Help Desk Chapter 6
Record
A collection of related fields
Detailed incident description
A comprehensive accounting of an incident and the circumstances surrounding the incident's occurrence.
Client/Server
A computing model where some computers, known as clients, request services, and other computers, known as servers, respond to those requests.
Inquiry
A customer request for information
Question
A customer request for instructions
Flowchart
A diagram that shows the sequence of tasks that occur in a process
Trend analysis
A methodical way of determining and, when possible, forecasting service trends.
Root Cause Analysis
A methodical way of determining why problems occur and identifying ways to prevent them.
Known error
A problem that has a documented root cause and a workaround (ITIL definition)
Closed loop process
A process that changes its output based on feedback.
Kepner-Tregoe problem analysis
A proprietary problem analysis technique developed by Charles Kepner and Ben Tregoe that involves defining and describing the problem, establishing possible causes, testing the most probable cause, and verifying the true cause.
Request for change (RFC)
A request to change the production environment
Symptom
A sign or indication that an incident has occurred
Digital agent
A software routine that waits in the background and performs an action when a specified event occurs.
Short incident description
A succinct description of the actual results a customer is experiencing
Pareto analysis
A technique for determining the most significant causes from a list of many possible causes of a problem.
Brainstorming
A technique performed by a group of people that is designed to generate a large number of ideas for solving a problem.
Five Whys
A technique that involves repeatedly asking the question "Why?" until the root cause of a problem is determined
Cause and effect analysis
A technique used to generate the possible causes of a problem or effect.
Remote Control System
A technology that enables an analyst to view and take control of a connected device to troubleshoot incidents, transfer files, provide informal training, or collaborate on documents.
Target escalation time
A time constraint placed on each level that ensures incident resolution activities are proceeding at an appropriate pace.
Customer record
All of the data and text fields that describe a single customer
Incident Record
All of the fields that describe a single incident.
Incident owner
An employee of the support organization who acts as a customer advocate and ensures an incident is resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
Problem manager
An employee of the support organization who coordinates all problem management activities and ensures problems are resolved within SLA targets.
Troubleshooting skills
See problem solving skills
Standard change
Standard change
Notification
The activities that inform all of the stakeholders in the incident management process (including management, the customer, and service desk analysts) about the status of outstanding incidents.
Status data
The details about an incident that are used to track the incident throughout its lifecycle.
Incident data
The details of an incident or service request
Resolution data
The details that describe how an incident was resolved
Customer data
The identifying details about a customer
IT planner
The individual responsible for producing and maintaining the IT standards, policies, plans, and strategies that ensure the IT department's services meet the business' strategic needs.
Root cause
The most basic reason for an undesirable condition or problem, which, if eliminated or corrected, would prevent the problem from existing or occuring.
Incident management
The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of incidents (ITIL Definition).
Problem management
The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of problems (ITIL definition)
Early life support (ELS)
The stage in the service lifecycle that occurs at the end of a deployment and before the service is fully accepted into operation (ITIL definition).
Probable source
The system, network, application, or product that is most likely causing an incident.
Problem-solving skills
The thinking skills used to answer a question or resolve a difficult situation; also known as troubleshooting skills
Job shadowing
Working side by side with another person in an effort to understand and potentially learn that person's job