A system and method are provided for monitoring processes of an information technology (IT) system. In one example, the system comprises a monitor agent configured to collect performance and availability metrics associated with a host machine, a network, an operating system, a database or an application; a data loader, wherein the monitor agent is further configured to transmit the metrics to the data loader; an escalation server configured to receive and manage alerts generated by the monitor agent, and further configured to group an alert entering the escalation server into a resource group; and an analysis tool including an analysis tool application configured to assist a system manager in visualizing and understanding the performance of the information technology system through the use of a visual graph, a performance report, a real-time operating status or a system health report.
