Key alerts and notifications

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Key alerts and notifications

    ServiceNow's Instance Observer Key Alerts feature enables proactive monitoring by generating alerts based on moving averages for six critical performance metrics. This functionality uses historical data over four-week increments to tailor alert thresholds specific to your business needs. It includes flexible notification settings to designate who on your team receives these alerts. The feature is available exclusively with the Advanced and Total packages of ServiceNow Impact.

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    Key Features

    • Critical Metrics Monitored: Alerts track moving average changes for Transaction increases and drops, Instance response time, database response time, default semaphore mean (concurrency limits), and default semaphore queue depth.
    • Historical Thresholds: Uses historical medians and calculates thresholds dynamically using the P-Score, which reflects the transaction stability of an instance.
    • Proactive Notifications: Alerts signal unusual data pattern deviations that may not represent immediate issues but enable early intervention to prevent potential problems.
    • P-Score Eligibility: Instances with a sufficient P-Score see an opt-in banner for activating alerts. The P-Score is regularly updated; thus, eligibility may change as instance usage evolves.
    • Automated Threshold Refresh: Thresholds are refreshed weekly for eligible instances to maintain accuracy and relevance.
    • Configurable Notifications: Users can configure who receives alerts and set notification preferences to align with operational workflows.
    • Threshold Generation Options: For instances with existing alerts, users can generate improved thresholds to fine-tune alert sensitivity.

    What to Expect

    By activating Key Alerts, your team gains early visibility into performance anomalies through statistically informed thresholds, helping to maintain instance health and responsiveness. You will receive intelligent alerts tailored to your instance’s historical behavior, enabling more informed, timely actions to mitigate risks. Configuration of notifications ensures alerts reach the right personnel, promoting effective incident management. Regular updates to thresholds and P-Score assessments help maintain alert relevance as your instance usage changes over time.

    Use the Instance Observer Key Alerts functionality for flexibility to set alerts with historical thresholds from four week increments specific to your business needs and configure who on your team receives notifications.

    Note:
    Instance Observer Alerts support is only available for Advanced and Total packages of ServiceNow Impact.

    Keys alerts activation will provide you with proactive alerts about moving averages, a statistic that captures the average change in a data series over time, for six critical metrics:

    1. Transaction (increase) Instance: Indicates transaction moving average increases by a certain percentage of it's historical median for a certain time period.
    2. Transaction (drop) Instance: Indicates transaction moving average drops by a certain percentage of it's historical median for a certain time period.
    3. Response Time – Instance: Indicates the moving average of response time is greater than the historical median in a certain time period.
    4. Database Response Time: Indicates the moving average of database response time is greater than the historical median in a certain time period.
    5. Default Semaphore Mean: Indicates the default semaphore mean is approaching limits of max concurrency by a certain factor in a certain time period.
    6. Default Semaphore Queue Depth: Indicates the default semaphore queue depth is approaching limits of maximum queue depth by a certain factor in a certain time period.
    Note:
    It is important to note that each notification may not represent an issue, moreover signals about a data point that is unusual or does not conform to the expected patterns for that specific metric. Users can be proactive, where necessary, and act on a notification accordingly that may avoid a future issue.

    Instance Observer utilizes the P-Score to assess instance usage, then calculate the thresholds exclusively for those instances. The P-score is a rating determined by the number of transactions on an instance, providing a higher score when the instance's transactions remain consistently stable.

    • When an instance meets the required P-Score for eligibility, users will see a banner to opt-in for the alerts activation feature. Users will receive intelligent thresholds under the IO recommended condition for all six metrics derived from historical data.
    • If an instance has a low P-Score, the banner to opt-in for alerts activation feature will not be visible. The P-Score is regularly refreshed, and as instances grow in the future, you will see the option to opt-in for the alerts activation feature. Thresholds are refreshed automatically weekly for instances meeting the minimum P-Score criteria.

    To set up alerts, see Set notifications for configured key alerts.