--- schema_version: "1" id: b67ae41d9613b3f84fc690ac656ede51e43f52bc9ada9c53097cf9f07d262f3d title: Major Incident Lifecycle for IT Services collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/service/264-0-0/it_srvcs_inc_major_inc_lifecycle.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.it_srvcs_inc_major_inc_lifecycle.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 5bdf46a15e7f9a79de84067c7aaad72c3c43b496d5665e6b48796eaacab45f35 description: Learn how a major incident progresses through key stages and how it can be demoted when the impact is reduced. products: - Service Cloud - Agentforce IT Service release: "264" --- # Major Incident Lifecycle for IT Services Learn how a major incident progresses through key stages and how it can be demoted when the impact is reduced. ### Required Editions
Available in: Lightning Experience
Available in: Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited Editions with Agentforce IT Service.
A major incident typically progresses through these review states: - Proposed: The fulfiller submits the incident for consideration as a major incident. This state is also called a major incident candidate. - Approved: The major incident manager reviews and accepts the incident as a major incident. - Rejected: The major incident manager rejects the incident. If there’s a business need, fulfillers can propose it again as a major incident. - Demoted: The major incident manager demotes the incident back to a standard incident when it no longer requires major incident handling. When an incident is first created, the Is Major Incident and Major Incident Comment fields are empty. If an incident fulfiller identifies an incident that critically affects business operations, they can propose it as a major incident. After the fulfiller proposes the incident, the major incident status changes to Proposed. The major incident manager reviews the justification and either approves or rejects the proposal. - If approved, the system updates status to Approved, sets the Is Major Incident value to Yes, and manages the incident through the major incident process. If the impact is reduced later, the major incident can be demoted back to a standard incident. - If rejected, the system updates the status to Rejected, and the incident continues through the regular workflow. - If demoted, the system updates the incident so it's no longer treated as a major incident. Use the Major Incident Status Comments field to document key details, such as the decision rationale, investigation updates, or resolution notes. This maintains transparency across teams and provides a chronological record of actions taken. After handling and verifying the issue, the major incident manager closes the incident. If your admin sets up notifications, predefined notifications keep stakeholders such as employees and internal teams informed about major incidents. Notifications show progress through these stages. See [Notifications for IT Services](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.it_srvcs_notifications.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Keep IT teams and employees informed with timely notifications across their preferred communication channels. Admins define message content, timing, recipients, and delivery channels for standard and custom objects, including their related records."). ## Major Incident Timeline The Major Incident Timeline provides a chronological record of a major incident's lifecycle stages, including when the incident is proposed, approved, rejected, or demoted. ![Example](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-it_service-264-0-0-production-enus/0a574a10-4c7a-4681-aacf-0767f8beaad4/images/icon_example.png) Example
Date and Time Action Major Incident Status
September 15, 2025, 9:00 AM Julian, an IT fulfiller, identifies a network outage affecting payment systems and proposes incident INC0005678 as a major incident. Proposed
September 15, 2025, 10:00 AM

Sarah, the major incident manager, reviews the proposal and notes that further investigation is required to confirm the impact.

 Rejected
September 15, 2025, 3:00 PM After continued monitoring confirms that the outage extends to additional system, Julian resubmits the incident. Sarah approves the proposal, and the incident is managed through the major incident process. Approved
September 15, 2025, 6:00 PM After the impact is reduced, Sarah demotes the incident to a standard incident. Demoted