Demand management (需要管理) is the activity of understanding and forecasting how much a service will be used (demand) and adjusting things so that it stays in balance with what can be provided.
It records how user numbers change and how usage rises and falls by time of day and season, and uses this to estimate future demand. If demand looks likely to exceed what can be provided, it prompts preparations to add resources, and it may also ask users to avoid peak hours so that the demand side itself is smoothed out.
AnalogyIt is like a power company estimating the summer-afternoon peak in advance and asking customers to save power or shift when they use it, so that the peak comes down.
Exam points
Mix-upDemand management tracks how usage changes on the user side. Planning and securing enough resource capacity to meet that usage is the job of capacity management (容量管理, also called キャパシティ管理).
Mix-upDemand management deals with the usage of the whole service in aggregate. Handling each user's requests one by one is service request management (サービス要求管理).
Service request management (サービス要求管理) is the activity of accepting routine requests from users that have been anticipated in advance (service requests) and handling them by set procedures.
Examples of service requests include requests for information, account creation and applications to borrow equipment. Because the procedure and any required approvals are fixed in advance for each type of request, the work is done to the same quality even when the person handling it changes. Contacts from users are received by the service desk, which routes anything that is a request into this procedure.
AnalogyIt is like asking at a library counter to have a book brought in from another branch: the request goes through a fixed form and procedure.
Exam points
Mix-upA service request (サービス要求) is an anticipated request, so a procedure can be prepared for each type. Unplanned outages or drops in quality are handled as incidents (インシデント), and the priority is fast recovery.
Incident management (インシデント管理) is the activity of returning a service to its normal state as quickly as possible when it suffers an outage or drop in quality (an incident), keeping the impact on business small.
Detect and log
Categorize and prioritize
Restore service
Confirm recovery and close
Close it only after confirming that users can use the service.
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Priority is decided by combining the size of the business impact with the urgency of the response. Even if the cause is not yet known, a workaround (回避策, or the loanword ワークアラウンド) that lets business continue by other means is used first if one exists. When the front desk alone cannot resolve it, the case is handed over to specialist staff.
AnalogyIt is like getting a flat tire while driving: before taking it to a garage, you first put on the spare so the car can be driven again.
Exam points
ExamThe purpose of incident management (インシデント管理) is to restore a service that has stopped or degraded quickly and keep the impact on business to a minimum.
ExamIn incident management, restoring the service comes before finding the cause, and any known workaround (回避策) is passed on to users first.
ExamIncidents (インシデント) include not only cases where the service stops but also cases where its quality drops, such as slower responses.
Problem management (問題管理) is the activity of identifying the root cause behind incidents and putting forward a permanent solution so that the same incident does not happen again.
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The cause behind incidents is called a problem. A problem whose cause or workaround has been found is recorded as a known error, which helps the next time a contact about the same symptoms comes in. Recurring incidents and high-impact incidents can trigger an investigation.
AnalogyIt is like a junction where accidents keep happening: besides treating the injured, you fix the blind corner itself.
How to rememberThink of it as a doctor would: the incident in front of you is the symptom, and the problem is the disease itself.
Exam points
ExamThe process whose purpose is to investigate the root cause of incidents, put forward a solution and prevent recurrence is problem management (問題管理).
Mix-upA permanent solution from problem management is put in place only after passing through the procedure that assesses and approves changes to the system (change management, 変更管理).
Escalation (エスカレーション) is when staff hand a case they cannot resolve with their own knowledge or authority over to a specialist or a higher-level manager.
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Incidents that a first-line point of contact such as the service desk cannot resolve are passed to more specialized second-line support and beyond. Depending on who receives the case, it is sometimes divided into functional escalation, which goes to staff with greater technical skill, and hierarchical escalation, which goes to a manager with the authority to decide or approve.
AnalogyIt is like a family doctor who writes a referral letter and sends a patient whose symptoms are beyond them to a specialist department at a large hospital.
How to rememberEscalation comes from the same family as escalator: picture the case being carried up one floor.