ITIL4F Four Dimensions of IT Service Management Practice Question
A service desk analyst receives a call that users cannot access the CRM system. What should they do FIRST according to ITIL 4?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the reactive nature of incident management with the proactive or root-cause focus of problem management, leading them to incorrectly select 'Raise a problem record' instead of logging the incident first.
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
✓
Log an incident record
According to ITIL 4, an incident is any unplanned interruption or reduction in quality of an IT service. The analyst's first action must be to log an incident record to capture the details of the service outage, initiate the incident management process, and ensure timely restoration of the CRM service. This aligns with the ITIL 4 guiding principle of 'Focus on Value' by immediately addressing the user's inability to work.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Raise a problem record
Why it's wrong here
Raising a problem record is incorrect as the initial response to an immediate service disruption. Problem management focuses on identifying the root cause of incidents and preventing their recurrence, which typically occurs after an incident has been resolved or when a trend of recurring incidents is observed. The immediate priority for an unplanned disruption is service restoration, not root cause analysis, making problem management a subsequent activity.
- ✓
Log an incident record
Why this is correct
Logging an incident record is the correct first step when users report an unplanned disruption that reduces the quality of a service or prevents its use. Incident management's primary objective is to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible, and recording the incident is crucial for tracking, managing, and resolving the disruption effectively. This ensures proper prioritization and resource allocation for immediate service restoration.
- ✗
Submit a change request
Why it's wrong here
Submitting a change request is an inappropriate initial response to an unplanned service disruption. Change management is concerned with adding, modifying, or removing anything that could have a direct or indirect effect on services, and these actions are typically planned, assessed, and authorized through a formal process. An immediate service outage requires incident resolution, not a planned modification to the IT infrastructure.
- ✗
Create a service request
Why it's wrong here
Creating a service request is incorrect because service requests are for pre-defined, pre-approved requests from users, such as requesting access to a system or information, or fulfilling a standard IT action. They represent normal service delivery activities, not an unplanned interruption to an existing service. An unexpected service outage, where users cannot access a service, falls under incident management, not service request fulfillment.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This ITIL4F question is part of Courseiva's 531-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.