Incident Management : Minimize the impact of the incident and restore normal operations

What is Incident Management

    Incident management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to incidents or events that disrupt normal operations or pose a threat to an organization. Incidents can include anything from natural disasters and cyber attacks to equipment failures and power outages.

    Effective incident management involves a structured approach that includes planning, detection, diagnosis, containment, resolution, and recovery. The goal is to minimize the impact of the incident and restore normal operations as quickly as possible.

    Incident management also involves communication and collaboration between different teams and stakeholders, such as IT staff, security personnel, executives, and customers. This ensures that everyone is aware of the incident, understands the steps being taken to address it, and can provide input or support as needed.

    Incident management is a critical component of any organization's risk management strategy, and involves a systematic and coordinated approach to identifying, responding to, and recovering from disruptive events.

Objectives – 

Provide a consistent process to track incidents that ensures:

· Incidents are properly logged

· Incidents are properly routed

· Incident status is accurately reported

· Queued incidents are visible and reported

· Incidents are properly prioritized and handled

· Resolution provided meets the requirements of the agreed SLA

Flow chart of incident management

    Here is a simple flowchart of the incident management process:

1. Detection: Incident is detected through monitoring, user reports, or other means.

2. Identification: The incident is identified and categorized according to its severity and impact on operations.

3. Initial Response: The incident response team is activated, and the initial response is initiated to contain the incident and prevent further damage.

4. Investigation: The incident is investigated to determine the root cause and extent of the damage.

5. Resolution: The incident is resolved by implementing the necessary corrective actions.

6. Recovery: Normal operations are restored, and measures are taken to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

7. Post-Incident Review: A review is conducted to evaluate the incident response process, identify areas for improvement, and update incident response plans as necessary.

    Note that this is a basic flowchart and incident management processes can vary depending on the organization and industry.

Incident management Categorization, Priority and Target Times

    Incident management categorization, priority, and target times are important elements of incident management that help organizations respond to incidents in a timely and effective manner.

1. Categorization: This involves classifying incidents based on their impact on business operations, urgency, and severity. Categorization helps ensure that incidents are handled appropriately and that the appropriate resources are allocated to resolve them. Common categories include low, medium, and high impact, or critical, major, and minor incidents.

2.  Priority: Once incidents have been categorized, they are prioritized based on their impact on business operations, urgency, and severity. This helps determine the order in which incidents are addressed and the level of resources that should be devoted to each incident. Priority levels are typically assigned using a numerical or color-coded system, with higher numbers or more urgent colors indicating higher priority.

3.   Target times: Target times refer to the amount of time it should take to respond to, resolve, and recover from an incident. These times are based on the severity and impact of the incident and are used to ensure that incidents are resolved within a reasonable timeframe. Target times are often established as part of a service level agreement (SLA) between the organization and its stakeholders. 

Incident Escalation Matrix

    An incident escalation matrix is a hierarchical list of individuals or teams within an organization who are responsible for handling incidents. The escalation matrix outlines the process for escalating incidents to higher levels of authority or expertise when necessary to ensure that incidents are resolved in a timely and effective manner.

The following is an example of a basic incident escalation matrix:

Level 1 - Frontline Support: The first level of support is responsible for receiving incident reports, conducting initial assessments, and providing initial responses. If the incident cannot be resolved at this level, it is escalated to Level 2.

Level 2 - Specialist Support: The second level of support consists of specialists who are responsible for investigating and resolving more complex incidents that cannot be resolved at Level 1. If the incident cannot be resolved at this level, it is escalated to Level 3.

Level 3 - Management Support: The third level of support consists of management personnel who have the authority to make critical decisions regarding incident resolution. If the incident cannot be resolved at this level, it is escalated to Level 4.

Level 4 - Executive Support: The final level of support consists of senior executives who are responsible for making strategic decisions regarding incident resolution, such as allocating additional resources or making changes to organizational policies.

    It's important to note that the specific escalation matrix for an organization may vary depending on factors such as the nature of the business, the size of the organization, and the types of incidents that are most likely to occur. The key is to ensure that the escalation process is clearly defined and communicated to all relevant stakeholders to ensure that incidents are resolved as quickly and effectively as possible.