Maturing your Capacity Management processes – Tooling ( 6 of 11)

Given the complexity of today’s IT environments, the challenge in obtaining good and reliable capacity management data has never been more difficult.

 

Most organizations utilize a wide range of technologies to deliver their services and each has its own range of metrics, interface methods and technical nuances.  There are a wide range of tools available for the capture and collation of data and all have their strengths and weaknesses.

There are also options for free trials with some companies offering the ability to download the software or better still, as a preconfigured virtual machine.  Rather than list them individually, it is probably more useful to list the sort of functionality that a solid capacity management tool should be able to provide:

·       Capture across the enterprise.  Multiple point solutions are inherently harder to manage and collate the data

·        The ability to bring in additional non-native data sources.  This could be via frameworks, partner products or more traditional sources such as SNMP, application API’s etc

·       Provide the capability for modelling.  Certainly basic techniques such as trending have their place, but realistically, to truly understand the relationship between the utilization, the response time and how this will change over time you will need to use more advanced methods such as analytical or simulation modelling.

     Good reporting provides the foundation to any mature capacity process so any tool chosen should have the ability to deliver reports in a variety of ways e.g. web, email etc and support the correlation of data.

The important thing to remember is that all organizations are different and have specific requirements.  To get the best results, utilize the experience of the Capacity Management SIG and spend plenty of time producing the Request for Proposal (RFP) document to ensure it covers all of your requirements.

I’ll be taking a look at Information and Governance on Monday but in the meantime don't forget to register for our Capacity Management Maturity series webinar  -  Defined to Managed taking place on August 16.  

https://www.metron-athene.com/services/webinars/capacity-management-webinars.html

Jamie Baker

Principal Consultant

Maturing your Capacity Management processes – Tooling ( 6 of 11)

Given the complexity of today’s IT environments, the challenge in obtaining good and reliable capacity management data has never been more difficult.

 

Most organizations utilize a wide range of technologies to deliver their services and each has its own range of metrics, interface methods and technical nuances.  There are a wide range of tools available for the capture and collation of data and all have their strengths and weaknesses.

There are also options for free trials with some companies offering the ability to download the software or better still, as a preconfigured virtual machine.  Rather than list them individually, it is probably more useful to list the sort of functionality that a solid capacity management tool should be able to provide:

·       Capture across the enterprise.  Multiple point solutions are inherently harder to manage and collate the data

·        The ability to bring in additional non-native data sources.  This could be via frameworks, partner products or more traditional sources such as SNMP, application API’s etc

·       Provide the capability for modelling.  Certainly basic techniques such as trending have their place, but realistically, to truly understand the relationship between the utilization, the response time and how this will change over time you will need to use more advanced methods such as analytical or simulation modelling.

Good reporting provides the foundation to any mature capacity process so any tool chosen should have the ability to deliver reports in a variety of ways e.g. web, email etc and support the correlation of data.

The important thing to remember is that all organizations are different and have specific requirements.  To get the best results, utilize the experience of the Capacity Management SIG and spend plenty of time producing the Request for Proposal (RFP) document to ensure it covers all of your requirements.

I’ll be taking a look at Information and Governance on Wednesday but in the meantime don't forget to register for our Capacity Management Maturity series webinar  -  Repeatable to Defined taking place on June 21

https://www.metron-athene.com/services/webinars/capacity-management-webinars.html

Jamie Baker

Principal Consultant

The dawn of a new year is always a time for reflection as well as looking ahead to what’s to come.

2016 was a busy and successful year for Metron.  We welcomed some new clients who were looking to implement or mature their Capacity Management processes and chose to rely on Metron’s expertise and software solutions to help make this happen. 

We also strengthened our relationships with other clients who recommitted to the idea that Capacity Management is a vital process that must be considered carefully -- even in an age of virtualization, cloud computing, and other newer technologies. 

We traveled to many places this past year – to a variety of industry events where we presented papers and exhibited our solutions and services.  In November, we helped sponsor CMG in La Jolla, CA – and we participated in a big way, delivering ten papers and two training sessions to folks who dedicated an entire week to become more knowledgeable about Capacity Planning and Performance Management.  

