KISS
‘Keep it simple, stupid’, the old business saying is more relevant than ever.
Many capacity management techniques used in the ‘old days’, such as simulation modelling, are no longer relevant. Configuration of systems can be achieved too quickly and resources are too amenable to rapid change. Capacity management techniques need to evolve in keeping with this.
Focusing on key metrics, not all metrics, allowing the varied audiences for capacity information to select what they need to see, all play a part in meeting the new demands on the capacity manager.
At heart, there will still be a ton of data needed to satisfy all requirements, so automation of data capture and being able to bring all relevant data, technical and business, into one place will be a major benefit.
Business, business, business
As mentioned in a previous blog in this series, getting close to the business has become ever more important for the capacity manager due to technological change such as virtualization and Cloud. It’s easier to make mistakes quicker with virtual systems, and whilst Cloud promises elasticity of resource availability, that elasticity will come at a premium cost.
The analyst community, ITIL and more all stress the need for capacity management to be closely aligned to the business. Getting good processes in place to enable this to happen is the key to enabling your organization to enjoy the benefits of good capacity management, benefits that are typically worth about 10% of your IT budget per year.
Getting essentially technical staff to be able to fulfil this need often needs outside training and support initially.
Let the end justify the means
Capacity management includes many techniques and approaches to achieve results. One size doesn’t fit all requirements. For highly dynamic systems, or systems that are non-critical, automated reporting on a few key metrics, report generation only if thresholds are breached, trend based alerting ad reporting, might all be sufficient to meet the business need.
A critical application with a heavy financial dependency to the business might require a more detailed approach, such as using analytical modelling to identify cost savings on merger and acquisition. Build a team with a range of skills and match the approach to the business need.
There is more that can be said of course, but that will have to be the subject of future blogs. My series is now at an end and has hopefully given you some thoughts about good practice for capacity management today.
In particular my blog series is intended to help those organizations wanting to establish or re-establish their capacity management function in response to technological changes such as virtualization and Cloud computing.
I hope you've enjoyed the series and welcome any comments.
White papers, podcasts and more on capacity management can be accessed free by joining our Metron community Andrew Smith
Chief Sales & Marketing Officer
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