Identify the missing word(s) in the following sentence.

In ITIL 4 terminology, a problem is defined as the cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents. Incident management deals with restoring service as quickly as possible, while problem management focuses on finding and addressing the underlying causes so that incidents do not recur.

A problem is therefore directly associated with the cause behind one or more incidents, matching the wording in the sentence.

A known error is a problem that has been analyzed and has a documented root cause and workaround; it is not simply “the cause or potential cause” but a further state of a problem.

A change is the addition, modification, or removal of anything that could have a direct or indirect effect on services, not specifically the cause of incidents.

An event is any change of state that has significance for the management of a service or other configuration item; again, not defined as the cause of incidents.

Because ITIL 4 explicitly associates the phrase “cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents” with problem, the correct answer is D.