VNC ITIL Problem Management Manual

The Problem Management process works in conjunction with Incident and Change Management to provide value to the business in a variety of ways. The primary goal of Problem Management is to identify the cause of an error in the IT infrastructure, reported as occurrences of related incidents.

Problem statuses

Problem Management has a single purpose: Identifying and solving the main issues that cause Incidents. Problem Management is a systematic, methodical process where identifying and resolving the root cause is most important.

There are 7 problem statuses. The table below contains the statuses list and their short description:

Status title	Short description
New	It means that a problem is created and assigned to nobody
Assigned	It means that a problem is assigned to a VNC Support Consultant
Under investigation	It means that the support team looks into the problem before it can be processed
Pending - Approval	It means that a problem is resolved and a problem owner should approve or disapprove a resolution
Pending - Change	It means that a problem might be in an inconsistent state and must be changed
Closed	It means that a problem owner approved a resolution
Cancelled	It means that a problem is cancelled

Status: New

You create the problem. After that, the problem will have "New" status and you will be able to check it in the New tab in "Problems" console:

So far the problem is assigned to nobody.

Status: Assigned

The VNC Helpdesk Portal Manager assigns the problem to a corresponding Support Consultant. After that, the problem will have "Assigned" status and you will be able to check it in the Assigned tab in "Problems" console:

Status: Under Investigation

"Under investigation" means the problem has been assigned to the Support Consultant and they have to look into the problem before it can be processed. You an check it in the Under Investigation tap in "Problems" console:

Status: Pending - Approval

After the Support Consultant resolves the problem, it will have the "Pending Approval" status. You will be able to check the problem in the Pending Approval tab in "Problems" console:

At this stage, you should approve or disapprove the resolution. For this, open the problem and click DISAPPROVE or APPROVE at the bottom or at the top. Then add required text to the Notes field and click Submit.

If you disapprove the problem resolution, the problem will have "Assigned" status and you will be able to check it in Assigned tab again in "Problems" console.

Status: Pending - Change

The "Pending Change" status indicates that a problem might be in an inconsistent state and must be changed. You will be able to check the problem in the Pending Change tab in "Problems" console:

Status: Closed

After you approve the problem resolution, the problem will have "Closed" status. You will be able to check the problem in the Completed tab in "Problems" console:

Status: Cancelled

After you cancel the problem that has "New" status, the problem will have "Cancelled" status. You will be able to check the problem in Cancelled tab in "Problems" console.

Create a problem

1. Open VNCproject.

2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar:

   

3. Click Problems:

   

4. Click the NEW PROBLEM button.

5. On the form, fill in the field:

   The fields with the asterisk are required.

   • Subject: the field should contain a problem subject.
   • Project: a drop-down list for selecting the project in which the problem is reported.
   • Customer: a drop-down list for selecting the customer.
   • Requested for: the drop-down menu with the users list who work in the same organization. You can select any user from your organization.
   • Platform: a drop-down list for selecting the platform in which the problem is reported.
   • Product: the drop-down menu contains the list of VNC products that your organization uses.
   • Version: the drop-down menu contains only those versions that are available for a selected VNC product from Product menu.
   • Impact: the drop-down menu with 3 options for identifying the impact area.
   • Urgency: the drop-down menu with 3 options for identifying the urgency level.
   • Used hardware type: the drop-down menu with different hardware types for identifying a hardware type where an issue occurs.
   • Operating system: the drop-down menu contains only those operating systems that are available for a selected hardware type from Used hardware type menu.
   • Browser: the drop-down menu contains only those types of browsers that are available for a selected operating system from Operating system menu.
   • Start date: the earliest possible date you can begin working on a problem.
   • Due date: the date when you would ideally like to have the problem completed.

6. Enter a detailed description of a problem.

7. If you need to attach a file/screenshot, click BROWSE. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.
8. Select a priority of a problem - Low, Normal, High, Urgent, and Immediate.
9. Add a tag name to Tags field if you want or select it from the appeared list.
10. If you want to add some watchers, click +Search for watchers to add.

