Step 4: processing the data

The main goal now is to convert the data from step 3 to an appropriate format for the required audience.

Report-generating technologies are typically used at this stage as various amounts of data are condensed into information for use in the analysis activity.

Usually the best approach is to report the data into logical groupings, keeping in mind that what's important to show is the overall performance of a service.

Indeed, while monitoring and collecting data on a single component is important, it is key to understand the component’s impact on the larger infrastructure.

If you are hosting a merchant site, having 5 nines on your database availability (over a reasonable amount of time) is an accomplishment. But this really makes sense from a customer's perspective if the other components of the infrastructure have reached the same availability (web servers, DNS...).