Universal Comparison Model for Network Operations
Universal Comparison Model for Network Operations enables users to compare any network objects - such as devices, events, incidents, topologies, or configurations - across time or context. This flexible, cross-domain feature streamlines root cause analysis, change validation, and troubleshooting by providing a unified, side-by-side comparison experience within the product.
Goal
Enable users to easily compare any network objects, incidents, or events side-by-side across different use cases in a consistent and scalable UX pattern.
Problem statement
Users need to frequently compare network nodes, devices, incidents, or event timelines to analyze differences in performance, behavior, or configuration.
However, the current product lacks a unified, intuitive comparison mechanism that works across modules, causing inefficiencies and data silos.
Design thinking
The steps used to solve the problem
Understand the Problem
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Problem was discovered through stakeholder brief, user feedback
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Clarified business goals and user needs
User & Market Research
Define the Use Cases / Scenarios
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User interviews, surveys
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Personas or roles involved
(e.g., NetOps, InfraOps, SRE) -
Competitive analysis
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Specific use cases that need solving
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Edge cases or cross-domain comparisons
Information Architecture & Flow
Ideation & Wireframes
High-Fidelity Mockups
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Mapped out comparison types and entry points
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Structured navigation
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Early sketches or wireframes to explore layout
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Explored variations in layout
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Feedback loop from peers or stakeholders
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Final UI designs with visual hierarchy
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Icons, charts, legends, states
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Considered accessibility and responsive behavior
User Persona
Network Administrators
Product: Network Observability
Role Overview:
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Manage physical and virtual network devices.
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Perform configuration backups, health checks, and inventory audits.
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Respond to alerts or outages affecting connectivity.
Research Focus:
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How do they compare devices for troubleshooting?
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How do they validate config differences across routers or firewalls?
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How often do they look at metrics or logs side-by-side?
Key Insights:
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“We often download config files and compare them manually using Notepad++.”
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“I take screenshots of router metrics and place them side by side in PowerPoint.”
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Need for config diff and metric overlay in one interface.
IT Operations Engineers
Product: Infrastructure Observability
Role Overview:
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Oversee performance and uptime of infrastructure (compute, storage, networking).
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Use monitoring dashboards to detect anomalies and correlate metrics/events.
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Respond to alerts triggered by system thresholds.
Research Focus:
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How do they compare metrics from different devices or time ranges?
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What does their root cause analysis process look like?
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How do they collaborate during outages?
Key Insights:
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“I want to overlay metrics like CPU, memory, traffic across multiple nodes at once.”
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“We don’t have a native compare function—everyone uses two browser tabs.”
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Suggested a unified panel that can dynamically link metrics, logs, and config views.
Site Reliability Engineers
Product: Infrastructure Observability
Role Overview:
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Ensure reliability and scalability of application services.
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Monitor service-level indicators (SLIs) and error rates.
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Often perform cross-domain analysis (infra + app metrics).
Research Focus:
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How do they correlate incidents with changes in network/config?
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Do they compare traces or alert patterns from different time periods?
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What tools or workarounds do they use for multi-object comparisons?
Key Insights:
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“I need to compare last week’s incident with today’s to spot patterns.”
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“Splunk gives me log-level comparisons, but metrics and config diffs are missing.”
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Favored a timeline-based comparison with annotation support.
Use Cases
Use Case 1: Compare Network Devices
Scenario:
A network admin needs to investigate performance differences between two edge routers in different locations (e.g., India and Germany) during a suspected congestion issue.
User Goal:
Identify why one router is experiencing higher latency or packet drops compared to another.
Value:
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Identifies performance degradation
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Validates hardware or config discrepancies
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Aids capacity planning or upgrade needs
Use Case 2: Compare Events or Incidents
Scenario:
A site reliability engineer wants to compare two incidents triggered by high network latency - one from last week, another from today—to spot patterns or root causes.
User Goal:
Understand if two separate incidents are related or follow similar patterns.
Value:
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Reduces time-to-resolution (TTR)
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Prevents recurring issues
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Improves root cause analysis and postmortem accuracy
Use Case 3: Compare Network Topologies
Scenario:
An engineer wants to compare the state of the network before and after a major outage to validate recovery and understand changes.
User Goal:
Identify changes in connections, node states, or layout across two topology snapshots.
Value:
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Visual confirmation of network healing
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Audit trail for change management
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Helps validate rollback or DR plans
Competitive audit
Flow diagram
Wireframe
Compare Network Devices
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Open "Compare Devices" from network inventory or map.
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Select Router A and Router B.
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Open Comparison view
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CPU, memory usage, interface throughput, packet drop rate or user able to open any metrics
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Time-aligned overlays with tooltips
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In Basic information tab, compare device type, firmware version, interface settings.
Compare Events
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Go to the Events/Incidents view, select Incident #13456 and Incident #14029.​
Events: see time-aligned comparison: Alerts triggered, affected services, duration, severity
Logs: view key messages (e.g., errors or connection timeouts).
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Configuration: check if any config changed between the two incidents.
Compare Network Topologies
Navigate to the network map and choose timestamp, (Snapshot A) (before outage)then select Comparison model.
On comparison model select snapshot B then view: Nodes added/removed
State changes (up/down)
Path changes (route updates)
Hover or click to inspect node properties, interface states, or visual overlays.
Prototype
