This guide treats trade-offs between on-site and hosted monitoring systems as a technical subject with observable inputs, especially data access, alert delivery and dependency risk.
Monitoring is useful when a reading leads to a defined action. Select a small set of operational signals, establish normal ranges and retain enough history to distinguish noise from a persistent fault.
Data Access
The role of data access is best understood through a controlled comparison. Hold unrelated inputs constant, change one relevant condition and observe the response. Then check whether alert delivery moved in the expected direction. A mismatch is a prompt to inspect the model, not to hide the data.
- Evidence: a dated record for data access.
- Cross-check: compare it with alert delivery.
- Review trigger: repeat the check after a material change affecting data access.
Alert Delivery
Normalize alert delivery before using it in a table or calculation. Convert units, align the time period and retain the original value. If dependency risk comes from a different source, document that source separately so readers can reproduce both sides of the comparison.
- Evidence: a dated record for alert delivery.
- Cross-check: compare it with dependency risk.
- Review trigger: repeat the check after a material change affecting alert delivery.
Dependency Risk
Use dependency risk as a testable input, not a general description. Record what produced the value, the interval it covers and any exclusions. Compare the record with data access only after both use compatible boundaries; otherwise the apparent difference may come from definitions rather than performance.
- Evidence: a dated record for dependency risk.
- Cross-check: compare it with data access.
- Review trigger: repeat the check after a material change affecting dependency risk.
Trade-offs between on-site and hosted monitoring systems: evaluation sequence
- Write the exact decision involving data access.
- Collect alert delivery using the same observation period.
- Test how the conclusion changes when dependency risk moves.
- Save the source values, conversions and date of review.
Reference for Mining Software and Monitoring
Verify the underlying context with CISA software-maintenance guidance. For values that change over time, use a current source and record its retrieval date.
