Patent ID: 7711576

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for categorizing problem tickets comprising: placing a first ticket for a first problem for which a root cause cannot be determined in an indeterminate category and closing the first ticket; placing a second ticket for a second problem for which a solution cannot be found in an unsolvable category and closing the second ticket; placing a third ticket for a third problem for which a solution can be found but will not be implemented in the unsolvable category and closing the third ticket; identifying an occurrence of a reexamining condition, wherein the reexamining condition comprises one of an elapsing of a specified period of time, a change in a cost benefit analysis for a solution, an identification of a new solution, identification of a new cause of problems, and an identification of a trend among a plurality of tickets; reexamining based on the occurrence of the reexamining condition one of the first, second, and third tickets and determining, with a problem manager stored as a set of computer readable instructions in a computer readable storage media and executable by a processor, whether a reopening condition has occurred, wherein a reopening condition comprises one of a change in the cost benefit analysis for a solution, identification of a potential root cause of a problem associated with one of the first, second, and third tickets, identification of a trend among a plurality of tickets associated with a problem that is associated with one of the first, second, and third tickets; reopening the one of the first, second, and third closed tickets when the reopening condition is determined to have occurred; and implementing one of an identified potential solution for the reopened ticket and a trend analysis for a group of tickets that include the reopened ticket.