Problem Management

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Problem Management

• Problem Officer Style
• By
• Cindy Doyel

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Cindy Doyel

• 25 years of Customer Service Experience.
• Currently working for the Department of
  Technology Services doing Project, Change
  Requirements Management.
• Worked at the Legislative Data Center (LDC) for
  over 8 years.
• Lead the development of the Problem Officer
  Process for LDC.
• Worked for Sutter Healths Help Desk as 2nd Level
  Support.
• Owned my own Software Development Company that
  developed, marketed and supported software
  products for Unions.

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Problem Mgmt or Incident Mgmt?

• Incident Mgmt is an experience where a
  disruption to the operation occurs on some level
  and a work around or quick fix is provided to
  keep the customer working.
• Problem Mgmt is an effort to identify the root
  cause of any recurring incidents to increase
  customer satisfaction and the cost-effectiveness
  of the support process.

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What is a Problem Officer Process?

• The Problem Officer Process is a way to create
  reliable, documented and effective communication
  for escalated or critical incidents which require
  increased coordination, and resources through the
  problem lifecycle.
• The Problem Officer process is a way to improve
  communication throughout the Enterprise with
  interaction from each units iPO (Internal
  Problem Officer), Customers, Internal Users, and
  Management.

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What is considered a Problem?

• Impact - An issue that affects an entire customer
  group, a critical application, or a critical
  server and significantly impacts the customers
  ability to perform their normal work.
• Urgency Customers cannot work and no workaround
  is available or customers may be able to work in
  a degraded mode.
• Time the estimated length of time it will take
  to resolve the problem or to provide
  circumvention that will get the customers working
  again has exceeded an acceptable time frame for
  the type of problem encountered.
• An Escalated Problem or Incident that affects a
  large number of Customers but assistance is
  needed to coordinate a resolution. A resolution
  can consist of a quick fix with further
  investigation for a root cause.

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What is an iPO?

• An iPO is an Internal Problem Officer.
• This can be a small group of people representing
  a unit, but usually one designated person with
  several backups.
• The iPO is responsible for collecting the
  technical information and status of their units
  efforts and communicating it to the Problem
  Officer.

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How to communicate info?

• The iPO will relay information from their unit
  via email or hotline. (Hotlines can be one number
  connected to multiple people).
• The Problem Officer converts technical
  information into a Customer Friendly format.
• The Problem Officer sends an email to Customers
  and Enterprise Staff. Copies email into ticket
  and technical information into ticket.

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SEE ATTACHED
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Where to Post Info?

• The Problem Officer will post any updates to the
  ticket in question, but also any shared location.
• To a Website or SharePoint Location.
• The Problem Officer also uses the hotline numbers
  to notify all PO iPO staff that an update has
  been sent. (Some phone systems have the ability
  to create a distribution lists).

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How to call a PO Meeting?

• If your email system is set up to include a
  conference room as a resource, invite all PO and
  iPO staff to the meeting.
• Announce it on the overhead at your building.
• The Problem Officer also can call all Hotline
  numbers to notify all PO iPO staff that a
  meeting has been called.

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What happens in a PO meeting?

• An Internal Problem Officer (iPO) is asked to
  attend from each unit. They are asked to attend
  and/or stay if their unit has any involvement to
  assist with the fix or resolution for that issue.
  It is the iPO's duty to help eliminate that unit
  from the need to troubleshoot, fix or resolve the
  issue.
• A Conference Bridge can be created, (like a
  conference call) for those that would like to
  attend the meeting but are unable to meet in the
  conference room. (Contact your Telecommunications
  Team for more info).
• Each iPO will volunteer information from their
  unit that can help to collaborate on the issue.
• The Problem Officer will document the
  troubleshooting that will be performed by each
  unit and identify who will provide the Problem
  Officer with the next update.

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What is a status code for updates?

• UPDATE- This Master Problem Ticket is not
  resolved and this has the latest update.
• RESOLVED This Master Problem Ticket is RESOLVED
  and has been left viewable for the next 14 days
  for people to review if needed.
• ROOT CAUSE This Master Problem Ticket has been
  RESOLVED with a fix but a Root Cause Analysis
  needs to be conducted for this issue.
• LESSONS LEARNED This Master Problem Ticket has
  been RESOLVED but needs a Lessons Learned meeting
  to improve the process for the next time.

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Why this process?

• How does this help? I have told staff members the
  following information
• If you are a technician who typically receives a
  phone call from a customer, unit or manager,
  asking for a more detailed explanation regarding
  an issue, if you supply only the information that
  is listed on the notification update pages for
  that issue, it can help to prevent the need for
  that person to call you. If they receive the
  same information as the update, they will
  discontinue to call for that additional
  information. It can help to free up the
  technical staff to continue working on the issue
  at hand.
• No it doesnt always work, but the more
  consistent the communication, the better your
  process can be.

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Will this work for my work?

• Yes It can. Work with your management to see
  the possibilities of a standardized communication
  process.
• Take steps to propose a Problem Management
  Process.
• Collaborate with representation from all units
  (sections) at your office.

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How to create a check-up?

• Notify the Problem Officer (PO) and all Internal
  Problem Officers (iPOs) that a quarterly meeting
  will be held to get feedback and improvement
  suggestions.
• Volunteer staff to provide suggested changes to
  Managers. Managers can in turn forward those
  suggestion anonymously to the Problem Officer.
• Ask Managers for Hotline List Updates. Staff
  change departments or agencies. Get the most
  updated list from your Managers of who should be
  attached to their hotline.

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What does a PO do daily?

• Read all Operational Meeting Notes for updates.
• Read all and/or attend the Change Management
  Meetings. A Problem Officer must be familiar
  with the changes that are taking place and how
  they may affect other systems.
• Look for trends from the Service Desk Software,
  Service Desk Staff.
• Suggest to your Agency to have one place to look
  for all server information that is updated with
  Changes regularly. This means what sits on a
  server, who it affects, what services are located
  on it and who is responsible for supporting those
  services.

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Any Questions?

• If you have further questions, email me at
  Cindy.Doyel_at_dts.ca.gov