Types of Monitoring System Essay Example
Types of Monitoring System Essay Example

Types of Monitoring System Essay Example

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  • Pages: 5 (1115 words)
  • Published: May 31, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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Before we look at the various types of monitoring, let us define some categories for the monitoring types.

There are three basic categories of monitoring; technical monitoring, functional monitoring and business process monitoring. These three categories have a very clear hierarchy. Assuming well-configured monitoring, a green light on a higher level indicates that all levels below it are performing well. If there are any red lights on a lower level, this is an indication that there is a low-impact problem. The opposite is not true.

A green light on one of the lower levels does not guarantee anything about the performance of the upper levels of monitoring. It merely serves as a guiding light to indicate that a certain subsystem is performing well and is unlikely to be a contributor to a red light on a higher level. Business Process

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Monitoring Business process monitoring is the holy grail of systems management. All large vendors present their monitoring solution as a business process monitoring tool. If we look at the actual processes in organizations, we find that most of them include operations that are performed by humans, rather than by machines.

They include people printing and faxing orders and vans of goods being driven from one place to another. Business process monitors tell us not only whether we can order goods, but also if they are being delivered to our customers. Such monitors keep track of long-running transactions and are happy to report on the proper operation of fax machines and the progress of delivery vans. Business process monitoring answers the questions of whether the business is performing well. The IT systems supporting that business are only a

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piece in the puzzle to answer that question.

I find it odd that most so-called business process monitoring solutions confine themselves to monitoring only technical processes. I hardly ever see monitors that actually track the goods right to the customer’s doorstep. This may be proper if all your processes are fully automated. If not, perhaps you are really working with a functional monitor, and not a business process monitor, in spite of what the salesman told you.

Functional Monitoring Functional monitoring looks at the functionality offered by a single application or by a distributed system.The aim of functional monitoring is to assess the performance and availability of use-case or set of use-cases on a system.Functional monitoring is usually performed by employing robots to execute scripted operations on a system. Robot-based monitoring is excellent for management reports on the quality of service that the users of a system experience.

Functional monitoring answers the question whether there is a problem in the distributed system or not. It says something about the performance and availability of the system, but does not help to answer that question of how to solve any problems we may find. Read how surveillance can be performed through either stationary or mobileRather it tells us something about the impact on the users of the system, if there is a problem.Technical MonitoringTechnical monitoring concerns itself with the health of individual pieces of equipment or software. It focuses on the function of the object under review, rather than the role that such an object plays in the system that it is part of.

It may be just my skewed viewpoint, but I find that technical monitoring is by far the largest category of the three. Most tools monitoring tools were designed to perform functions in this category of monitoring.Technical monitoring tries to find out what is wrong, and how do we fix it? Many system operators make the mistake of thinking that technical monitoring also answers the question whether there is a problem in their system or not. It is an understandable mistake, because in many cases when there is a problem, it also shows up in the technical monitors.

In some cases, however, it does not. And this is when miscommunication is likely to occur. Types of Employee-Monitoring Systems in the Workplace By Kristin MorganCall MonitoringThe first type of monitoring system is the call monitoring system. Call monitoring is "listening to live phone calls and recording one's observations (Riechley, 1996). " The most important aspect of this system is the observer. The observer can sit next to the person making the call, which can be helpful with new employees who need training tips.

The observer can also be a secret caller and judge the phone representative by playing a customer role. Lastly, the observer could wear a headset or another lectronic device and listen to the calls from a separate room.This last method could consist of the observer recording the various calls and listening to them at a later time. Throughout the phone call, the observer takes notes on an evaluation form in order to evaluate the call and give feedback to the employee (Riechley, 1996).

Video SurveillanceThe next type of employee-monitoring system is video surveillance. Video surveillance

is the viewing of employees through the use of various video cameras placed throughout the facility.Technology has advanced a great deal, and because of this, more and more employers are installer’s video cameras to view their employees behaviors (Turk, 1996). "Employers may use video surveillance cameras to monitor the workplace in areas where employees have no reasonable expectation of privacy (Turk, 1996). "Computer Monitoring"Electronic mail is becoming as common as the telephone as a workplace communication tool.

But, unfortunately, employees' personal use of the e-mail has resulted in lost worktime and occasional improper use of the e-mail system (Shostak and Wong, 1999).This fact leads to the next type of employee monitoring system, which is computer monitoring. This type of system could monitor certain key strokes a worker may hit, the errors made, length of time, internet access, and view the e-mail accounts (Kidwell and Kidwell, 1996). "Computer-based monitoring is the use of computerized systems to automatically collect information about how an employee is performing his or her job (George, 1996).

" There are programs available that can track Internet activity by storing the websites the employee visits and record the time spent on that website (Xenakis, 1998).Some companies use a video display terminal which can track the number of mistakes an employee makes on the keypad, the speed of their typing, the accuracy of the typing and the number of jobs they are performing at once (Mishra and Crampton, 1998). By using this system, a supervisor can keep a record of an employee's particular performance. Also, it makes it easier to give advice to the employee on how they can improve in their position. This

type of system makes it easier for supervisors to perform other responsibilities without having to constantly watch over the employees (Mishra and Crampton, 1998).

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