With the intention to execute and control distributed systems, there is a demand to use what is categorised as system management software. Assuming a firm is big enough and has operations spread out substantially enough to warrant a distributed system, the advantages are pretty much clear. For a growing organization, there happens to be cutoff point at which it becomes impractical to do individual installations on each station, and sort through the paper and electronic trail left by every single user as a way to centralize the whole setup.

The concept basically revolves around a thorough scrutiny of information systems in business to ensure that they are up and running. This involves the acquisition of proper peripherals and software so that they can be used in the appropriate areas. They are then assembled and maintained using the latest updates to ensure that all the set goals are met at the right time. In simple terms, the major role it plays is to ensure that a business operates within a secure, reliable and easy to maintain IT atmosphere. It also encompasses hosting services and managed services in addition to monitoring information systems services.

This is done remotely so even when the office is closed things can be repaired, slow servers can be noticed and repaired, and when the office reopens in the morning everyone will find that their systems work exactly the way they should, and they are none the wiser of any problems that existed or were repaired the night before.

Remote management means that you are paying an individual or provider to monitor your networks at all times. This means trusting someone, but it also means that you don't have to wait for something to go wrong to call someone in order to help you. It also means that a problem can be fixed as soon as it pops up instead of waiting for it to grow and grow and possibly have a domino effect on the whole system, slowing or shutting everything down.

Managers have to develop proper documentation of how the system works and organize effective training for the employees on how to use the system. Both manual and computerized documentation help diagram and instruction sheets. Subsequently, this will avail the employee an opportunity learn how to use the system for different purposes. Beyond pure documentation, however, training may also include sessions which will enable employees to practice using the system under the guidance of experts.

Then there is configuration control, which is the list of methods and approval stages that are needed to modify a configuration point's traits and reinitiate them. Configuration status accounting is the facility needed to document and deal with the configuration baselines correlated to each point at any time period. The last task is Configuration audits, which has two aspects: functional audits and physical audits. The former deals with the functional and performance attributes of the configuration point. On the other hand the latter makes certain that the configuration point is established according to what is required by the detailed design records.


Systems management is a continual process. Even if an effective information system can be created and put into use there is still a good chance that it will need to be modified occasionally to fit the changing environment