We manage the activities, methods, procedures, and tools that pertain to the operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of your networked systems.

• Operation deals with keeping your network (and the services that the network provides) up and running smoothly. It includes monitoring your network to spot problems as soon as possible, before users are affected.
• Administration deals with keeping track of resources in your network and how they are assigned. It includes all the "housekeeping" that is necessary to keep your network under control.
• Maintenance is concerned with performing repairs and upgrades—for example, when equipment must be replaced, when a router needs a patch for an operating system image, when a new switch is added to your network. Maintenance also involves corrective and preventive measures to make the managed network runs "better", such as adjusting device configuration parameters.
• Provisioning is concerned with configuring resources in your network to support a given service. For example, this might include setting up your network so that you can receive voice service.