What is an Issue Management Process?

There is an easy, fast, and painless way to address issues as they arise. It is also known as an issue management process. The issue management process outlines the preferred approach for identifying, analyzing, and managing issues as they arise. It is typically a formalized procedure that is created, reviewed, and approved for use. The process should cover how issues are raised, logged, and tracked and what resolution actions are taken. It can be a simple plan with a few sections, such as how to identify an issue, assignment responsibilities, and issue log.

What is issue management?

According to the Institute for Public Relations, issue management is the process of identifying and resolving issues. Problems like a data breach and or stolen item/data – might all have a negative impact on your project. If the issue goes unresolved, you risk creating unnecessary conflicts, delays, or even failure to produce your deliverable.

The prevention of problems starts before the project begins. This is done by assessing potential problems and making a clear assessment. Your team can identify potential risks and help solve them before they become problems. Before you start an issue management process, create a Risk Management Plan to prevent potential problems from becoming serious.

Issue management process steps

iTech Pre-configured Solution (iPS) for Issue Management provides a quick and effortless way to address, resolve, and communicate with all teams and tasks. iPS for Issue Management uses the IBM OpenPages platform and it involves three steps.

1. Identify and record problems.

When an issue arises during a project management activity, the first step is to log the issue so that it can be further discussed by the relevant assessment teams on the project team during a problem-solving session.

2. Prioritize and determine the impact of each issue.

Assess the severity of impact on the current project activities posed by the potential issues.
Analysis of the problem often leads to its root cause. Then the severity of the identified problems from the analytical phases of the project can be compared with each other. The largest impactors will influence the creation of an action plan that will rectify the issues at hand.

3. Plan to resolve problems, and report on progress along the way.

Once an issue is qualified, it must be “worked” to drive to resolution. The proper resolution of an issue will vary depending on the circumstances of the issue. All impacted parties need to be involved in reaching proper closure to an issue.

An issue log is the backbone of any good process for managing issues. An issue log is a central repository where people can report issues with projects as they occur. Team members can then identify, implement, and track the solutions. Issues log for project management provides a straightforward way to handle and resolve issues before they become major problems that can disrupt the project. An issues log will ensure that:

• Team members can raise concerns in a safe and consistent manner
• This tool allows you to assign people to specific problems and track their progress.
• Method for prioritizing and analyzing which issues need to be addressed
• This is a place where the team can record any solutions they might need in the future.
• This is a way to track the success and failure of a project.

There is no standard format for issues logs. It all depends on the way your team works and what they need. iPS offers users the ability to rank issues according to their urgency and visually track each issue’s status. In addition, iPS also allows users to create workflow charts to guide teams through each stage of resolution, including how to report them, and how to decide their priority.

Improve your issue management process with iPS

Your team will always have risks and problems associated with big projects. Thus, it is crucial to identify and resolve risks before any project starts. iTech will help you keep your project on track. Contact us to learn more about how to ease your GRC implementation and for details on iPS for Issue Management.