ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
A known error has been documented and a workaround exists. According to ITIL 4, which practice is responsible for managing the known error?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse the use of a workaround during incident resolution with the ownership of the known error itself, incorrectly selecting Incident Management instead of Problem Management.
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
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Problem Management
According to ITIL 4, the Problem Management practice is responsible for managing known errors throughout their lifecycle, including documenting the known error record and ensuring a workaround is available. This practice focuses on identifying the root cause of incidents and preventing recurrence, with the known error being a formal record that may include a documented workaround to reduce incident impact.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Change Enablement
Why it's wrong here
Change Enablement is the ITIL practice focused on maximizing successful service and product changes by ensuring risks are properly assessed and authorized. While it facilitates the implementation of permanent solutions (changes) that might resolve a known error, it does not manage the lifecycle of known errors themselves, nor is it responsible for their identification, diagnosis, or documentation. Its scope is the controlled deployment of a change, not the underlying problem or error state.
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Service Desk
Why it's wrong here
The Service Desk acts as the first point of contact for users, primarily handling incidents and service requests. Service Desk agents frequently leverage documented known errors and their associated workarounds, provided by Problem Management, to resolve incidents more quickly and efficiently. However, the Service Desk is not responsible for the identification, diagnosis, documentation, or ongoing management of known errors; that critical function belongs to Problem Management.
- ✓
Problem Management
Why this is correct
Problem Management is the ITIL practice responsible for reducing the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents and managing workarounds and known errors. Its 'error control' activity specifically involves identifying, documenting, and managing known errors, including finding and documenting workarounds, and ultimately facilitating the permanent resolution of the underlying problems. Therefore, managing a documented known error with an existing workaround is a core, explicit function of Problem Management.
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Incident Management
Why it's wrong here
Incident Management focuses on restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible to minimize business impact. While Incident Management practitioners frequently apply workarounds associated with known errors to resolve incidents and restore service, their primary goal is rapid service restoration, not the root cause analysis or the ongoing management of the known error itself. The known error's documentation and lifecycle are outside the scope of Incident Management, which consumes this information rather than creating or owning it.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ITIL4F practice question is part of Courseiva's free PeopleCert certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the ITIL4F exam.