High Volume Incident-Management Strategies

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High Volume Incident-Management Strategies

PostedOctober 9, 2024
UpdatedOctober 9, 2024
ByDawn Christine Simmons

High Volume Incident-Management Strategies : These tips allow your team to handle incident surges efficiently, while ensuring long-term solutions are in place to prevent further impact on the business.

We have those days when managing a sudden influx of incidents can easily overwhelm even the most experienced IT teams, especially when the root cause is unclear. When this happens, deploying advanced High Volume Incident-Management Strategies becomes essential. These strategies help you tame the storm, quickly assess, categorize, and resolve incidents, ensuring that recurring issues are addressed at the root and prevented from resurfacing.

In this guide, we will explore how to leverage ServiceNow’s bulk-edit capabilities, problem management workflows, and automated processes to handle a large volume of incidents efficiently. We will also examine how and when to create Problem records to address underlying causes.

By implementing High Volume Incident-Management Strategies, IT teams can reduce incident resolution time by up to 60% compared to manual, siloed approaches. Productivity increases by 30%, and the likelihood of repeat incidents decreases by 25%. Let’s dive into these best practices and understand how they can transform your approach to handling high-volume incidents.

1. Incident Management: The First Step in High Volume Incident-Management Strategies

1.1 Start by Acknowledging the Incident Volume

Whenever you’re dealing with a high volume of incidents, the first step is to acknowledge their receipt. This not only ensures transparency but also sets expectations with stakeholders, giving them confidence that the issue is being handled.

1.1.1 Use the Incident List View to Acknowledge Tickets

Start by navigating to the Incident List View in ServiceNow. Here, you can filter and select incidents that share a common root cause, such as those triggered by a monitoring error. Once selected, use the bulk-edit feature to change their state to “Acknowledged.”

Acknowledgement Sample Bulk Communication Template:

When using templates, always personalize the content to fit the situation or audience. Simply copying can feel impersonal. Tailor the language and details to ensure the message is thoughtful and relevant.

Dear [Stakeholder],

We are currently managing a high volume of incidents triggered by a monitoring process. Our team is actively analyzing these tickets and will address them as needed. Urgent tickets will be prioritized, and non-urgent ones will be handled in due course.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best regards,  
[Your Name], IT Service Owner

This initial acknowledgement step helps stakeholders understand that the issue is being actively managed.

2. Triage and Classify the Incidents: A Key High Volume Incident-Management Strategy

2.1 Analyze and Group the Incidents

After acknowledging the tickets, the next step is to categorize and triage them. This process allows you to separate critical incidents from non-urgent ones, saving time and ensuring the right issues get priority attention.

2.1.1 Use Filters to Group Similar Incidents

Using ServiceNow’s filtering capabilities, you can group similar incidents to identify:

  • Incidents that are service-affecting and require immediate action.
  • Non-urgent tickets that were triggered by errors in monitoring but don’t impact business operations.

2.1.2 Assign Ownership for Actionable Incidents

Once you’ve categorized the incidents, use the bulk assignment feature to assign critical tickets to relevant teams. Meanwhile, assign non-impactful tickets to yourself or other team members for later analysis or closure. This method ensures that your team can focus on the most urgent incidents without unnecessary delays.

3. Problem Management: When and Why to Create a Problem Record

3.1 Knowing When to Create a Problem Record

Recognizing the right time to create a Problem record is critical in High Volume Incident-Management Strategies. A Problem record should be created when:

  • There is a recurring root cause that needs a permanent solution.
  • Temporary incident resolutions are no longer effective.

The transition from Incident to Problem Management helps identify:

  1. What’s broken: Incidents highlight specific areas where the service is broken and needs fixing.
  2. Why it happened: Problem Management investigates the root cause.
  3. How to fix it permanently: Solving the root issue prevents similar incidents in the future.

3.1.1 Create a Problem Record in ServiceNow

To address the root cause of the incidents:

  1. Navigate to the Problem Management section in ServiceNow.
  2. Open a new Problem record, documenting the issue (e.g., a faulty monitoring process) and how it triggered the high volume of incidents.
  3. Link all related incidents to the Problem record for easier tracking.

