Key alerts and notifications
concept brazil Updated Sep 10, 2026 2 min read io-alerts.md
Use the Instance Observer Key Alerts functionality to set alerts with historical thresholds from four-week increments specific to your business needs. Configure who on your team receives notifications.
Note: Instance Observer Alerts support is only available for Advanced and Total packages of ServiceNow Impact.
Key alerts activation provides proactive alerts about moving averages for six critical metrics. Moving averages capture the average change in a data series over time.
- Transaction (increase) Instance: Indicates transaction moving average increases by a certain percentage of it's historical median for a certain time period.
- Transaction (drop) Instance: Indicates transaction moving average drops by a certain percentage of it's historical median for a certain time period.
- Response Time – Instance: Indicates the moving average of response time is greater than the historical median in a certain time period.
- Database Response Time: Indicates the moving average of database response time is greater than the historical median in a certain time period.
- Default Semaphore Mean: Indicates the default semaphore mean is approaching limits of max concurrency by a certain factor in a certain time period.
- 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.
- Configure notifications in IO
Configure notifications and alerts to monitor your Instance Observer instance and receive alerts when specified conditions are met. - Set notifications for configured key alerts
Follow these steps to configure Key Alerts on an instance where critical alerts have not yet been configured. - Generate thresholds for key alerts
For an instance where critical alerts have already been configured you can obtain improved thresholds to receive enhanced or minimal alerts.
Parent Topic:Use alerts to monitor your instance
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--- title: Key alerts and notifications description: Use the Instance Observer Key Alerts functionality to set alerts with historical thresholds from four-week increments specific to your business needs. Configure who on your team receives notifications. locale: en-US canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/impact/io-alerts.html release: brazil topic_type: concept last_updated: "2026-09-10" reading_time_minutes: 2 breadcrumb: [Use alerts to monitor your instance, Monitor instance performance, Platform Health, Using Impact, Impact] --- # Key alerts and notifications Use the Instance Observer Key Alerts functionality to set alerts with historical thresholds from four-week increments specific to your business needs. Configure who on your team receives notifications. **Note:** Instance Observer **Alerts** support is only available for Advanced and Total packages of ServiceNow Impact. Key alerts activation provides proactive alerts about moving averages for six critical metrics. Moving averages capture the average change in a data series over time. 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](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/impact/configuring-io-alerts.md). - **[Configure notifications in IO](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/impact/io-self-serve-alerts-vid-tut.md)** Configure notifications and alerts to monitor your Instance Observer instance and receive alerts when specified conditions are met. - **[Set notifications for configured key alerts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/impact/configuring-io-alerts.md)** Follow these steps to configure Key Alerts on an instance where critical alerts have not yet been configured. - **[Generate thresholds for key alerts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/impact/generate-thresholds-io-alerts.md)** For an instance where critical alerts have already been configured you can obtain improved thresholds to receive enhanced or minimal alerts. **Parent Topic:**[Use alerts to monitor your instance](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/impact/io-alerts-intro.md)
| title | Key alerts and notifications |
| description | Use the Instance Observer Key Alerts functionality to set alerts with historical thresholds from four-week increments specific to your business needs. Configure who on your team receives notifications. |
| locale | en-US |
| canonical_url | https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/impact/io-alerts.html |
| release | brazil |
| topic_type | concept |
| last_updated | 2026-09-10 |
| reading_time_minutes | 2 |
| breadcrumb | Use alerts to monitor your instanceMonitor instance performancePlatform HealthUsing ImpactImpact |