In most help desks, problems that are getting reported for the first time have possible workarounds or solutions already. The technician who has been assigned the problem could simply look up a solution article from the knowledge base and close the issue without any hassles. However, a few problems require new changes to be initiated for the underlying issue to be fixed.

When the same problems have been reported enough times, chances are that a change has already been created and is well underway. Instead of creating an all-new change, you could look through your pending changes list whenever you come across familiar problems or incidents. Additionally, you could also lookout for problems that have been marked as a known issue and link them to existing changes properly.

To link problems to an existing change

1. Open the Problem you want to link to a change.
2. From the Associate Menu, click Change initiated by this problem.
3. Under Associate a change, select Existing Change.
   
4. Select the Change you want to link the problem to and click on Link. You can view the associated changes under the Associations tab.

To link problems to a new change

1. Open the Problem you want to link to a change.
2. From the Associate Menu, click Change initiated by this problem.
   
   
3. Under Associate a change, select New Change.
4. Create a new change by filling in all the necessary fields. 
5. Click Associate to create the new change and to link it to the problem. You can view the associated changes under the Associations tab.

Every time a technician links a problem to a change, he must be aware of which changes are likely to cause and fix problems. This is essential and is likely to prove useful when they are trying to address a problem that cannot be fixed or worked around.