1. One or more nontransitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of initiating a failover state of an element in a telecommunications network, the method comprising: determining an anticipated amount of usage for the network element at a present time; based on said anticipated amount of usage, determining a minimum-usage threshold to be associated with said element for said present time, wherein said minimum-usage threshold defines a minimum value of a data-processing metric, below which said network element would be deemed to be in a fail status; calculating said data-processing metric based on current processing being handled by said network element; determining that said data-processing metric is below said minimum-usage threshold; and initiating said failover state of said network element based on said determining that said data-processing metric is below said minimum-usage threshold.