Incident categories and subcategories

---
title: Incident categories and subcategories
description: Incident categories and subcategories help route incidents to the right team and reduce troubleshooting time. The base system includes predefined categories and subcategories that administrators can extend.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-service-management/incident-management/r\_CategorizingIncidents.html
release: australia
product: Incident Management
classification: incident-management
topic_type: reference
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Configuring Incident Management, Incident Management, IT Service Management]
---

# Incident categories and subcategories

Incident categories and subcategories help route incidents to the right team and reduce troubleshooting time. The base system includes predefined categories and subcategories that administrators can extend.

One of the key performance indicators \(KPIs\) of the Incident Management process is to identify how many times an incident is sent to different teams. It also helps in analyzing incidents based on the classification to do proactive Problem Management which, in turn, helps reduce incidents. Proper incident classification helps you identify and prioritize which incidents to work on first.

Using categories and subcategories also improves the clarity and granularity of report data. The following categories and associated subcategories are in the base system. An administrator can add categories and subcategories and use them in assignment rules and notifications.

<table id="table_nxg_t4s_44"><thead><tr><th>

Category

</th><th>

Subcategory

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Inquiry / Help

</td><td>

-   Antivirus
-   Email
-   Internal Application

</td></tr><tr><td>

Software

</td><td>

-   Email
-   Operating System

</td></tr><tr><td>

Hardware

</td><td>

-   CPU
-   Disk
-   Keyboard
-   Memory
-   Monitor
-   Mouse

</td></tr><tr><td>

Network

</td><td>

-   DHCP
-   DNS
-   IP Address
-   VPN
-   Wireless

</td></tr><tr><td>

Database

</td><td>

-   DB2
-   MS SQL Server
-   Oracle

</td></tr></tbody>
</table>-   **[Configure an incident category or subcategory](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/incident-management/t_AddRemoveIncCatSubbCat.md)**  
Configure incident categories and subcategories to classify incidents and route them to the right team. You can also generate reports based on incident categories and subcategories.
-   **[Add a category or a subcategory](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/incident-management/add-new-category.md)**  
Add a category or subcategory to help route incidents to the correct team and restore normal service faster.
-   **[Delete a category or a subcategory](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/incident-management/remove-category-subcategory.md)**  
Delete a category or subcategory if your organization no longer uses the category or subcategory.

**Parent Topic:**[Configuring Incident Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/incident-management/incident-configuration.md)