> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.zudo.so/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Impact Scoring

> How Zudo calculates request impact, default and rolled-up customer urgency, and backlog rank.

Requests use three separate signals in the app:

* **Impact Score**: the computed 0-100 score shown in the UI
* **Customer Urgency**: a request-level default plus optional per-account overrides
* **Backlog Rank**: where the request sits relative to other open requests in your scope

<Note>
  This page keeps the older `/requests/severity-scoring` URL for compatibility. In the product UI, the computed score is
  labeled `Impact Score`.
</Note>

The split is intentional:

* Impact Score answers "how much business impact does this represent?"
* Customer Urgency preserves the human signal and lets different linked accounts carry different urgency
* Backlog Rank makes the relative order of open requests explicit

## Impact Score

```
Impact Score = (0.50 x Revenue Impact) + (0.20 x Breadth of Demand) + (0.30 x Customer Urgency Score)
```

Each factor produces a 0-100 sub-score before weights are applied.

## Revenue impact (50%)

What share of your total portfolio MRR is represented by the accounts linked to this request.

```
Revenue Impact = (Affected MRR / Total Portfolio MRR) x 100
```

A single large account asking for something can produce a meaningful score on its own.

| Affected MRR | Total MRR | Score |
| ------------ | --------- | ----- |
| \$500        | \$100,000 | 0.5   |
| \$5,000      | \$100,000 | 5.0   |
| \$25,000     | \$100,000 | 25.0  |
| \$50,000     | \$100,000 | 50.0  |

## Breadth of demand (20%)

How much of your portfolio is asking for this request. Zudo uses a log-scaled share of the scoped account base, so the score rewards broad demand without letting raw account count overwhelm revenue.

```
Breadth Score = (log2(affected accounts + 1) / log2(total scoped accounts + 1)) x 100
```

This means the same number of linked accounts can score differently in a 12-account portfolio than in a 500-account portfolio.

## Customer Urgency (30%)

Every request starts with a default 1-5 urgency rating. Each linked account can either inherit that default or override it with its own urgency.

Zudo then rolls those account-level urgencies up into the effective request urgency used in scoring. That rolled-up urgency captures context the numbers cannot: churn language, competitive pressure, executive attention, or a workflow blocker.

| Rating | Label       | Score |
| ------ | ----------- | ----- |
| 1      | Low         | 0     |
| 2      | Medium-Low  | 25    |
| 3      | Medium      | 50    |
| 4      | Medium-High | 75    |
| 5      | High        | 100   |

The default is **3 (Medium)**. Use it to reflect how urgently the *customer* needs this:

* **1** - Nice-to-have, no urgency expressed
* **2** - Mentioned but not blocking anything
* **3** - Customer wants this and follows up occasionally
* **4** - Blocking a workflow or expansion; customer is escalating
* **5** - Churn risk, active competitive threat, or the customer is completely blocked

### How rollup works

The effective urgency used in the formula is not a plain average.

* each linked account gets either its override or the request default
* larger accounts matter more, but with damping so one whale does not fully dominate
* the highest-urgency linked account still matters even if the average is lower

Conceptually:

```text theme={null}
Rolled Up Urgency = (0.70 x MRR-weighted average urgency) + (0.30 x max linked-account urgency)
```

This avoids double-counting demand:

* **Breadth** already measures how many accounts care
* **Revenue impact** already measures how much business weight is attached
* **Urgency** should measure intensity of need

## No linked accounts

If a request has no linked accounts, revenue impact and breadth are both zero. Only the weighted urgency contribution remains, so the request tops out at **30.0** until you link real customer demand.

In that case, Zudo falls back to the request default urgency because there are no account-level values to roll up.

| Customer Urgency | Impact Score with no linked accounts |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| 1                | 0.0                                  |
| 2                | 7.5                                  |
| 3                | 15.0                                 |
| 4                | 22.5                                 |
| 5                | 30.0                                 |

This keeps early ideas visible without letting unlinked requests outrank proven customer demand.

## Backlog Rank

Impact Score is an absolute measure. Backlog Rank is the relative order among open requests in your current scope.

Zudo ranks open requests by:

1. Higher Impact Score first
2. Earlier requested date first
3. Lower request ID first

The app also shows a percentile, where the top open request is the `100th percentile` and the last open request is the `0th percentile`.

## Impact bands

The final Impact Score maps to the same four color bands used in the Requests list and request detail page:

| Score    | Tier     |
| -------- | -------- |
| 80+      | Critical |
| 60-79    | High     |
| 40-59    | Medium   |
| Below 40 | Low      |

## Recalculation

Zudo recalculates request impact whenever request data changes and also refreshes all scopes on a background schedule. That keeps impact and rank aligned with the current state of your portfolio.

Changing the request default urgency, changing an account-specific override, or linking a new account all trigger recalculation.