Incident Response Protocol

SOP: Incident Response Protocol

Purpose: Provide a structured approach to handling system incidents and outages Scope: All system incidents affecting production services Owner: Operations Team / Incident Commander Last Updated: August 16, 2025

Prerequisites

• Incident detected and confirmed
• Communication channels established
• Incident Commander assigned
• Access to all necessary systems and tools

Steps

Phase 1: Initial Response (0-5 minutes)

1. Assess Severity: Determine incident severity level
   • P1: Complete service outage
   • P2: Major functionality impacted
   • P3: Minor functionality impacted
   • P4: No user impact
2. Notify Stakeholders: Send initial notification
3. Assign Incident Commander: Designate lead responder
4. Create War Room: Set up communication channel
5. Document Start Time: Record incident start in system

Phase 2: Investigation and Containment (5-30 minutes)

1. Gather Information:
   • Check monitoring dashboards
   • Review recent changes
   • Examine error logs
   • Interview witnesses
2. Identify Root Cause: Determine what went wrong
3. Implement Containment: Stop the problem from spreading
4. Assess Impact: Document affected services and users
5. Update Stakeholders: Provide status update

Phase 3: Resolution (30 minutes - 2 hours)

1. Develop Fix Strategy: Plan the resolution approach
2. Implement Solution: Apply the fix carefully
3. Test Resolution: Verify the fix works
4. Monitor System: Watch for additional issues
5. Confirm Recovery: Validate full service restoration

Phase 4: Communication and Follow-up

1. Send Recovery Notice: Notify all stakeholders
2. Update Status Page: Reflect current system status
3. Schedule Post-mortem: Plan review meeting
4. Document Timeline: Record all actions taken
5. Close Incident: Mark as resolved in tracking system

Severity Levels

Level	Description	Response Time	Escalation
P1	Complete outage	5 minutes	Immediate CEO notification
P2	Major impact	15 minutes	Director notification
P3	Minor impact	1 hour	Team lead notification
P4	No user impact	Next business day	Standard process

Communication Templates

Initial Alert

🚨 INCIDENT ALERT - P[X]
Service: [Service Name]
Impact: [Brief description]
Status: Investigating
ETA: [Estimated resolution time]
Updates: Every 30 minutes
IC: [Incident Commander]

Update Message

📊 INCIDENT UPDATE - P[X]
Service: [Service Name]
Status: [Current status]
Progress: [What's been done]
Next Steps: [What's happening next]
ETA: [Updated estimate]

Resolution Message

✅ INCIDENT RESOLVED - P[X]
Service: [Service Name]
Resolution: [What was fixed]
Duration: [Total time]
Post-mortem: [Date/time scheduled]

Verification

• Incident properly classified
• All stakeholders notified
• Root cause identified
• Resolution implemented and tested
• Full service recovery confirmed
• Documentation completed
• Post-mortem scheduled

Troubleshooting

Issue	Symptoms	Solution
Can’t access systems	No connectivity	Use backup access methods, check VPN
Unknown root cause	Unclear failure point	Systematically check each component
Multiple failures	Cascading problems	Focus on primary issue first
Communication breakdown	Stakeholders not informed	Use backup notification methods

Contact Information

Escalation Chain

1. Team Lead: [Name] - [Phone] - [Email]
2. Director: [Name] - [Phone] - [Email]
3. VP Engineering: [Name] - [Phone] - [Email]
4. CEO: [Name] - [Phone] - [Email]

Key Personnel

• Database Admin: [Contact info]
• Network Engineer: [Contact info]
• Security Team: [Contact info]
• External Vendor: [Contact info]

Related Procedures

• System Recovery Procedures
• Communication Templates
• Post-mortem Process
• Status Page Updates

Revision History

Date	Changes	Author
2025-08-16	Initial version	Operations Team

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Tags: sop emergency incident response critical p1