Projects

What are Projects?

Projects are organizational containers that help you group and manage related monitors, heartbeats, DNS monitors, server monitors, and other monitoring resources. They provide a way to organize your monitoring infrastructure by client, application, environment, team, or any other logical grouping that makes sense for your organization.

Why Use Projects?

Organization and Structure

• Logical grouping: Organize monitors by purpose, client, or environment
• Clear hierarchy: Create structure in complex monitoring setups
• Easy navigation: Find related monitors quickly and efficiently
• Reduced complexity: Simplify management of large monitoring deployments

Team Management

• Access control: Control who can view and manage different monitoring groups
• Responsibility assignment: Assign teams to specific project areas
• Collaboration: Enable teams to work together on related monitoring tasks
• Delegation: Distribute monitoring responsibilities across team members

Operational Benefits

• Bulk operations: Perform actions on multiple related monitors simultaneously
• Consistent configuration: Apply similar settings across related monitors
• Reporting efficiency: Generate reports for specific project areas
• Resource management: Track resource usage by project or client

Business Advantages

• Client separation: Keep different client monitoring completely separate
• Billing organization: Track monitoring costs by project or department
• Compliance: Maintain required separation for regulatory compliance
• Scalability: Easily scale monitoring organization as business grows

How to Access Projects

Manage projects through:

• Main dashboard → Projects section
• Sidebar navigation → Projects
• Direct URL: /projects
• Monitor creation/editing forms → project assignment
• Status page configuration → project selection

Project Organization Strategies

By Client or Customer

Best for: Service providers, agencies, consultancies

• Structure: One project per client
• Benefits: Clear client separation, easy billing, access control
• Examples: "Client A Infrastructure", "Customer B Services", "ABC Company Monitoring"
• Use case: MSPs monitoring multiple client environments

By Application or Service

Best for: Software companies, SaaS providers

• Structure: One project per application or major service
• Benefits: Service-focused monitoring, clear ownership, incident isolation
• Examples: "Web Application", "API Services", "Payment System", "User Dashboard"
• Use case: Companies with multiple software products or services

By Environment

Best for: Development teams, enterprise IT

• Structure: Separate projects for different deployment environments
• Benefits: Environment isolation, appropriate alerting, clear development flow
• Examples: "Production", "Staging", "Development", "Testing"
• Use case: Organizations with multiple deployment environments

By Team or Department

Best for: Large organizations, enterprise environments

• Structure: Projects aligned with organizational teams
• Benefits: Team ownership, access control, responsibility clarity
• Examples: "DevOps Team", "Frontend Team", "Infrastructure Team", "Security Team"
• Use case: Large organizations with specialized teams

By Geographic Region

Best for: Global organizations, distributed services

• Structure: Projects organized by geographic location
• Benefits: Regional monitoring, local team access, timezone alignment
• Examples: "North America", "Europe", "Asia Pacific", "US East Coast"
• Use case: Global companies with regional infrastructure

Hybrid Approaches

Best for: Complex organizations

• Structure: Combination of multiple organizational methods
• Benefits: Flexible organization, accommodates complex needs
• Examples: "Client A - Production", "Payment API - EU", "DevOps - Critical Systems"
• Use case: Organizations with complex monitoring requirements

Creating and Managing Projects

Creating a New Project

1. Navigate to the Projects section
2. Click "Create Project"
3. Fill in the project creation form
4. Configure project settings and permissions
5. Save the project

Project Configuration

Basic Information

• Project Name: Clear, descriptive name that identifies the project's purpose
• Description: Detailed information about what the project contains
• Color/Theme: Visual identifier to distinguish projects in lists and dashboards
• Tags/Labels: Additional metadata for categorization and filtering

Project Settings

• Default notification handlers: Standard notifications for new monitors in this project
• Default check intervals: Standard monitoring frequency for project monitors
• Project timezone: Timezone for scheduling and reporting
• Access permissions: Control who can view and manage the project

Editing Project Information

1. Go to the project you want to modify
2. Click "Edit Project" or "Settings"
3. Update project information as needed
4. Modify team access and permissions
5. Save changes

Project Deletion

1. Ensure all monitors are moved to other projects or deleted
2. Navigate to project settings
3. Click "Delete Project"
4. Confirm deletion by typing the project name
5. Complete the deletion process

Warning: Project deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.

