Incident

An incident is an unplanned event that impairs or interrupts the normal operation of an IT system. These include, for example, disruptions or quality reductions in a service.

Incidents can arise from hardware or software problems and often lead to IT service failures or limitations. In IT service management, such incidents are documented and processed in order to restore normal operations as quickly as possible and minimize effects for users.

The first step in incident management is for an incident to be detected by users or monitoring systems and recorded in a ticketing system. It is then prioritized and assigned to the appropriate teams. Once the root cause has been analyzed, the problem is resolved. Finally, the system is checked to ensure that the service is functioning properly again, and the solution is documented.

Examples

• Server suddenly fails
• Website is not available
• Printer does not work in the office
• Network connection breaks off