Support Ticket Severity Definition

The severity of a support ticket is defined by the business impact and user scope.

Factors and Definitions

Business Impact: The degree to which a user's functionality (or ability to work) is degraded or will be degraded.

  • Major: A user is unable to work or has a severely degraded functionality. 
  • Average: A user is able to work, but at a decreased capacity.
  • Normal: A user is able to work and no functionality is degraded

User Scope: The number of users affected.

  • Major: Multiple users are impacted
  • Average: A single user is impacted.

Support Ticket Definition

The following table outlines the severity of each possible scenario:

Business Impact User Scope Ticket Definition 
Major Major Urgent Priority
Major Average High Priority
Average Major High Priority
Average Average  Normal Priority
Normal Major/Average Low Priority

Ticket Definition Descriptions and Examples

The following table outlines the descriptions and examples for each Ticket Definition. 

Ticket Definition Description Examples
Urgent Priority The problem results in extremely serious interruptions to business-critical systems for multiple users.
  • Users are unable to access the file system
  • Users are unable to send or receive emails
  • Users are unable to access the Workplace ecosystem (Web App, Desktop App or Mobile App)
High Priority The problem results in interruptions to normal operations or will negatively day-to-day operations.
  • Users are experiencing sporadic connectivity issues. 
  • A user is unable to access Workplace due to username/password issues.
Normal Priority The problem does not prevent operation of business-critical systems or service, but can negatively impact productivity overall.
  • A user experiences a delay when printing documents from Workplace.
Low Priority The request consists of "how-to" questions.
  • A user wants to know how to add a new Account to the Website section.

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