So let’s say goodbye and hello to two very important years in Metron’s history.  2016 marked the 30^th anniversary of Metron Technology in the UK – started as a consultancy in 1986 and dedicated to Capacity Management ever since.  2017 will be the 15^th anniversary of Metron-Athene, Inc. in the United States, providing direct sales and support to North America.  Between the two offices and our worldwide partners, Metron plans to continue to provide Capacity Management software, services, and education well into the future all over the world. 

As far as the changing landscape of IT, Metron is well-positioned to help you manage it – we’ve been here before.  From the advent of Unix, Windows, VMware, SAN storage, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and many other then-new areas of importance, Metron has been there to guide organizations in making the best IT decisions possible in times that seemed different and unsure. 

2017 will prove to be an exciting year.  We’ll be providing monthly webinars on a variety of important topics, regular workshops on general Capacity Management topics, delivering papers at shows all over the US, UK, and the world, and most importantly working hard to ensure that our Capacity Management solutions continue to be well-equipped to support our clients, old and new, to the ever-changing IT landscape. 

I’m ready to fasten my seatbelt and start the journey.  I hope you are too – please join me. 

Rich Fronheiser

CMO

 PS – Why don’t you register for our community and look through some of the webinars and papers we presented in 2016?  Simply navigate to this page -- http://metron-athene.com/resources/register.asp

What’s VITAL from your Capacity Management provider?

It’s not been uncommon over the years for software vendors in the capacity management sphere to evolve.  They might get bought out, sometimes twice in 2 years, get merged into the product line of a larger business, go out of business altogether or change direction and move away from capacity management.  This blog outlines some of the dangers to users of software products from companies who sell out, go out of business or change direction.

Change can be both good and bad for you as a user of their software.  On the positive side, it might mean the range of functionality in your product gets quickly expanded.  You might benefit from becoming part of a larger user community.  The change might mean your future needs are being anticipated by the provider, seeing what you will need from capacity management before you have that need.

The change is not always in your best interests though.  If the software you have come to rely on isn’t strategic for its new owners, it might be ‘sunsetted’, have little or no further development.  Existing products can come to be seen as ‘cash cows’, mature products from which maintenance revenues to the supplier need to be maximised to fund new initiatives – possibly unrelated to your on-going product needs.  Without development and commitment from their supplier, products slowly wither and die, often while maintenance bills increase.  The human side of change should never be underestimated either.  All the support experience you rely on is often let go.  New management might lack the background of those who originally created the solution you use and want to move what elements of your software they retain in a different direction. 

So, if a supplier of a product you are dependent on sells out or parachutes new management in, you might want to consider a few key questions.  I’m biased, I know. 

Metron has retained a consistent focus throughout our 30 year existence.  The points below contrast our approach to changes in businesses I have seen in my 30 years in capacity management.

Do you really want:

A supplier with…

…executives who don’t know your job?

…a marketing budget pushing the latest craze?

…the products you use being ‘sunsetted’?

…sudden large increases in your maintenance bill?

…the people you rely on to support you being let go?

Probably not.  What you might prefer is:

A solution with a future

If the product you’re using isn’t part of the big new marketing push and re-branding, then it’s not going to get the development you need to keep your Capacity Management process successful.

athene® from Metron remains the company’s core solution and primary focus

A solution delivered by experts

If your solution comes from a company whose executive staff has less than two years’ experience in Capacity Management, chances are they won’t understand your needs.

The least experienced of Metron’s executive team has over 10 years knowledge and experience specifically in capacity management.

An expert team to support you

If new people come in and the experienced and skilled staff that you have come to rely on to support you are released, the pool of knowledge available to help you is lessened.

Metron blends a young and creative software development team with design, consulting, support and management staff who each bring between 10 and 30 years of specific capacity management and planning knowledge to the business.

A financial solution you can trust

In an economy that is only growing slowly, it’s painful if your provider tries to use you as a cash cow with up to 60% increases in the maintenance you pay, to help them develop their new strategy.

