The key to effective ITSM is ensuring that there is clear accountability and roles defined to carry out the practice of Service Operation. A role is often tied to a job description or work group description but does not necessarily need to be filled by one individual. The size of an organization, how it is structured, the existence of external partners and other factors will influence how roles are assigned.
The ITIL Roles model gives an overview of all the different roles described for ITIL Version 3. The Roles are assigned to the corresponding processes and activities.
For example, the following roles are needed to carry out the Problem Management Process:
• Problem Manager: There should be a designated person responsible for Problem Management. This role will coordinate all Problem Management activities and will have specific responsibility for:
o Liaison with all problem resolution groups to ensure swift resolution of problems within SLA targets
o Ownership and protection of the Known Error Database (KEDB)
o Formal closure of all Problem Records
o Arranging, running, documenting and all follow-up activities relating to Major Problem Reviews.
• Problem Solving Group Member: The actual solving of problems is likely to be undertaken by one or more technical support groups and/or suppliers or support contractors – under the coordination of the Problem Manager. Where an individual problem is serious enough to warrant it, a dedicated problem management team should be formulated to work together in overcoming that particular problem.
• Problem Support Employee: Problem support has both reactive and proactive responsibilities, as follows:
o Reactive responsibilities include identifying Problems (by analyzing Incident data, for example), investigating Problems, according to impact, through to resolution or error identification, raising RFCs to clear errors, monitoring progress on the resolution of Known Errors, advising Incident Management staff on the best available Workarounds for Incidents related to unresolved Problems/Known Errors
o Pro-active responsibilities include identifying trends and potential Problem sources (by reviewing Incident and Problem analyses), raising RFCs to prevent the recurrence of Problems, preventing the replication of Problems across multiple systems
