Establish a Program to Enable Effective Performance Monitoring
Maximize the benefits of infrastructure monitoring investments by diagnosing and assessing transaction performance, from network to server to end-user interface.
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Contributors
- Andreas Grabner, Technology Strategist, Dynatrace
- Jonah Kowall, VP Market Development and Insights, AppDynamics
- Jean Yves Lamour, Digital Sales Development Representative, CA Technologies
- Time Hengen, Business Development Manager, Nastel Technologies
- Three anonymous contributors
Your Challenge
- Organizations have grown from mostly on-premises hardware to a hybrid environment with a mix of on-premises, legacy, and cloud.
- Organizations invest heavily into monitoring and tracking software, however, the business value that these investments generate is limited at best.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- While a hybrid IT environment offers many benefits, the increased complexity means that it is difficult to truly understand transaction performance as it flows through the application infrastructure.
- Application performance monitoring (APM) tools have the power to provide end-to-end visibility into application performance, however, these tools do not work out of the box. APM implementations often lose value when the organization buys a tool reactively without considering business requirements.
Impact and Result
- Organizations need to focus on the basics of infrastructure flow mapping and transaction profiling to establish a relevant baseline before engaging vendors. The chief enterprise architect needs to be involved in the transaction mapping process and help establish a common frame of knowledge for all members of the application and infrastructure teams.
- All transactions are not created equally. A project that seeks to implement enterprise-wide performance management is doomed to fail. Focus on providing performance management support for a subset of the most critical transactions first. This will give the IT team an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the technology and support subsequent rollouts.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should establish a program to enable effective performance management, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Kick-start the performance management pilot
Determine which transactions are business critical and designate them as the pilot transactions.
2. Establish and evaluate current performance baseline
Gain visibility into your environment through infrastructure flow mapping and transaction profiling. Leverage these insights to build the performance baseline.
3. Build the case for additional investments
Leverage the insights from the performance baseline to determine desired performance levels. Determine the go/no-go decision for additional performance management investments.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is a nine call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Kick-start the performance management pilot
Call #1 - Establish key components of the project charter and outline project timeline.
Call #2 - Review transaction impact analysis and document transaction dependencies.
Call #3 - Prioritize transactions based on business impact.
Guided Implementation #2 - Establish and evaluate current performance baseline
Call #1 - Introduce infrastructure flow mapping and transaction profiling.
Call #2 - Review transaction metrics and outline tracking plan.
Call #3 - Analyze baseline results and leverage insights to kick-start related projects.
Guided Implementation #3 - Build the case for additional investments
Call #1 - Document the quantitative and qualitative benefits of performance management.
Call #2 - Assess the go/no-go decision and review the Business Case Template.
Call #3 - Review the Executive Presentation template.
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Availability & Capacity Management Course
Maximize the benefits of infrastructure monitoring investments by diagnosing & assessing transaction performance, from network to server to end-user interface.
This course makes up part of the Infrastructure & Operations Certificate.
Course information:
- Title: Availability & Capacity Management Course
- Number of Course Modules: 4
- Estimated Time to Complete: 2-2.5 hours
- Featured Analysts:
- Darin Stahl, Sr. Research Director, Infrastructure & Operations Practice
- Gord Harrison, SVP of Research and Advisory
- Now Playing: Executive Brief
Book Your Workshop
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Determine Transaction Criticality
The Purpose
- Determine critical business transactions.
- Establish a scoring criteria to evaluate each transaction at an enterprise-wide level.
- Determine the relative criticality of each transaction.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Prioritized list of critical transactions.
- Identified area of focus for the performance management pilot.
- Documented transaction dependencies.
Activities
Outputs
Create a project charter for the performance management pilot.
- Completed project charter for performance management
Determine critical business transactions.
- Document key business transactions in the Transaction Impact Analysis Tool
Establish scoring criteria.
- Modify scoring criteria in the Transaction Impact Analysis Tool
Analyze and prioritize each transaction.
- Establish performance management pilot transactions based on transaction prioritization
Module 2: Document Infrastructure Flows
The Purpose
- Visualize your production environment through infrastructure flow mapping (IFM) and transaction profiling.
- Kick-start the baseline process by breaking down transaction flows and identifying interdependencies.
- Capture current-state baseline statistics.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Improve clarity around the production environment through IFM and transaction profiling.
- Create a common framework and knowledgebase for all members of the IT team.
- Establish the current-state performance baseline.
Activities
Outputs
Execute infrastructure flow mapping.
- Completed infrastructure flow diagrams for key business transactions
Execute transaction profiling.
- Completed transaction profiles for key business transactions
Capture baseline statistics.
- Completed current-state baseline metrics by referencing the Transaction Impact Analysis Tool
Module 3: Leverage Baseline Insights and Plan Next Steps
The Purpose
- Determine additional projects that can benefit from the performance baseline.
- Determine target-state baseline requirements.
- Assess the gap between the current and target performance metrics.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Outline project next steps by leveraging the insights from the performance baseline and documenting them in the Insight Handbook.
- Engage the production team and outline business requirements for the target baseline.
- Determine the current performance gap.
Activities
Outputs
Document planned next steps in the Insight Handbook.
- Completed Insight Handbook
Discuss desired-state performance metrics.
- Documented desired-state metrics in the Transaction Impact Analysis Tool
Analyze the gap between current and desired transaction statistics.
- Documented gap analysis in the Transaction Impact Analysis Tool
Module 4: Determine Go/No-Go Decision
The Purpose
- Leverage the gap analysis and determine the go/no-go decision for additional performance management investments.
- Create a business case to justify and demonstrate the benefits of additional performance management.
- Communicate baseline insights and project next steps to management.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Outline project next steps by leveraging the insights from the performance baseline and documenting them in the Insight Handbook.
- Completed business case document to justify the value of performance management.
- Align needs and expectations through the Executive Presentation.
Activities
Outputs
Complete phase 3 of the Transaction Impact Analysis Tool.
- Completed Transaction Impact Analysis Tool
Complete the business case for additional performance management investments.
- Craft a business case that outlines the quantitative and qualitative benefits of performance management
Communicate with all stakeholders regarding baseline insights and project next steps.
- Create an executive communication document that summaries progress to date and outlines future endeavors