Metron rewards the loyalty of its clients, with offers for guaranteed future maintenance commitment and reducing maintenance bills for loyal clients

Something in return for the maintenance you pay

If the products you are licensed for are ‘sunsetted’ by your supplier, although they often won’t state this explicitly, they won’t get the on-going investment to evolve with your needs.  Maybe you’re just paying for their change in strategy or their new offices.

Metron continues to reinvest profits in the on-going development of athene®, as we have done for 30 years.

A product strategy, not just the latest fad

So many companies jump on the latest bandwagon chasing what they see as the easy money.  That often leads to a solution that doesn’t meet the day to day problems you face.  You want a capacity management solution focussed on capacity management, not the latest buzzwords.

Metron works closely with its client base to develop athene® to meet their needs as they change, ensuring continuity of product applicability, helping you always retain your focus on the questions you need to answer now.

Innovation that anticipates what you will need

As your needs evolve, you need a capacity management solution ready to help you meet them.

Ever since helping define the ITIL Capacity Management good practice guidelines, Metron has continuously reinvested profits in ensuring athene® stays ahead of the game.  For example, import of business information and analytics to correlate business and technical data for capacity planning has been a feature of athene® for more than 10 years.

Find out why now is a good time to consider a provider who values Capacity Management more than the latest marketing trend.

http://www.metron-athene.com/products/athene-capacity-management-software/index.html

Metron and our athene® software offer the company focus, strategy, development and product functionality that other capacity management solutions have, plus a few VITAL things that they don’t.

Andrew Smith

Chief Executive Officer

Is it worth considering SaaS for Capacity Management? (3 of 3)

I left you with the question on Monday of 'Where does this leave you?' and I guess I have raised as many questions as I have answered. 

This is no surprise as whether or not SaaS is the best model for your Capacity Management depends on your organization and your needs.  The questions are really the same as any outsourcing decision: who will do what and will it be worth the money?.

There are of course some questions that might be a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer for your organization.  If your security policies are such that any capacity data will not be allowed to be transferred out of the business, SaaS is not for you.  Understanding and getting answers to these questions first will save a lot of wasted time and effort considering options.

 
My concern would always be over the intangible area of knowledge.  While I can see a third party being able to meet a regular, standard, repeated reporting requirement, much of the value of Capacity Management is beyond this.  Whenever I visit our clients I am always impressed at the breadth of knowledge the Capacity Management team has across both IT and the business.  It is taking this knowledge and combining it with the raw information produced from technical capacity data that is the source of true Capacity Management value to me.  For this reason alone I can see the value in passing the logistics of Capacity Management to a SaaS provider.  Let them have the delights of keeping software up to date, ensuring there is adequate hardware resource at any time and so on. I would then usually prefer to have the intellectual capital, the use and application of that data allied to knowledge of my own business, kept in-house.  Replacing it will take time and money.

That is just one man’s opinion however.  Your organization might benefit from an expert Capacity Management business managing their capacity issues from cradle to grave, raw data to information to support your business decisions.  In this instance I would always recommend a specialist Capacity Management company with experience to bring.  Their Capacity Management knowledge and experience will be a lot harder to find than a business that can simply provide and maintain infrastructure and software for you.

If there is one area of conclusion therefore, it would be around the issue of expertise.  Whether your Capacity Management is on premise or SaaS, someone needs specialist Capacity Management knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to issues unique to your organization.   Whatever route you take, make sure that experience is on your payroll, or that of your provider.

 

If you don’t, all you might get is data.

Take a look at our SaaS Capacity Management http://www.metron-athene.com/products/athene-capacity-management-software-as-a-service/index.html

Andrew Smith

Chief Executive Officer

Is it worth considering SaaS for Capacity Management? (2 of 3)

As I said on Friday it's not always about the cash.

Running software in-house means more than just buying a product, then sitting back and watching it do your Capacity Management on its own.  If only the world were that simple!  Other factors are needed in place and working well to make Capacity Management successful.

