ITSM Incidents vs.

Service Request Incident (Service Interruptions) Service Request

I use to have it now I dont It was working but now its not Incident unexpected disruption to normal business processes. There may be an underlying cause, but this is not the domain of incident management. Incident resolution (aka fix) is restoring normal business process. An incident is NOT just a case of something broken or failed. ITIL 3 is careful to point out that an event that COULD cause a failure or service disruption is ALSO an incident. This is typically an exception event as defined in Event Management. A user requesting a password reset because they have been locked out of a system or service is an incident.

(Simple Request)

I havent had it before Is it a Request for Information (RFI). It is not an incident as nothing has failed. But neither is it a service request, as no change is required to MS-Word functionality. RFIs of this nature can point towards a need for training. I have a new team member who can't signon because they don't know their password. A service request is NOT an incident because the person making the request has not suffered an interruption to or failure of service.

Examples
User states that they are unable to open Outlook (due to error message) User states that they can no longer print. User states they are missing their network drives. User is requesting new software. User is requesting status update User needs assistance in setting up signature, adding printer, and/or request for information.

Incidents are FIXED, problems are RESOLVED. The difference is that resolved also means 'Prevented from recurrence' which is most often what the Problem Manager does with a problem but rarely what the Service Desk does with an incident (particularly when applying a workaround. When you resolve a Incident - YOU FIX THE USER (Apply a workaround) - Get the user back to work ASAP When you resolve a Problem - YOU FIX THE TECHNOLOGY (find the RCA, Workaround - Know Error - Submit a RFC to remove the Root Cause - FIX THE TECHNOLOGY