Problem Sample Bulk Communication Template:

When personalizing a Problem Bulk Communication Template, focus on:

  1. Incident Details: Mention the specific issue.
  2. Resolution Status: Give a clear update on progress.
  3. Next Steps: Provide relevant instructions.
  4. Acknowledge Impact: Recognize how it affects them.
  5. Contact Info: Offer support details.
Dear [Stakeholder],

We have identified the root cause of the incident spike. A Problem Ticket has been created to address the monitoring process error that triggered these incidents. Our team is working to resolve this issue and prevent further occurrences.

Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,  
[Your Name], IT Service Owner

This process ensures that the root cause is documented, analyzed, and resolved, preventing future incidents.

3.2 Why Incident to Problem Management is Essential

A sound Incident-to-Problem Management process is key to identifying, understanding, and fixing issues at their core. This approach provides clarity on:

  • What is broken? Incidents reveal the elements that need immediate attention.
  • Why did it break? Problem Management digs deeper to uncover the true cause.
  • How do we fix it permanently? The Problem record helps establish a long-term solution.

The ultimate goal is to prevent similar incidents from happening again, ensuring a smoother business operation.

4. Bulk Close Non-Actionable Incidents

A nice tutorial for how to close an Incident in ServiceNow. This gives you the foundation to close a single record was created by Lui Iacobellis. If you are not familiar with closing single tickets, it is important to become very familiar with single Incident Closure before moving to the more advanced Bulk Update closure.

4.1 Closing Incidents in Bulk

Once you’ve created the Problem record and identified non-actionable incidents, it’s time to close them in bulk. Bulk closure is one of the most time-saving High Volume Incident-Management Strategies.

4.1.1 Use the Bulk Edit Tool to Close Tickets

To efficiently manage non-urgent tickets:

  1. Filter out non-actionable incidents in the Incident List View.
  2. Select these tickets and use the bulk edit feature to mark them as “Closed” or “Resolved.”

Bulk Incident Closure Communication Template:

When personalizing an Incident Management Closure Communication Template, focus on:

  1. Incident Details: Mention the specific issue.
  2. Resolution Status: Give a clear update on what was done to validate the issue.
  3. Closure: Provide relevant instructions as they exist for what to do if the problem reoccurs.
  4. Acknowledge Impact: Recognize how it affects them, thank them for their support.
  5. Contact Info: Offer support details and provide any helpful knowledge articles that might exist related to the topic.
Dear [Stakeholder],

After reviewing your ticket, we’ve determined that it was generated due to a monitoring process error and does not reflect an actual service issue. The ticket has been closed.

To prevent further occurrences, we have raised a Problem ticket to address the root cause. Should you have any questions, feel free to reach out or refer to the Problem ticket [Problem Ticket ID].

Best regards,  
[Your Name], IT Service Owner

5. Ongoing Monitoring and Communication

5.1 Monitor the Problem and Follow Up

After creating the Problem record and closing non-actionable tickets, it’s crucial to monitor the root cause until it is fully resolved. Make sure to:

  • Regularly check the Problem ticket for progress.
  • Continue communicating with stakeholders about the resolution process.

Once the root cause is resolved, ensure all linked incidents are closed and send out a final update.

6. Summary: Key High Volume Incident-Management Strategies

  1. Acknowledge: Start by acknowledging incidents using bulk-edit features to inform stakeholders.
  2. Triage and Classify: Group and classify incidents to prioritize urgent issues and delegate tasks.
  3. Create a Problem Record: Identify when to escalate incidents into a Problem record to address the root cause.
  4. Bulk Close Non-Actionable Incidents: Close non-actionable tickets in bulk to save time and resources.
  5. Monitor and Follow Up: Track the Problem record, ensuring the root cause is resolved, and regularly update stakeholders.

Other Resources and High Volume Incident-Management Strategies

Digital Center of Excellence: Business Process, Digital Tranformation and AI. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14470145/
Digital Center of Excellence: Business Process, Digital Transformation and AI. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14470145/
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