Problem management explained

Problem management aims to identify, analyze, and resolve the root causes of recurring issues to prevent future incidents. Here's how you can manage problems in Atomicwork.

Please note that problem management is available only in IT workspaces.

Create a new problem

You can create a new Problem as an agent through an incident or from the left navigation bar.

• Click Create on the left nav bar and select Create a problem.

• Choose workspace name (only IT workspaces will be listed because problem management is available only in IT workspaces).

• Type out the subject and description.

• Choose the agent, status, impact, urgency, category, type, and impacted assets. All default incident attributes are required to create a new problem. Admins can create new attributes for problems from Settings > Your workspaces > [Workspace name] > Attributes (Service management).

To create a problem from an incident, you

• Click the ... button in an incident and select Create problem. You can also link an incident to an existing problem by following the same steps. When a problem is created from an incident, the problem title and description get generated with AI.

Link incidents/changes to a problem

You can link an incident to a problem from within the problem or the incident itself.

• Click the ... button in an incident and select Link to an existing problem.

• Alternatively, go to the problem, click the link icon, and select a request to link.

Here's how you can link a change

• Click the ... button in a change and select Create a change.

Problem assessment

Working on problems effectively requires a structured approach to identify root causes, implement solutions, and prevent future issues. Configure problem assessment forms so that every problem has all the information needed to understand the workaround/solution.

The assessment form is common to all problems. Any changes here would also get applied to all problems with the workspace.

• Go to Settings > Your workspaces > [Workspace name] > Workspace settings (Workspace settings). On the Requests tab, click Configure next to Problem assessment form. Alternatively, click the settings button in the Problem assessment section of any problem to open the assessment form setup.

• To fill out the assessment, edit the answers directly in the Problem assessment section of the problem. Your changes save automatically.

Generate tasks using AI or add them manually

• Click +Add tasks to add a task name, description, assignee and a due date for a task.

• You can also generate tasks using AI by click Generate tasks. Atom will use the linked incidents, problem name and description to come up with a list of relevant tasks.

Collaborate on a problem

Collaborating on problems often requires diverse perspectives to quickly identify root causes and implement effective solutions. Here's how you can collaborate on a problem:

• Click the Comments tab on the problem.

• You can post private notes, add a message to the problem's documentation or even broadcast a fix/workaround to all linked incidents.

If you'd like stakeholders to stay abreast of all updates in a problem, you can add them as followers to a problem.

• Click Follow on the problem to add yourself as a follower. To add other users, AI Coworkers or agent groups, click the followers icon next to it and pick them from one searchable list. They will receive notifications of all public updates to a problem.

Add a status for a problem

• Go to Settings > Your workspaces > [Workspace name] > Attributes (Service management), open the Service management tab, and click Status.

• You can add a new status for a problem by clicking an +Add button > entering a label > choosing the type > enabling/disabling SLA timer

• If you want to modify an existing status to be visible only in problems, you can click the label/ request type against the status and modify it.

Problem notifications

Problem notifications are delivered by Atom in Microsoft Teams/Slack. Here's a list of all notifications your agents will receive:

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