Assigning Resources to Projects

During Monitor Creation

• When creating monitors, select the appropriate project from the dropdown
• The monitor inherits default settings from the project
• Project assignment affects permissions and access control
• Monitors appear in project-specific views and reports

Moving Existing Monitors

1. Go to the monitor you want to move
2. Click "Edit" or "Settings"
3. Change the project assignment
4. Save the changes
5. Verify the monitor appears in the new project

Bulk Assignment

1. Select multiple monitors using checkboxes
2. Choose "Bulk Actions"
3. Select "Change Project"
4. Choose the target project
5. Confirm the bulk operation

Project-Based Views and Filtering

Project Dashboard

• Project overview: Summary of all monitors within the project
• Status summary: Overall health of project resources
• Recent activity: Latest incidents and changes within the project
• Performance metrics: Project-specific uptime and performance data

Filtered Views

• Monitor lists: Filter monitors by project to see only relevant items
• Incident lists: View incidents specific to project resources
• Reports: Generate reports for specific projects
• Status pages: Create status pages for specific project services

Search and Navigation

• Project-based search: Search within specific projects
• Quick access: Bookmarks or shortcuts to frequently accessed projects
• Project switching: Easy navigation between different projects
• Breadcrumb navigation: Clear indication of current project context

Team Collaboration and Access Control

Project Access Levels

Owner

• Permissions: Full access to all project resources and settings
• Capabilities: Create, edit, delete monitors; manage team access; delete project
• Best for: Project managers, service owners, team leads

Editor

• Permissions: Can manage monitors and resources within the project
• Capabilities: Create, edit monitors; manage incidents; update status pages
• Best for: Team members actively managing monitoring for the project

Viewer

• Permissions: Read-only access to project resources
• Capabilities: View monitors, incidents, and status; receive notifications
• Best for: Stakeholders who need visibility but don't manage monitors

Team Management

Adding Team Members

1. Go to project settings
2. Navigate to "Team Members" or "Access Control"
3. Click "Add Team Member"
4. Enter user email or select existing user
5. Choose appropriate access level
6. Send invitation or apply changes

Modifying Access

1. Go to project team management
2. Find the team member to modify
3. Change their access level
4. Save changes

Removing Team Members

1. Go to project team management
2. Find the team member to remove
3. Click "Remove" or "Revoke Access"
4. Confirm the removal

Project Templates and Standards

Default Settings

• Monitor templates: Pre-configured monitor settings for the project
• Notification defaults: Standard notification handlers for project monitors
• Check intervals: Default monitoring frequency for project resources
• Alert thresholds: Standard alert configuration for project monitors

Naming Conventions

• Monitor naming: Consistent naming patterns for project monitors
• Description standards: Standard format for monitor descriptions
• Tag systems: Consistent tagging approach for project resources
• Documentation: Standard documentation practices for project resources

Configuration Standards

• Alert policies: Consistent alerting approaches across project resources
• Escalation procedures: Standard escalation processes for project incidents
• Response procedures: Documented incident response for project services
• Maintenance windows: Coordinated maintenance scheduling for project resources

Project Reporting and Analytics

Project Health Overview

• Overall uptime: Aggregate uptime across all project monitors
• Service availability: Availability statistics for project services
• Performance trends: Response time and performance trends
• Incident frequency: Number and severity of project incidents

Resource Utilization

• Monitor count: Number of monitors within the project
• Check frequency: Total monitoring activity for the project
• Alert volume: Number of alerts generated by project monitors
• Storage usage: Data storage consumed by project monitoring

Cost Analysis

• Monitoring costs: Cost breakdown for project monitoring resources
• Alert costs: Costs associated with notification delivery
• Usage patterns: Resource usage patterns and optimization opportunities
• Budget tracking: Monitoring costs against project budgets

Best Practices

Project Organization

• Clear purpose: Each project should have a clearly defined purpose and scope
• Logical grouping: Group related resources together for easier management
• Consistent naming: Use consistent naming conventions across projects
• Appropriate granularity: Balance between too many small projects and too few large ones

