The Sybase Control Center (SCC) is a system management framework. Multiple Sybase products can be managed using the SCC through a customized plugin. SCC was designed to be flexible to accommodate the various products. However, the set up and configuration was very tedious and cumbersome. The goal was to simplify and improve general usability.
By documenting the existing steps and workflow, we see the many steps a user must take before even get started to use SCC to manage a single system. Also, some steps are required for multiple items within a single resource.
After identifying the pain points of the process, I recommended the following concepts for usability improvements. Among some of the recommendations are resource import, collection and alert templates, and collaborative perspectives. Resource import allows the registration of multiple resource. Configuration templates allows reuse of settings for multiple alerts. Collaborative perspectives decouples the alert notification and escalation settings from the alert to avoid repetitive settings at the granular alert level.
I also recommend short term improvements that can be implemented quickly so users can benefit from a better experience earlier.
Part of this redesign were mock ups of various parts of the cockpit. Shown below are the mock ups for the alert monitor.