11. When you're finished, select:

    • CREATE to create a problem.
    • CANCEL to discard the values you entered and cancel the problem creation.

Monitor a problem

A Problems console allows to create and manage problems, and also monitor problems statuses.

To access a Problems console:

1. Open VNCproject.

2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar:

   

3. Click Problems:

   

The Problems console contains the following fields and functions:

• Filters: Sort existing problems by status, assignee, author, date when the problem was created or updated and other criteria. The status filter is applied by defualt.
• Columns (): List displayed columns, manage their order. You can also create custom columns if you need to track additional information.
• Status list: Problem statuses indicate which phase a problem is currently in. Problem statuses let you define and communicate the overall progress of problems.
• Problem table: The list of problems with many management options.
• Refresh button: Re-display the whole page.
• New problem button: Create a new problem.

View problem details

The problem details page lets you review and take action on a problem.

1. Click the Problems tab. This opens the problems list view page.
2. Click the number of the problem to view the problem details:

This opens the problem details page:

Each problem contains the following sections:

• Toolbar: A strip of control buttons that let you perform various actions on a problem.
• Title bar: Shows basic problem details.
• Problem Information: Shows general details of the problem such as Status, Priority, % Done, Status, Product, Version, Platform, Urgency, Impact, Assignee, Requester, Due By Date, Closed Date, Severity, Used Hardware Type, Operating System, and Browser.
• Description: Contain a detailed description of a problem.
• Subtickets: The table of subtickets. Click Add to create a subticket for a problem to either split the problem into smaller chunks or to allow various aspects of a problem to be assigned to different people.
• Relations: The table of related incidents, problems, tasks, and changes. Click Add to relate a problem to another incident, problem, task, or change. Click to delete relation.
• History: Includes any change that might have been made to the problem. It includes comments made, changes to status, priority, assignment, or root cause, and any subtickets that have been created.
• Time tracking: Tracks time spent on the problem. Click the the collapse arrow icon on the right to open the Time tracking section. From here, you can see a list of watchers added to a problem. You also have an option to add users as watchers or delete them by clicking Add or relatively.

Time tracking

The time tracking feature makes the time tracking process simple and fast. The system accurately tracks time and automatically adds these statistics to the appropriate problems.

Time tracking starts automatically when the user creates the problem.

Active time tracking progress is displayed in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. The active time tracking panel can include the following information:

• Time left: Indicates the amount of time left to complete a task. When the deadline is over, the timer will turn in red.
• Time consumed: Shows the amount of time taken to complete the task.
• Time in status: Shows the amount of time the task spent on the status.
• Time passed: Shows the amount of time that are overdue.
• Time pending: Shows the amount of unapproved time, giving real-time high resolution on how much time has been spent on task.

Active time tracking is stopped when the task has been canceled or completed. In that case, the time tracking panel visualizes the Time consumed information only:

Link problem to change

You can link issues together. For example, you can link problem records to changes.

To link a problem record to a change:

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required problem. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the LINK TO CHANGE button.
7. In the search field, enter the number of the corresponding change and then click it.

8. On the form, fill in the fields:

   • Subject: The field should contain a problem subject.
   • Project: A drop-down list for selecting the project in which the change is reported.
   • Customer: A drop-down list for selecting the customer.
   • Requested for: by default, there is a name of a person who creates a problem in the field. But also the field has the drop-down menu with the users list who work in the same organization. And you can select another user from your organization and he/she will become an owner of this problem.
   • Product: the drop-down menu contains the list of VNC products that your organization uses.
   • Version: the drop-down menu contains only those versions that are available for a selected VNC product from Product menu.
   • Impact: the drop-down menu with 3 options for identifying the impact area.
   • Urgency: the drop-down menu with 3 options for identifying the urgency level.
   • Change type: the drop-down menu with change types.
   • Start date: the earliest possible date you can begin working on a change.
   • Due date: the date when you would ideally like to have the change completed.
   • Description: the field should contain a detailed description of a problem. The toolbar supports "wysiwyg" editor.

