Work on a problem in Service Operations Workspace

task australia Updated Sep 10, 2026 5 min read work-on-problem-sow.md
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Manage problems and problem tasks through their life cycle, share workarounds or fixes with related incidents, and create known error articles to help deflect incidents.

Before you begin

If you aren't using the base problem life cycle, you continue to use the classic experience to manage problems or problem tasks through their life cycle. From the problem record page, select Continue problem to be redirected to the ServiceNow AI Platform user interface where you can make state transitions. For information about state transitions of a problem, see Life cycle of a problem.

The base problem life cycle is included with the Problem Management  Best Practice - Madrid - State Model (com.snc.best_practice.problem.madrid.state_model) plugin. Use the Problem Management Migration Utility store application to enable this plugin and migrate your records to the base problem life cycle.

Role required: itil, problem_coordinator or higher (for managing the life cycle of the problem), problem_admin (for deleting the problem)

Procedure

  1. Open a problem.

    For information about creating a problem in Service Operations Workspace, see Create a problem in Service Operations Workspace.

  2. Perform any of the following actions on the problem record page.

Option

Description

View the unified dependency CMDB map in a new tab within the workspace view

For the reference fields such as Configuration item, Service offering and Service, select the Dependency view icon ([Omitted image "dependency-icon-r.png"] Alt text:).

Create a problem task associated with the problem

Select Create problem task, or select New from the Problem Tasks tab. For more information about creating a problem task, see Create a problem task in Service Operations Workspace.

Assess a problem

Select Assess and fill in the required fields.

Confirm a problem

Select Confirm to move the problem from the Assess state to the Root Cause Analysis state.

Investigate the root cause of a problem
  • If you are the subject matter expert for this problem area, carry out the investigation and select Fix to provide the cause notes and fix notes.
  • If you are not the subject matter expert and you need help from another team to investigate, create a problem task.

For more information about creating a problem task, see Create a problem task in Service Operations Workspace.

Create a change request from the problem

From the drop-down list next to Create problem task, select Create change request, or select New from the Fix Tasks tab.For information about creating a change request, see Create a change request in Service Operations Workspace.

Create an outage associated with the problem

From the drop-down list next to Create problem task, select Create outage.

Create a known error article

From the drop-down list next to Create problem task, select Create known error article.Known error articles document the root cause and the workaround of the problem. For a description of the field values, see Known error article form.

Assign the problem to yourself

Select Assign to me.

Mark a problem as a duplicate of an existing problem

From the drop-down list next to Cancel, select Mark duplicate and fill in the required fields.

Cancel a problem

Select Cancel problem and fill in the required fields.

Delete a problem

Select the more actions icon ([Omitted image "more-actions-icon.png"] Alt text:) and select Delete.

Create a known error article for a high-impact problem

Note: This option is available when you have the problem-coordinator role and the following conditions are applicable for a problem:

  • Impact is high.
  • A known error article is not already attached.
  • Work notes are not empty.
  1. From the contextual side panel, select the recommendations icon ([Omitted image "recommended-actions-icon.png"] Alt text:).
  2. From the Recommended actions tab, select Create article. For a description of the field values, see Known error article form.

Attach knowledge articles or records that help a quick resolution of a problem
  1. From the contextual side panel, select the agent assist icon ([Omitted image "agent-assist-icon.png"] Alt text:).
  2. Search for a resource and perform the required action. The knowledge articles attached here are displayed in the Related records tab.

Add an attachment to a problem

From the contextual side panel, select the attachments icon ([Omitted image "attachment-icon.png"] Alt text:).

Copy the record page URL to easily access the record

Select the more actions icon ([Omitted image "more-actions-icon.png"] Alt text:) and select Copy URL.

Share a workaround

Select the more actions icon ([Omitted image "more-actions-icon.png"] Alt text:) and select Share workaround.

Share a fix

Select the more actions icon ([Omitted image "more-actions-icon.png"] Alt text:) and select Share fix.

Create templates for reuse

From the contextual side panel, select the templates icon ([Omitted image "template-icon.png"] Alt text:).

Acknowledge the problem while recognizing there is currently no permanent resolution

From the drop-down list next to Cancel, select Accept risk and fill in the required fields.Note: You can apply workaround notes to a risk-accepted problem.

Re-analyze a problem

From a problem in the closed or resolved state, select Re-analyze. The state is changed to Root Cause Analysis.
**Parent Topic:**[Problem Management in Service Operations Workspace](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/service-operations-workspace/problem-sow.md)

Related topics

Create a problem in Service Operations Workspace

Problem Management models in Service Operations Workspace

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Work on a problem task in Service Operations Workspace

Problem Management in Service Operations Workspace reference

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