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Welcome to this guide on integrating with AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter. This walkthrough explains onboarding, enabling automated sources, and creating a manual OpsItem so you can build end-to-end operational workflows from detection to remediation. AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter provides a central place for tracking and resolving operational issues. These issues are represented as OpsItems — structured records that capture the source, affected resources, investigation notes, and remediation steps so operations teams can triage and resolve incidents efficiently.
OpsCenter is part of AWS Systems Manager. OpsItems can be created manually or generated automatically via integrations such as CloudWatch alarms using Amazon EventBridge rules.

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Onboarding to OpsCenter

To enable OpsCenter:
  1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console.
  2. In the left navigation, expand Operational Tools → OpsCenter.
  3. Follow the onboarding flow to review and confirm the resources OpsCenter will provision (for example, IAM roles and optional EventBridge rules).
You’ll see a setup screen that describes the IAM roles and the optional default Amazon EventBridge rules OpsCenter can create for you. If you want automatic OpsItem creation from monitoring alerts (recommended for automated workflows), enable the default EventBridge rules during onboarding — you can also enable them later.
A screenshot of the AWS Systems Manager web console on the OpsCenter Explorer Setup page. The page shows sections for "IAM roles" and "Default rules for OpsItems" with the left-hand navigation menu visible.
After onboarding, OpsCenter integrates with features such as Incident Manager, operational insights, and organization-wide OpsItem management. A typical automated integration is CloudWatch alarms: when an alarm enters ALARM state, an EventBridge rule can create an OpsItem automatically, moving the workflow from detection to investigation.

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OpsCenter console and OpsItems

From the OpsCenter console you can list and filter open, in-progress, or resolved OpsItems. If you don’t yet have OpsItems, create one manually to understand the payload and fields OpsCenter stores.
A screenshot of the AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter web console showing the OpsItems tab. The UI displays buttons like "Create OpsItem" and "Configure sources," along with filters for OpsItem types and a left navigation menu.

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Creating an OpsItem manually

When you create an OpsItem you can choose the target account (your current account or another account in your AWS Organization). Provide values for Title, Source, Priority, Severity, Category, and Description. These fields guide triage and escalation workflows. Use the following table as a quick reference for common OpsItem fields and suggested values: Example guidance for a high-CPU OpsItem:
  • Title: High CPU Utilization on an EC2 Instance
  • Source: CloudWatch
  • Severity / Priority: Set according to your runbook (e.g., High / P1)
  • Description: EC2 instance is experiencing sustained high CPU utilization. Investigate workload, consider scaling, configuration changes, or application remediation. Include instance ID, metric thresholds, and links to relevant dashboards or logs.
A screenshot of the AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter "Create OpsItem" page showing OpsItem details with the Title set to "High CPU Utilization on a EC2 Instance" and the Source set to "CloudWatch." The left sidebar shows Systems Manager navigation options like Review node insights and Explore nodes.
Complete the create flow to open the OpsItem. Once created, an OpsItem becomes the central record where you can:
  • Attach investigation notes and status updates.
  • Link affected resource identifiers (for example, InstanceId).
  • Attach or run Systems Manager Automation documents (runbooks) for remediation.
  • Integrate with Incident Manager for on-call escalation.
  • Track progress and resolution across your operations team.
A screenshot of the AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter "Create OpsItem" page with a description field saying an EC2 instance is experiencing sustained high CPU utilization and needs investigation for scaling, config change, or remediation. The left sidebar shows AWS Systems Manager navigation links.

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Automating OpsItem creation and remediation

To build a fully automated operational workflow:
  • Enable EventBridge rules (CloudWatch → EventBridge → OpsCenter) to generate OpsItems from alarms.
  • Use AWS Config or third-party monitoring integrations to surface compliance or configuration issues as OpsItems.
  • Attach Systems Manager Automation documents to OpsItems to execute remediation steps automatically or as guided runbooks.
  • Integrate with Incident Manager to create response plans, on-call rotations, and escalation policies.
Make sure the IAM roles and permissions that OpsCenter provisions (or you create) include access to the affected resources, Systems Manager Automation documents, and EventBridge rules. Missing permissions can prevent automated OpsItem creation or remediation runbooks from running.
OpsCenter centralizes incident records (OpsItems) to streamline triage, investigation, and remediation. Start by onboarding OpsCenter, decide whether to enable default EventBridge rules for automated OpsItem creation, and create a manual OpsItem to model your runbook and escalation processes. From there, integrate CloudWatch, EventBridge, AWS Config, and Incident Manager to automate detection and response. References:

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