ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are activities of the Problem Management practice?
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 identification
Problem Management includes problem identification, root cause analysis (problem control), and managing known errors (error control). Monitoring services is part of Monitoring and Event Management. Managing changes is part of Change Enablement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Problem identification
Why this is correct
Problem identification is a foundational activity within Problem Management, initiating the process by detecting and logging potential or actual problems. This involves analyzing incident trends, reviewing service desk data, and receiving direct input from various stakeholders to proactively identify recurring issues or single, high-impact events that warrant deeper investigation. The goal is to move beyond mere symptom treatment to understand underlying causes.
- ✓
Root cause analysis
Why this is correct
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a critical activity performed during the 'problem control' phase of Problem Management. It involves a systematic investigation to determine the fundamental cause of an identified problem, rather than just addressing its symptoms. Employing techniques such as '5 Whys', Ishikawa diagrams, or fault tree analysis, RCA aims to uncover the true origin of service disruptions, enabling the development of effective and lasting solutions to prevent recurrence.
- ✗
Managing changes
Why it's wrong here
Managing changes is primarily an activity of the Change Enablement practice, not Problem Management. Change Enablement focuses on ensuring that all changes to services and products are assessed, authorized, and implemented in a controlled manner to minimize risk and maximize value. While Problem Management may identify the need for a change to resolve a known error, the actual governance and execution of that change fall under the purview of Change Enablement.
- ✓
Managing known errors
Why this is correct
Managing known errors is a key activity within the 'error control' phase of Problem Management. A known error is a problem that has a documented root cause and a workaround, but no permanent solution has yet been implemented. Problem Management is responsible for documenting these known errors and their associated workarounds, making them accessible to Incident Management to facilitate faster incident resolution and minimize business impact until a permanent fix is deployed.
- ✗
Monitoring services for events
Why it's wrong here
Monitoring services for events is a core activity of the Monitoring and Event Management practice, not Problem Management. This practice systematically observes services and service components to record and report selected changes of state, known as events. While events can serve as indicators that trigger problem identification, the continuous process of detecting and logging these events is distinct from Problem Management's focus on investigating underlying causes and managing known errors.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 531 original ITIL4F practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. 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.