IBM Global Services

ITIL Foundation Course V1.0

Introduction to the IT Infrastructure Library

Capacity Management

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Unit 11
Capacity Management

Content:

 Capacity Management – objectives and overview

 Responsibilities and obligations
 Important aspects
– Capacity planning
– Capacity Database (CDB)
 Benefits, risks, costs
 Best practices
 Summary

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Capacity Management
Integration into the IPW Model

Source: IPW Model is a trade mark of Quint Wellington and KPN Telecoms

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Capacity Management
Mission Statement

Capacity Management is responsible for ensuring that the capacity of the IT infrastructure matches
the evolving demands of the business in the most cost-effective and timely manner.
Capacity Management needs to understand the business requirements (the required provision of IT
services), the organization's operation (the current provision of IT services), and the IT infrastructure (the
means of provision of IT services), and to ensure that all the current and future capacity and performance
aspects of the business requirements are provided cost-effectively.
However, Capacity Management is also about understanding the potential for service provision. New
technology needs to be understood and, if appropriate, used to deliver the services required by the
business. Capacity Management needs to recognize that the rate of technological change will probably
increase and that new technology should be harnessed to ensure that the IT services continue to satisfy
changing business expectations. One of the result of the activities of Capacity Management is a
documented capacity plan.
The goal of Capacity Management:

Ensure
required, acceptable,
cost-effective capacity
of IT resources, in order that the service levels which are
agreed with the company are fulfilled in a timely manner.

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Capacity Management
Why Capacity Management?
There are a number of reasons why an organization should implement Capacity
Management.
 Capacity Management provides the required information about:
– Which components need to be upgraded (such as main memory, faster hard
disk, larger bandwidth)
– When to perform upgrades – not too early, otherwise expensive overcapacities
cannot be used; and not too late, in order to avoid bottlenecks, bad
performance, and consequently, customer dissatisfaction
– How much the upgrade will be – planning elements and predictions will
influence budget planning
 Capacity management is based on:
– Business requirements
– Existing structures of the company
– Existing IT infrastructure
 The customer does not require capacity; the customer requires services
 The expenditure for IT capacities needs to be continuously justifiable
 It provides information on current and planned resource utilization of individual
components, allowing decisions on which components to upgrade, when to do so,
and how much it will cost.

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Capacity Management
Capacity Management has three sub-processes

Demand Management

Business Service Resource

Capacity Capacity Capacity
Management Management Management

Capacity Plan

Capacity Iterative activities

Database (Performance Mgmt)

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Capacity Management
Tasks

Iterative
Business Activities
Capacity
Manageme Analyze
nt
Tuning

Service Capacity Implementation

Capacity Managemen
Manageme t Monitoring
nt
Demand
Resource
Managemen
Capacity
t
Manageme
nt Capacity
Database Application
(CDB) Sizing

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Capacity Management
Input & Output

SUB-PROCESS
INPUT OUTPUT
Business Capacity Management Capacity plans
Technologies CDB
SLAs, SLRs, and Trend, forecast, model, prototype, Minimum
service portfolio size, and documentation requirements and profiles
Business plans and of future business requirements Threshold values and
strategies signals
Maintenance Capacity reports
windows Service Capacity Management (regular, ad hoc, and in
Employment and
Monitor, analyze, tune, and report special cases)
development plans and SLA and SLR
programmes on service performance; establish recommendations
Planning of future baselines and profiles of use of Costs and
changes recommendations for
Incidents and services further calculations
problems Manage demand for service Proactive changes
Service reviews and service
SLA violation improvements
Financial plans Resource Capacity Management Revised maintenance
Budgets Monitor, analyze, and report on windows
Effectiveness review
utilization of components, Audit reports
Establish baselines and profiles on
use of components

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Capacity Management
Iterative Activities

A number of the activities of Capacity

Management need to be carried out
iteratively, and form a natural cycle:
Tuning

 Set up and maintain the Capacity Database

 Reporting
– Analyzes and reports Implementation Analysis

– Production of the capacity plan

 Demand Management and Monitoring
Monitoring
– Ensure that the future business
requirements for IT services are
considered
– Report on performance against targets Resource Utilization
SLM Exception
contained in SLA Reports Exception Reports
Resource
– Monitoring of resources Utilization SLM Thresholds
– Forecast future capacity requirements Thresholds
Capacity

 Document costs associated with options Management

Database
 Assess new technology and its relevance (CDB)

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Capacity Management
Capacity Plan
The Capacity Plan should be published annually in line with the budgetary cycle. Ideally, it
should be updated quarterly, and consists of the following parts:

 Introduction
– Scope of planning
– Methods
 Assumptions and prerequisites
 Management summary
 Business evaluations and scenarios
 Service summary
 Resource summary
 Options for service improvement
 Cost model
 Recommendations
• Business benefit to expect
• Potential impact (of not) carrying out recommendations; risks involved
– Required resources
– Costs: unique and ongoing

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Capacity Management
Capacity Database

Capacity Database (CDB)

 Data in the CDB is stored and used by all the sub-processes of Capacity
Management because it is a repository that holds a number of different types of
data: business, service, technical, financial, and utilization data.

 The CDB is unlikely to be a single database, and probably exists in several

physical locations.

 The information in the CDB is used to form the basis of performance and Capacity
Management reports that are to be delivered to management and technical
personnel.

 The data is also utilized to generate future capacity forecasts, and to allow
Capacity Management to plan for future capacity requirements.

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Capacity Management
Benefits and Costs

Benefits Costs
 Reduced risk of performance problems and  Setting up Capacity Management:
failure – Procurement of required hardware and
 Cost savings software, such as monitoring tools
 Both achievable through: – Project management
– Planned buying – Staff costs
– Deferring expenditure until really – Accommodation
needed (but in a controlled way)  Daily management of Capacity
– Matching capacity to business need Management:
 Ensures that systems have sufficient capacity – Annual maintenance and upgrades
to run the applications required by the – Ongoing staff costs
business for the foreseeable future – Recurring accommodation costs (leasing,
 Provides information on current and planned rental, energy)
resource utilization of individual components
allowing decisions on which components to
upgrade, when to do so, and how much it will
cost.

“Planned buying is cheaper than panic buying.”

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Capacity Management
Risks

Potential problem areas:

 Customer expectations exceed technical capability

 Unrealistic product information from vendor
 Wrong estimation of future workload by the customer
 Precise predictions become more difficult with shorter business planning
cycles
 Considering all service areas (software, PC, server, LAN, WAN, TK, and so
on) within the scope of capacity management

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Capacity Management
Best Practices

 The Capacity Management process should be reviewed for effectiveness and

efficiency at regular intervals to ensure that:
– It is producing the required output at the required times for the appropriate
audience
– Its activities are cost-effective
 Critical Success Factors
Success in Capacity Management is dependent on a number of factors:
– Accurate business forecasts
– Knowledge of IT strategy and plans, and that the plans are accurate
– An understanding of current and future technologies
– An ability to demonstrate cost-effectiveness
– Interaction with other effective Service Management processes
– An ability to plan and implement the appropriate IT capacity to match business
needs

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Capacity Management
Summary

 The goal of Capacity Management is to ensure that all the current and
future capacity and performance aspects of the business requirements
are provided in a timely and cost-effective manner.

 Responsibilities: Business Capacity Management, Service Capacity

Management, Resource Capacity Management

 Demand Management
 Capacity Plan and Capacity Database (CDB)

“Good Capacity Management ensures NO SURPRISES!”

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