Skip to main content
All CollectionsTemplates
Measure RTA and compare against RTO
Measure RTA and compare against RTO

Learn how to use RTO and RTA within your Cutover runbooks to ensure business continuity and operational resilience.

Cutover Documentation Team avatar
Written by Cutover Documentation Team
Updated over a week ago

You can now measure Real-Time Actuals (RTA) and compare these against Real-Time Objectives (RTO) within your Cutover runbooks. These metrics help determine if a service meets its target policy. RTO/RTA calculations update automatically when tasks start or finish and are displayed at the runbook level.

Prerequisites

Navigate to Settings at the bottom of the left-hand blue panel. Then choose Runbook Type. Ensure the RTO/RTA calculation is enabled on templates for the relevant runbook type. This can be found in Additional settings of the runbook type. If you don't have access, reach out to your CSM to discuss enabling this setting.

You will need a template that has been created using a runbook type which includes the RTO/RTA feature.

Configure RTO Settings

Define Manually

  1. Open the Template Details panel.

  2. Under the RTO Source section, select Define Manually.

  3. Configure:

    • RTO Duration: Enter days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

    • RTO Start Task: Choose the starting task by searching or selecting from the task list.

    • RTO End Task: Choose the final task used in the calculation. The RTO calculated amount will be displayed above this field in the RTO section.

4. Click Save.

Note: Changes to RTO/RTA configuration are locked once a runbook is created from the template.

Choose Field

Note: If you are using this option, the RTO value must be in a valid written time format (e.g. 2 hours, 15 minutes, 1 hour 30 minutes, 1 day, 7 days) when this data is coming from your CMDB system or populated in a custom field value.

  1. In the Template Details panel, select Choose Field under the RTO Source section.

  2. Select an RTO Source from the searchable custom fields associated with your instance using the Select RTO field dropdown. To quickly find the desired field, start typing its name or related characters, and matching custom fields will appear for selection.

  3. Configure:

    • RTO Start Task: Search or select the task to start the calculation.

    • RTO End Task: Search or select the task to end the calculation.

  4. Click Save.

Using RTO/RTA in a Runbook

  1. Create a runbook from the RTO/RTA template you created:

    • Use the configured template.

    • Enter the runbook name, destination folder, and any required custom fields.

2. Start the runbook:

  • Click the Play button.

  • The RTO timer starts when the RTO Start task begins and stops when the RTO End task finishes. The RTA has now been recorded and added to the original template this runbook was created from.

Viewing RTA Results

  1. Once the runbook completes, navigate to the Templates area.

  2. Open the Template Details panel (hover over the runbook list item and click the edit icon)

    • The RTO/RTA section will display a green Pass label if the RTO was met.

    • View the Runbook RTA results, which show:

      • Completion date.

      • Duration (time taken to complete).

      • Difference between RTO and RTA.

3. Click the result to return to the runbook for additional details.

Notes

  • Tasks affected by RTO/RTA calculations are labeled in the template.

  • RTO/RTA configurations cannot be edited in the runbook after creation.

  • If using the Choose Field option, calculations are based on the selected custom field, and manual adjustments are not available.

RTO/RTA Analytics

You can view your RTO/RTA analytics using the chart available on the Multi-runbook dashboard.

RTO Status:

This dashboard shows the status of RTO calculations.

Pass - The RTO calculations is a Pass

Pending - This is currently in execution

Invalid - If Cutover does not understand the time value whilst using the Choose Field option, the RTO would be marked as invalid but RTA will continue to be calculated.

Fail - The RTO calculation is a Fail

Further resources

Please see our video detailing the RTO/RTA functionality and how this works.

If you're interested in the RTO/RTA functionality and would like it added to your instance, please contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM).

Did this answer your question?