9. Select a priority of a change - Low, Normal, High, Urgent, and Immediate.

10. Enter a detailed description of a change.
11. Add a tag name to Tags field if you want or select it from the appeared list.
12. If you want to add some watchers, click +Search for watchers to add.
13. If you need to attach a file/screenshot, click BROWSE. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.
14. When you're finished, select CREATE.

Log time

You can manually log the time you've spent on a problem (adding details through comments as needed).

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required incident. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the LOG TIME button.
7. Fill in the Hours, add a comment, and select the Activity type from the drop-down menu.

8. When you're finished, click:

   • CREATE to log time on a problem.
   • CREATE AND ADD ANOTHER to log time on a problem and add time to another problem.
   • CANCEL to discard the values you entered and cancel the problem logging time.

Update a problem

Problem data updates are displayed in the History section located at the very end of the problem:

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required problem. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the UPDATE button.
7. Choose the fields you want to update. You must update at least one. You may choose multiple fields.

8. Specify what the field should be updated to. We’ll list what each field is and its update options below:

   • Subject: The title of the problem. You can edit the title of the problem.
   • Project: The name of the project in which the problem is reported. You can select the required project from the drop-down menu.
   • Estimated time: The estimated period of time required to solve the problem.
   • % Done: The current status of a problem, expressed as the percentage of work that has been completed. You can select percent work complete from the drop-down menu.
   • Customer: The list of the customers you collaborate with.
   • Requested for: The list of VNC Support Consultants. You can select another user from your organization and they will become an owner of this problem.
   • Platform: The list for selecting the platform in which the problem is reported.
   • Product: The list of the products that your organization uses.
   • Version: the list of those versions that are available for a selected VNC product from the Product menu.
   • Impact: You can identify the impact area by selecting All users, Group of users, and Only one user.
   • Urgency: The urgency level. You can select Primary functions are unavailable, Work functions impaired, and Inconvenience.
   • Used hardware type: The list of different hardware types for identifying a hardware type where a problem occured.
   • Operating system: The list of operating systems.
   • Browser: The list of browsers.
   • Start date: The earliest possible date you can begin working on a problem.
   • Due date: The date when you would ideally like to have the problem completed.

9. Select a priority of a problem - Low, Normal, High, Urgent, and Immediate.

10. Enter a detailed description of a problem.
11. Add a tag name to Tags field if you want or select it from the appeared list.
12. If you want to add some watchers, click +Search for watchers to add.
13. If you need to attach a file/screenshot, click BROWSE. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.
14. In the Notes field, you can ask a question and assign it to the user from the Assign question to list.

15. When you're finished, select:

    • Submit to save changes.
    • Cancel to discard the values you entered and cancel the problem update.

Add assignment

You can add an assignment to the problem to either split the problem into smaller chunks or to allow various aspects of a problem to be assigned to different people.

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required problem. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the ADD ASSIGNMENT button.
7. Select a required role and find the user you want to assign a problem.
8. Use the Notes field to add additional information.
9. If you want to attach some file/screenshot, click BROWSE. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.
10. Select SUBMIT.

Add attachments

You can attach files to problems. Attachments appear as links. Example:

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required problem. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the the ADD ATTACHMENT button.
7. Fill in the Notes field and then click BROWSE to attach some files. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.
8. When you're finished, click Submit.

You can preview image attachments by clicking them. You can download multiple files at once by clicking the download icon at the top right:

To download a file individually, click next to the file you want to download.

You can also edit a file's name and add a brief description to it by clicking the pencil icon at the top right:

To delete a file, click the bin rubbish icon next to the file you want to delete.

Add a note

If you like to add additional information based on your observations to a particular problem, then you can Add Note to that problem. You can also use notes to attach files to the problem.

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required problem. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the ADD NOTE button.
7. Fill in the Notes field and then click BROWSE to attach some files. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.
8. When you're finished, click Submit.

You can add any number of notes to a problem. The added notes will be displayed in the History section from old to new.

