Does ITIL permit modification of Closed Records?

[McBean]

My company is trying to put a quality/audit process in place to review tickets (Incident/Change/Problem/...) that requires when a ticket is found to have an error in it, they want to be able to re-access the closed records and update it with the pertinent details.

This would include being able to roll back completion times to better line up to when work was actually completed.

The underlying concern is, doe ITIL have a stringent policy about being able to modify records that have already been closed out with resolution? If there's a reference somewhere, please quote it, or refer it.

Thanks.

[Mark-OLoughlin]

Hi,

I think its more what suits your needs and what is practical.

If you keep updating a closed record you do not get new records created so the number fof instances of that issue appear smaller that what they actually are.

Also you may have a requirement to allow a user to call back within 24 hours to report if their issue is still not resolved. This allows you close a call at the service desk and puts the onus on the caller to report back if the issue is not resolved. If they con back withing 24 hours the original call gets opened if not it stays closed and is treated as a new call.

There is a fine balance inthere and it needs to be adhered to.

[JoePearson]

I agree with Mark's answer in the context of re-opening a call that the user thinks was incorrectly closed (for example).

But if you're asking about changing data like actual close date & time in a closed call, for information accuracy rather than because of a user interaction - I don't think ITIL says anything about whether it's allowed or not. In my view it's a good thing - if you're going to make management decisions based on information that information ought to be accurate.

What ITIL does say is that you need to continually improve your processes. If you find an inaccurate call-close time, by all means edit the call, but also put in place a corrective action to ensure that the call-close time is recorded (more) correctly in the first place in future calls.

Joe

[jmc724]

Ideally, you do not want to re-open closed tickets from an audit perspective. You may want to have the ability to update the closure code of the ticket or relate it to a master problem ticket in which a general synopsis (post mortem) can be written in the worklog or the ticket.

[Mark-OLoughlin]

Hi,

"you do not want to re-open closed tickets " except where the solution provided has not resolved the user issue and they call back within a reasnoable amount of time to report the fact that their call was closed and their issue was not resolved.
_________________
Mark O'Loughlin
ITSM / ITIL Consultant

[Timo]

ITIL does not say anything specifically on that subject. It is a decision made by an organization depending on goals they are trying to achieve with their support processes.

From my point of view, tickets and their data are a measure of your process and indicate gaps in overall process flow, staff training, availability of documentation, escalation procedures, etc...

Thus in my mind you would not want to reopen tickets even for audit purposes because an audit is intended to unearth just the types of issues listed above and provided as examples by others on this thread. That being said, perhaps there should be a procedure in place should a need absolutely arise, but ITIL leaves it up to an organization to decide on that.

Hope this helps,

Michael