atw: Re: Definition of business-critical and mission-critical?
- From: Michael Edward Granat <megranat@xxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 08:55:20 +1000
There's no real mystery about it, Roger.
Something mission critical (it need not be hyphenated, unless you are using
it as a qualifier for say, a "mission-critical component") is of vital
importance to the success of a particular "mission" (usually referring to
the task at hand with wider implications for the entire project of which it
is a part, or referring to the project itself, depending upon the context
itself). Without the mission-critical component, the mission cannot
successfully continue and the pursuit of any other mission objectives
becomes redundant. Although in today's corporate world, "mission critical"
is all too often used in a trite way as a piece of jargon to support
someone's personal agenda. (For example, to help keep the proclaimer's
part of a project to keep going with adequate funding.) Get written
confirmation from on high of the supposed "mission critical" nature of
anything before using such wording in a document. It is a term probably
best left out of any Plain English technical communication piece and set
aside for a piece of Public Relations fluff.
Business critical, has a broader function, usually relating to items that
are essential for the day to day operation of a business, such as cash
flow, takeover bids, stock prices, the success or otherwise of important
tenders or the loss / gain of a major client account. Another term to be
used sparingly, if at all, in any technical communication piece, this is a
term for use in major announcements by senior management to a restricted
audience, or in Financial Review style newspaper reports.
Of course, where and how often you use these terms will be up to your
client / boss and, perhaps, to you, but they should be used with caution,
to a clearly defined and often restricted audience, as their use can spread
fear and uncertainty about a project or a business that could have a
detrimental impact on the employee or shareholder confidence in that
business. To use them lightly, as IT jargon, can be fraught with problems.
Best to keep them out of any instructional material, where possible.
Hope that helps.
Michael Granat
Write Ideas
At 18:19 11/10/2003 +1000, you wrote:
>Hi techwriters
>Can anyone give me a definition of 'business-critical' and
>'mission-critical', in the context of describing IT services in a contract?
>
>And are they interchangeable terms? Or are mission-critical services a
>sub-set of business-critical services?
>
>Roger
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