【正文】 errors affecting the IT infrastructure and thus prevent any recurrence of incidents. Many IT departments are concerned with error control, and it should be recognized that error control spans both the live and development environments. It directly interacts with and operates alongside the change management process. Error control is the element within problem management that is responsible for seeing the problem through to a final resolution. Problem Closure Problem resolution details need to be fully recorded in the problem management system. It is vital to save data on the configuration items (CIs), symptoms, and resolution or circumvention actions relating to all problems so as to build up the anization’s knowledge capital. This data is then available for incident matching, providing guidance during further investigations on resolving and circumventing incidents, and for providing management information. Following successful implementation of changes to resolve errors, the relevant known error record can be closed, together with any associated incident or problem records. During the problem closure process, consideration should be given to inserting an interim status statement—―Closed pending PIR‖—on the incident, known error, and problem records in order to ensure that the fixes have actually worked. A postimplementation review (PIR) can then confirm the effectiveness of the solution prior to final closure. For incidents, this might involve nothing more than a telephone call to the user to ensure that they are no longer experiencing the problem. For more serious problems and known errors, a formal review may be required. Proactive Analysis and Problem Reviews Proactive analysis activities are concerned with identifying and resolving problems and known errors before incidents occur, thus minimizing the adverse impact on the service and business as a whole. The main activities are trend analysis and the targeting of preventive action. Service Management Function 11 Problem prevention ranges from prevention of individual problems, such as repeated difficulties with a particular feature of a system, to strategic decisions to fundamentally change some elements or the entire infrastructure. The latter may require major expenditure to implement, similar to the investment many anizations made in the buildup to the year 20xx. Following a major incident or a major problem, a review of all the events and actions that took place should be conducted. This review provides a means of gathering useful data for future analysis and ensures that all important lessons are identified and recorded. The appropriate people involved in the resolution of the incident or problem should be called in to take part in the review to help determine the following: ? What was done correctly ? What was done incorrectly ? What could be done better the next time ? How to prevent recurrence ? How to quickly spot if there is a recurrence 12 Problem Management Problem Recording and Classification Figure 2 shows a flow chart for problem recording and classification. A s s e s s d e t a il s o fs u s p e c t e dp r o b lemI n c ide n tM a n a g e m e n tOt h e r S M FsDD e t e r m ine p r ior it yA s s ign c a t e g o r yI d e n t if y s e r v ic e sa n d S L A s a f f e c t e dD o e s t h is r e q u ireP r o b lem M a n a g e m e n ta c t ion ?R e c o r d d e t a il sA lre a d y ap r o b lem o rk n o w n e r r o r ?L ink a n y e x is t ingr e lat e d inc ide n t s t ot h is p r o b lemC o m m u n ic a t ec u r r e n t s t a t u s a n dr e s o lut ion p lanE x p lain r e a s o n s t oinit iat o rE n dAS e r v ic e D e s kY e sNoY e sNoI n d u s t r y / e x t e r n a lv e n d o r sP r o b lem I n v e s t iga t ion a n d D iag n o s is Figure 2. Problem recording and classification process flow chart Service Management Function 13 Sources of Problem Information The problem management team should gather information from a variety of sources that can be used to assist in the analysis of incidents and problems. The following factors are often valuable sources of this data: ? External vendors. Manufacturers can provide the problem management team with valuable information about ponents and infrastructure items that they are producing. They monly produce information on known errors that either they or other anizations using the products have experienced. Suppliers can provide information about upgraded products that can be used to resolve known errors. ? Users of the service. Users of the service can provide additional information about how the service is affected or important background information concerning the operational requirements of the services that are affected. ? Forums and user groups. User groups can be an excellent source of information for solutions to problems and can save valuable and costly investigation and diagnostic time. ? Log files. Event logging facilities are monly provided by software suppliers to aid the capture of critical data at the point of a failure. These event logs can then later be analyzed to provide support analysts with a history of events and activity taking place at the point of failure. ? Incident and problem records. Incident records contain information about services that have experienced difficulty. This is especially useful if the information is recorded accurately and consistently. Problem management records contain information about current and past problems that have been identified. Again, for this information to be useful, it is essential that it be recorded accurately and consistently. ? Other SMFs. Other service management functions, such as Service Desk, Capacity Management, or Availability Management, can provide valuable info