Home 
 1. Overview 
 What is Incident Management? 
 Why use Incident Management? 
 Who uses Incident Management? 
 How Incident Management works 
 What does Incident Management cost? 
 2. Implementation Guide 
 Define what needs to be done to implement Incident...  
  Prepare to implement Incident Management 
 The Incident Management implementation plan 
 Incident Management post implementation review 
 3. Operations Guide 
  Who carries out Incident Management? 
 DW1105 When does Incident Management occur? 
 How to operate Incident Management 
  Measuring the results of Incident Management 
 4. Toolkit 
 Incident Management downloads 
 Incident Management resources 
 5. Roles and responsibilities 
 Service Desk role in Incident Management 
 Technical support role in Incident Management 
 User role in Incident Management 
 6. Review 
 Recap of Incident Management  
 Checklist  
Who carries out Incident Management?
Service Desk role in Incident Management Technical support role in Incident Management User role in Incident Management
  • Incident Management starts with the user discovering the incident and the information they provide.
  • The Service Desk carries out initial investigations into the incident and update call logs with resolutions.
  • A technician or someone providing technical support will conduct further incident investigations and closure of incidents.
  • The service desk completes the call log and incident sheet.
  • The service desk or technician informs the user of the resolution.

Roles and functions in the incident process  
  • Service Desk to be the single point of contact between all roles in the incident process.
  • Service Desk to log, monitor and track the progress of the incident.
  • Technician support to diagnose and resolve the incident or implement a workaround.
  • Technician support to progress unresolved incidents through the problem management process.
  • Any additional first line support groups eg, configuration management or change management specialist to be consulted.
  • Second-line and third-line support groups, including specialist support groups and external suppliers to be consulted.
  • User to keep the service desk informed of any further changes to the state of the affected equipment (sometimes the  computer can start working again when different incidents are resolved).



Go back to Operations Guide
Service Desk role in Incident Management
The Service Desk responsibilities include:
    • checking the incident sheet has been completed by the user
    • actioning the incident sheet
    • logging the incident in the call log
    • performing the initial incident diagnostics
    • requesting technician support when required
    • ownership of the call, monitoring, tracking and communication
    • updating records (call log, incident sheet) with the resolution
    • closure of Incidents
    • filing of incident sheet and incident diagnostics sheets
    • progressing any follow up action (eg, follow through into problem management).
Technical support role in Incident Management
The Technicians role within Incident Management must still have the same focus - aim to restore the service.
The technician will keep the Service Desk informed at all stages.

Technician support to diagnose and resolve the incident or implement a workaround
    • Receive details of the incident from the Service Desk with a completed incident sheet.
    • Perform diagnostics and use the incident diagnostics sheet to record action taken.
    • Update the incident sheet and the diagnostics sheet.
    • Resolve the incident with use of workarounds if required.

Technician support to progress unresolved incidents through the Problem Management process
    • Detection of possible problems (before incidents are detected) and action through Problem Management.
    • Escalation of an incident into Problem Management; workarounds should always be implemented first to reduce the time pressure to resolve the problem.

Additional first line support groups eg, configuration management or change management specialist to be consulted
    • more specialised technician within the school
    • contact with 3rd party support provider
    • internet based support groups
    • technician in another school or focus group, online forums etc.

Second-and third-line support groups, including specialist support groups and external supplier
  • specialist software support groups for example operating systems and applications
  • specialist hardware support groups for example manufacturers of printers and PCs
  • specialist suppliers, for example whiteboard, projector and digital systems suppliers.
User role in Incident Management
1. A user discovers an incident.
2. The user tries to repeat the conditions that caused the incident to see if the incident recurs.
3. The user completes the incident sheet and passes it to the Service Desk
4. It is important that the user includes information about the incident or request
    • What did they expect to happen for example; the printer to print a document?
    • What exactly did happen for example, the printer power light was on, but a blank page printed?
    • What did they check for example, that there was paper in the printer?
    • To their knowledge, when did the equipment or software last work?
    • Is the user aware that this equipment or software has had the same problems previously?
    • Is there anything further to add that might help with resolving the incident?

It would help the technician if the user were available to discuss the incident. However careful completion of the incident sheet should avoid the necessity for this.
The user needs to notify the service desk if the incident appears to 'resolve itself' before a technician's visit.
The user is notified when the call is closed and informed of the resolution that was implemented.
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