Legacy Problem form

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Legacy Problem form

    The Legacy Problem form in ServiceNow (Xanadu release) is designed to capture and manage problem records with specific fields that help identify, categorize, prioritize, and assign problems effectively. This form supports tracking the lifecycle and impact of problems on business services and configuration items.

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    Key Fields and Their Practical Use

    • Business service: Specifies the business service affected by the problem. If the service is linked to other active tasks, an icon allows quick access to all related active tasks and a dependency map to visualize service impact.
    • Configuration item (CI): Identifies the CI related to the problem, indicating the problem type (e.g., hardware, network). This helps in proper categorization and resolution planning.
    • Change request: Links any associated change requests to the problem for integrated tracking.
    • Major problem: A checkbox to flag high-priority problems that require review attention.
    • Knowledge: Automatically submits a knowledge article upon problem closure to support knowledge management.
    • State: Tracks problem status, including Open, Pending Change, Known Error (with workaround), and Closed/Resolved. This guides users through the problem resolution lifecycle and access to Known Errors for itil users.
    • Impact, Urgency, and Priority: Impact and Urgency fields allow selection of High, Medium, or Low levels. Priority is auto-calculated based on these inputs, guiding service desk response urgency.
    • Assignment group: Automatically populated based on the CI or service offering, with business rules that can be customized via properties. Restricts assignment to groups based on user roles to maintain security.
    • Assigned to: Specifies the individual responsible for the problem. Can be auto-assigned via assignment rules.
    • Parent: Links the problem to a parent task for hierarchical tracking.
    • Short description and Description: Provide a summary and detailed explanation of the problem for clear communication.
    • Work notes list: Allows users to receive notifications on updates. Users can add themselves to monitor specific problems.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enables clear identification and classification of problems by business service and CI to streamline resolution processes.
    • Supports prioritization and assignment automation ensuring timely response according to business impact and urgency.
    • Provides role-based security controls to prevent improper assignment and maintain governance.
    • Integrates problem management with change requests and knowledge management to enhance operational efficiency.
    • Improves visibility into related active tasks and service dependencies, helping teams understand broader impacts.
    • Facilitates communication and collaboration through detailed descriptions and work notes tracking.

    Description of the field values for the legacy problem form.

    Table 1. Problem form fields
    Name Definition
    Business service Business service that the problem applies to.

    If you select a business service as the configuration item and that business service is also listed as the configuration item in any other active task, the active tasks icon (other active tasks) appears. Click the icon to view the list of all the other active tasks that are affecting the business service.

    You can view the BSM map (dependency view) of the selected business service by clicking the dependency icon dependency map icon.
    Configuration item Configuration item (CI) that the problem applies to. The CI class of the selected configuration item identifies the type of problem, for example, hardware, network, or database.
    Change request Change request associated with the problem.
    Major problem Check box to prioritize a problem and highlight that it needs a review.
    Knowledge Check box to automatically submit a knowledge article when a problem is closed.
    State State of the problem:
    • Open: Open and unassigned.
    • Pending Change: Waiting for the corresponding change request to be closed.
    • Known Error: This problem is not going to be fixed and there is a workaround. Users with the itil role have access to the Known Errors module.
    • Closed/Resolved: The problem is fixed and closed.
    Impact Effect that the problem has on business. Select the appropriate impact level (High, Medium, or Low).
    Urgency Extent to which the problem resolution can bear delay. Select the appropriate urgency level (High, Medium, orLow).
    Priority How quickly the service desk should address the problem (Critical, High, Moderate, Low, or Planning). The Priority field is read-only and is set according to the Impact and Urgency values entered.
    Assignment group The group who will work on the incident.
    The business rule Populate Assignment Group based on CI/SO populates the Assignment group field based on the support group available for the configuration item (CI) or the Service offering consecutively.
    Note:
    The business rule is triggered when an incident is created or updated and when the Assignment group and the Assigned to field is empty.
    If you want to override the default value, you need to create new properties and provide the field in the property value that must be used to populate the Assignment group field. Create the properties in the following order of preference:
    • com.snc.problem.ci_assignment_group.field_name: identifies which CI field populates the Assignment group field.
    • com.snc.problem.service_offering_assignment_group.field_name: identifies which service offering field populates the Assignment group field.
    Note:
    The sys_user_group read ACL calls the SNCRoleUtil function. The function verifies whether the group that is reviewed contains either the admin role or security_admin role. The function allows the user to view the group only if the user has the same role. As a result, a user with the itil role cannot assign an incident to a group that has the admin role or security_admin role nor to any group whose parent has those role.
    Assigned to Specific user that the problem is assigned to. If an assignment rule applies, the problem is automatically assigned to the appropriate user or group.
    Parent The parent task for this problem.
    Short description Summary of the problem.
    Description Detailed description of the problem.
    Work notes list Users who receive notification when work notes are added to the problem. Click the Add me icon to add yourself to the work notes list for problems you are interested in monitoring.