ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
A company wants to improve its incident resolution time. Which practice would be most relevant to analyze recurring incidents and identify underlying causes?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Incident Management (which restores service quickly) with Problem Management (which finds and fixes root causes), leading candidates to pick Incident Management because they focus on 'resolution time' rather than 'analyzing recurring incidents.'
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Problem Management
Problem Management is the ITIL practice specifically designed to analyze recurring incidents by performing root cause analysis (RCA) and identifying underlying causes. By using techniques such as trend analysis, Kepner-Tregoe, or 5 Whys, Problem Management proactively reduces incident volume and resolution time, directly addressing the company's goal.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Problem Management
Why this is correct
Problem Management is the ITIL practice dedicated to reducing the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying and resolving their root causes. By conducting thorough analysis of recurring incidents, it aims to implement permanent fixes or workarounds, thereby preventing future occurrences and significantly improving overall incident resolution times and service stability. This proactive approach moves beyond mere incident restoration to address underlying systemic issues.
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Continual Improvement
Why it's wrong here
Continual Improvement is an overarching ITIL guiding principle and practice that drives ongoing enhancement across all aspects of an organization's services and products. While it provides the framework and methodology for improving processes like incident resolution, it does not directly perform the specific root cause analysis or implement the technical solutions for recurring incidents. Instead, it guides *how* Problem Management itself can be made more effective.
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Incident Management
Why it's wrong here
Incident Management is primarily focused on restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible to minimize business impact following an unplanned interruption or degradation of service. Its core objective is rapid resolution and service restoration, not the in-depth investigation of underlying causes. While it collects valuable data about incidents, it typically escalates recurring or complex issues to Problem Management for root cause analysis rather than performing it itself.
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Change Enablement
Why it's wrong here
Change Enablement is the ITIL practice responsible for maximizing the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring risks are properly assessed, authorizing changes, and managing a change schedule. Although permanent fixes identified by Problem Management often require a change to be implemented, Change Enablement's role is to control and facilitate that implementation, not to perform the initial root cause analysis or develop the solution to improve incident resolution time.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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