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2. ITIL CAPACITY MANAGEMENT
IT Experience. Practical Solutions.
DITY™ Newsletter
The workable, practical guide to Do IT Yourself™
Capacity management on a budget
Vol. 1.3, nov. 30, 2005
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:
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MARQUIS
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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:
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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
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3. ITIL CAPACITY MANAGEMENT
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:
1. Determine Vital Business Functions (VBF) Working with Customers and the Business,
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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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4. ITIL CAPACITY MANAGEMENT
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