ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
An IT service desk analyst receives a call that users cannot access the CRM system. What should they do 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 and attempt to restore service
The first step is to log the incident to initiate the Incident Management process and restore service.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Submit an emergency change to fix the system
Why it's wrong here
Submitting an emergency change is premature as the initial call describes an unplanned service interruption, which first triggers incident management. An emergency change is a specific type of change, typically used for known critical issues requiring immediate implementation, often after an incident has been diagnosed or as a resolution. The immediate priority is to log the incident and restore service, not to jump directly into the formal change process without initial diagnosis.
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Raise a problem record to investigate the root cause
Why it's wrong here
Raising a problem record is not the immediate first step when users report an unplanned service interruption. Problem management focuses on investigating the root cause of one or more incidents to prevent recurrence, which is a subsequent activity. The primary objective upon receiving an initial report of service disruption is incident management: to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible, not to immediately begin a deep root cause analysis.
- ✓
Log an incident record and attempt to restore service
Why this is correct
Logging an incident record and attempting to restore service is the correct immediate action, aligning with the primary objective of ITIL's Incident Management practice. An incident is defined as an unplanned interruption to a service or a reduction in the quality of a service. The service desk's role is to capture this event, track it, and initiate steps to restore service functionality to users as quickly as possible, minimizing business impact.
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Inform the users that it is a known issue
Why it's wrong here
Informing users that an issue is 'known' is premature and potentially misleading at the initial point of receiving a call about an unplanned service interruption. The service desk analyst has not yet diagnosed the specific issue or confirmed if it matches a pre-existing known error. Effective communication requires accurate information, which can only be provided after the incident has been logged, diagnosed, and correlated with any existing known errors or problems.
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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.