Business Impact and Priorities – VertiGIS Support

In the Support Center customers can provide information about the business impact while submitting a request. For business impact CRITICAL and MAJOR, a justification must be provided to describe the business impact more in detail.

The specification of the business impact has an initial effect on the priority in the support ticket system. Support agents can adjust the priority at any time (e.g., in case of further findings regarding the case). For requests submitted via e-mail or telephone, the support agent must set the priority.

Business Impact	Priority	Explanation	Example
CRITICAL (Entire product does not work)	Urgent	Data production outage (defect prohibiting production) or data corruption (each without possible workaround) A data production outage is when all or essential parts of a product do not work. The issue must be downgraded to High priority if a workaround exists for the problem. A data corruption is when data is corrupted unnoticed or if data gets lost unnoticed or if inconsistent data is created.	Nothing works at all, or an essential, main functionality doesn’t work anymore. Data corruption is happening and / or data inconsistencies are created.
MAJOR (A major feature has stopped working)	High	Heavy production disruption (with business impact) A heavy production disruption takes place if an essential function (core functionality) is either not available or delivers incorrect results. Any workarounds need considerable time spent to work or to correct the data. This has a direct business impact for the customer.	An important function (core function) is not available Program crashes when executing one of those core functions Wrong results need to be corrected with considerable effort
MEDIUM (A feature is no longer working	Normal	Production disruption with functional limitations A production disruption takes place if single functions of a product do not work correctly or fail. There is a workaround available, or a different workflow resolves the problem within acceptable time. Slight disturbance of the use of the software without effect on production A slight production disruption takes place, if single functions deliver correct results, but its execution leads to unwanted or irritating implications.	A function does not work correctly; the objective can nevertheless be reached by a different workflow or with the help of other functions. Slightly wrong results are being delivered which can be corrected with reasonable effort. Spelling errors in a dialog mask Incomprehensible or inappropriate message windows.
NORMAL (Question about how to do something)	Low	General questions about products and functionalities This includes Questions that arise during the installation/deployment and usage of the products and functionalities. Questions that fall into the area of consulting and training are not included.	Included: How-To questions Clarification for documented functions. Not included: Performing work on behalf of the customer Business analysis, software development, or environmental configuration not documented as part of the product

Prioritizing of tickets in the development platform is in responsibility of the product owner.

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