Managing Impact, Urgency, and Priority

Priority is based on impact and urgency and is used to identify the required time for actions to be taken on a ticket. Each ticket in TeamDynamix must have a priority, even if it is the default.  You can use any combination of these three fields as needed, but Priority will only auto-calculate if all three are present and editable.

• Impact - Indicates the scale of the item and the number of people it affects. Impact is available for use on ticket forms.
• Urgency - Reflects the time-sensitive importance (the time and the speed at which the business or customer expects and needs an issue addressed, and the time available for repair or avoidance before the impact is felt by the organization) of a ticket. The longer the acceptable wait time, the lower the urgency. Urgency is available for use on ticket forms.
• Priority - Describes the importance of a ticket in relation to other tickets. In incident management, priority is determined by the intersection of impact and urgency​​​​​​. Priority is available for use on both Tickets and Projects​​​​​​.

In this article, we'll cover:

• Naming Best Practices
• Managing Impact
• Managing Urgency
• Managing Priority
• Using the Priority Matrix
• Replace/Reassociate an Impact, Urgency, or Priority Option

Naming Best Practices

Best practice is to keep the names generic and streamlined. Use application-specific knowledge base articles or static content on forms at the point of use to provide more customized usage details. 

If you currently or in the future will make enterprise use of TeamDynamix, with multiple departments having ticketing applications or projects, be careful when naming or re-naming these items.  It can be helpful to ask whether the names make sense when describing IT, HR, or Facilities items; if not, consider more generic terms.

Managing Impact

This defines how widespread the issue or need is and the scale of potential damage caused before it can be resolved. Think of this as if the incident were a meteor going to hit your institution. What are the areas of impact? If it were going to affect an entire organization, this should be weighted more heavily than tickets that are only affecting a single user.

Default values:

• Affects User [i.e., low/small]
• Affects Group [i.e., medium]
• Affects Department [i.e., high/large]
• Affects Organization [i.e., very high/extra-large]

Creating/Modifying Impact

1.  In TDAdmin, go to Applications, select the Ticketing Application, then click Shared Ticket Settings in the left navigation
2. Click Impacts
   • To edit an existing Impact value, click the Edit link in the Actions column on the right side of the page
   • To add a new Impact option, click the +New button at the top of the page. By default, new options are set to Active
3. Click Save

Set the Default Impact

A default impact will be used across forms and templates when no option is specified. 

To change the global default impact, go to the Ticketing application Impacts page in the Admin UI, then click the Set link in the Default column.

Delete or Deactivate an Impact Option

To delete or deactivate an existing Impact value, you may first need to reassociate tickets that use the original option. The default impact cannot be deleted or deactivated; a replacement option must be configured first. See the Replace/Reassociate an Impact, Urgency, or Priority section below for details.

To deactivate the impact value, click the Edit link in the Actions column on the right side of the page. In the Edit Impact window, uncheck the Active option, then click Save.

To delete the impact value, click the Delete link in the Delete column on the right side of the page.

Managing Urgency

This indicates how quickly a ticket needs to be resolved. Urgency reflects the time available for repair or avoidance before the impact is felt by the business.

Default values:

• Low
• Medium
• High

Creating/Modifying Urgency

1. In TDAdmin, go to Applications, select the Ticketing Application, then click Shared Ticket Settings in the left navigation
2. Click Urgencies
   • To edit an existing Urgency value, click the Edit link in the Actions column on the right side of the page
   • To add a new Urgency value, click the +New button at the top of the page. By default, new options are set to Active
3. Click Save

Set the Default Urgency

A default urgency will be used across forms and templates when no option is specified. 

To change the global default urgency, go to the Ticketing application Urgencies page in the Admin UI, then click the Set link in the Default column.

Delete or Deactivate an Urgency Option

To delete or deactivate an existing urgency value, you may first need to reassociate tickets that use the original option. The default urgency cannot be deleted or deactivated; a replacement option must be configured first. See the Replace/Reassociate an Impact, Urgency, or Priority section below for details.

