For Support Users
Introduction
About ITOSS
ITOSS is an operational management platform that provides visibility into the health, availability, performance, and operational condition of technology services and infrastructure.
Through continuous monitoring, data collection, and rule evaluation, ITOSS transforms technical information into operational situations that can be managed by support teams, enabling organizations to maintain operational awareness and service quality.
Purpose of This Guide
This guide is intended for support personnel responsible for monitoring, analyzing, investigating, and managing operational situations using ITOSS.
Typical users include:
- NOC operators
- Service desk analysts
- Infrastructure support teams
- Application support teams
- Database administrators
- Operations engineers
- Managed services personnel
The guide focuses on the operational use of ITOSS and explains how support users interact with operational dashboards, investigate situations, analyze managed components, and access operational information.
Platform administration, monitoring design, collector configuration, and system administration activities are outside the scope of this document.
The ITOSS Operational Management Model
The primary objective of ITOSS is operational management.
Monitoring is an essential capability of the platform, but its purpose is not limited to collecting metrics or reporting technical conditions. Instead, monitoring information is continuously evaluated and transformed into operational situations that can be managed by support teams.
This approach allows operators to focus on situations requiring attention rather than on individual monitoring values.
Managed Components
The foundation of the ITOSS operational model is the Managed Component.
A Managed Component represents any technology asset that requires operational management, including:
- Servers
- Operating systems
- Databases
- Applications
- Network devices
- Cloud resources
- Containers
- Business services
Managed Components provide both technical and business context through their relationships with companies, locations, support teams, contacts, and operational services.
Dashboard Entries
The central operational object within ITOSS is the Dashboard Entry.
A Dashboard Entry represents an operational situation identified through monitoring and management logic.
Dashboard Entries may be generated by:
- Availability issues
- Performance degradation
- Capacity thresholds
- Operational anomalies
- Configuration situations
- Monitoring failures
- Custom operational rules
Dashboard Entries are not simply alerts. They represent operational situations that can be prioritized, investigated, tracked, and managed throughout their lifecycle.
Operational Dashboards
Dashboard Entries are organized and presented through Operational Dashboards.
Operational Dashboards provide support users with a consolidated view of the current operational state of the managed environment.
Dashboards help operators:
- Identify situations requiring attention.
- Prioritize operational work.
- Monitor service health.
- Track attended situations.
- Investigate affected components.
- Review operational trends.
Operational Dashboards constitute the primary workspace used by support teams during day-to-day operations.
Operational Workflow
Support users typically work through a structured operational workflow.
Monitoring information collected from Managed Components is evaluated by operational rules. When a situation requiring attention is detected, ITOSS creates a Dashboard Entry and associates it with the appropriate operational dashboard.
The typical workflow is illustrated below.
Managed Component
│
▼
Monitor
│
▼
Metric Evaluation
│
▼
Dashboard Entry
│
▼
Operational Dashboard
│
▼
Investigation
│
├── Company Dashboard
├── Component Dashboard
├── Metrics
├── Operations Logs
├── Related Components
└── Tickets
│
▼
Resolution
This workflow enables support personnel to move efficiently from operational awareness to detailed analysis and issue resolution.
Operational Views
ITOSS provides multiple operational views that allow users to analyze the managed environment from different perspectives.
These views include:
- Operational Dashboards
- General Status Dashboard
- Company Dashboard
- Component Dashboard
Each view presents information at a different level of detail while maintaining a consistent operational context.
Reporting and Historical Analysis
In addition to real-time operational management, ITOSS provides reporting and historical analysis capabilities.
Reports allow support users to:
- Review operational history.
- Analyze trends.
- Validate service performance.
- Access inventory information.
- Support audits and operational reviews.
Historical information complements real-time dashboards and helps organizations improve operational decision-making.
Core Concepts
Managed Component
A technology asset managed and monitored by ITOSS.
Dashboard Entry
An operational situation requiring visibility, investigation, or action.
Operational Dashboard
A workspace used to monitor and manage Dashboard Entries.
Company
The organization, customer, or business entity associated with a service or component.
Workgroup
The team responsible for operational support and service ownership.
Contact
A business or operational stakeholder associated with a managed service.
Lifecycle
The operational state of a Managed Component throughout its existence in ITOSS.
How to Use This Guide
The guide is organized according to the operational management model used by ITOSS:
- Understanding the Managed Environment explains the objects being managed.
- Operational Management explains how operational situations are identified and managed.
- Operational Views describes the dashboards used during investigation activities.
- Reporting and Historical Analysis explains how historical information can be used to support operational decision-making.
Understanding these concepts will help support users navigate the platform efficiently and make effective use of the operational management capabilities provided by ITOSS.