Use this page for customer questions and troubleshooting related to notification channels, notification channel groups, alerting, Insight Rules, Insights anomaly detection, and the Insights lifecycle in Yarken.
Understanding Alerts & Notifications
Q: What notification and alerting capabilities does Yarken provide?
A: Yarken provides two connected monitoring and notification systems:
|
System |
Purpose |
How it works |
|---|---|---|
|
Alerting |
Monitor a metric against a defined condition and notify a team when the condition is met |
Rule-based: define metric → set condition → choose trigger → send message |
|
Insights |
Detect unusual patterns in spend or usage data using statistical methods and manage the response lifecycle |
AI-assisted: configure detection rule → system identifies anomalies → review, acknowledge, resolve |
Both systems use Notification Channels and Notification Channel Groups to deliver messages to the right people via Microsoft Teams, Slack, or email.
Q: What is the difference between Alerting and Insights?
A: Alerting and Insights serve different purposes:
|
Aspect |
Alerting |
Insights |
|---|---|---|
|
Purpose |
Notify when a specific condition is met |
Detect unusual patterns and manage the investigation lifecycle |
|
Trigger |
Threshold crossed or expected data missing |
Statistical anomaly detected against learned baseline |
|
Detection |
Simple condition check (above/below/within/outside a value) |
Statistical methods (Z-Score, Moving Average, Prophet, CUSUM) |
|
Output |
Notification message sent to a channel |
Insight created with trend visualization, baseline, confidence score, severity, and suggested next steps |
|
Lifecycle |
Alert fires → notification sent → done |
New → Acknowledged → Resolved (or Reopened) |
|
Investigation |
Recipient reviews and acts externally |
Built-in workspace for review, acknowledgment, and resolution |
|
Use case |
Governance controls, budget checks, data-load validation |
Proactive anomaly detection, cost variance investigation, pattern monitoring |
Q: What are Notification Channels and Notification Channel Groups?
A: These are two related setup areas that control where and how Yarken delivers notifications:
|
Component |
What it defines |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Notification Channel |
The actual communication destination or integration |
A Microsoft Teams webhook, a Slack webhook, or an email address |
|
Notification Channel Group |
The recipient group that uses one or more channels |
"FinOps Team" group that sends to the #finops Slack channel and a Teams channel |
Notification Channels
Q: What notification channel types does Yarken support?
A: Yarken supports three notification channel types:
|
Channel type |
How it works |
Use it for |
|---|---|---|
|
Microsoft Teams |
Sends messages via an incoming webhook URL to a Teams channel |
Operational alerts, Insights distribution, cross-functional collaboration |
|
Slack |
Sends messages via an incoming webhook URL to a Slack channel |
Insights alerts, operational visibility, governance activity tracking |
|
|
Sends notifications directly to configured email recipients |
Executive reporting, scheduled summaries, financial governance |
Notification Channel Groups
Q: What are Notification Channel Groups and why do I need them?
A: Notification Channel Groups define the recipient group that receives Insight alerts and operational notifications. They organize recipients, standardize communication flows, and manage notification delivery.
You need groups because:
-
Insight Rules require a Notification Channel Group during rule creation
-
Alerts require a Notification Channel for message delivery
-
Groups allow you to route different notifications to different teams based on responsibility
Groups are commonly used for Insights distribution, executive reporting alerts, operational notifications, governance workflows, and cross-functional reporting updates.
Alerting
Q: What is Alerting and when should I use it?
A: Alerting helps teams monitor spend, activity, and operational signals without checking reports manually. Use Alerting when you need to:
-
Monitor spend and operational metrics against defined conditions
-
Trigger notifications when a threshold is crossed
-
Trigger notifications when expected data is missing
-
Run checks on a schedule or from an application event
-
Support recurring controls for finance, IT, and FinOps teams
Alerting turns recurring manual checks into repeatable automated controls. See Alerting.
Q: What alert types are available?
A: Alerts can run from two trigger types:
|
Trigger type |
Use it when |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Schedule |
The alert should run at a defined cadence (daily, weekly, monthly) |
Monthly vendor spend threshold check |
|
Event |
The alert should run when a system event occurs |
Alert after data is loaded to confirm completeness |
Q: What trigger conditions are available for alerts?
