COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Incident & Problem Management for Service Desks course. This program will equip you with the knowledge, analytical capability, and structured processes required to manage incidents and problems effectively within a service desk environment. You will explore the essential role of the service desk analyst, the importance of consistent processes, and the techniques that support rapid incident resolution, strong communication, and continuous improvement. This course also examines how service desks collaborate with other support groups, maintain service levels, and deliver value to both customers and the wider organisation.

This course begins by examining the important role of the service desk analyst and how to use processes to resolve incidents and problems efficiently and consistently. You will explore how to solve incidents methodically, the stages of the incident management process, and how to gather all available data to create meaningful information for diagnosis and decision-making. This section also explains the different types of data involved in incident handling—including customer data, incident data, status data, and resolution data—and how to produce both short and detailed incident descriptions that support accurate assessment. You will explore how to diagnose an incident, how to simulate the customer’s actions to reproduce errors, how to establish technology standards, and the benefits of doing so to improve speed, consistency, and quality. This section also examines how to use diagnostic tools, how to develop and execute a course of action, when to engage additional resources, how to take ownership of incidents, the responsibilities of the incident owner, and the responsibilities of those sharing ownership.

The next learning area focuses on communication and escalation. You will explore the importance of providing status updates to both management and customers and when management notification is appropriate. This section also examines the goals of management notification, when customer notification is necessary, and the goals of customer communication during incident handling. You will explore the ways service desks deliver value, build productive relationships with other support groups, and review and understand SLAs, OLAs, and contract obligations. This section also explains how to provide mutual feedback with other groups, the importance of job shadowing to strengthen understanding and collaboration, how to review incident management system information, and the importance of strong communication between the service desk and other support teams. You will also explore the importance of giving praise as part of relationship-building and knowledge sharing.

A further part of the program focuses on incident closure and prevention. You will examine how to close incidents properly by confirming resolution, updating records, and communicating outcomes. This section also explores how to focus on incident and problem prevention by using proactive analysis, documented patterns, and team collaboration.

The final learning area focuses on structured problem-solving methodologies used across service desk operations. You will explore the brainstorming method, the Five Whys technique, cause and effect analysis, Pareto analysis, and the Kepner-Tregoe problem analysis approach. This section explains how each technique supports the identification of root causes, prevents recurrent issues, and enhances long-term service quality.

By the end of this course you will be able to manage incidents efficiently, gather and interpret critical data, communicate effectively with stakeholders, collaborate with other support groups, apply structured problem-solving techniques, and contribute to a service desk environment that delivers reliable, high-quality support and long-term incident prevention.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

• The importance role of the service desk analyst
• How to using processes to resolve incidents and problems?
• How to solve incidents methodically?
• The incident management process
• How to gather all available data and create information?
• The different types of data such as: customer, incident, status and the resolution data
• The short and detailed incident descriptions
• How to diagnose an incident?
• How to simulate the customer’s actions?
• How to establish technology standards?
• The benefits of establishing technology standards
• How to use diagnostic tools?
• How to develop and execute a course of action?
• When to engage additional resources?
• How to take ownership?
• The incident owner responsibilities
• The sharing owner responsibilities
• The importance of providing status updates to management and customers?
• When management notification is appropriate?
• The goals of management notification
• When customer notification is appropriate?
• The goals of customer notification
• The ways that service desks deliver value
• How to build good relationships with other support groups?
• How to review and understand your company’s SLAs, OLAs, and contracts?
• How to provide mutual feedback with other groups?
• The importance of job shadowing
• How to review incident management system information?
• The importance of communication between service desk and other support groups?
• The importance of giving praise
• How to close incidents?
• How to focus on incident and problem prevention?
• The brainstorming method
• The Five Whys technique
• The cause and effect analysis
• The Pareto analysis
• The Kepner-Tregoe problem analysis

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.