Problems

Find the root cause behind recurring incidents, record the fix, and turn what you learned into a known error.

Tickets → New ticket

An incident gets someone working again. A problem asks why it happened, so it stops happening. A problem is a ticket of its own, with a structured root cause analysis. It is linked to the incidents it explains and to the change that fixes it for good.

Raise a problem

Go to Tickets and choose New ticket.
Set Type to your workspace's problem tracker (usually called Problem).
Optionally fill in the Root cause analysis block: Root cause, Contributing factors and Resolution. Most problems start with these empty.

Available on plans that include Problem Management. Without it, problem tickets cannot be created.

Start a problem from incidents

From one incident — on the incident, choose Create Problem above the list of linked tickets. The title starts as "Recurring: " plus the incident's title. Add a description if you like, then choose Create Problem. The problem is created in the incident's project and linked to it as relates to.
From a pattern — the Reports page has a Recurring incidents — candidate Problems panel. It groups incidents from the chosen date range whose titles share significant words, and lists every group of three or more that is not linked to a problem yet. Choose Create Problem on a group to create one problem linked to all of those incidents.
By hand — on any ticket, choose Link, pick a link type and enter the other ticket's key (for example SUP-42).

Work the root cause analysis

The Root cause analysis section on a problem holds:

Status — Under investigation, Root cause identified, Known error or Resolved.
Root cause — what actually caused it, once known.
Investigation findings — the evidence that supports the root cause.
Contributing factors — anything that made it more likely or worse.
Workaround — what to do until the permanent fix ships.
Resolution — the permanent fix, once it is in place.

Edit any of these, then choose Save changes at the top of the ticket.

This status is separate from the ticket's workflow status, and nothing changes on its own when you move it. Setting it to Known error does not create a known error record — see below.

Turn a problem into a known error

Once the root cause and a workaround are known, record them in the Known Error Database so the next agent who meets the symptom finds the answer:

Go to Known Errors and choose New.
Fill in the title, Symptom, Root cause, Workaround and, if there is one, Permanent fix.
Enter the problem's key in Problem ticket (optional) and choose Create known error.

The problem then shows a Known error section that links to the entry. New incidents whose words match its symptom are offered it as a suggestion. Available on plans that include Known Error Database.

Fix it for good with a change

When the permanent fix needs planned work, choose Create Change on the problem. The change is linked to the problem as fixed by, so either ticket leads to the other. See Change requests for scheduling and approving it.