A: Two condition types are available:
|
Condition type |
Use it when |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Threshold |
A metric should not exceed or fall below a defined value or percentage |
AWS monthly spend exceeds $50,000 |
|
Absence of value |
Expected data should exist but does not |
Monthly spend not loaded by the 5th of the month |
Managing alerts
Q: How do I manage existing alerts?
A: The Alerting page provides five actions for each alert:
|
Action |
Use it to |
|---|---|
|
Edit |
Update the alert name, description, metric, condition, trigger, notification channel, or message |
|
Activate / Deactivate |
Turn the alert on or off without deleting it |
|
Run |
Run the alert manually to test or validate the configuration |
|
View run history |
Review previous alert runs and their results |
|
Delete |
Remove an alert that is no longer needed |
Q: Can I import and export alert configurations?
A: Yes.
Import — Use when you need to load alert configurations in bulk, reuse a standard alert set across environments, or restore configurations. After importing, review each configuration before activating — imported alerts may need environment-specific updates.
Export — Use to download alert configurations for review, audit, backup, or migration.
Troubleshooting Alerts & Notifications
Alert runs but no notification is received
Cause: The notification channel is not configured, not enabled, or the webhook URL is invalid.
Resolution:
-
Navigate to Admin → Settings → Notification Channels
-
Verify the channel used by the alert exists and is Enabled
-
Verify the Webhook URL is correct and has not expired or been revoked:
-
For Microsoft Teams: Check if the workflow is still active in Teams (Workflows > Send webhook alerts to a channel)
-
For Slack: Check if the app and webhook are still active at https://api.slack.com/apps
-
-
Test the webhook by sending a test message from the source platform
-
If using email, verify the recipient addresses are correct and not blocked by spam filters
-
After fixing the channel, run the alert manually to confirm delivery
Alert is not running on schedule
Cause: The alert is not activated, the schedule is misconfigured, or the event trigger is not firing.
Resolution:
-
Check the Active column on the Alerting page — confirm the alert is activated
-
Review the trigger configuration:
-
For scheduled alerts: Confirm the frequency matches the expected cadence
-
For event alerts: Confirm the triggering event (e.g., data load) is occurring
-
-
Check View run history — if the alert has never run, it may not have been activated after creation
-
If the alert was recently imported, verify it does not need environment-specific updates before activation
-
Run the alert manually to confirm it can execute successfully
Alert fires but threshold condition appears incorrect
Cause: The threshold value, operator, or metric period is misconfigured.
Resolution:
-
Open the alert in Edit mode
-
Verify the metric is correct — confirm it matches the data you expect to monitor
-
Verify the condition type (Threshold or Absence) and threshold position (above, below, within, outside)
-
Verify the threshold value is entered in the correct unit (amount, percentage, or other measure)
-
Verify the period or scope — the alert may be checking a different month or entity than expected
-
After correcting, save the alert and run it manually to validate
Notification Channel Group not appearing in Insight Rule creation
Cause: The group is disabled, or no notification channels have been configured as a prerequisite.
Resolution:
-
Navigate to Admin → Settings → Notification Channel Groups
-
Verify the group exists and the Enabled toggle is on — disabled groups are not available for selection in Insight Rules
-
Verify the group's Channel Type matches the notification type you are trying to use in the rule
-
If the group references a Teams or Slack channel, verify the underlying Notification Channel is configured and enabled
-
If no groups exist, create one following the setup procedure
Webhook URL stopped working — Teams or Slack notifications failing
Cause: The webhook URL has been revoked, expired, or the workflow/app was removed from the target platform.
Resolution:
For Microsoft Teams:
-
Open the Teams channel
-
Check if the Workflow for webhook alerts is still active
-
If the workflow was removed or disabled, recreate it:
-
Select More channel options → Workflows → Send webhook alerts to a channel
-
Copy the new webhook URL
-
-
Update the Notification Channel in Yarken with the new URL
-
Test by running an alert manually
For Slack:
-
Open the app associated with the webhook
-
Check if Incoming Webhooks is still enabled
-
If the webhook was revoked, create a new one and copy the URL
-
Update the Notification Channel in Yarken with the new URL
-
Test by running an alert manually
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