Access Management

• Principle of least privilege: Give users only the access they need
• Regular review: Periodically review and update team access
• Clear ownership: Each project should have clear ownership and responsibility
• Documentation: Document who has access and why

Resource Management

• Consistent configuration: Use similar settings for related monitors within projects
• Resource optimization: Regularly review project resources for optimization opportunities
• Lifecycle management: Remove or archive outdated project resources
• Change tracking: Maintain records of changes to project resources

Collaboration

• Clear communication: Establish clear communication channels for project teams
• Documentation: Maintain comprehensive documentation for project resources
• Training: Ensure team members understand project-specific procedures
• Knowledge sharing: Share best practices and lessons learned across projects

Common Use Cases

Multi-Client Service Provider

Scenario: MSP monitoring multiple client environments

• Organization: One project per client
• Benefits: Client separation, individual billing, access control
• Implementation: "Client ABC Corp", "Client XYZ Inc", "Client 123 Ltd"
• Team access: Client-specific teams with appropriate access levels

Software Development Company

Scenario: Company with multiple applications and environments

• Organization: Projects by application and environment
• Benefits: Development workflow alignment, environment isolation
• Implementation: "App A - Production", "App A - Staging", "App B - Production"
• Team access: Development teams with environment-appropriate access

Enterprise IT Department

Scenario: Large organization with diverse IT services

• Organization: Projects by service category and team
• Benefits: Service ownership, team responsibility, resource organization
• Implementation: "Email Services", "Web Infrastructure", "Database Systems"
• Team access: Specialized teams with service-specific access

Global Organization

Scenario: Multinational company with regional infrastructure

• Organization: Projects by geographic region and service
• Benefits: Regional management, timezone alignment, local responsibility
• Implementation: "US East Services", "EU West Infrastructure", "APAC Applications"
• Team access: Regional teams with geographic-specific access

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Access Problems

• Issue: Team members can't access project resources
• Check: Verify user has appropriate project access level
• Solution: Update team member permissions or access level
• Prevention: Regular access reviews and clear permission documentation

Organization Confusion

• Issue: Difficulty finding monitors or resources
• Check: Review project organization structure and naming
• Solution: Reorganize projects or improve naming conventions
• Prevention: Establish clear project organization guidelines

Resource Misallocation

• Issue: Monitors assigned to wrong projects
• Check: Review monitor project assignments
• Solution: Move monitors to appropriate projects using bulk operations
• Prevention: Clear guidelines for project assignment during monitor creation

Performance Issues

• Issue: Slow loading of project views with many resources
• Check: Review project size and resource distribution
• Solution: Split large projects into smaller, more focused projects
• Prevention: Plan project structure for appropriate granularity

Advanced Project Management

Project Hierarchies

• Parent-child relationships: Organize projects in hierarchical structures
• Inheritance: Child projects inherit settings from parent projects
• Aggregated reporting: Roll up metrics from child projects to parent projects
• Delegation: Delegate management responsibilities through project hierarchies

Project Templates

• Standard configurations: Create templates for common project types
• Quick setup: Rapidly create new projects from templates
• Consistency: Ensure consistent setup across similar projects
• Best practices: Encode organizational best practices in templates

Cross-Project Analytics

• Comparative analysis: Compare performance across projects
• Resource optimization: Identify optimization opportunities across projects
• Best practice sharing: Identify successful patterns for replication
• Organization insights: Understand monitoring patterns across the organization

Tips for Effective Project Management

• Plan structure early: Design project organization before implementing monitoring
• Start simple: Begin with basic project structure and evolve as needed
• Regular reviews: Periodically review and optimize project organization
• Clear documentation: Document project purposes and organization decisions
• Team involvement: Involve team members in project organization decisions
• Consistent naming: Use clear, consistent naming conventions across projects
• Access hygiene: Regularly review and clean up team access
• Resource optimization: Monitor resource usage and optimize across projects
• Change management: Plan and communicate changes to project organization
• Scale gradually: Expand project structure gradually as organization grows