Monitoring vs Reporting

The two terms are sometimes confused and thus erroneously used interchangeably. Monitoring usually provides an alert or warning for a specific point in time, while a report typically displays information in an organized manner and a spans a greater time span.

A report usually takes the shape of a table, graph, or chart. In the field of information technology, reporting is divided into two types: executive and operational. Operational reporting presents information that tends to be more technical and detailed, and is operational in nature. Executive reporting tends to be of a broader or higher-level perspective and is generally used to make managerial and financial decisions.