You often hear the term event, alert and incident.  Why is it important to know the difference?  I will explain in this video. 

 You need to know the difference between an event, an alert and an incident because of 2 things  

  1. The attention you need to give 
  2. The action you need to take   

Event 

 An event is a change or occurrence that deviates from normal operations, processes, and workflows. 

“CPU usage on the server has reached 60%.” 

“There are 1000 clicks on your website within the last hour.” 

“There are 50000 people that entered the stadium” 

  

When an event is triggered, it is an FYI.  The question you might ask is – So what? 

Alert 

An alert is next level up.  It is an event that needs your attention, but may or may not require an immediate response.   

“CPU usage on the server has reached 80% from 60%” 

“There are 1000 clicks on your website in the last hour.” 

Incident  

An incident is an event that has turned negative, reached certain thresholds 

“Server storage has reached 95%” 

“More than 1 million users have access to the app in less than a minute (a potential cyber attack)” 

Alerts have gone out and have negative outcomes.  Immediate action is required 

“CPU usage on the server has reached 99% “ 

Immediate action:   

Spin off a new VM.  Shut down the server and move access to a different server. 

  

“There are a 10000 clicks on your website in the last 30 seconds” 

Immediate action: 

Investigate a possible denial of service. 

 As a startup or an IT manager of a company, work with your team to define what are: 

  • The events in your IT systems you need to setup? 
  • What are triggers you need to setup for Alerts? 
  • What are the triggers you need to setup for Incidents? 

  

In Conclusion 

  • An event is a change or occurrence that deviates from normal operations.   
  • An alert is an event where a threshold is triggered and needs your attention, but may or may no require an immediate response.  
  • An incident is a event where a negative threshold is triggered, needs your attention and require an immediate response. 

 

Target Align OKR training and software 

Get 20% off on our online LIVE OKR Certificate course using promocode targetalign20off 

Try Target Align OKR app for free during our promotion period till Dec 31, 2024. Use promocode  

TA1130 

For more articles on OKR methodology and upcoming exciting course and app promotions, please subscribe to: