Automate planned downtime exclusions: Keep KPIs clean and your teams working smarter during software releases

Monitoring platforms include a planned maintenance exclusion (PME) feature to filter out expected downtime and errors during releases, keeping your KPIs clean.

But for today's digital teams rolling out multiple updates, across dozens of journeys, a manual PME toggle isn’t always realistic.

What’s needed is an API-driven PME, so exclusions are automated, effortless, and integrated directly into your release workflow.

Here’s why.

1. Automate exclusions to reduce risk and save time

DevOps teams push updates fast, sometimes several times a week. Relying on manually setting up exclusion windows is time-consuming and means risking delays, mistakes, and frustration.

With an API, DevOps pipelines can automatically open or close PME windows as part of the release process. No more chasing through lists of journeys. No more repetitive clicks. Just automated downtime exclusions that free your team’s time and energy.

2. Integrate with existing tools and workflows

An API doesn’t just save time, it fits naturally into existing workflows. The PME API doesn’t create “another tool to manage”, it connects with the systems your teams already live in.

• CI/CD pipelines → automatically trigger PME windows in sync with deployments.

• IT Service Management Platforms (ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, Freshservice) → change requests, maintenance logs and service support sync automatically.

• Observability Platforms (Splunk, Datadog) → PME windows align with deployment logs, so teams can instantly see which alerts to trust and which to ignore.

This means less admin, less switching between tools, and fewer frustrations. Maintenance and release windows are logged, synced, and excluded from KPIs without extra manual effort.

3. Cut out human error and the grind

Automated exclusions prevent common mistakes. Wrong times, wrong journeys, or missed windows lead to messy KPIs. But even when done right, the manual work slows everyone down. A PME API fixes both problems: no more mistakes, no more wasted time.

4. Adjust in real time, not by rigid schedules

Releases and maintenance don't always run to plan. With an API, exclusions are opened or closed automatically based on what’s actually happening with the release, rather than being tied to predefined maintenance windows.

5. Keep KPIs accurate and noise-free

Planned downtime shouldn’t appear as checkout errors, failed logins, or SLA breaches. An exclusion API ensures those periods are filtered out automatically in real time, directly tied to release logs:

• Maintain accurate uptime and availability KPIs

• Reduce false alerts and noise for your teams

• Gain a clear picture of CX once releases are live

• Keep SLA & CX reporting clean

What this means across different sectors

For SaaS providers

Performance/CX reports and SLAs depend on clean, accurate data. Protect SLAs and CX, avoid false downtime penalties, and simplify compliance.

For Retailers

CX and conversion KPIs drive boardroom conversations. A PME API provides a tamper-proof record that downtime was excluded automatically and accurately, keeping reports transparent and credible. Keep conversion, checkout success, and CX scores accurate, even during updates.

In both cases, the PME API ensures monitoring reflects CX and performance reality, not your release schedule.

The bottom line on automated downtime exclusions

Planned downtime is unavoidable. But false downtime and the manual grind of managing PME doesn’t have to be.

An API for planned maintenance exclusions makes monitoring smarter, cleaner, and fully integrated into the way you already deploy software. With a PME API, exclusions are automated, integrated, and effortless. Teams save time, reduce frustration, and trust that KPIs reflect reality, not release schedules.

Further Resources

Discover how thinkTRIBE’s PME API makes releases smoother and smarter. Request a demo now.