3.3.1. Example Value Stream: Request to Resolve Incident

💡 First Principle: The primary value stream for service restoration is a rapid, coordinated flow from engagement and detection through delivery and support, with feedback loops into improvement.

Scenario: A website monitoring tool (Monitoring and Event Management) detects that the site is down and automatically creates a high-priority ticket. This triggers the Incident Management process. The on-call engineer is paged, diagnoses the issue using information from Service Configuration Management, and applies a fix. The monitoring tool confirms the site is back up, and the incident is resolved.

This value stream describes the steps taken from a user reporting an issue to the service being restored. Steps:

1. Engage: User experiences an issue and contacts the Service Desk. The Service Desk logs the Incident (using the Incident Management practice). (Alternative entry: An Event is detected by Monitoring and Event Management, triggering an incident automatically).
2. Deliver & Support: The Incident is diagnosed and resolved (using the Incident Management practice). This may involve using knowledge articles, collaborating with technical teams, and accessing information from Service Configuration Management about the affected components.
3. Engage: The Service Desk communicates updates to the user and confirms resolution.
4. Improve: If the incident indicates an underlying issue, a Problem is created (Problem Management). The Problem investigation may identify a permanent fix, leading to a Change Enablement request. The resolution of the Problem may be implemented through a Change, potentially involving Deployment Management and Release Management. The incident data is used for trend analysis in Problem Management. The entire process is reviewed for Continual Improvement.

⚠️ Common Pitfall: The value stream ends when the incident is resolved. A mature value stream includes the Improve activity, ensuring that lessons are learned and preventative actions are taken via Problem Management.

Key Trade-Offs:

• Manual vs. Automated Triage: The Engage step can be manual (user calls service desk) or automated (monitoring tool creates ticket). Automation is faster but may lack the initial context a human can provide.

Reflection Question: In this value stream, how does the Service Configuration Management practice provide critical value to the Incident Management practice during the "Deliver & Support" activity?