ITIL-4 - Know the purpose and key terms of 15 ITIL practices (18% of the exam) - Section 6.2

Recall the definitions of the key ITIL terms IT asset, event, configuration item, change, incident, problem, and known error.

Recall the ITIL 4 definitions of the foundational terms: an event as a state change significant for management, an incident as an unplanned interruption or reduction in quality, a problem as a cause or potential cause of incidents, and a known error as a problem that has been analysed but not resolved. Keep configuration item and IT asset distinct, since not every configuration item is an asset.

IT assetEventConfiguration itemChangeIncident, problem, known error

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleKnow the purpose and key terms of 15 ITIL practiceseasy

Which statement correctly distinguishes an incident, a problem, and a known error in ITIL 4?

AAn incident is an unplanned interruption to a service, a problem is a cause or potential cause of incidents, and a known error is a problem that has been analysed but not resolved. Correct
BAn incident is the cause of a fault, a problem is an interruption to a service, and a known error is a resolved problem.
CAn incident is a potential cause of failures, a problem is an analysed cause, and a known error is an unplanned interruption.
DAn incident and a problem describe the same event, and a known error is simply any incident whose cause has been documented.

An incident is an interruption, a problem is its cause or potential cause, and a known error is an analysed but unresolved problem. The three terms form a chain in ITIL 4: the incident is the visible interruption, the problem is the underlying cause investigated to prevent recurrence, and the known error is that problem after analysis when no permanent fix has yet been applied.

Why A is correct: Correct. This matches the ITIL 4 definitions exactly: an incident is the interruption, a problem is the underlying cause, and a known error is that problem once analysed but still unresolved.

Why B is wrong: This is tempting because it uses all the right words, but it swaps their meanings. Incident and problem are reversed, and a known error is an analysed but unresolved problem, not a resolved one.

Why C is wrong: This is attractive because each phrase is real ITIL wording, but the terms are misassigned. The potential-cause wording belongs to a problem, and the interruption wording belongs to an incident, not a known error.

Why D is wrong: This is a common misconception because incidents and problems are related, but ITIL 4 keeps them distinct: an incident is an interruption while a problem is its cause, and a known error is an analysed problem, not a documented incident.

See more ITIL-4 practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in Know the purpose and key terms of 15 ITIL practices

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the ITIL-4 bank for this domain.

An IT asset, because a valuable component has been identified as central to the failures
Why it is wrong: Tempting because a component was pinpointed, but an IT asset is a financially valuable component that contributes to a service. The stem records an analysed cause of failures, not a valuable item to be tracked, so it is not an IT asset.
An incident for which a workaround has been applied and the service restored.
Why it is wrong: This is tempting because known errors often have workarounds, but a workaround acts on the underlying problem, not on a single incident. A known error is defined by its status as an analysed problem, not by service restoration.
An unplanned interruption to a service that has already been logged by the service desk.
Why it is wrong: This is tempting because known errors relate to things that go wrong, but a logged interruption is an incident. A known error concerns the understood cause behind incidents, not the disruption experienced by the user.

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