Add a subticket to a problem

Using this option you can assign different tasks to different specialists. If a problem involves multiple specialists work, then the specialist whoever receives the problem (owner of the problem) can assign different tasks to different specialists.

1. Click the Problems tab in the header pane.
2. Click the number of the problem to which you would like to add subtickets. This opens the problem details page.
3. Scroll down to the to the Subtickets section and click Add next to it.

4. In the New Incident page, fill in the following fields:

   • Subject: Specify the title of the ticket. This is a mandatory field.
   • Project: Select a required project from the drop-down menu.
   • Estimated time: Enter the estimated period of time required to solve the problem.
   • % Done: Select percent work complete from the drop-down menu.
   • Type: Select the type of the ticket from the drop-down menu.
   • Assignee: Select the user to which the ticket needs to be assigned.
   • Product: Select the product from the drop-down menu.
   • Version: Select the version that is available for a selected VNC product from the Product menu.
   • Impact: Identify the impact area by selecting All users, Group of users, and Only one user.
   • Urgency: Select the urgency level from the drop-down menu.
   • Used hardware type: Identify a hardware type where a problem occured.
   • Operating system: Identify an operating system where a problem occured.
   • Browser: Identify the browser where a problem occured.
   • Start date: Specify the earliest possible date you can begin working on a problem.
   • Due date: Specify the date when you would ideally like to have the problem completed.

5. Select a priority of a problem - Low, Normal, High, Urgent, and Immediate.

6. Enter a detailed description of a problem.
7. Add a tag name to Tags field if you want or select it from the appeared list.
8. If you want to add some watchers, click +Search for watchers to add.
9. If you need to attach a file/screenshot, click BROWSE. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.
10. When you're finished, click Create.

Relate incident to a problem

You have an option to relate Incidents to the problem. Similar Incidents to problem can be related in order to track the number of incidents occurred for the same problem and also to track the priority and severity of the problem based on the number of incidents.

1. Click the Problems tab in the header pane.

2. Click the number of the problem to which you would like to add subtickets:

   

   This opens the problem details page.

3. Scroll down to the Related Incidents section and then click Add next to it:

   

4. From the drop-down menu, select Related to or Pending by.

5. In the search field, enter the number of an issue you want to relate to the current problem.
6. Click Add.

You can see the related incidents in the Relations section in the problem details page:

The related incidents also get listed in the History section:

Relate issue to a problem

From the Relations section, you can relate an existing incident, problem, and change to the current problem.

1. Click the Problems tab in the header pane.

2. Click the number of the problem to which you would like to add subtickets:

   

   This opens the problem details page.

3. Scroll down to the Relations section and then click Add next to it:

   

4. From the drop-down menu, select Related to or Pending by.

5. In the search field, enter the number of an issue you want to relate to / pending by the current problem.
6. Click Add.

Delete relations

1. Open a problem where you want to delete a related incident.
2. Scroll down to the Relations section.

3. Click the following icon next to the relation you want to delete:

   

4. Confirm that you want to delete thу relation and click Yes in the modal window.

Analyze a problem

In the problem analysis you analyze the root cause and impact of the problem. Also you can specify the symptoms of the problem to identify the same problem in the future.

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required problem. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the ANALYSIS button.

7. Fill in the following fields:

   • Symptoms: Evidences helping in identifying the problem.
   • Root Cause: Detecting the underlying cause of the problem.
   • Impact: Adverse effect of the problem.

8. If you like to attach a file click the BROWSE button to attach a file for thedetails. The maximum size of the attachment should be 29.3 MB.

Cancel a problem

You can cancel a problem only if it has the "New" status and it is accessible in the "New" tab.

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Problems.
3. Use the filter to find a required incident. For this click .
4. Click Add filter and select Author/Assigned or Watcher.
5. Select is from the 1st drop-down menu and select <> from the 2nd menu. Then click Apply.
6. Click the number link of the required problem and then the CANCEL button.
7. Add your comment to the Notes field and click SUBMIT. You can check the problem in the Cancelled tab.

