Driftskritiskt

Driftskritiskt describes assets, components or processes whose continued operation is essential for an organization’s functioning. A driftskritiskt item is one whose failure or disruption can cause significant harm to safety, health, the environment, production, or finances. The term is used in risk management, reliability engineering and IT service management to identify what requires highest resilience and protection.

Classification is typically based on impact and downtime tolerance. Criteria include required availability targets, recovery time objective (RTO), data loss tolerance (RPO), potential harm, and financial consequences. A criticality analysis or risk matrix helps distinguish driftskritiska items from less critical ones, and may draw on standards from safety, security and governance frameworks.

Management focuses on resilience: redundancy (power, networks, systems), monitoring, preventive maintenance, incident response, and regular testing of failover and disaster recovery plans. Security controls are integral, since compromising driftskritiska systems can directly disrupt operations.

Common examples include hospital information systems, power-grid SCADA, water treatment facilities, automated manufacturing lines, emergency services dispatch and core cloud services hosting mission-critical applications. The concept supports prioritization in budgeting, procurement, and maintenance planning, aligning technical decisions with organizational risk appetite and regulatory requirements.