• Functional escalation occurs when the service desk is not able to resolve the incident or where the incident has not been resolved within the target resolution time. The service desk will involve second-level support, which has more specific technical knowledge. Further functional escalation may occur through the lifecycle of the incident to third-level support, which may be part of the organisation or third parties such as suppliers. It is important to remember that the ownership of an incident always remains with the service desk regardless of which other support areas are
working on a resolution.
• Hierarchical escalation raises the profile of a specific incident within the IT organisation and also within business areas. More senior IT staff are able to provide focus and resources, but ownership of the incident will be retained by the service desk. Organisations will have triggers that indicate when hierarchical escalation is required. This may be for all ‘Priority 1’ incidents or when incidents of a certain priority have not been resolved with a target timescale. The triggers for escalation will be recorded in the relevant SLA and ought to be highlighted by the support tool in use. The service desk will keep the user informed of all functional or hierarchical escalations that occur during the lifecycle of an incident and at the same time the incident record will be updated.