To deactivate the urgency value, click the Edit link in the Actions column on the right side of the page. In the Edit urgency window, uncheck the Active option, then click Save.

To delete the urgency value, click the Delete link in the Delete column on the right side of the page.

Managing Priority

Priority indicates the order in which a ticket should be addressed relative to other similar items. 

Default values:

• Low
• Medium
• High

Creating/Modifying Priority

1. Manage the shared priorities through Ticketing or Projects:
   • Ticketing: In TDAdmin, go to Applications, select the Ticketing Application, then click Shared Ticket Settings in the left navigation
   • Projects: In TDAdmin, click Projects
2. Click Priorities in the left navigation
   • To add a new Priority value, click the +New button at the top of the page. 
     • By default, new options are set to Active
     • The My Work Priority determines the priority assigned to tickets and ticket tasks when added to My Work.
   • To edit an existing Priority value, click the Edit link in the Actions column on the right side of the page. 
3. Click Save

Set the Default Priority

A default priority will be used across forms and templates when no option is specified. 

To change the global default priority, go to the Ticketing application or Projects Urgencies page in the Admin UI, then click the Set link in the Default column.

Delete or Deactivate a Priority Option

To delete or deactivate an existing priority value, you may first need to reassociate tickets that use the original option. The default priority cannot be deleted or deactivated; a replacement option must be configured first. See the Replace/Reassociate an Impact, Urgency, or Priority section below for details.

To deactivate the priority value, click the Edit link in the Actions column on the right side of the page. In the Edit priority window, uncheck the Active option, then click Save.

To delete the priority value, click the Delete link in the Delete column on the right side of the page.

Using the Priority Matrix

The Priority Matrix automatically determines ticket priority based on the selected impact and urgency values. This feature helps ensure consistent priority assignments across your ticketing application by eliminating subjective decision-making.

How the Priority Matrix Works

When a ticket form includes impact, urgency, and priority fields with the Priority Matrix enabled, the system automatically sets the priority value based on the user's selections for impact and urgency. For example, if a ticket affects 50+ users (high impact) and work is totally stopped (high urgency), the system automatically assigns "Emergency" priority.

If you configure a form with only Impact and Urgency as editable fields while leaving Priority as read-only or hidden, the Priority Matrix will not automatically set the priority value.

Configuring the Priority Matrix

To modify Priority Matrix settings:

1. In TDAdmin, go to Applications > [Ticketing Application] > Shared Ticket Settings
2. Click Priority Matrix in the left navigation
3. For each combination of Impact and Urgency, select the appropriate Priority value from the dropdown

The matrix displays all possible combinations of your configured Impact values (rows) and Urgency values (columns). Each cell contains a dropdown that lets you assign the resulting Priority.

Note: The Impact, Urgency, and Priority values shown in the matrix cannot be modified on this page. To add, edit, or remove these values, navigate to their respective configuration sections under Shared Ticket Settings.

Priority Matrix vs. Automation Rules

There are two approaches to automatically setting ticket priority:

Priority Matrix:

• Sets priority in real-time as users fill out the form
• Requires Priority field to be editable on the form
• Users can see the priority change as they select Impact and Urgency

Automation Rules:

• Sets priority after ticket creation
• Allows Priority field to be hidden or read-only on the form
• Priority is assigned based on configured conditions
• Best for scenarios where you want priority determined by multiple factors or don't want users to see/change the priority value

Replace/Reassociate an Impact, Urgency, or Priority Option

You can replace one active impact, urgency, or priority option with another and move the existing relationships with other elements within the system. The Reassociate action updates any tickets that were linked to the original option.

Note that the settings of existing tickets will remain unchanged.

To reassociate an impact, urgency, or priority option:

1. Go to the Ticketing application Shared Settings, Impact, Urgency, or Priority page in the Admin UI
2. Click the Reassociate button at the top of the page
3. In the popup, select the existing option you want to change the tickets from in the Reassociate From dropdown
4. Select the option you want to change the tickets to in the To dropdown
5. Click Reassociate and confirm the action