OPS.15:1 - Problem frame

Use this when an operating decision cannot be supported by the available account: figures disagree, a denominator excludes important work, events from different services are combined, or a dashboard does not show the fact that could change the next action.

Begin by writing the decision and the observation that could change it. Then recover the actual subject, population and time basis. The first useful result is an operating account: the selected observations, their meaning and limits, and the claim they support for that decision. It can be a short table, an existing record or a view in the current tool.

This pattern governs the construction and maintenance of that account within continuing operations. It does not choose every action the account can inform. Use an adequate existing account directly when its meaning and evidence fit. Statistical estimation, causal investigation or a professional acceptance judgment needs its own method when the receiving claim requires it.

Suppose forty service requests have all reached their due dates. Twenty-seven finished on time, three finished late and ten remain open. Reporting 27 out of 30 completed requests as “90% on time” leaves the overdue open work out of the service judgment. The due-request account shows 27 out of 40, or 67.5%. Recovering the question changes which of these true calculations is useful.