What is the difference between an Incident, Problem, and Service Request?

Incidents are Break/Fixes for issues where something was working but stopped working, a single unplanned event that causes a service disruption.

Service Requests are for requesting new Services or changes to existing Services, for example for new access requests, change of access requests, New Hardware Requests, Repair Requests.

Note that many Service Desks are transitioning to this ITIL and Industry Best Practice, which can take time, hence there may be some “Service Request” and “Problem” tickets that are presently logged as Incidents.

Problem Records are used when a cause or potential cause of one or more incidents are identified whereas an incident is a single unplanned event that causes a service disruption. A problem can cause a single incident, or it can cause multiple incidents. And an incident may be traced back to a single problem or—sometimes—multiple problems. 
 
For example, if Wifi goes down in the board room once, that is an Incident. If we need to install Wifi or make changes to the Wifi configuration, that is a Service Request.  If Wifi in the boardroom goes down every Friday at lunch time, that is a Problem Record.  Problems can also be “potential causes”, in other words “preventative”, where you spot an issue, for example you notice that staff unplug the router when they need an extra power outlet.

It’s all the same isn’t it? No. Reporting and Metrics are perceived and interpreted by Senior Management and Executives that weigh Incidents negatively as Incidents are typically viewed as problems that negatively impact IT (IT screwed up) whereas Service Requests are perceived as adding-value (all hail IT).

Tip: Incident Cause Codes are also imperative for management and executive metrics and reports to identify the root cause of negatively viewed break/fixes. Some great examples of cause codes are “User Error”, “Knowledge/Training”, “Hardware”, “Software”, “Configuration”, “Vendor Configuration”, “Business Process”.

For example:

• if the email service goes down frequently, is the cause a “Configuration”, “Hardware”, “Software”, or “Vendor Configuration” issue
• if newly acquired laptops of a particular brand or model keeps crashing, is the cause a “Configuration” issue, “Hardware” malfunction, “Software” issue, or “Vendor Configuration”
• if many incidents are logged for the newly implemented HR system, is it a “Configuration” issue, “Vendor Configuration”, “Knowledge/Training”, or “Business Process” issue

Incident Cause Codes and other additional metrics are vital to measure KPIs, root-cause analysis, management and executive reporting.