Understanding Ticket Priority & Service Level Targets

This guide explains how the CAS ICT Helpdesk prioritises requests via the Ticket Priority system.

There are four priority levels, Low, Normal, High, and Urgent. The priority level of the ticket sets the Service Level Target, or generally, the time goals to be met for incident handling. 

We encourage you to be mindful of your actual needs, and the needs of others in the organisation when selecting your ticket priority. Please be aware that we may re-prioritise tickets as required.

Low Priority

For requests that are either low in impact or effect, and have no particular urgency in their action timeframe. 

Low Priority Service Level Targets

• Initial reply:  2 working days
• Resolution: 10 working days

Normal Priority

Requests are assigned Normal Priority by default when they are logged with no other selection. Most tickets would be categorised as a 'Normal' ticket.

A normal priority ticket affects an individual user, and does not entirely prevent them from carrying out their work. For example, a reasonable workaround may be available, or the user can work on other things while awaiting a fix.

Normal Priority Service Level Targets

• Initial reply:  4 working hours
• Resolution: 3 working days

High Priority

High Priority tickets represent significant incidents, that may either entirely prevent an individual user from working, or causes general disruption to a larger group of users.

High Priority tickets take precedence over lower priority tickets, and helpdesk team members may be pulled from work on other matters to assist if required.

High Priority Service Level Targets

• Initial reply:  2 working hours
• Resolution: 12 working hours

Urgent Priority

An Urgent ticket is the highest priority level, and represents a major incident.

This is an incident that entirely prevents a group of users from working, causes a core service or application to be unavailable across the network, or potentially impacts a major event or organisational objectives.

When an Urgent ticket is received, the ticket is automatically assigned to the senior agent on duty, for whom the ticket becomes the priority. Other team members stop working on their tasks, where appropriate, and remain on standby to assist with resolution. 

High Priority Service Level Targets

• Initial reply:  1 working hour
• Time between ticket updates: 1 working hour
• Resolution: 8 working hours