Resources are needed to run in-house software.  These include machine resources such as servers, disks and network to run the chosen or developed products.  Typically today, time is needed from many teams within an IT infrastructure division to get a product up and running.  This can include desktop support, systems administrators, network support, database administrators and more.  A good installation will need Capacity Management to be integrated at a process level with other functions such as Change, Incident and Problem Management.  Getting all the right resources in place to implement and run a product, with effective processes to make sure it runs to the benefit of the business, can be a complex and time consuming task.  It all adds to the cost of that product and the risk of it taking too long see a return on investment.  The costs and involvement of resources and people doesn’t cease with implementation.  On-going support and resources, both IT infrastructure and people, are needed to keep a product delivering what it is intended to deliver.  Done well, it presents an excellent technical solution.  You have a Capacity Management product picked specifically to suit your needs.  You have a team of people, equipped with the right resources, to make the function a successful contributor to the business.

SaaS for your Capacity Management offers benefits that contrast with the software ownership model.  By paying for a service hosted by another supplier in the Cloud, you move so many of those costs on to your supplier.  Which will be the right model for you then becomes an equation. One has to compare the cost for providing those in-house resources against the charges from your SaaS supplier, assuming the end product from the two is the same.

Probably the most common assumption is that you retain the skilled Capacity Management personnel in-house. They can apply their knowledge of your business and its needs to the Capacity Management data managed by the SaaS provider.  Essentially this model transfers the administrative costs of providing a Capacity Management service to the provider.  It becomes their job to ensure there are sufficient processing resources to store and manage your capacity data.  It is their job to make sure the environment in which the software is running and the software itself, with any supporting products, is up to date, maintained and managed effectively.   The costs of providing the infrastructure are passed to the SaaS provider.  This leaves you with zero cost for creating and maintaining your Capacity Management infrastructure and zero cost on other teams within your organization to support it.

Costs are rarely absolutely zero however.  There can be many variations on this basic scenario and each organization will need to decide what suits them best if outsourcing to the Cloud.  The key is usually to define the boundaries where responsibilities meet.  If capacity data is to be captured within your organization and sent to your SaaS provider in the Cloud, one needs to define who has the responsibility for data capture.  There will be agents or agentless software to implement and manage to enable this.  There is the software and network issue of how that data gets to the SaaS provider.  Someone needs to own each part of the process and bear the cost of providing that part of the service.  Who is best placed to do that will vary with each set of needs and resources available.  All this assumes of course that your own in-house security is happy with whatever mechanism is used to pass data outside your organization, and that it’s management outside your organization meets your business standards.

Another key decision in terms of the division of responsibility is who will do the ‘value add’ Capacity Management work.  If your decision to use SaaS is purely to move the cost of maintaining an in-house infrastructure on to someone else, then you will be retaining skilled Capacity Management staff.  They will need access to the Capacity Management software in the Cloud.  Their usage of it will be as if it was an in-house owned and managed product.  They will take the raw data and transform it into the information the business requires.  This can be an efficient and effective model.  Your experienced Capacity Management team are able to leverage their specialist skills to best effect, not lose time doing work that can be better and more cost effectively done by others. 

An alternative is for your SaaS provider to carry out some or all of the skilled Capacity Management work as well as maintaining the environment.  This could provide cheaper labor costs for your organization.  On the flip side, it means you no longer retain that Capacity Management knowledge in-house.  Both its formal and informal value to your business is lost.  In this scenario, what is delivered by the outside organization tends to be highly defined and variations usually mean additional cost.  Aside from the financial concerns, some Capacity Management information cannot be effectively delivered without intimate knowledge of your own organization.  There is always the chance that something is lost if information is delivered by those who don’t have this level of interaction within your business.  It is of course a decision that needs to be right from the start.  Once you lose staff with experience, that knowledge is often gone for good. 

So where does this leave you? I'll conclude by taking a look at this on Wednesday.

Andrew Smith

Chief Executive Office

Is it worth considering SaaS for Capacity Management? (1 of 3)

SaaS and software purchase

Many people seem to be talking about Software as a Service (SaaS) for many things.  Within my own business we use it for a variety of functions: email, CRM, Help Desk, application lifecycle management – to name just a few.  We like the model and have bought into it where we feel it is the best approach.  Small businesses like ours take pride in our flexibility.  SaaS fits in with this ethos.  Money is always important to a small business.  To have moved so much functionality into Cloud based services, we must feel the cost is good.

