Business Impact Manager calculates a numeric impact value for a root-cause problem notification by summing the weights of all of the elements affected by the problem. The numeric impact value appears in the Impact column for the problem notification in the Notification Log Console.
A weight is a numeric value that you assign to an element (for example, a ServiceOffering, a BusinessProcess, or an infrastructure or application element supporting a ServiceOffering or BusinessProcess) based on its importance to your business. By summing all of the assigned values, Business Impact Manager determines which problem notifications have a greater business impact than other problem notifications. Assigning weights allows you to apply your own criteria to “weigh” problems based on information that is most important to you at any given time; it enables you to prioritize support efforts based on business impacts.
Only root-cause problem notifications can have a non-zero Impact value. A notification can both cause and be caused by other notifications, as shown in Impact value calculation and impact propagation.
Notification N2 is caused by N1, and causes notification N3. However, even if a notification causes other notifications, if it is not the root-cause problem notification, its Impact value is zero. Only notification N1 has an Impact value greater than zero.
In the figure, note that even if the element denoted in notification N1 has a weight assigned to it, Business Impact Manager does not include that weight in the calculated impact value for N1. Business Impact Manager includes in its calculation only the weights of the elements affected by the problem element.
