an event code of 5555 thus readily distinguishing it from other events on the network 100 the presence of this code in the event log 134 acts as a prompt to the atms owner to update the template data held on the data storage device 112 as noted above if necessary referring now to fig3 a computer implemented method of managing a network of devices comprises a processor receiving device identification data from a managed device step 300 a database on a data storage device stores device identification data associated with at least one other managed device step 302 the received device identification data is compared to the device identification data in the database step 304 to determine whether the managed device is known to the system step 306 the managed device is added to a database of managed devices on the data storage device if the determination of whether the managed device is known to the system is negative step 308 the database imports device characteristics from a pre defined template based upon the device identification data step 310 the processor monitors some or all performance data associated with the managed device based upon the imported device characteristics step 312 it will be appreciated that although the present invention is described with reference to a network of atms the term u201c managed device u201d as used herein encompasses.