How do we prioritize tickets when everything is a priority?

As the guidelines from ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) for IT support tickets prioritization suggest, we prioritize tickets based on urgency and impact. 


The urgency and impact are determined by:

  • How many users are affected?
  • Does this impact the user(s) ability to do their job?
  • Is there a workaround?


URGENTHIGHMEDIUMLOW (Default)
Definition: An issue that impacts all users and no workaround is available.


  • How many users are affected?
    ALL
  • Does this impact the user(s) ability to do their job?
    YES
  • Is there a workaround?
    NO


e.g. Internet is down.




Initial Response SLA
On Contract1 hour
No Contractnot applicable

Resolution SLA
On Contract4 hours
No Contractnot applicable

Definition: An issue that impacts many users and no reasonable workaround is available.

  • How many users are affected?
    2+
  • Does this impact the user(s) ability to do their job?
    YES
  • Is there a workaround?
    NO


e.g. A server used by the marketing department is down.



Initial Response SLA
On Contract1 hour
No Contractnot applicable

Resolution SLA
On Contract12 hours
No Contractnot applicable
Definition: An issue that impacts multiple users.



  • How many users are affected?
  • 2+
  • Does this impact the user(s) ability to do their job?
    YES or NO
  • Is there a workaround?
    YES or NO


e.g. A server used by the marketing department is slow.



Initial Response SLA
On Contract1 hour
No Contractnot applicable

Resolution SLA
On Contract1 day
No Contractnot applicable
Definition: An issue that impacts a single user



  • How many users are affected?
    1
  • Does this impact the user(s) ability to do their job?
    YES or NO
  • Is there a workaround?
    YES or NO


e.g.  A user needs different access to the marketing department server.


Initial Response SLA
On Contract1 day
No Contractnot applicable

Resolution SLA
On Contract5 days
No Contractnot applicable


All times are based on normal business hours of 8:30 to 5:30 Central Time

Most tickets can be expedited for faster service, which in most cases will raise rates.