only for customers.
- Service Desk focuses on processes and does everything to match ITIL.
- Help Desk concentrates on help. His main task is to solve the client’s tasks.
PS Another couple of materials from our blog:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/341928/
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