As a Capacity Management software and services vendor, we now regularly get asked if we will provide our athene® software in SaaS mode.  Many more people have asked, than have gone forward to implementation.  This got me wondering if and why SaaS is the right delivery mechanism for Capacity Management. 

The comparison I am making is with ownership and running software, third party or developed in-house, on premise.  There is a halfway house, managed services, where the software is installed and run at your premises, but managed by a third party.  I’ll leave the managed services comparison out of things for now, as that is by far the least requested and least implemented model in my experience.

Clearly the most common model for running a capacity management function in the past has been on premise software, either developed in-house or purchased from a third party.  The relevant merits and benefits of those two approaches can be considered another time.  For now, I’ll compare having Capacity Management run as SaaS with both.  SaaS is the new kid on the block, and presumably needs to offer something distinctly better than on premise software if it is to tempt people out of their organization and into the Cloud.

Finance

The main driver for many decisions is cost, and SaaS offers a very different cost model compared to owning software.  It often boils down to a difference between ‘capex’ and ‘opex’, capital expenses and operating expenses.  Is there a cost saving for one compared to the other, or are they just different ways of accounting for money?  Although this can vary by country, the main financial difference between the two can be how they are treated from a tax perspective.  For SaaS, in many tax regimes, 100% of the software charge is tax allowable each year, against a much smaller proportion for purchased software.  For this reason alone, your CFO might prefer SaaS.

There are other related cash benefits.  From a CFO’s perspective, predictable but flexible cash flow is preferred. SaaS offers these things.  Costs are typically flat over whatever period you pay.  After some initial set up charges, payments are often made for shorter periods than software purchase, for example monthly or quarterly.  This contrasts with software purchase, typified by a high initial one time cost and an annual maintenance payment.  Unless a payment schedule is agreed with your supplier, this means a higher upfront cash outlay than for SaaS, irrespective of how the business internally accounts for that expenditure.  Being tied in to annual maintenance paid in advance can mean a business feels there is no flexibility with software ownership.  Once the payment is made, getting any cash back is unlikely.

SaaS offers the promise of being able to flex resources, and therefore expenditure, on much smaller time scales, e.g. monthly, in response to demand.

A final area where SaaS might appeal to your CFO is the speed of the return on investment compared to traditional software ownership.  That big upfront payment for software means you have to use it for some time before the benefits you receive from using it outweigh the money spent.  If you have less money spent upfront and a small monthly payment with SaaS, you cross that line much quicker.  SaaS also offers the promise of being able to downscale your Capacity Management to fit budgets and ensure it provides return on the money spent.  Software purchase means that once the money is spent, it is spent.  If the return on investment isn’t as much as expected, the expenditure side of the equation cannot be adjusted.

It’s not always about the cash…

Running software in-house means more than just buying a product, then sitting back and watching it do your Capacity Management on its own.  If only the world were that simple!  Other factors are needed in place and working well to make Capacity Management successful. I'll deal with this on Monday.

In the meantime take a look at athene^®SaaS  http://www.metron-athene.com/products/athene-capacity-management-software-as-a-service/index.html

Andrew Smith

Chief Executive Officer

Capacity Management,Telling the Story (1 of 17)

In Capacity Management we need to produce reports and make presentations, sometimes to our technical colleagues and sometimes to more senior people. 

In this blog series I’m going to be discussing the best ways to present technical information, your capacity management story, to all levels of audience.

To begin with what is a Story?

It is either:

a : an account of incidents or events, either fact or fictional

b : a statement regarding the facts pertinent to a situation in question

Data is nothing more than 1’S and 0’s. It’s what we do with it that makes it powerful.

We can collect or capture as much data as we want to from our systems, from our business level, from our service delivery level and store it but it’s what we do with this data that is the important thing.

Data used in a meaningful way is very powerful.

