P1 / Major Incident Rate
Number of critical (Priority 1) incidents causing significant business disruption in a period
What is P1 / Major Incident Rate?
P1 or major incident rate is the number of the most serious IT incidents opened in a period. These are the incidents with the biggest impact on the business.
Major incidents cause the most disruption, so a falling count shows improving stability and resilience.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Information Technology
- Sub-function
- Service Management
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Leading
- Impact
- Risk
- Unit
- #
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly
- Formula
- Count of P1 incidents opened in period
How to calculate it
Count the priority 1 incidents opened in the period.
For example, if there were 6 major incidents in a quarter, the rate is 6.
Use a clear definition of P1, record cause and duration for each, and review each one to learn how to prevent repeats.
Where it is used
Monitoring stability
Track serious disruptions.
Guiding reliability investment
Target common causes.
Reporting to leaders
Show service health.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- A definition that is too loose or tight distorts the count.
- Read with duration and impact.
- Focus on learning, not blame.
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