---
name: cloud-logs-eval-window
title: Changing the alert evaluation window
description: Lags in your data pipeline can cause delays in log and metric ingestion by IBM® Cloud Logs, potentially leading to false alerts. While alert conditions are evaluated in real-time, delayed data that arrives later can retroactively affect whether those conditions are met.
last-updated: 2025-10-17
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-logs?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Changing the alert evaluation window
{: #eval-window}

Lags in your data pipeline can cause delays in log and metric ingestion by IBM® Cloud Logs, potentially leading to false alerts. While alert conditions are evaluated in real-time, delayed data that arrives later can retroactively affect whether those conditions are met.
{: shortdesc}

When an alert is to be triggered when a user-defined threshold is exceeded, missing data might delay the alert or lead to an incorrect resolution. Conversely, when an alert is to be triggered when less-than a user-defined threshold, incomplete data can cause a false-positive alert or delayed alert resolution.

By configuring a delay in the alert evaluation, you can mitigate timing issues by shifting an alert's evaluation time frame backward by a specific amount of time. This adjustment can ensure that alert conditions are evaluated against a complete dataset, accounting for late-arriving logs or metrics.

By delaying the alert evaluation, you can reduce the risk of false positives or negatives that are caused by real-time data fluctuations and improve the accuracy and reliability of your alerts.

You can configure an alert evalution delay for the following alert types:

* [Standard](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-logs?topic=cloud-logs-alerts-config-standard&format=markdown)
* [Ratio](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-logs?topic=cloud-logs-alerts-config-ratio&format=markdown)
* [Time Relative](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-logs?topic=cloud-logs-alerts-config-time-relative&format=markdown)
* [Metric](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-logs?topic=cloud-logs-alerts-config-metric&format=markdown)

## Configuring an alert evaluation delay
{: #eval-window-config}

To configure an evaluation delay for an alert:

1. Create a new alert or edit an existing alert.

2. Under **Conditions** click **Advanced settings**.

3. Select **Delay alert evaluation** and select the number of seconds to delay the evaluation.

   The delay can be a maximum of 3 hours (10800 seconds).