Severity

An attribute in Incident Management and Problem Management that describes the degree of impact on the user when the issue occurs. Severity can also indicate the number of users affected. For example, a server crash that caused loss of data would be of critical severity.

  1. Critical: Severe business disruption. The business unit or subunit is unable to operate, or a critical system component has failed or is severely impaired.
  2. Major: Major business disruption. A critical user or user group is unable to operate, or the business unit is experiencing a significant reduction in system performance.
  3. Medium: Minor business disruption. A single user is unable to operate with no available workaround.
  4. Low: Minor disruption. A single user or user group is experiencing incidents, but a workaround is available.
  5. Very Low: Inquiry. A single user or user group requiring assistance, but with no direct impact on business such as a request for information.