What is Incident Management? Goals and best practices

Incident management: definition and importance for companies

[DEFINITION][Incident Management][Incident Management is a central process in IT Service Management (ITSM) that aims to quickly identify, analyze and resolve IT incidents - i.e. unforeseen interruptions or impairments to IT services. The aim is to ensure service continuity, minimize downtime and keep the impact on customers, employees and business processes to a minimum].

Quick and targeted problem solving is crucial in order to maintain business operations and avoid negative consequences such as financial losses or loss of customer confidence. Incident management not only protects technical resources, but also strengthens a company's reputation.

The process includes incident detection, prioritization and analysis as well as resolution and final documentation. This not only solves acute problems, but also provides important insights for improving IT processes.

Basics of incident management

The basics of incident management are explained below. What is covered by the concept of an incident, what are the specific objectives of incident management and what are concrete examples of incidents?

What is an incident?

According to ITIL® (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), an incident is an unforeseen interruption or a significant reduction in the quality of an IT service that disrupts regular operations. This can be, for example, a server failure, network problems or faulty applications. Every incident has the potential to disrupt business processes and therefore requires a rapid response to minimize the impact on customers and employees.

Incidents differ from planned maintenance work or known problems because they usually occur unexpectedly and require immediate action to restore service continuity.

Objectives of incident management

Incident management primarily aims to restore IT service operations as quickly as possible . The focus here is on minimizing downtimes and returning to a normal operating state as quickly as possible in order to disrupt business operations as little as possible.

In addition to rapid problem resolution, incident management aims to limit the impact of an incident on business processes, customers and employees. Through structured prioritization and targeted measures, critical services are given priority in order to reduce risks and losses for the company.

In the long term, incident management should also help to prevent future incidents. This is done by analysing recurring incidents and deriving preventive measures, such as system improvements, optimized processes or training for employees.

Examples of incidents

Incidents can occur in various forms and range from technical problems to safety-critical incidents. Here are some typical examples:

1. server failures

A server failure can mean that important applications or databases are no longer accessible. This often has a direct impact on business continuity, especially for central systems such as email servers or production databases.

2. network problems

Network interruptions or disruptions can affect the connection between systems and users. Examples include interrupted internet connections, overloaded networks or problems with VPN access that make remote work impossible.

3. faulty software updates

A faulty update can result in applications not working as expected or even crashing. Such problems often occur with insufficiently tested changes and may require a quick rollback.

Differentiation from problem management

While incident management aims to restore operations through rapid action, problem management focuses on the long-term resolution of causes. Problem Management investigates the underlying causes of incidents and develops preventive measures to avoid similar incidents in the future. In this way, it complements Incident Management by not only dealing with acute disruptions, but also improving the stability and efficiency of the IT infrastructure in the long term.

Incident management: standards and frameworks

Incident management is supported by established standards and frameworks that define best practices and requirements, including

• ISO/IEC 20000: This international standard specifies requirements for effective IT service management, including incident management. It ensures that processes are clearly defined and continuously improved in order to guarantee high service quality.

• ITIL® (Information Technology Infrastructure Library): ITIL® provides structured best practices for incident management. It defines roles, processes and workflows that help companies to handle incidents efficiently and achieve sustainable improvements in the provision of IT services.

Incident management in the ITIL® service lifecycle

In the ITIL® Service Lifecycle, Incident Management is a central component of the Service Operation area. This area focuses on the provision and support of IT services during ongoing operations.

Incident management plays a key role here by ensuring that faults and interruptions are resolved quickly and effectively in order to maintain service quality and availability. As an operational process, it forms the basis for stable and reliable IT operations that meet the needs of customers and users.

ITIL® processes in the context of incident management  

In ITIL®, incident management (listed as a service management practice in ITIL® 4) ensures that incidents can be efficiently identified, processed and resolved. In the context of ITIL®, the following points, among others, are relevant to incident management:

• Recording
  Every incident is documented in the ITSM system. Information such as date, time, category, priority and affected systems are recorded to ensure seamless traceability.

• Categorization
  The incident is assigned to a suitable category (e.g. software or hardware) in order to involve the right team or the responsible resources.

• Prioritization
  The urgency and impact of the incident determine the priority. Critical incidents require immediate action, while less urgent problems are treated with lower priority.

• Initial diagnosis
  The Service Desk attempts to resolve the incident directly in First Level Support. If this is not possible, the incident is escalated to specialized teams.

