Forms for recording problems or unusual events

You might want to design an incident report form for recording any system problems or unusual events. Incident reports help you control the integrity of the system and services for end-users. This form might be filled in by the user liaison group, the MTO, or the recovery specialist.

Recommendation: Regardless of who fills in the form, you should require that it be completed, even though the person competing the form contacts other operating personnel. This form can become a controlling document in the case of a recovery action, but can also be used for minor complaints. To foster cooperation, you should return a copy of the report, showing actions taken, to the originator. You should also periodically review these reports to discover recurring problems and make valuable procedural changes.
Figure 1. Sample form: incident report
This figure illustrates a sample form for reporting unusual events, with fields for component, date, time, type of event, a description, and the action taken.