ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
A major incident occurs. The IT team implements a workaround to restore service. Which practice is responsible for ensuring that the workaround does not become a permanent solution?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Incident Management's role in applying workarounds with the responsibility for ensuring those workarounds are temporary, but ITIL 4 explicitly assigns that long-term governance to 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
✓
Problem Management
Problem Management is responsible for identifying the root cause of incidents and ensuring that workarounds are properly documented, analyzed, and eventually replaced with permanent fixes. In ITIL 4, Problem Management conducts root cause analysis (RCA) and manages known errors, so a workaround implemented during a major incident does not become a de facto permanent solution. This practice ensures that the workaround is tracked in the Known Error Database (KEDB) and that a permanent resolution is scheduled and implemented.
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 responsible for maximizing the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring that risks have been properly assessed, authorizing changes, and managing the change schedule. While a permanent fix for a problem would eventually be implemented as a change, Change Enablement's role is not to identify the root cause or drive the solution, but rather to control the implementation of that solution once it's proposed and approved.
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Service Level Management
Why it's wrong here
Service Level Management focuses on establishing clear service level agreements (SLAs) with customers and monitoring the actual performance of services against these agreed targets. Its primary function is to ensure that service providers meet their commitments and to report on service performance, including any deviations caused by incidents. However, it does not actively manage the technical resolution of incidents, implement workarounds, or investigate root causes for permanent solutions.
- ✓
Problem Management
Why this is correct
Problem Management is the practice responsible for reducing the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents and managing workarounds and known errors. After a major incident, especially one requiring a workaround, Problem Management actively investigates the root cause to prevent recurrence and drives the implementation of a permanent solution, thereby eliminating the need for the temporary workaround. This proactive and reactive approach ensures long-term stability and service improvement.
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Incident Management
Why it's wrong here
Incident Management's primary objective is to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible to minimize the business impact of incidents. While it is responsible for implementing initial workarounds to achieve rapid service restoration, its scope does not extend to investigating the underlying root cause or ensuring the implementation of a permanent solution to prevent future occurrences. That critical responsibility transitions to Problem Management once the immediate service has been restored.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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