In the context of IT service management, an incident is an unplanned interruption to, or a reduction in the quality of, an IT service. The goal of incident management is to restore normal operation as quickly as possible while minimizing the impact on the business or organisation.

A problem is a underlying cause of one or more incidents. It is a persistent issue that needs to be identified and resolved in order to prevent further incidents from occurring. The goal of problem management is to identify and resolve problems in a systematic and proactive manner, in order to minimize the number and impact of incidents.

A request is a request for a new or changed IT service, or for information about an existing IT service. Service request management is the process of managing and fulfilling these requests in a timely and efficient manner. A service request catalogue provides an overview of the service requests available to customers or users within an organisation.