Get an integrated IT solution that not only tells you how your Process Servers are performing, but how much they cost for Business Process Delivery to your business. The current major concern is “Green Computing” costs, but there are other substantial costs related to any Process Server. Add in the need to perform Capacity Management for Process Servers, Application Servers, and File Servers, and you can easily see the requirement for several products. This does not even consider the human cost component of Business Processes. There is more to understanding Business Processes than just building a dashboard.
Until now, no product has integrated the cost of Business Processes with Process Server and other Web Service’s performance information. The result is an IT costing metric for Business Processes that is based on a Total Cost of Ownership model, and is totally transparent. In addition to technical costs, metrics can include the human cost associated with Business Processes. This not only gives a total understanding of Business Process costs, but allows for the comparison of costs within/between business units or companies – even if the companies are in different industries.
The simplified design allows for a low cost alternative to any suite of programs that is primarily being used for Business Process monitoring or Capacity Management.
Key Business Values
- Measures Business Processes for the Business. Contains information required for traditional Capacity Management, but also includes the related business costs of all processing – including human cost.
- Identifies the Activity cost for different types of Business Processes. With companion data, unit activity cost can be established for pricing models (i.e. cost per claim, policy, etc.).
- Integrates tiered (File, Application, and Process Server) processing and cost for a complete Server profile.
- Allows for a complete understanding of all activities (and their costs) related to a Business Process.
Level 3 Costing
The Process Servers provide the processing foundation for Level 3 of the Costing Maturity Model. This level is conceptually new to Capacity Management processes, but the underlying technical processing has the same issues as for the Level 1 and Level 2 parts of the model. What is new for this level is the “Business Object” approach within the processing. Business Objects are non-technical in nature (meta-data) and could be based on a variety of sources depending on the needs of the Business Process. This architecture now forces Capacity Management to move out of IT and into the business functions.
One of the major issues associated with the popular frameworks (ITIL, COBIT, etc.) is that they are based on the traditional concerns of IT. Historically, these concerns stop at Level 2 of the Maturity Model. With the adoption of the Software Oriented Architecture (SOA) model, the frameworks will now have to deal with Level 3 concerns as related to IT. There is only one problem; the frameworks are based on best practices within the industry. There are currently no best practices related to Level 3 of the Cost Maturity Model, and it will be several years before some evolve – if ever!
RG Solutions® has a long history in Capacity Management and its evolution has bridged the gap between business management and truly understanding IT. The information delivered not only supplements current frameworks, but provides what will be best practices in the future. RG Solutions® not only understands costing within the existing frameworks, but also knows costing for an SOA environment.
What It Does
For Level 3 processing, RG Solutions® uses the same Resource Catalog and Repositories for its processing as it uses for other processing. (Please see Costing for more information). For each system in the Resource catalog that represents a Process Server, a Repository can be created that will contain the underlying performance information for the Server. This Repository will contain the same information as the Level 1 and Level 2 processing.
In addition to the Repository, an Activity Directory for the Process Server can also be created. This Activity Directory will identify the Business Processes provided by the Server, and will provide functional (Activity) processing information. Information includes performance and cost data regarding the Process Server, and other “shared” (i.e. Application Server, File Server, SNA devices, etc.) systems.
For the Level 3 Processing, RG Solutions® also maintains an Activity Catalog containing information for all Business Processes. This catalog is hierarchical in nature and contains summary and detailed information for all Business Processes on all Process Servers. The Activity Catalog supports single or partitioned Business Processes, and allows for the evaluation of processes between different business units and/or companies.
For Business Processes, RG Solutions® first and foremost provides information that can be used for traditional Capacity Management. Native technical information is presented in a manner that is easy to navigate and understand. An Activity view of the processing provides cost and performance information related to the operation of the Process Server, as well as the human and IT costs related to the processing.
Business Benefits
RG Solutions® provides the opportunity for business management to have a more active role in IT decisions. Post implementation decisions are usually highly technical, and in the past these decisions were made by individuals who did not communicate well with business management. It was a highly complex process and the results were not structured for a business management mindset. RG Solutions® reduces the technical complexity and injects cost information for more business relevance. The following are just some of the benefits that can be realized using RG Solutions®:
- Business costs and Business Process data are integrated for a true understanding of the cost of Business Processing.
- Process Service costs are aggregated based on the sources of cost, and may be based on more than one service point (Business Object).
- RG Solutions® uses a costing algorithm that is transparent and allows calculated costs to be compared or transferred to different business units, even if they are different functional types.
- Cost information can be used for a Chargeback / Showback system. The resulting Chargeback / Showback process would be based on Total Cost of Ownership rather than annual budget recovery.
Technical Benefits
RG Solutions® enables a Capacity Management process that will take little time and can be performed by a junior person. RG Solutions® will provide the knowledge and skills required for the process. A wide range of reports are available on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, but some of the most valued reports contain the following:
- Includes all the Level 1 and Level 2 reporting.
- Activity metrics contain cost and technical data for the Process Server.
- Provides human cost, IT cost, and technical data for processes within the Activity Directory and Activity Catalog. Information can be “supplemented” by companion data to extend the measured values.
