2.10 Service Operation - Incident Management

The function of the Service Desk is to act as the point of contact between customers of IT services (end users) and the IT service provider (IT department). Its role is to handle all requests for service, including Incidents, and provide an interface for other activities such as Request Fulfilment, Change, Problem and Configuration Management.

An Incident is defined as any event that is not part of the standard operation of a service, and causes, or may cause, an interruption to, or a reduction in the quality of service. The goal of Incident Management is to restore normal service as quickly as possible, with minimal disruption to the business. This ensures that the highest achievable levels of availability and service are maintained.

Incident Management objectives include:

  • Incident detection and recording

  • Classification of all Incidents and initial support

  • Investigation and diagnosis

  • Escalation

  • Resolution and recovery

  • Incident closure

  • Incident ownership, monitoring, tracking and communication

As part of the Incident Management Process, if an Incident is related to a Problem or Change Request and that related request in the other Process is closed, the Incident will be automatically closed. The system views the request hierarchy from low to high as Service Request, Incident, Problem and Change Request, and if a related request of a higher type is closed, all the lesser type requests are automatically closed.