A method is provided for the identification of managed systems that are exceptional compared to comparable managed systems. The method involves selecting a set of managed systems wherein each managed system has a number of system configuration attributes and selecting a set of parameterizations relating to the managed systems. Patterns are determined for the parameterizations within the set of managed systems using a supervised machine learning algorithm. The managed systems are compared to the patterns and any managed systems that deviate from the patterns are isolated as exceptional managed systems. Isolated systems may be targeted for remedial action such as the allocation of support resources or system management resources.