By
Hank Marquis
Capacity Management is one ITIL process that daunts virtually
everyone. It is often “left to last” because of its (apparent) complexity
and scope, but at its heart, Capacity Management answers just four simple
questions:
1. What to upgrade,
2.
Why to upgrade,
3.
When to upgrade, and (working with Financial Management)
4.
How much it will cost to upgrade
The “what, why, when and how much” question sounds easy enough,
but how does one get started? Well, as you know, the
Business uses IT
Services which consist of IT
Resources. For example, to place orders the Sales staff (Business) might use SAP (Service)
which consists (in this example) of a Unix Server, software and networking (Resources). With this in mind, there are then three perspectives:
- Business -- predicting changes in capacity required to support the
business
- Service -- understanding the usage patterns of IT services
- Resource -- monitoring the utilization of Configuration Items
The four questions and three perspectives come together to form a
Capacity Management process framework. Like most ITIL processes, Capacity
Management does not require significant investment in product or people to get
going. Simple office productivity tools like a Word processor, Spreadsheet
or Database are all it takes to get real benefit from Capacity Management.
The following 7 steps can deliver effective Capacity Management benefits at
minimal costs using existing products and people:
-
Determine Vital Business Functions (VBF)
Working with Customers and the Business, identify VBF, for example, “Ordering”.
Create a spreadsheet listing VBF and Customers. To start, choose just one
VBF -- the one identified by Customers and the Business as most important.
Circulate to gain acceptance by Customers and the Business. Service Level
Agreements can help this process.
-
Identify Services Underpinning VBF
Working with IT, identify those IT Services
and thier CI's that underpin the selected VBF.
For example the VBF “Ordering” might rely on “SAP” services which uses a
server, software and networking.
If there is no formal CMDB, talk to other IT staff to identify dependencies.
Update the spreadsheet to add the relationships between CI's IT Services, VBF and
Customers.
-
Create a Workload Catalog
For the IT Services
underpinning the VBF gather forecasts from IT and Customers. Use business
terms such as number of new sales people who use “SAP”, how many transactions
they might perform and at what hours of the day. Update the spreadsheet to
include this information.
-
Investigate Monitoring Capability
Locate sources of
utilization data for the selected Configuration Items -- common sources are
equipment logs, systems and network management platforms, and reports already
available. If there is no utilization data, choose another CI.
Utilization trends become the “daily drivers” of Capacity Management.
Remove any CIs you can’t monitor from the spreadsheet.
-
Create and Maintain a Capacity Database
Store utilization data for monitored CIs in a Capacity Database (CDB). The
CDB can be anything: Excel, Access, etc. Weekly, or
even daily, examine utilization and make predictions as to when more capacity
will be required; or excess capacity released, based on Service Level
Requirements in Service Level Agreements.
-
Product a Capacity Plan
After a few weeks or
months, begin a compiling a Capacity Plan -- a document that lists the current
level of resource utilization, service performance and future requirements.
This is a living document, and will change as the IT and Business environment
changes. Review and release at least once per quarter. The Capacity
Plan also becomes a part of the IT budget process.
-
Raise Requests for Change
As needed, develop
recommendations for the purchase (or reassignment) of capacity. Working
with Financial Management, document the costs of your proposals. Raise
Requests for Change (RFCs) that answer the “what, when, why and how much” of
Capacity Management.
These seven steps can get Capacity Management going and form the
basis for creation of a sound formal process. Following these steps can
also deliver real benefits including beyond predicting the “what, when, why and
how much” of capacity upgrades. Additional benefits include: enhancing
relationships with Customers, suppliers and other IT groups and encouraging a
proactive IT culture.
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