My series will look at ways in which you can tell your capacity management story to your audience in a meaningful way.

On Wednesday I'll begin with 'What is the Capacity Management story'?

In the meantime sign up and come along to one of our Capacity Management workshops.
http://www.metron-athene.com/services/online-workshops/index.html

Charles Johnson

Principal Consultant

Capacity Management - What are we trying to tell the business?

Interacting with customers sometimes throws up a question we’re sure we should know the answer to, but ends up being not as simple to answer as we’d expected.  One of those questions that really makes us sit down and ponder how to answer it.

So here’s my question:  As a Capacity Manager, what am I trying to tell the business?

Am I trying to tell them about Utilizations? Headroom? Risk? Costs? Customer Service?

There are so many things I could be telling the business it’s hard to say “This is what I’m providing to the business”.

It struck me that if I can’t provide the answer then maybe I’m trying to answer the wrong question.  Rather than dictate to the business what I can tell them doesn’t it make more sense to be asking them, “What is it that you want to know?”

As part of maturing their Capacity Management processes one of our clients is doing just that. They are successfully engaging with all manner of business units within their organization, showing them the sorts of things they can do and then asking the question.  “What information do you want to have? What is actually going to be helpful/useful to you?”  That might be a single metric on the intranet capacity report, or something with a lot more detail.

There are probably 3 main factors that have come into play in this successful initiative.

1.     The implementation of a Capacity Management tool, athene®, that gives them the ability to easily import and report on the metrics the business units are interested in.  Be that Searches, Transaction Response times, Transaction counts – in fact any time date stamped metrics that they want.  Whatever that part of the business considers to be the most important metric(s) to them.

2.     Integration with a real user monitoring APM tool.  Being able to see exactly what the customers (internal and external), are doing and experiencing.

3.     Having a member of staff on the capacity team who has a business background and the social skills to match.  Someone who can engage with the right people, who knows what they are currently doing to get their stats and who can learn how to integrate them with the platform statistics (CPU, Memory etc).

Bringing these factors together has resulted in heightening the profile of the Capacity Management Team and showing their real value to the business. Business units are now approaching them and asking for data to be included because they want the same advantages they see other departments getting from the data.

So what are we trying to tell the business?  I’m here, and I’ve got some really great stuff I can do to help you.  What is it you want to know?

Don't miss out on our Capacity Management 101 online workshop taking place in June.

http://www.metron-athene.com/services/online-workshops/index.html

Phil Bell

Consultant

Maturing your Capacity Management processes – Tooling ( 6 of 11)

Given the complexity of today’s IT environments, the challenge in obtaining good and reliable capacity management data has never been more difficult.

 

Most organizations utilize a wide range of technologies to deliver their services and each has its own range of metrics, interface methods and technical nuances.  There are a wide range of tools available for the capture and collation of data and all have their strengths and weaknesses.

There are also options for free trials with some companies offering the ability to download the software or better still, as a preconfigured virtual machine.  Rather than list them individually, it is probably more useful to list the sort of functionality that a solid capacity management tool should be able to provide:

·       Capture across the enterprise.  Multiple point solutions are inherently harder to manage and collate the data

·        The ability to bring in additional non-native data sources.  This could be via frameworks, partner products or more traditional sources such as SNMP, application API’s etc

·       Provide the capability for modelling.  Certainly basic techniques such as trending have their place, but realistically, to truly understand the relationship between the utilization, the response time and how this will change over time you will need to use more advanced methods such as analytical or simulation modelling.

Good reporting provides the foundation to any mature capacity process so any tool chosen should have the ability to deliver reports in a variety of ways e.g. web, email etc and support the correlation of data.

The important thing to remember is that all organizations are different and have specific requirements.  To get the best results, utilize the experience of the Capacity Management SIG and spend plenty of time producing the Request for Proposal (RFP) document to ensure it covers all of your requirements.

I’ll be taking a look at Information and Governance on Monday but in the meantime don't forget to register and come along to my webinar ' Capacity Management Maturity - Assessing and Improving' http://www.metron-athene.com/services/webinars/index.html

Jamie Baker

Principal Consultant