A mission critical (also mission essential) factor of a system is any factor (component, equipment, personnel, process, procedure, software, etc.) that is essential to business, organizational, or governmental operations. Failure or disruption of mission critical factors would have a serious impact on business, organization, or government operations, and can even cause social turmoil and catastrophes.
Mission critical systems
A mission critical system is a system that is essential to the survival of a business or organization. When a mission critical system fails or is interrupted, business operations are significantly impacted. Mission essential equipment and mission critical application are also known as mission critical system. Examples of mission critical systems are: an online banking system, railway/aircraft operating and control systems, electric power systems, and many other computer systems that will adversely affect business and society when they fail. A good example of a mission critical system is a navigational system for a spacecraft. The difference between mission critical and business critical lies in the major adverse impact and the very real possibilities of loss of life, serious injury and/or financial loss. There are four different types of critical systems: mission critical, business critical, safety critical and security critical. The key difference between a safety critical system and mission critical system, is that safety critical system is a system that, if it fails, may result in serious environmental damage, injury, or loss of life, while mission critical system may result in failure in goal-directed activity. An example of a safety critical system is a chemical manufacturing plant control system. Mission critical system and business critical system are similar terms, but a business critical system fault can influence only a single company or an organization and can partially stop lifetime activity (hours or days). Security critical system may lead to loss of sensitive data through theft or accidental loss. All these four systems are generalized as critical system. As a rule in crisis management, if a triage-type decision is made in which certain components must be eliminated or delayed, e.g. because of resource or personnel constraints, mission critical ones must not be among them.
Examples Every business companies and organizations will have mission critical systems if they are functioning. A downed filtration system will cause the water filtration company to malfunction. In this case, the water filtration system is a mission critical system. If a gas system is downed, many restaurants and bakeries will have to shut down until the system functions well again. In this case, the gas system is a mission critical system. There are various other mission critical systems that, if they malfunction, will have serious impacts on other industries or organizations.
Navigating system of an aircraft The aircraft is highly dependent on the navigating system. Air navigation is accomplished with many methods. Dead reckoning utilizes visual checkpoints along with distance and time calculations. The flight computer system aids the pilots to calculate the time and distance of the checkpoint that they set. The radio navigation aid (NAVAIDS) enables the pilots to navigate more accurately than dead reckoning alone, and in conditions of low visibility, radio navigation is handy. GPS is also used by pilots and uses 24 U.S. Department of Defence satellites to provide precise locational data, which includes speed, position, and track. If two-way radio communication malfunctions, the pilots have to follow the steps in the Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 91. Pneumatic system failure, the associated loss of altitude, and various unfamiliar situations may cause stress and loss of situational awareness. In this case, pilot should use instruments such as navigators to seek more information about the situational data. In this case, the malfunction of the navigation system would be mission critical and would cause serious consequences.
Nuclear reactor safety system A nuclear reactor is a system that controls and contains the sustained nuclear chain reaction. It is usually used for generating electricity, but can also be used for conducting research and producing medical isotopes. Nuclear reactors have been one of the most concerning systems for public safety worldwide because the malfunction of a nuclear reactor can cause a serious disaster. Controlling the nuclear reactor system is accomplished by stopping, decreasing, or increasing the chain reaction inside the nuclear reactor. Varying the water level in the vertical cylinder and moving adjuster rods are the methods of controlling the chain reaction when the reactor is operating. Temperatures, reactor power levels, and pressure are constantly monitored by the sensitive detectors.
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