Search for	Example	Results
A single word	`cat`	Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats".
A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase.	`"cat food"` (quotation marks)	Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase.

Search for	Operator	Example
Two or more words in the same topic	`AND` `and` `+` (plus symbol) `&` (ampersand)	`cat AND dog` `"cat food"+milk` `"cat food"&"dog food"`
Either word in a topic	`OR` `or` `\|` (pipe)	`cat OR dog` `cat \| dog`
Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase	`NOT` `not` `!` (exclamation point)	`NOT cat` `! dog`
Topics that contain one string and do not contain another	`^` (caret)	`cat ^ mouse`
A combination of search types	`( )` parentheses	`cat + (dog \| mouse)` `cat \| dog + (! mouse)`

Service Manager9.41

Use > Problem Management > Problem Management user tasks > Problem prioritization and planning > Evaluate a problem

Evaluate a problem

Part of Workflow(s):

Problem prioritization and planning (SO4.2)

Applies to User Roles:

The goal of evaluating a problem is to determine what priority resolving the problem has in your organization. A problem's priority is a combination of the problem's impact, urgency, severity, frequency, and risk. For example, the frequency of reoccurring incidents may influence the urgency to resolve the problem. Furthermore, you may need to perform a risk assessment to determine the problem's impact on the business, such as whether the problem affects service availability or customer satisfaction. Due to resource constraints, it is important to focus on those problems that have the highest impact on the business.

To evaluate a problem:

Click Problem Management > Problem Control > Search Problems.
Use search or advanced search to find one or more records. You can select the Phase Problem Prioritization and Planning to define your search. Problem Management returns a list of problems in the Problem Prioritization and Planning phase.
Discuss the problem with stakeholders (for example, during a meeting) and answer the following questions:
- What is the priority of resolving this problem?
  - Update the Impact, if necessary.
  - Update the Urgency, if necessary.
- Is this problem correctly documented? If the problem is not correctly documented, update the problem documentation.
- Does the problem need further investigation?
  - If the problem is still relevant, update the Status field to Deferred and schedule it for investigation at a later date.
  - If the problem is no longer relevant, close the problem record.
In the Activities section, select an update type in the New Update Type field.
In the New Update field, type the description of your update.
Click Save & Exit.
If you have determined that you can close the problem record, do the following:
- Make sure all known errors are closed. For more information, see the related topics.
- Click Next until you advance the problem record to the Problem Closure and Review phase.
- Click Fill in the Closure Code field to select an applicable code.
- Click Close Problem.
  The status changes to Closed.

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