The Association of System

Performance Professionals

The Computer Measurement Group, commonly called CMG, is a not for profit, worldwide organization of data processing professionals committed to the
measurement and management of computer systems. CMG members are primarily concerned with performance evaluation of existing systems to maximize
performance (eg. response time, throughput, etc.) and with capacity management where planned enhancements to existing systems or the design of new
systems are evaluated to find the necessary resources required to provide adequate performance at a reasonable cost.

This paper was originally published in the Proceedings of the Computer Measurement Group’s 1988 International Conference.

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THE CAPACITY PLAN - TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pat Hunter
The Bank of Nova Scotia

ABSTRACT

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What should be contained in the capacity plan? Many data processing professionals understand what the
capacity plan is, but few can sit down and define what the contents should be. What order should
the subjects appear in. to obtain maximum flow and clarity? Where should the emphasis be placed?
~he focus.of this paper is to outline the capacity plan contents as the author perceives it should be
1n a conClse. coherent manner based on her past experience. What should b€ included in each section
and a checklist that I have documented in the plans I have written. will also be inclUded. '
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I. OVERVIEW The bottom line for executives is Iwhen will I have to

spend the money I, and Ihow much will I have to spend I.
What specifically should be the contents of a capacity
plan, and in what order should the contents be present- This chapter should be no longer than two pages of text,
ed to the audience. and contain no tables or graphs.

The capacity planning process involves many hours of 4. INTROOUCTION

collecting data - through the system data bases. or via
interviewing development and user personnel. The introduction should contain the definition of
capacity planning - that is, why we do capacity
Once all the data is collected, a capacity plan must planning.
be written and submitted to senior management. They
will make their capacity related decisions based on The purpose, goals and objective of the plan should be
this document. defined here.

Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we as cap- Any global statements describing the process can be
acity planners prepare this document in easily under- documented in this chapter.
stood business terms with maximum clarity. Communic-
ating your findings is critical to the success and the The introduction should be no longer than one page of
acceptance of your recommendations by senior management. text. No graphs or charts should be included on this
page.
The format that I have been successful using, is doc-
umented here in terms of a table of contents, with an 5. METHODOLOGY
overview of the key components Within each section.
This chapter should describe to the audience the step
2. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHECKLIST FOR A CAPACITY PLAN by step approach that was followed to enable you to
come up with the alternatives, and ultimately the rec-
1. Executive Summary oll1llendations. It should be an overview of the contents
2. Introduction of chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 - that is, how you pro-
3. Methodology ceeded from the beginning to the end of your prepar-
4. Workload Profile ation and analysis. Any and all assumptions you made
5. Application Profile for the plan shoulc be stated here. If you are using
6. Performance Profile peak measurements. a peak to average ratio should be
7. Key Volume Indicator Profile stated. Timing of future follow-ups to this plan
8. Workload Forecast should also be documented in this chapter.
9. Alternatives
10. Cost Benefit Analysis The length of 'this chapter will vary, depending on how
II. Impacts complicated/detaile-d your methodology was. I would
12. Appendices and Working Papers estimate three to four pages of text make up this
chapter. Again, the methodology chapter need not
3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY contain any numerfc summarfes or graphfc dfsplays.

Although this is the first chronological chapter of 6. WORKLOAD PROFILE

the plan, it should be the last chapter that is
written. ThiS chapter shoulcl describe the state of your data
centre today. Thh means all CPU, DASD, print and
This chapter is a summary of the alternatives from memory workload usage statistics (historical and
Chapter 9 and associated cost benefit analysis from current to date), and associated response times.
Chapter 10. From these alternatives. one recommend-
ation should be selected. (However. you may have a short Total CPU workload' should be graphed by system (one
term recommendation and a long term recommendation. graph per system), combined with peak or average res-
Oetails for both should be highlighted.) ponse time includecl on each graph.
The reason for your recommendation should be clear and The total CPU workload graphs should then be broken
concise, so there is no question why this is the down into fOUr primary performance groups. Recommended
preferred alternative. performance groups are TSO. Batch, Online (CICS, IMS or
both)'. and System Overhead (includes started tasks).
You must remember that the highest level of management Historical and Ito date data should correspond to the
l

that reads your plan, will probably only have time to same time periods tiS in the total workload graphs for
read this executive summary. Most will not have time campa ri son purpose~;.,
to peruse all of the other chapters.

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Total transaction volume graphs (CICS or IMS) should input, and the business input. For it is this chapter
be included too. Average per day transaction proc- that a non data processing executive will likely turn
essing numbers can be included also. to after reading the executive summary (if time penmits),
to gather additional business information. In business
Any necessary explanations to describe obvious peaks terms, this chapter qualifies all of the technical
or valleys from the past history to the present, chapters in the plan thus far.
should be noted in this chapter using textual com-

