ITIL Problem Management vs Root Cause Analysis

ITIL Problem Management vs Root Cause Analysis

 As it may seem understated there is a fundamental difference between the widely called a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) process and what ITIL mentions to as Problem Management.

The primary difference comes down to the focus or objective of the relative processes. Both the RCA and Problem Management process stress the trending and analysis of data related to incidents and failed changes in order to determine the true source or root cause of a major service disruption. For both processes this also usually involves holding meetings with subject matter experts to gain their insights on the likely cause while attempting to forestall the inevitable blame-storming and finger pointing that usually results in these gatherings.

Furthermore both processes will then publish an inclusive report based on the conclusions that can be drawn from these activities which is then distributed to the relative Sr. Management team. It is at this point that the RCA process finishes and the ITIL Problem Management process continues on.

Consider that the goal of the RCA process is to understand what went wrong and to accurately report the impact of the incident and or failed change so that the results are understood and that a similar incident can be avoided in the future. Also for most organizations the RCA process is focused only on the really big and embarrassing issues as opposed to the small to medium failures that happen routinely without identification or analysis.

ITIL Problem Management on the other hand is interested in trending problems and known errors of varying sizes and is not satisfied with simply identifying the root cause of a single significant incident but seeks to specifically target the repeating systemic issues that may not appear significant on their own but when considered together as a repeating pattern represent a substantial impact on service availability and reliability.

Possibly the most striking difference between an RCA process and ITIL Problem Management is that the RCA process is primarily focused on identification and reporting. Whereas ITIL Problem Management has as its ultimate goal the elimination of these systemic issues once and for all for the purpose of improving overall availability and reliability of Service Management. For this reason the objective of ITIL Problem Management is more closely aligned with Availability Management then it is with Incident Management.

In Summary:

ü The RCA process is focused on Problem Identification and Impact Reporting

ü ITIL Problem Management is focused on Problem Identification and Elimination