Link multiple problems to one incident

Question

It appears that it is only possible to link one problem to an incident. Most other links seem to allow for a many to many link, for example many incidents can be linked to one problem, many configuration items can be linked to a change, etc.

We have situations where we use an incident to ask the person within the department that does purchasing to order equipment, and if I'm trying to bundle a request for multiple failed items that each have their own associated problem I can't link all those problems to the incident that I create requesting the equipment be ordered.

claytonalee · Accepted Answer

What you're describing seems to be the opposite of ITIL, which I believe is SW's intent. Multiple incidents link to a problem, but multiple problems cannot link to an incident. Incident Management Process feeds into the Problem Management process. If you're doing multiple purchases then you would like the incidents/requests to the Purchase Order, not the problems.

If you're unfamiliar with ITIL, I suggest reviewing the Service Operations lifecycle, which go into more detail on the inputs and outputs of Incident, problem, and request fulfillment processes.

I hope that helps clarify!

Link multiple problems to one incident

Top Replies