Task: Perform Initial Assessment
In this task, the Incident Manager validates whether the logged incident type is a Major Incident and performs an initial assessment of the same.
Relationships
RolesPrimary: Additional: Assisting:
Outputs
Main Description

During the recording of the incident details, the Incident Handler may identify a particular incident as Major Incident. The Major Incident Manager must immediately be alerted about the potential major incident. The Major Incident Manager is responsible for confirming the major incident. The criteria to identify a major incident must be defined in the Incident Management Procedures. The criteria may be specific to the set of services or applications or account. Major Incident Manager must compare the incident with the agreed definition and determine the need to follow the Major Incident process. If the incident doesn’t meet the criteria of major incident, the incident record must be rejected from the major incident queue and the incident must follow the usual Incident Management Procedures.

Once it’s confirmed that the incident is major incident, the Major Incident Manager should gather all available information and confirm the situation. Generally, the information gathered includes:

  • The incident reference number and where it has been logged
  • The description of the major incident
  • Initial assessment based on the information known, like services or the applications affected, the degree of the impact, etc.
  • Details of people or parties involved including the third parties
  • Any actions in hand or estimates to recover the situation.

Major incident details are logged like any normal incident in the IT Service Management tool, the priority and impact however, is high.

Major Incident Manager sends notifications to the stakeholders as per the agreed communication plan. Incident Handlers and relevant internal support team must be informed about the major incident invocation in order to handle calls or queries related to major incident appropriately. In certain cases, the Problem Manager may also need to get involved to investigate the cause of major incident. In certain scenarios, the Major Incident Manager may need to decide (in conjunction with authorized stakeholders) if the continuity plan needs to be invoked.