Is incident lifecycle management including opening, monitoring progress, resolution, and client feedback performed in a formal and consistent manner?

Hi,

Incident Management according to ITIL V3 distinguishes between (Service Interruptions) and Service Requests (standard requests from users, e.g. password resets). Service Requests are no longer fulfilled by Incident Management; instead there is a new process called Request Fulfillment.

There is a dedicated process in ITIL V3 for dealing with emergencies. Furthermore a process interface was added between Event Management and Incident Management. Significant Events are triggering the creation of an Incident.

These are the ITIL Incident Management sub-processes and their process objectives (in brief):

Incident Management Support

• ITIL Incident Management Support aims to provide and maintain the tools, processes, skills and rules for an effective and efficient handling of Incidents.

Incident Logging and Categorization

• To record and prioritize the Incident with appropriate diligence, in order to facilitate a swift and effective resolution.

Immediate Incident Resolution by 1st Level Support

• To solve an Incident (service interruption) within the agreed time schedule. The aim is the fast recovery of the IT service, where necessary with the aid of a Workaround. As soon as it becomes clear that 1st Level Support is not able to resolve the Incident itself or when target times for 1st level resolution are exceeded, the Incident is transferred to a suitable group within 2nd Level Support.

Incident Resolution by 2nd Level Support

• To solve an Incident (service interruption) within the agreed time schedule. The aim is the fast recovery of the service, where necessary by means of a Workaround. If required, specialist support groups or third-party suppliers (3rd Level Support)are involved. If the correction of the root cause is not possible, a Problem Record is created and the error-correction transferred to Problem Management.

Handling of Major Incidents

• To resolve a Major Incident that cause serious interruptions of business activities and must be resolved with greater urgency. The aim is the fast recovery of the service, where necessary by means of a Workaround. If required, specialist support groups or third-party suppliers (3rd Level Support) are involved. If the correction of the root cause is not possible, a Problem Record is created and the error-correction transferred to Problem Management.

Incident Monitoring and Escalation

• To continuously monitor the processing status of outstanding Incidents, so that counter-measures may be introduced as soon as possible if service levels are likely to be breached.

Incident Closure and Evaluation

• To submit the Incident Record to a final quality control before it is closed. The aim is to make sure that the Incident is actually resolved and that all information required to describe the Incident's life-cycle is supplied in sufficient detail. In addition to this, findings from the resolution of the Incident are to be recorded for future use.

Pro-Active User Information

• To inform users of service failures as soon as these are known to the Service Desk, so that users are in a position to adjust themselves to interruptions. Proactive user information also aims to reduce the number of inquiries by users. This process is also responsible for distributing other information to users, like, security alerts.

Incident Management Reporting

• ITIL Incident Management Reporting aims to supply Incident-related Information to the other Service Management processes, and to ensure that that improvement potentials are derived from past Incidents.

Yes, Throughout the lifecycle of an Incident, Incident Management is responsible for the ownership, monitoring, tracking and communication of Incidents.  This will happen continuously at any of the above stages. 

As with all of the ITIL disciplines none of them are stand alone, they inter-link with each other and Incident Management is no exception.  The ITIL Service Desk will usually play the key role within the Incident Management process.  They are typically the single point of contact, recording and monitoring the progress of Incidents as well retaining ownership of them throughout their lifecycle.

There is also a close link with ITIL Problem Management.  Where the root cause of an Incident is unknown a Problem record will be raised if further investigation is required.  Where the root cause is known, the Problem becomes a Known Error and will often require a request for change (RFC) to be raised to rectify the issue, via ITIL Change Management.  The Incident, Problem and Change lifecycle is a logical flow from error to resolution.