Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The urgency of an incident is primarily determined by the level of impact that the incident has on the business. When assessing the urgency, it is crucial to understand how quickly the incident needs to be resolved in order to minimize disruption to organizational operations. This is closely tied to the effect of the incident on business processes, services, or users.

For example, an incident that affects a critical business application that many users rely on, and that causes significant downtime, would be considered high in urgency because of its severe impact. Conversely, an incident that affects a non-critical service or has a trivial impact might be assigned a lower urgency despite the time elapsed since reporting or the number of users affected.

This understanding of urgency is essential within the ITIL framework as it guides how resources are allocated to resolve incidents efficiently, ensuring that those with the most significant business impact receive the appropriate level of attention and response.