# What is Priority?

> How soon a ticket should be worked, relative to everything else.

Canonical: https://www.decimal.app/glossary/priority · Last reviewed: 2026-09-23

Priority ranks tickets by urgency and business importance. It's related to severity, which measures technical impact, but they aren't the same: a minor bug for a top customer can be high priority.

## Why it matters

Clear priority keeps the queue honest. Without it, the loudest customer wins.

## Best practices

1. Define levels with examples. P1 through P4, with real cases for each.
2. Separate priority from severity. Track both.
3. Revisit on new information. A ticket's priority can change as you learn more.

## How Decimal helps

Decimal can set priority from the evidence it finds, such as error volume and accounts affected, rather than from the tone of the ticket.

## Related terms

- [Severity Level](https://www.decimal.app/glossary/severity-level): A rating of how much harm an issue is causing, from outage to cosmetic.
- [Ticket Triage](https://www.decimal.app/glossary/ticket-triage): Sorting incoming tickets by type, urgency, and owner before work begins.
- [Service Level Agreement (SLA)](https://www.decimal.app/glossary/sla): A contractual commitment on response or resolution times.

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