Alerts

An alert is a system event that occurs when the event meets predefined criteria. They signal a checkpoint, warning, or reminder to keep an activity on schedule. ITSMA Service Management calculates alert times by subtracting (or adding) a known interval from a specified time.

Alert calculations depend on the work schedule, time zones, or other defined input. A schedule might cover seven days a week and 24 hours a day. When Service Management processes alerts, it excludes scheduled holidays and break times in its calculations. Service Management can make the necessary adjustments to deliver alerts at the correct time, regardless of time zone differences. For example:

• The work shift starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m.
• The lunch break starts at 12:00 p.m. and ends at 1:00 p.m.

If you schedule an alert to occur four and a half hours after the start of the shift, then the alert occurs at 1:30 p.m. because the system excludes the lunch break interval when calculating the alert. If a holiday occurs, Service Management postpones the alert until the next regularly scheduled day. For example:

• Independence Day holiday starts at 07/04/2004–2005 00:00:00 and ends at 07/05/2004–2005 00:00:00.
• If you schedule an alert at 5 p.m. July 3 to occur six hours later, the alert occurs at 3:00 p.m. on July 5. The alert ignores all nonscheduled hours outside of work shift, the July 4 holiday, and scheduled break times.

You can also set an alert as a TO-DO alert, which enables this alert to appear on your home page.

Associated tables

Service Management uses information from various tables to process alerts. The tables vary, depending on whether Service Management processes the alert from the AlertDef or category table:

• AlertDef can use assignment, contacts, device, location, and myGroups
• category uses assignment (for Incident Management alerts)