Reopen a problem

If a problem is not completely resolved, the support team reopens the problem for further investigation.

1. Click the Problems tab in the header pane.
2. In the Status field, select Closed or Cancelled.
3. Click the number link of the problem you want to investigate. This opens the problem details page.
4. Click the REOPEN button.
5. In the Notes field, you can ask a question and assign it to the user from the Assign question to list.

6. When you're finished, select:

   • Submit to save changes.
   • Cancel to discard the values you entered.

Known Error

A Known Error is a problem with a documented root cause and a workaround. Known Errors are handled throughout their lifecycle using a Problem Management process.

To access a Known Errors console:

1. Open VNCproject.

2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar:

   

3. Click Known Error:

   

The Known Errors console contains the following fields and functions:

• Filters: Sort existing incidents by the keyword, project, product, solution status, version, status.
• Operations menu: Select the PDF symbol to download a known error content.
• Known Error table: List of known errors.

Description of known error statuses

There are 3 known error statuses. The table below contains the statuses list and their short description:

Status title	Short description
Published	It means that a known error record is published and live.
Request for publishing	It means that a known error record requires a review.
Deprecated	It means that a known error record is no longer considered as relevant.

Status: Published

You add basic information about the error that your support team needs to quickly access. After that, the known error record will have a "Published" status. To check it, go to the "Known Errors" console and select Published from the drop-down menu:

Status: Request for publishing

Known error records in the Request for publishing status are waiting to be reviewed and published. To check it, go to the "Known Errors" console and select Request for publishing from the drop-down menu:

Status: Deprecated

Known error records in the Deprecated status is no longer considered as relevant. To check it, go to the "Known Errors" console and select Deprecated from the drop-down menu:

View known error details

The known error page lets you review and take action on a known error record.

1. Click the Known Errors tab. This opens the Known Errors page.

2. Click the number link of the known error to view the known error details:

   

This opens the solution details page:

Each solution contains the following sections:

• Toolbar: A strip а control buttons that let you perform various actions on a known error.
• Title bar: Shows basic known error record details.
• Known Error Information: Shows general details of the known error such as Author, Date when the known error record was updated, and Project name.
• Description: Contains a detailed description of a known error.
• Symptoms: Contains a detailed description of symptoms when an incident occurs or when the problem is discovered.
• Other terms: Contains an additional information on an incident or problem;
• Reasons: Contains an information on why an incident occured;
• Attachments: Includes attached files/screenshots.

Edit a known error

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Known errors.
3. Search for a required known error. For this, you can apply the filters.
4. Click the title of the known error record. This opens a modal window.
5. To edit the known error, click .
6. Change the known error info.
7. Click Update.

Other way to edit a known error record is to:

1. Click the number link of a required known error record:

   

2. Click EDIT at the top or bottom of the page.

Delete a known error

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Known Errors.
3. Search for a required known error. For this, you can apply the filters.
4. Click the title of the known error record. This opens a modal window.
5. To delete the known error record, click .
6. Confirm that you want to delete the known error, click YES in the modal window.

Other way to edit a known error record is to:

1. Click the number link of a required known error record:

   

2. Click DELETE at the top or bottom of the page.

Download a known error

1. Open VNCproject.
2. Click Helpdesk on the VNCproject's main menu bar and then Known Errors.
3. Search for a required known error. For this, you can apply the filters.
4. Click the title of the known error record. This opens a modal window.
5. To download the error record, click .

Other way to download a known error record is to:

1. Click the number link of a required known error record:

   

2. Click PDF at the top or bottom of the page.

Approve/disapprove a known error

The content of the known error is reviewed for its correctness and then approved or disapproved.

To approve the known error, do the following:

1. Click the "Known Errors" tab in the header pane.

2. Click the number link of a required known error record:

   

   This opens the known error details page.

3. Review the content of the known error and click APPROVE button at the top or bottom of the page.

4. A confirmation will be displayed after a successful update.

If you are not satisfied with the content of the known error, you can disapprove it and then edit.