Patent ID: 8015278

Claim:
One or more nontransitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of monitoring events impacting service in a network communications system, the method comprising: monitoring an event data structure for events that stem from faulty network components in said communications system; creating tickets based on said events, wherein said tickets are at least one of, (A) an unscheduled-outage ticket, or (B) a customer-service ticket, wherein said customer-service ticket is a trouble ticket that was generated in response to a customer complaint, and wherein said tickets may be used to address said events; creating an impact list for each of said events, wherein each impact list is a list of network components impacted by one of said events, and wherein a ticket created for the event is associated with the impact list for the event; upon creating the ticket for the event, determining whether the impact list associated with the ticket matches an impact list associated with another ticket; when the impact list associated with the ticket matches an impact list associated with another ticket, then correlating the ticket with the other ticket in a hierarchical relationship; based on said correlation, updating said events in said event data structure; deleting one of said tickets; determining if a first ticket that was correlated with said one ticket, before said one ticket was deleted, is associated with an impact list of a second ticket that was not deleted, by comparing the impact list of the first ticket with the impact list of the second ticket; and when said first ticket is associated with said impact list, then re-correlating said first ticket with said second ticket.