problem-management

Problem Management for ServiceNow

Problem Management identifies root causes of incidents and implements permanent solutions.

Problem Lifecycle

New (1)
    ↓
Assess (2)
    ↓
Root Cause Analysis (3)
    ↓
Fix in Progress (4) ← Known Error Database
    ↓
Resolved (5)
    ↓
Closed (6)

Cancelled (7) ← Can occur from any state

Key Tables

Table	Purpose
problem	Problem records
problem_task	Problem investigation tasks
known_error	Known Error Database (KEDB)
incident	Related incidents

Creating Problems (ES5)

Create Problem from Incidents

// Create problem from multiple incidents (ES5 ONLY!)
function createProblemFromIncidents(incidentSysIds, problemData) {
  // Create problem
  var problem = new GlideRecord("problem")
  problem.initialize()

  problem.setValue("short_description", problemData.title)
  problem.setValue("description", problemData.description)
  problem.setValue("category", problemData.category)
  problem.setValue("subcategory", problemData.subcategory)

  // Set impact based on related incidents
  var highestImpact = 3
  for (var i = 0; i < incidentSysIds.length; i++) {
    var incident = new GlideRecord("incident")
    if (incident.get(incidentSysIds[i])) {
      var incImpact = parseInt(incident.getValue("impact"), 10)
      if (incImpact < highestImpact) {
        highestImpact = incImpact
      }
    }
  }
  problem.setValue("impact", highestImpact)
  problem.setValue("urgency", highestImpact)

  // Assignment
  if (problemData.assignmentGroup) {
    problem.setValue("assignment_group", problemData.assignmentGroup)
  }

  // Affected CI
  if (problemData.cmdb_ci) {
    problem.setValue("cmdb_ci", problemData.cmdb_ci)
  }

  var problemSysId = problem.insert()

  // Link incidents to problem
  for (var j = 0; j < incidentSysIds.length; j++) {
    var incidentToLink = new GlideRecord("incident")
    if (incidentToLink.get(incidentSysIds[j])) {
      incidentToLink.setValue("problem_id", problemSysId)
      incidentToLink.work_notes = "Linked to Problem: " + problem.getValue("number")
      incidentToLink.update()
    }
  }

  return {
    sys_id: problemSysId,
    number: problem.getValue("number"),
  }
}