IT Service Management and Support Operations
IT Service Management and Support Operations tests how you run support as a service, not just fix devices. Expect questions on ITIL-style terminology, service desk workflow, priority setting, SLAs, knowledge management, and continual improvement.
Core rules
- An incident restores service; a problem finds and removes the root cause. Several incidents can share one problem record.
- Priority is based on impact and urgency. Impact reflects business scope; urgency reflects time sensitivity.
- An SLA is customer-facing; an OLA is internal; an underpinning contract supports a third party.
- Major incidents need one incident manager, clear communications, and escalation, not an unstructured technical scramble.
- Changes are standard, normal, or emergency. Standard changes are pre-authorized; normal changes go through CAB review.
- Knowledge articles must be reviewed and retired. Stale articles create repeat failures.
Worked example
A payroll application is down for all 400 employees two days before payday. Impact is high because the scope is enterprise-wide and pay is at risk. Urgency is high because of the deadline. Priority is critical or major. Declare a major incident, assign an incident manager, notify payroll and HR, investigate the most recent change, and open a problem record after service is restored. Do not wait for root cause before starting communication.
Traps
Do not label every repeat ticket a problem without linking incidents. Do not promise SLA restoration times before diagnosis. Do not close on user confirmation alone if monitoring still shows errors. Do not use an emergency change to bypass all records; document it retrospectively.