So often we know we’ve come across the same issue in the past. So often using traditional defect or incident management tools we can’t find that issue again. So often that causes a lot of wasted time. A good service management tool needs to actively assist you to find related or previous issues.
Not only that, if it’s an issue that’s getting raised again and again with similar symptoms, your tool should automatically identify any existing similar issues, and easily let you create a Problem record linked to those related incidents. Once you work out the cause of all those issues, then you can mark it as a known error with an explanation or workaround. Until the problem is fixed via the change process, your tool needs to automatically put the problem (and workaround) “in the face” of a user whenever a new issue or incident with the same symptom(s) is raised – allowing fast resolution of the issue, minimising the downtime for the customer, and keeping service levels high.
Sometimes it’s also helpful to bookmark particular issues, because for example it might have a really good explanation or answer to an issue or problem that you know will come up again, or it’s something that you really want to highlight to your team. The tool should let you do that too.
Removing the need to manually search the incident database and removing the need to “re-invent the wheel” because I can’t find something I’ve done before are two of the many reasons I like using Beetil, and why I virtually bang my head against the desk when I’m using most other vendor or home-grown tools.
Tags: itil, Problem Management, timesaver