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AKC12: Application Trouble Areas and Resolutions

Description:

Documents previously identified problem areas or application errors that occur periodically, but have not been corrected due to low priority or inability to duplicate. Associated corrections or “work around” solutions for each are also documented. Enables any support analyst to quickly determine if a current problem has previously occurred and what was done to repair it. This can significantly reduce the amount of time to fix a problem.  This information is extremely important when the analyst familiar with these previous problems and what was done to repair them is not available.

Provides understanding of problems that team members should be aware of in order to better prepare to be able to support the system.

Provides information such as:

  • Description of the problem
  • How notification of the problem occurred
  • The steps taken to resolve the problem
  • What information or data indicated that the problem was fixed

How is it used?

Enables any support analyst to quickly determine if a current problem has occurred previously and what was done to repair. This can significantly reduce the amount of time to fix a problem. It is extremely important when the analyst who was familiar with previous problems and what was done to repair them is not available.

Why is it important?

(1) Identifies application areas that have had specific problems and what was done to correct the problem.

(2) Provides understanding of problems that team members should be aware of in order to better prepare to be able to support the system.
(3) Provides information such as:

  • Description of the problem
  • How notification of the problem occurred
  • The steps taken to resolve the problem

Why is it important?

1) Enables the support analyst to quickly identify repeating problems and thir solution eliminating wasted or duplicate effort.

2) Provides a step by step, guide to solve repeating problems and what indicates the problem has been solved.

(3) Provides understanding of problems that team members should be aware of in order to better prepare to be able to support the system.
(4) Provides information such as:

  • Description of the problem
  • How notification of the problem occurred
  • The steps taken to resolve the problem

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IT Support Services Comments

  • Bob Anderson: Daniel, from a certain point of view you are correct. CMMI- DEV deals primarily with software development best practices, the old CMM Level-5 dealt a great deal with defects. However, as you know the ...
  • Bob Anderson: Gunter, there are many possible SLA components and metrics that can be defined for any application software support. First I would recommend that you read this article which I had published in Compute...
  • Bob Anderson: Amiet, I would put it under the "Incident" process and track dates, number of occurrences, how much lost time, cause (who did it). You will need data for management if the practice has to stop. If you...
  • Bob Anderson: Amit, first of all why is the customer powering down the equipment? This should be brought to the attention of management and a very strong note sent to whoever is doing this.  If they are doing it on...
  • Bob Anderson: Mark, it is doubtful that you can fix the problem, it is mainly a management issue. The best you can do is to gather statistics on the backlog of enhancements, the number and severity of incidents, an...

ITIL V3 Application Support Q & A

If you have any question on the blog content or have some specific question on how ITSM & ITIL can dramatically improve performance and reduce the cost of your Application Support service "Ask Bob"
Question :
Answer :
Gunter, there are many possible SLA components and metrics that can be defined for any application software support. First I would recommend that you read this article which I had published in Computer World on "How to create Meaningful IT Support SLA's"  use this link...
Question :
Answer :
Daniel, from a certain point of view you are correct. CMMI- DEV deals primarily with software development best practices, the old CMM Level-5 dealt a great deal with defects. However, as you know the folks who developed the original CMM  were not really initially inter...
Question :
Answer :
Amiet, I would put it under the "Incident" process and track dates, number of occurrences, how much lost time, cause (who did it). You will need data for management if the practice has to stop. If you want to be "proactive" in stopping this practice" you must capture bu...
Question :
Answer :
Mark, it is doubtful that you can fix the problem, it is mainly a management issue. The best you can do is to gather statistics on the backlog of enhancements, the number and severity of incidents, and how many technical support calls from users you get and the average...
Question :
Answer :
Amit, first of all why is the customer powering down the equipment? This should be brought to the attention of management and a very strong note sent to whoever is doing this.  If they are doing it on their own without any instruction to do so and it affects other user...