What criteria are typically used for prioritizing incidents?

Prioritizing incidents is a fundamental element of effective incident management, and the criteria of impact and urgency are essential for this process.

Impact refers to the extent to which the incident affects business operations, services, and overall organizational goals. Understanding the impact helps in assessing how critical the incident is and what level of disruption it creates within the organization. For example, an incident that affects a large number of users or a core business function will typically be prioritized higher than one that affects only a few users or a non-essential service.

Urgency, on the other hand, relates to how quickly an incident must be resolved to minimize negative effects. Urgency helps in determining the response time and the allocation of resources. An incident that requires immediate attention—such as one that could lead to significant data loss or major operational disruptions—will typically have higher urgency.

When both impact and urgency are combined, they provide a framework for categorizing incidents by their severity and enable incident managers to allocate resources more effectively, ensuring the most critical issues are addressed in a timely manner. This ensures that the organization can maintain operational stability and effectiveness even when faced with various incidents.