Itil priority matrix how to#
Itil priority matrix driver#

Itil priority matrix driver#

The Impact to the organizations day to day business should be the driver for determining the highest priority tasks from the matrix. The design should include all involved and affected parties, this is likely to be IT, ITSM, and the business. Every ITSM process should be examined to locate these decision points, and an appropriate priority matrix designed and implemented. The priority matrix will assist that decision in a consistent and transparent way. Using a priority matrix for all these processes to determine what to work on next will avoid the situation where high levels of resources are assigned to a task which has been prioritized by pressure, or by lack of information.Ī priority matrix should be included in the definition of every process step where a decision has to be made about which task to work on next. The knock-on effect of relying on user pressure instead of a priority matrix is that other incidents that should be a priority are pushed down the queue.Īll organizations should use a priority matrix in every ITSM process that is task oriented, where decisions have to be made about which task to work on next. Using a priority matrix to determine when an incident is a major incident will avoid the situation where high levels of resources are assigned to an incident which has been prioritized by pressure from the business but in reality, does not have a high Impact. Unless an agreed matrix is used to determine priorities, there is a risk that staff can ‘cherry pick’ what they want to work on, which can result in delays to resolving urgent and high Impact tasks such as incidents. Using a priority matrix can also help to avoid IT favoring one part of the business or one individual over another when determining task priorities.Ī priority matrix is particularly of benefit when support teams become overloaded, with more tasks that they can deal with at the same time. If you develop the priority matrix as a joint effort involving all of these parties, then each will be able to better understand each other’s perspectives for prioritizing work.Īrticulating and documenting how Impact and Urgency are used to determine priorities using the matrix will help to remove any uncertainty about how IT decide which sequence to work on tasks. A priority matrix can improve relationships between IT, ITSM, and the business. If you share the priority matrix with your customers, then they will be able to understand why particular incidents are dealt with before others. In turn, this will improve the satisfaction of the customers for your services. This will provide them with the confidence to do what they think is right, as the priority matrix will be used in the same way by all staff. Determining the most appropriate priority using the matrix will allow your staff to be consistent in how they decide what task to address in which sequence. This includes managing incidents, problems, changes, and projects. Using a priority matrix will help you to deal with tasks in the best overall order for the business. What are the benefits of using a priority matrix? Some organizations refer to a priority matrix as an ‘Impact and Urgency matrix’. These simple terms can be challenging to apply in real-life situations, so a good practice is to supplement a priority matrix with guidelines and examples.

Itil priority matrix how to#

A priority matrix can also help to change the attitude and behaviors of support teams, and help them to learn how to correctly prioritize tasks and actions.Ī priority matrix typically uses the characteristics of ‘Impact’ and ‘Urgency’. Using a priority matrix means that high priority tasks can be easily identified and promptly actioned, whilst allowing tasks with a lower priority to be dealt with at a slower pace but still within an acceptable timeframe. The outcome of using a priority matrix in this way is that teams can consistently define the order that they should deal with tasks and actions.Ī priority matrix provides an easily communicated overview of how the organization has defined what its priorities are in day to day management of issues and challenges. The priority is determined by mapping the situation being faced to these values in the matrix. As the title suggests, it uses a matrix to determine the priority that contains pre-defined values for two different characteristics, with one on each axis of the matrix. A priority matrix is a technique in IT service management (ITSM) that can be used to determine the priority of one task over others.