2.1 Defect Severity

There are five classes of defect:

• A Severity 1 or Fatal defect is defined as an abnormal end to a program on startup, so that no work or testing can be carried out.
• A Severity 2 or Critical defect is defined as an abnormal end to a program, process or function resulting in corrupted data and/or production hold up for the user.
• A Severity 3 or Major defect is defined as a defect for which no acceptable workaround is available leading to significant impact for the user.
• A Severity 4 or Minor defect issue is defined as an error or bug in the system functionality that does not interrupt the operational flow due to availability of a workaround. Also defects that are a cosmetic change, which disrupts neither the functional nor operational flow to the existing functionality of the system, also fall into this category.
• A Severity 5 defect is defined as a problem that does not cause the program to break requirements. For example, the suggestion that various controls are not user-friendly would be a severity 5 defect.