Problem Management

Problem Management

Problem Management tracks the root cause behind one or more incidents. Where the Tickets module handles individual incidents, a Problem groups the recurring ones, records the root cause and a workaround, flags a known error, and links to the Change that permanently fixes it.

Incidents ask "what's broken for this person?" — a Problem asks "why does this keep happening, and how do we stop it?"

The lifecycle

A problem moves through a settings-managed status flow (defaults):

New → Investigating → Root Cause Identified → Known Error → Resolved → Closed

Mark a problem a known error once a workaround exists, so the service desk can apply that workaround to new incidents while the permanent fix is in progress. Statuses and priorities are managed under Problem Management → Settings (add/edit/colour/default/active), like the other lookups.

Linking incidents

The incident↔problem link works from either side:

• From a ticket — the reading pane has a Problem strip. Click Link to problem to attach an existing problem (by number) or raise a new one straight from that incident.
• From the problem — use Link incident and enter the ticket number.

Linked incidents are listed on the problem; unlink with the ✕. On a multi-company install, an incident and a problem must belong to the same company to be linked.

Linking the fix (a Change)

Use Link change on a problem to connect the Change Management record that implements the permanent fix. This makes the full chain visible — incidents → problem → change — and is stored in the shared change_relations table.

AI helpers

Both use the Problem AI key (bring your own provider/key, set in Settings):

• Draft root cause — reads the linked incidents and proposes a root cause + workaround for you to review and save. Nothing is saved automatically.
• Detect problems — on the list, scans recent open incidents in the active company and proposes candidate problems (groups that likely share a cause). You confirm a suggestion to create the problem and link those incidents in one go.

Companies (multi-tenancy)

Each problem belongs to a company (taken from your active company when you create it) and is only visible to analysts who can access that company — exactly like tickets. On a single-company install none of this is visible (problems.tenant_id, analystCanAccessProblem()).

Files

• problem-management/ — index.php (list/detail/editor SPA), settings/, help.php, new/, includes/header.php; assets/js/problem-management.js.
• api/problem-management/ — list / get / save / delete; get/save/delete_problem_status + _priority; link_ticket / unlink_ticket; link_change / unlink_change; ai_root_cause / ai_suggest_problem.
• Tables: problems, problem_statuses, problem_priorities, problem_tickets, problem_audit (problem↔change link reuses change_relations).
• Module key problems (waffle menu + landing + analyst_modules).