ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
An IT team discovers that a recurring incident is caused by a known software bug. According to ITIL 4, what should be created to document this situation?
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
✓
A known error record
A known error is documented when the root cause is identified and a workaround exists; it is part of Problem Management's error control phase.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
A known error record
Why this is correct
A known error record is created when the root cause of a problem has been identified, but a permanent resolution has not yet been implemented. It serves to document the identified cause, symptoms, and any temporary workarounds, enabling incident management to quickly resolve recurring incidents by applying the documented solution and minimizing service impact.
- ✗
A problem record
Why it's wrong here
A problem record is initiated to manage the lifecycle of problems, which are the underlying causes of one or more incidents. Its primary purpose is to identify the root cause and prevent recurrence. While a problem record initiates the investigation, the specific discovery and documentation of the *cause* of a recurring incident, along with any workarounds, leads to the creation of a *known error* record, not the problem record itself.
- ✗
A change request
Why it's wrong here
A change request is a formal proposal for an alteration to a service or service component, such as implementing a permanent fix for a known error. While a change request would be used to *resolve* the underlying cause of the recurring incident by implementing a solution, it is not the mechanism for *documenting* the identified cause and its workaround. Its focus is on controlling the implementation of a solution, not on recording diagnostic findings.
- ✗
An incident record
Why it's wrong here
An incident record documents an unplanned interruption to a service or a reduction in the quality of a service, focusing on restoring service as quickly as possible. Each occurrence of a recurring issue would generate a new incident record. However, incident records do not inherently document the underlying root cause or a permanent workaround for future occurrences; that is the specific function of a known error record, which is separate from individual incident logs.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every ITIL4F question from scratch — 531 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or 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.