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ments. The content of this chapter will be industry specific
to your organization. It should inclUde all business
A graph reporting on historical total DASO usage and volume indicators pertinent to your company. Stated
growth to date, should also be included. Usable DASD with these indicators, must be true measurements of the
capacity lines (gigabytes) should be on the graph for volumes (quantifiable data).
reference. A second graph breaking total gigabytes in-
to individual pools usage. provides additional detail All business assumptions and conclusions drawn from the
of the current DASD workload profile. The author used data, should also be inclUded.
five pools - CICS, end user, production, system and
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test. Pool definitions are site specific, depending This chapter should be primarily text, with a few
on your storage management reporting strategy. volume numeric summaries andlor graphs, so the reader
can clearly visualize what it is you are telling himl
This chapter should have four to six pages of descrip- her.
tive text, with references to included graphs numbering
approximately six to ten depending on the number of ****NOTE: For specific content inclusions and a KVI
systems and size and complexity of the systems. methodologYt refer to paper #148 entitled
'Capacity Planning - A Business' written by thR
7. APPLICATION PROFILE same author.
This chapter should include a spreadsheet summary of 10. WORKLOAD FORECAST
the results of your interviewing of development people.
The format will be a calendar across the columns, with Forecasting growth in computer utilization is the key to
each application that will be developed andlor successful capacity planning. This chapter ties to-
implemented during your planning cycle as individual gether the workload profile (chapter 4), the application
rows. The number of columns (months) will depend on profile (chapter 5), and the key volume indicator
how much detail the development staff are aware of profile (chapter 7). That is, once we have determined
(how far into the future), and whether you are doinQ a where we are today (system utilization and performance).
one or two year forecast. - interviewed the users and development people to find
out where we are going, it is then time to forecast
This chapter should inclUde a page of text which des- growth by processors, DASD, memory and printers for a
cribes the process you underwent to collect the infor- specific peak period (as defined by your business ob-
mation. Also. any and all assumptions you or they have jectives).
made regarding applications, must be documented. The
above mentioned spreadsheet will be approximately one All graphs that were included in chapter 4 - workload
or two pages long, depending on the size of your shop profile, should be included here. with the addition of
and the forecasting time frame chosen. a forecast or trend line. Workload growth supported
by input from chapters 5 and 7. is calculated in this
8. PERFORMANCE PROFILE section. Methodology used varies, with the most common
one being a linear regression analysis. Basically you
The capacity plan document is less than complete with- 'best fit' a line through all historical data, input all
out this interface chapter which highlights the current known future additions to your workload (from chapter 5).
performance of the system. Generally, the higher the and extend your line to the end point. The end point
throughput (capacity) of a system, the lower the is determined by your business or budget cycle. and is
performance. Because of this relationship between the usually one t two or three years into the future. As
two, system performance must be measured and inclUded. technology advances. and your business grows, it is
very difficult for development and user staff to be
This chapter must include an analysis of the balance able to give you accurate input for more than one year.
between user expectations, and the resources inclUded
in chapter 4. Memory usage for each workload class Statistically. a regression analysis is most accurate
should also be inclUded. when you have a minimum of eighteen historical periods
(months usually) to fit your regression to. Also, the
Service level agreements, if they exist, should be probability of your forecast's accuracy is greatest for
highl ighted. the least term you extend (approximately one year).
The further out in time you forecast {extend the line)t
A verbal description of performance in general, com- the less accurate you will be.
bined with approximately six to eight graphs should be
the contents of the performance chapter. Service levels The performance threshold indicators for all hardware,
should be included on each performance graph. should be inclUded on graphs, but it must be emphasized
that these lines are only reference lines determined by
If any performance problems are prevalent, they should industry standards for different workload mixes. These
be discussed and the causes (if known) recorded here. lines are very controversial (i.e. whether to drive a
CPU to 90% or 85% or 80% utilization before degrading
This chapter should be authored by the performance performance). As most capacity plans are based on
analyst, who is better equipped to relate the details service to the users, the acceptable service levels
than the capacity planner. will dictate if an upgrade is necessary. and not the
position of these reference lines.
9. KEY VOLUME_ INDICATOR PROFILE
This chapter consists primarily of graphs with some ver-
The key volume indicator measurement is a relatively bal descriptions and explanations. as discussed.
new concept to capacity planning. Its inclusion in the
plan creates the vital link between the technical Graphs generated in this chapter. and the resulting
forecasts will drive the contents of the next chapter .

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11. ALTERNATIVES in these reviews, should be an actual versus

forecast trackinQ on the Qraphs, with all variances
This chapter unites all input from chapters four explained and reconciled.
through eight, to satisfy the ~bjective of any
capacity plan. GOOD LUCK!

The focus for planning i~ tc determine all reason-

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able alternatives to satisfy future growth (determined
from analys;s). Whether they include a processor
upgrade. storage upgrade, increased memory, workload
reorganization/prioritization, application tuning/
re-writes or a re-evaluation of service levels (down-
grade), all possible alternatives must be included and
commented on. Pros and cons for each option (oftcn
technical) must be stated.
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From these alternatives, and the next chapter. your

reconmendation (included in chapter I) will be de-
termined.
12. COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS
This chapter should be the cost relative to the
benefits attained for each alternative in the previous
chapter (9).

How much does each alternative cost the corporation?

What return on this lnvestment will the corporation
expect? These questions are answered here. Dollars
should reflect overall 1generic' costs. Special bid
contracts or leasing options may not be known at this
time, so a caveat explaining the costing options should
be added.
However, if you are in a position to quote specific
costs. contracts or bids, this is the chapter to in-
clUde this information.
With the costing figures documented, you are now in a
position to make your recommendation in the executive
summary (chapter I).
13. IMPACTS
Any impacts to the validity of the capacity plan should
be documented here. This inclUdes areas that should
be, but are not included, such as a network plan or a
strategic plan. Historical data integrity may require
an impact statement.
If you require further support from a critical area of
participation, such as executive involvement, develop-
ment or user areas, highlight them here.
This chapter 1S basically a means to document the
capacity planners concerns that require resolution, to
ensure that the next capacity plan is even more
accurate.
14. APPENDICES AND WORKING PAPERS
This final chapter should inclUde all papers, the plan
has referred to. Supporting documentation relevant to
the plan's content can also be included here - such as
special ad-hoc report/studies that the capacity planner
has undertaken between the previous plan, and this
current one.
15. CONCLUSIONS
Now that you can write the most clear, concise cap-
acity plan possible, the process must continue. I
recommend a two year forecast be generated annually
(usually in the fall to coincide with the bUdget
process). Quarterly capacity updates and reviews
should be presented to senior management. Included

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