The term "asset criticality" refers to the importance or priority of assets within a company or organization. It refers to the ability of a system to maintain functions or processes without which productivity, safety or business objectives would be significantly jeopardized.
Risk assessments can be used to determine system criticality. The assessment criteria are based on the potential impact of the system failure on production performance, safety or environmental aspects in the plant and on potential financial losses. As a safeguard, emergency plans, preventive maintenance programs and spare parts strategies help to ensure that the relevant systems can be repaired or replaced quickly if necessary.