IT Helpdesk
IT professionals face unique challenges when it comes to managing their problems. They know that when hardware/software/client interface produces problems, dynamics are set in motion that can quickly cascade into nightmare proportions:
-Pressure to immediately reestablish service to the customer
-An already existing backlog of trouble tickets
-A relentless daily flow of in-coming trouble tickets
-A reality that sees a problem quickly affect thousands of clients
Root cause analysis takes on a special quality in this environment. Dealing with this problem-mill takes a new level of problem managing skill and a new level of problem-solving capability. REASON Root Cause Analysis provides the problem-solving technology and the tool to manage those problems and changes.
Let’s start with the premise that each of the trouble-tickets represents a lot of unhappy customers. The importance of your response time and the permanency of the fix both are critical to your success. The first part of that success equation is the easiest because, if you have a means to generate a quick and valid remedy to get things up and running again, you in effect have put your finger in the dyke. But now, you will need to find your best and permanent remedies that will avoid similar potentials in the future. Relying only upon the first part of the success equation will cast your problem-solvers in the role of firemen, racing from one fire to the next. Instead, REASON Root Cause Analysis provides you with a managed solution to the dilemma of IT problems, so that your problem-solvers spend just the right amount of time and effort to get the level of solutions data most appropriate to the problem.
One of the keys to control with REASON Root Cause Analysis is that when working on critical issues, ALL causes of the specific instance of the problem are identified and analyzed. This means to the Problem Manager that REASON provides a reliable and realistic solution to closing the valve on that in-flowing pipeline of trouble tickets. For instance, if you have already separated problems into categories, you can randomly select several cases from each category for analysis with REASON. You will often find that there were causes shared between cases in each category. Probably you will discover that causes existed in common between the categories as well.
In short instead of only working from the top of the pile trying to work-off the backlog, you will be able to use REASON Root Cause Analysis to identify actions that can be taken to deal permanently with whole classes of problems at one time. You of course must continue to respond to the fires, but will also be building a firebreak against recurrence.
REASON Root Cause Analysis does not rely for its answers upon cause lists, cause categories or canned questions. Instead, REASON is an interactive process that guides you and teaches you how to ask the right questions at the right time, to get the right answers. With this whole-picture perspective, it is easy to spot those root causes that are shared in common between seemingly different kinds of problems.
The REASON method and tools enable you to find and remove general systemic causes from the environment. With REASON Root Cause Analysis, you fix the business processes that generate and permit the problem. That fills the part of the success equation that calls for permanent fixes, the part that keeps smiles back on the faces of your customers.