Question 1

What is an incident severity matrix?

Accepted Answer

A severity matrix defines clear criteria for classifying incidents by impact level, typically SEV0 (critical) through SEV4 (low). It tells your team how to classify an incident, who to notify, and how fast to respond.

Question 2

How many severity levels should we use?

Accepted Answer

Most teams use 4 or 5 levels (SEV0 through SEV3 or SEV4). Fewer than 3 makes it hard to prioritize. More than 5 creates confusion. This generator supports up to 6 levels.

Question 3

What templates are available?

Accepted Answer

Three templates: Standard (general purpose, SEV0 through SEV4), SRE Book (based on Google SRE practices), and Startup (simplified for small teams). You can customize any template after generating.

Question 4

Can I export the matrix?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Export as formatted text for Slack, a table for Notion, or share via email. The output is ready to paste into your team documentation.

Question 5

What is the difference between SEV0 and SEV1?

Accepted Answer

SEV0 is catastrophic: multiple critical services down, potential data loss, all hands on deck. SEV1 is critical: a core service is down for all customers, immediate response required. The distinction matters for escalation and notification policies.

Question 6

Does this tool require a Runframe account?

Accepted Answer

No. The severity matrix generator is free and requires no login. If you want to enforce severity levels with SLA targets and automated escalation, Runframe handles that.

Question 7

How do I get my team to actually use severity levels?

Accepted Answer

Start with clear definitions (this tool helps), then enforce them in your incident workflow. Runframe lets you set SLA targets per severity level so response expectations are automatic, not optional.

Level	Description (Impact)	Response Expectation	Examples
SEV0	Catastrophic. Multiple critical services down. Potential data loss.	Immediate war room. Wake everyone. CEO notified.	Database corruption, multi-region outage, security breach with data loss.
SEV1	Critical impact. Core service down for all customers.	Immediate response. Wake up on-call. All hands on deck.	Total outage, payment system down, authentication broken.
SEV2	Major impact. Significant functionality broken or degradation.	Immediate response. Primary on-call handles.	Checkout failing, slow API, core feature broken.
SEV3	Minor impact. Partial failure or non-critical bug.	Fix during business hours. Don't wake up.	Minor feature broken, intermittent errors, reporting delay.
SEV4	Low priority. Cosmetic issues or enhancement requests.	Backlog. Fix when convenient.	Typos, UI polish, nice-to-have features.

Severity Matrix Generator

Why define severity levels?

Frequently asked questions

Enforce severity levels with real SLA targets.