Concept · entity · registered
Problem
A cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents. The work is to understand that cause and to make a repeat less likely or less harmful. Restoring the service belongs to the incident and can finish while the problem stays open. A problem is not a change request. A change is one way the cause might be removed, and the request for that change is a separate record. When the problem has been analysed and is not yet resolved, it is a known error. A documented workaround is not what makes it one. A workaround can be recorded earlier.
Definition
What Problem means
Used in data
In OVDB databases
Databases, recordsets and fields whose meaning is this concept, a kind of it, or whose values are instances of it. Rows open the OVDB Directory.
No OVDB database carries this concept yet.
Properties
What we can say about Problem
These properties describe meanings and reference targets. Storage types, required fields, and cardinality belong to the consuming data model.
| Property | Meaning | Values and units |
|---|---|---|
| Problem related incident | An incident this problem is taken to explain. One problem can sit behind several incidents. The incident remains the record of restoring the service. | Values reference Incident |
| Problem root cause | The cause the investigation has settled on, when it has one. A known error means the problem has been analysed and is not yet resolved; the root cause can still be only partly identified. The cause is not the workaround that reduces the effect. | Scalar meaning |
| Problem workaround | A way to reduce or eliminate the impact of this problem when a full resolution is not yet available. It can be recorded before the problem has been analysed far enough to be a known error. It is not the root cause. A runbook may quote it. The workaround is not the runbook. An incident can carry a workaround of its own before a problem is opened. | Scalar meaning |
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