What are P1, P2, and P3 incidents?

Asked by: Dr. Jeanette Funk  |  Last update: February 10, 2026
Score: 4.4/5 (5 votes)

P1, P2, and P3 incidents are severity levels in IT and business operations, indicating urgency and impact: P1 (Critical) is a total outage or major breach needing immediate 24/7 attention; P2 (High/Major) disrupts core functions but isn't a complete halt, requiring fast response during business hours; and P3 (Medium/Significant) is a minor issue or cosmetic bug affecting a few users, manageable during normal cycles. These levels prioritize responses, ensuring critical issues get immediate resources while lower-priority problems wait.

What is P1 P2 and P3 incidents?

In simple terms, P1 means critical and urgent, P2 signals high priority but not catastrophic, and P3 represents moderate or low impact. These levels may look like jargon at first glance, but they are the backbone of operational reliability.

What does priority P1, P2, P3, P4 mean?

P1 - High-Priority Goals. P2 - Important but Less Time-Sensitive Tasks. P3 - Tasks That Can Wait. P4 - Nice Extras If You Have Time. Benefits of P0-P4 Prioritisation.

What is the difference between a P1 and P2 ticket?

Depending on the impact and urgency, a Major Incident will be categorized as a P1 or P2. Incident Coordinators utilize a priority matrix to determine the appropriate impact and urgency. All P1 tickets are considered Major Incidents. P2 tickets are considered major if the impact is “multiple groups” or “campus.”

What are P1, P2, P3, P4 tickets in ServiceNow?

SLA Relationship Correct prioritization ensures that: P1 tickets are handled ultra-fast for mission-critical outages. P2 tickets are resolved quickly to restore key services. P3 and P4 tickets are managed within standard support times, minimizing operational disruption.

what is a Priority 1 ticket

23 related questions found

What are the 4 stages of a major incident?

What is a Major Incident? enquiries likely to be generated both from the public and the news media usually made to the police. Most major incidents can be considered to have four stages: • the initial response; the consolidation phase; • the recovery phase; and • the restoration of normality.

What is P1, P2, P3, P4 in Jira?

High Priority (P2): Important tasks that should be addressed promptly but lack the extreme urgency of P1. Medium Priority (P3): Essential tasks for progress but can be deferred until higher priority tasks are resolved. Low Priority (P4): Tasks that are on the agenda but don't have an immediate timeframe for completion.

What is a P3 ticket?

Priority 3 (P3): These are general issues. Usually, that means things like product questions, feature requests, and development issues.

How do you handle a P1 incident?

Assign Roles: Designate a lead or incident manager who will coordinate the response. Assign specific roles to team members, such as technical experts, communication managers, and support staff. 2. Assessment and Triage Determine Scope and Impact: Quickly assess the severity and impact of the incident.

What do P1 and P2 stand for?

Both of these values are in units of Power, however they represent two very different things. Input Power – P1: Input power is the total electrical power supplied to the pump system. Output Power – P2: Output power is the mechanical power at the shaft of the pump.

What is a P2 incident?

P2. A medium-level incident that may not directly cause lost revenue but may escalate without swift action. P3. A low-level incident that has almost no chance of reducing revenue. Customer experience may be degraded, but not enough to make them switch to a competitor.

Which priority level, P1, P2, P3, or P4, is the most important to rectify urgently?

Here's a breakdown of these levels:

  • P1 (Critical): These are your “drop everything” tasks. ...
  • P2 (High): Important tasks that are not immediately urgent. ...
  • P3 (Medium): Tasks that are urgent but less important. ...
  • P4 (Low): Neither urgent nor highly important.

What is P1, P2, P3 in project management?

P0: Critical, extensive impact. P1: High urgency, large impact. P2: Moderate urgency, moderate impact. P3: Low urgency, minor impact. P4: Negligible urgency and impact.

What are three types of incidents?

Types of reportable incidents

  • reportable injuries.
  • occupational diseases.
  • dangerous occurrences.
  • gas incidents.

What are the four severity levels of incidents?

There are 4 different levels of disaster severity related to the contact center, and each level impacts the experience you deliver to your customers. These levels are SEV1, SEV2, SEV3, and non-production defect.

What is a level 3 incident?

Level 3 Incident . A large and/or complex incident where divisions, sectors and an incident management team have been established to effectively manage resources, is attended by more than one agency, involves more than one shift and has been declared a Level 3 Incident by the Manager, Fire.

What is P1 P2 P3 P4 in ITIL?

- P1 (Critical): Complete server outage affecting the entire organization. - P2 (High): Major software issue impacting a large department. - P3 (Medium): Recurring problem with a business-critical application. - P4 (Low): A single user's email is not working properly.

What are the 4 C's used to manage incidents?

The four C's, confirm, clear, communicate, control. Acting fast will save lives. For further guidance search Incident Response and Command and Control on the NPSA website.

What are the 4 core principles of IMS?

The 4 core principles of an Incident Management System (IMS) focus on effective coordination during emergencies: Communication (clear info), Coordination (working together), Collaboration (shared understanding), and Flexibility (adapting to needs), all supported by key functional areas like Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance/Admin, enabling diverse groups to manage incidents cohesively. 

What does P3 stand for?

P3 most commonly refers to a Public-Private Partnership, a long-term contract where public and private entities collaborate on projects, sharing resources, risks, and rewards for public services like infrastructure or healthcare. It can also refer to the DCI-P3 color space in digital displays for wide-gamut color, or P3 Health Partners, a healthcare company managing population health for seniors. The meaning depends on the context, but Public-Private Partnerships are the most frequent usage, involving shared investment and risk in projects like roads, bridges, or hospitals. 

What is a P3 casualty?

A P3 (priority 3) casualty is the lowest level of urgency and usually requires the casualty to be retired from their race due to a various number of reasons. P3 casualties shall include – All incidents or casualties that are not categorised as a P1 or P2.

What is a P3 in police?

A Police Officer III is a senior officer and is a Field Training Officer. They eventually become eligible for the Supervisory school or the Detective school and are eligible for specialized assignments such as being a METRO Officer.

What are the 5 levels of priority?

Five levels of priority typically range from Critical/P0 (immediate action) down to Negligible/P4 (backlog), creating a hierarchy (P0-P4) based on impact and urgency, with common tiers like Critical, High, Medium, Low, and Minor, helping focus on what needs doing now versus later.
 

What is SLA for P1, P2, P3, and P4 tickets?

P1-P4 ticket SLAs (Service Level Agreements) define priority levels (P1=Critical, P4=Low) for support issues, dictating response and resolution times, with P1 (outages, major impact) getting immediate attention and P4 (minor questions, cosmetic) handled as routine, though exact times vary by provider but always follow the severity hierarchy.
 

How many hours is 3 story points in Jira?

Two story points, for example, equate to a work that will take 2-4 hours, whereas three story points go to issues that will take 4 to 8 hours, and so on. It's a hybrid technique to task estimations that should not be used in most cases. The reason the team applies it is to make all the estimation easier for the client.