Alerting business teams quickly: a source of friction between the Information Systems Department (CIO) and its end users
Proactively notifying business teams of a data transport failure (i.e., a data flow issue) is a routine challenge for a Chief Information Officer (CIO).
And such occurrences are frequent because:
- The number of applications used by business teams has multiplied.
- The information system has grown increasingly complex over the years, incorporating new transversal and multi-target repositories.
- New SaaS applications are increasingly remote from the IS.
- Data volumes continue to expand exponentially.
Yet, it is rare for the IT department to detect data flow anomalies. While it does identify infrastructure failures and software process errors, functional errors almost always go unnoticed.
As a result, alert management is left to the business teams. When they detect missing or inconsistent data, they escalate the issue to IT.
In daily operations, this inefficient handling of the information system becomes a burden. It fosters misunderstanding and dissatisfaction among business users – and in some cases, even erodes trust in the IT department.
Misunderstandings Between IT and Business Teams Delays Alert Resolution
Moreover, business users and IT teams often struggle to communicate effectively. For the same document, they may use entirely different terminology or references. For instance, business teams might label an invoice as FACT_0324_DBA, while IT professionals may refer to it as orders_0367bc45. Naturally, these discrepancies create confusion.
Such misunderstandings extend the time required to analyze and resolve incidents. Monitoring anomalies and troubleshooting data flow disruptions require specialized skills and tools – resources that IT support teams often lack. Meanwhile, data flow developers are both scarce and in high demand, leaving them with little availability for such tasks.
In practice, between descriptions, information gathering, and team availability, resolution times can stretch over several days. It's difficult to integrate all this work with the ever-increasing constraints of business teams.
The Data Flow Monitoring Console: A Simple Tool for Rapidly Alerting Business Teams to Flow Issues
The speed at which an alert reaches IT and business teams is critical. The faster a malfunction is reported, the sooner corrective actions can be triggered.
Using a data flow monitoring console accelerates the reconstruction of flow context. Teams save this time-consuming process of collecting and aggregating flow stages. This simple tool makes it easy to locate, analyze and correct malfunctions. With these informations, IT support teams can respond more efficiently to disruptions of the data flows.
How Does It Work?
The console intercepts and provides an exhaustive view of data flows. It consolidates all system exchanges into a single interface, mapping the complete journey of data across internal and external applications, ETL processes, and various APIs.
With these alerts, business teams can react swiftly. Our analysis shows that 80% of data flow issues stem from inconsistencies at the source or target. In 80% of cases, business teams have the expertise to resolve the problem on their own. Empowering them with the right tools is the most effective approach—after all, IT adds little value in these scenarios.
Alerting the Right Team Reduces Functional Downtime
The shorter the analysis time, the faster IT and business teams can be alerted. In theory, IT should know which business manager is responsible for a given malfunction and notify them immediately about the issue.
In practice, however, the number of application managers is vast. IT support teams often lack the mapping between data flows and the appropriate contacts to notify. Today, the only way to bridge the gap between business users and IT support is through a support ticketing system.
A data flow monitoring console solves this issue by identifying the correct application managers. Alerts triggered by malfunctions are automatically directed to the right stakeholders.
For 80% of data flow issues, which are typically caused by data inconsistencies, business managers no longer need to escalate incidents to IT support. They are promptly informed of disruptions. The result is :
- fewer tickets and
- a reduction in analysis time.
The efficiency gains are significant for both business and IT teams.
A Data Flow Monitoring Console to Accelerate Internal Processes
The accelerating data flows and increasing data volumes require fast and efficient tools to prevent malfunctions. A data flow monitoring console is one such solution, speeding up identification of IT system flow anomalies and reducing IT teams’ response times.
The Enterprise Flows Repository was designed to bridge the gap between business and IT teams. With its precision of its integrated analysis and its ability to target stakeholders, it enhances their efficiency in resolving daily operational challenges.