• Escalation:
  
  • Functional escalation: Forwarding to 2nd level support, such as specialized teams. These in turn can call in 3rd level support if necessary, which can include manufacturers or suppliers, for example.
  • Hierarchical escalation: Involvement of management in the event of serious incidents in order to provide decision-making powers or additional resources.

• Solution and restoration
  The solution is implemented, the service is restored and the user is informed.  

• Completion
  Once the incident has been successfully resolved, it is documented in the ITSM system. The user confirms that the service is working as usual again.

• Evaluation
  The lessons learned from the incident are documented. If necessary, the incident is handed over to Problem Management in order to further analyze the underlying cause and develop preventive measures.

• Major incidents as particularly serious cases
  ITIL® classifies particularly serious incidents as major incidents. This is an incident with a high business impact that affects critical services and requires immediate attention and resources. An example is a complete network failure.

Important ITIL® concepts in incident management

Incident management in the ITIL® framework is based on several central concepts that ensure that incidents are handled efficiently and are better avoided in the long term:

• Service Desk
  The Service Desk is the central point of contact for user:in to report incidents. It aims to resolve as many incidents as possible directly at the first contact (first call resolution) in order to minimize downtimes and reduce the workload for downstream support teams.

• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
  SLAs are a central component of ITIL® to define clear expectations regarding processing time and service quality. They determine how quickly an incident must be resolved depending on its priority and provide a basis for measuring the performance of incident management.

• Workarounds
  ITIL® recommends the use of workarounds - temporary solutions for incidents - until a permanent solution is available from Problem Management. This enables operations to be restored more quickly, even if the underlying cause has not yet been resolved.

• Knowledge management
  An effective knowledge database supports incident management by quickly providing documented solutions for frequently occurring incidents. This reduces processing times and improves the efficiency of recurring problems.

• Continual Service Improvement (CSI)
  ITIL® emphasizes the continuous improvement of process efficiency and effectiveness. Regular analysis and optimization of incident management ensures that services are provided in a more sustainable and trouble-free manner.

Roles and responsibilities according to ITIL®

ITIL® defines clear roles and responsibilities in incident management to ensure structured and efficient processing of incidents:

• Incident Manager:in
  The Incident Manager:in is responsible for coordinating and monitoring the entire incident management process. The tasks include compliance with SLAs, escalation of serious incidents and ensuring that all steps of the process are carried out properly.

• Service desk employee
  The Employees desk employees are the first point of contact for user:in who report incidents. They document the incidents and forward them to the responsible teams.

• Technical teams (2nd/3rd level support)
  Technical teams are responsible for investigating and resolving complex incidents. While 2nd level support carries out in-depth analyses, 3rd level support is usually called in for highly specialized or critical incidents.

KPIs and metrics according to ITIL®

ITIL® emphasizes the importance of key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of incident management. The most important KPIs include:

• First Call Resolution Rate
  The proportion of incidents that are resolved directly on the first call. A high first call resolution (FCR) rate shows that work is being done effectively and escalating workloads are being minimized.

• Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR)
  The average time it takes to fully resolve an incident. A low MTTR is an indicator of fast and efficient problem resolution.

• Mean Time to Acknowledge (MTTA)
  The average time until the first response to a reported incident. A short MTTA shows that incidents are recognized and addressed quickly.

• Reopened incidents
  The number of incidents that occur again after an apparent solution. A high value may indicate inadequate solutions or a lack of root cause analysis.

Transition from Incident Management to other ITIL® processes

Incident Management is closely linked to other ITIL® processes, in particular Problem Management and Change Management. The seamless transition between these processes is crucial for the sustainable resolution of incidents and the prevention of future incidents:

Problem management

If the cause of an incident remains unknown or similar incidents occur repeatedly, the incident is handed over to Problem Management. The aim is to identify the underlying cause and resolve it permanently. This transition ensures that in-depth analyses and preventive measures are carried out without delaying short-term incident processing.

Change management

If changes to the IT infrastructure are necessary to resolve an incident, they are handed over to Change Management. This process ensures that the changes are controlled and implemented taking into account possible risks in order to avoid unintended consequences for operations.

If you would like to know how change management is specifically structured in ITIL®, then take a look at our article "Why ITIL® is an important factor in change management". If you would like to learn more about ITIL® in general, then our basic article on ITIL® might be something for you.

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