Create Problems

tip

Role required: problem_manager.

A problem can be created in two ways:

• from an incident,
• from scratch.

Create a problem from an incident

To create a problem from an incident, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Incidents → All Incidents.
2. Open the incident you need to create a problem from.
3. In the burger menu , click Create problem.
4. Fill in the form.
5. Click Save or Save and exit to apply the changes.

The fields displayed on the General tab are described below. On the Related records tab, the Related incidents field is automatically populated with the related incident. The incident's Related problems field is populated with the created problem record.

Create a problem from scratch

To create a problem from scratch, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Problem Management → New.
2. Fill in the form.
3. Click Save or Save and exit to apply the changes.

Problem form fields

The problem's Number field is populated automatically and has the PRBXXXXXXX format.

Field	Mandatory	Description
State	Y	Specify the problem state and progress. See Problem State Model to learn more.
Postponement cause	Y	Specify the reason for postponing the work on the problem. Available options: External processing Implementation postponed Solved by change This field is displayed if the State is set to Postponed.
Resumption of work	Y	This field is displayed if the State is set to Postponed, and the Postponement cause is Implementation postponed. Specify the date and time when the work on the problem should be resumed. On the arrival of the specified date and time: the problem's State automatically changes from Postponed to Assigned, the Resumption of work field is cleared, the Postponement cause changes to --None--.
External company	Y	This field is displayed if the State is set to Postponed, and the Postponement cause is External processing. Specify the external company to work on the External task. The field is cleared when the record is saved with the Postponement cause set to any option other than External processing.
External task	Y	This field is displayed if the State is set to Postponed, and the Postponement cause is External processing. Specify the task for the External company to work on. The field is cleared when the record is saved with the Postponement cause set to any option other than External processing.
Impact	Y	Measure the impact caused by the problem on the business processes. See the Priority Matrix article to learn more.
Urgency	Y	Specify the urgency of the problem. Typically, it is evaluated based on the time remaining until the problem impacts the business. See the Priority Matrix article to learn more.
Priority	Y	Identifies the importance of the problem. This field is populated automatically based on the value of the Impact and Urgency fields. See the Priority Matrix article to learn more.
Assignment group	Y	Specify a user group responsible for resolving the problem. When the Assignment group is specified, the Assigned user field becomes non-mandatory. There is a dependency between the Assigned user and Assignment group fields. To learn more, refer to Auto Assignment.
Assigned user	Y	Specify a user responsible for resolving the problem. When the Assigned user is specified, the Assignment group field becomes non-mandatory. There is a dependency between the Assigned User and Assignment Group fields. To learn more, refer to Auto Assignment.
Subject	Y	Add a short description of the problem.
Description	N	Add a detailed description of the problem. A user must fill this field when registering or changing the problem record.
Related CIs	N	Specify the related configuration items affected by the problem.
Copy CIs to originators	N	Select this checkbox to relate the configuration items from the problem to the entities that are problem originators.
Caller	Y	Specify the originator of the problem record.
Company	N	Specify a company to which the problem is related.
Service	Y	Specify a service affected by the problem.
Attention required	N	Select this checkbox to notify the line manager of the assigned group or user.
Followers list	N	This field is populated automatically with the list of users who follow the problem for tracking the updates.

• Related Records tab – Use this tab to create relationships between problems and other types of tasks. See Create Records Related to Problems to learn more.
• Closure Information tab – This tab appears and becomes mandatory when the problem state is Completed or Closed. See Process Problems to learn more.

The form contains the Activity Feed that appears after the problem is saved. You can add some work notes. The field becomes mandatory when:

• the Assigned user changes the state to Completed, Canceled, or Closed.
• other user with the ITSM_agent role changes the State value.

The External Specification and Internal Specification related lists contain Knowledge Base articles with the same Service as in the problem, for quick access to the necessary instructions. See the Service Specifications article to learn more about the service specifications.

Access to the form fields

The read or update access to certain fields of a record can vary depending on the current user's roles.

• The users with the ITSM_agent or problem_manager roles, other than the creator of the problem or the assigned user, can:
  • View the record.
  • Submit Work notes in all states of the problem other than Closed.
  • Edit the State, Assignment group, and Assigned user field values in all states of the problem. The Work notes field becomes mandatory in this case.
  • Edit the Followers list field value.
• The caller can:
  • View the record, except for the Work notes field.