Capacity Management: Guided Practitioner Satnav -What else has to happen at the same time? (8 of 17)

Once we’ve selected our travelling companions we need to take a look at what else needs to be happening:

•          SLAs with respect to performance and capacity

•          Availability

•          Continuity

•          Demand Management

•          Things done for real not by rote

•          Exception reporting leading to actions

•          Automated activities

•          Proper use of tools

I’d say all of the above, in pragmatic terms, including measurable objectives and instrumented applications but in their absence, just assume that the current is acceptable and try to assess what level of degradation will prove unacceptable.

Let’s begin by taking a closer look at Service Level Agreements

A Service Level Agreement is a contract, stored in a portfolio which provides a yardstick for the service receiver and service provider. It:

•          Quantifies the obligations of provider and receiver and is more important if services are formally charged.

•          Identifies functions that the service will provide and when.

•          Needs measurable performance indicators:

- availability down-time and slow-time event rates

- continuity priority services performance

- performance response means and per-centiles

- capacity traffic throughput means and per-centiles

Remember to keep them measurable, achievable and appropriate and take in to account:

•          Service catalogue/portfolio, business needs

•          Instrumentation for traffic levels and app counters

•          Agreements with teeth that can be monitored & policed

•          Normal, peak and exceptional service levels.

It is in the interests of both sides that the document is clear & measurable. On Friday I’ll cover SLA definitions.

In the meantime there's a chance for one person to win a signed copy of my Capacity Management book (referred to in the first blog of this series)Simply subscribe to our blog or YouTube Channel,Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn between now and 15th March inclusive to be entered in to our drawing.
Like, follow or subscribe to 3 media or more and receive an additional free entry.

Only one entry per person per media is valid and no cash alternative is available.

The winner will be notified and published after the drawing on 29th March 2013.

Good Luck!
Adam Grummitt
Distinguished Engineer