A Consolidated Framework for Incident Priority Definitions: A Synthesis of Global Industry Practices

AI outlines a consolidated framework for defining incident priority levels (P1–P4), synthesizing global industry practices from fields like ITIL and Site Reliability Engineering. It establishes that Priority is a calculated outcome, determined by two objective factors: Impact (the severity and scale of the issue) and Urgency (the time-sensitivity required for a fix). The document provides archetypal definitions for P1 through P4 incidents, detailing the scope and consequences that classify each level. Crucially, the text distinguishes Priority (the operational order) from Severity (the static measure of impact) and emphasizes that a viable workaround is the primary factor used to de-escalate an incident's urgency. The framework culminates in a Priority Matrix that uses these two axes to remove subjective opinion from the triage process.