Classification of Availability Levels

Classification of Availability Levels:

Impact of loss of availability or service

UC and campus policies establish that Institutional Information and IT Resources must be protected according to their Protection Level and Availability Level classifications. Summary definitions and key examples of each Availability Level are included below. Full definitions and additional examples are available in the Availability Level Classification Table within the Data and IT Resource Classification Standard.  Additionally, a printable copy of the below is available for download.

Availability Level:

Summary Definition:

Key Examples:

A4 Flag

Loss of Availability would have a significant business impact to the Campus, a Campus Unit, and/or essential services. It may also cause serious financial losses. IT Resources that are required to be available by statutory, regulatory and/or legal obligations fall into this risk level. Critical IT Infrastructure also falls into this category.
  • Central Campus authentication systems
  • Life safety systems
  • Student learning management system
  • Backup data systems for A4 resources
  • Campus procurement system
  • Central system management consoles
  • Core network services, e.g. DNS, border/core routing, and firewalls
  • Official financial, accounting, and payroll systems of record
  • Enterprise email
  • Campus time reporting system
A3 Flag

Loss of availability would result in moderate financial losses and/or reduced customer service.
  • Event ticketing systems
  • Point-of-sale (POS) systems
  • Issue tracking systems
  • Security logs
  • Building management systems
  • File servers supporting business operations
  • Collaboration services such as calendaring, file sharing, code repositories
  • Operational knowledge base
A2 Flag

Loss of availability may cause minor losses or inefficiencies.
  • Departmental websites
  • Student life management system
  • Staff learning management system
  • Informational knowledge base
A1 Flag

Loss of availability poses minimal impact or financial loss.
  • Individual workstations, laptops, and other mobile devices
  • Public directory
  • Copy machines or printers