A:

For an ITIL purist, the three elements that are required to be identified for a Problem to be changed to a Known Error are:

• Root Cause
• CI at Fault
• Workaround

When I was training the Support and Restore Practitioner course, we would get into lengthy discussions about why all three of these elements are required for the Problem to be turned into a Known Error. The requirement for Root Cause and CI at fault is pretty easy to defend, but the case that a Workaround must be identified is not as easily made.

In my mind there is always the ultimate Workaround for just about any IT issue. It’s called paper.

In most cases where the technology at fault cannot be bypassed, there should be a manual way of achieving the business process without reliance on technology. There are some obvious areas where the business stops being able to perform up to a required level without technology, but the business needs to understand the risk to which they are exposing themself to in those situations.

All this being said, ITIL is a framework, not a set of rules to live and die by. If you would like to submit a RFC even though it is still a Problem, the world will not end. If you would like to say that this is a Know Error with the Workaround of “It’s broke, don’t use it”, the ITIL police won’t come knocking at your door.