Use > Run > Problem Management > Problem Management procedures > Relate problem records

How to relate problem records

Service Management records are often linked to one another because you cannot always complete a problem without investigating incidents or their causes, or putting changes in motion. Service Management lists related records in a separate tab on the change form.

The Related records tab enables you to review, create, and delete relationships among Service Management records. The bracketed number in the tab label displays the number of related records for the current record. There are two types of related records:

  • Causes of the record are other changes, incidents, or problems that triggered the current record.

    Example: An employee requests a certain change to an email account. The request triggered an incident because there is an email server outage. You cannot complete the change until the incident status is closed.

  • Effects of the record are other changes, incidents, or problems that are the result of the current record.

    Example: The incident to repair the email server outage generates a problem record because this is a recurring outage that requires investigation. The problem resolution requires finding the root cause for the outage. When the outage is resolved, the incident is resolved. When the incident is resolved, the change request can be resolved.

Resolving a request for change, an incident, or a problem can also involve hardware or software acquisition, or even require a new service to be available. Service Management also enables you to link asset records to changes, incidents, or problems.

ClosedTo relate records

  1. Click the Related records tab to display a list of related records that are the causes of the current record or the effects of the current record.

  2. In each section, the default sort order is first by record type, then by phase. You can click a column heading to reverse the sort order in any column.

    Field Description
    ID The identifier of the record. Click the ID value to link to the record.
    Title or Name A short description provided by the end user.
    Phase The current phase of the current record in the workflow.
    Priority The priority is a value based on urgency and business impact values.

  3. In the appropriate section, do one of the following:

    • Click Add to create a relationship between the current record and another record

      The Add related record dialog appears. The dialog box displays a list of potential related records. If you select an individual record, Service Management displays the contents of that record in the right pane.

      • If you want to search for more records, you can use the Search box at the top of the dialog box.

      • Find the record that you want to link, and click Add to select it. You may select more records.

      • When you have selected all the records that you want to link, click OK.

      • Click Save.

    • Click Remove to delete the relationship between the current record and the selected record. Click OK to confirm the action.

      Note This action removes the relationship only. It does not delete either record.

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