IBM Enterprise Support and Preferred Care Severity Definitions

IBM Enterprise Support and Preferred Care Severity Definitions

Review the table below for the severity you may assign to your support case. Ensure your case severity mirrors your associated business impact listed in this table.

Severity Business Impact Detailed description
1 Critical System or Service Down

Business critical functionality is inoperable or a critical interface has failed. This usually applies to a production environment and indicates an inability to access products or services resulting in a critical impact on operations. This condition requires an immediate solution.

Note: We will work with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week to resolve Severity 1 problems provided you have a technical resource available to work during those hours. You must reasonably assist IBM with any problem diagnosis and resolution.

For IBM Cloud services, you must log a Service Down case within 24 hours of first becoming aware that there is a critical business impact and the Cloud service is not available.
2 Significant A product, service, business feature, or function of the product or service is severely restricted in its use, or you are in jeopardy of missing business deadlines.
3 Some The product, service or functionality is usable and the issue does not represent a significant impact on operations.
4 Minimal An inquiry or non-technical request.

Related information:

Select a product area for the Response Goals for your offering:

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