Kansas City Computer Measurement Group

 

Doing More with Less
Improving the Processes of Performance and Capacity Planning
April 29, 2003

 

Yellow Technologies

10990 Roe Ave., Overland Park, KS 66221

 

“Scorecards,” “Processes,” and “Best Practices” are terms that are becoming increasingly common in many IT shops today.  Instead of asking if we have the right software in place or are monitoring the right things, management may be asking if we have processes in place to consistently manage our areas of responsibility.  Whether we are responsible for performance analysis, capacity planning, information security, or business continuance, the question is not how well we are doing things, but whether the things we are doing are the right things.

 

Process and best practice are becoming extremely important.  In a day when most organizations have limited resources, there is constantly a question of whether everyone from the developer to the systems admin to the performance analyst to the security analyst to the most junior intern are all working together to support corporate goals and initiatives.  With limited time and funds, IT managers are doing their best to ensure that the right people, process, and technology are in placed and aligned to support the organization.

 

This KCCMG meeting will focus on issues that we may not spend that much time thinking about.  It will look at how we as technicians fit in with trends that are driving many organizations today.  Together we will explore how scorecards, process, best practices, and other current management interests will shape our jobs and possibly our careers in the near and distant future.

 

We hope you will be as excited as we are about these topics that may change the way we work and support our organizations.  We also hope that you will share this agenda with others in your organizations who may be interested in process, scorecards, best practices, or other related topics.  This meeting is open, and you do not need to be a member to attend.  However, because lunch is being provided, we ask that you RSVP ahead of time so that we can plan appropriately.

 

Location: Yellow Technologies

Yellow Technologies is located at 10990 Roe Avenue in Overland Park, Kansas.  It is on the southwest corner of the intersection of I-435 and Roe Avenue in the southern part of the city.  Please park in the West Parking Lot and enter through the West door.  Ring the buzzer and tell the security guard you are attending the KCCMG meeting.  You will need to proceed to the receptionist area and obtain a security badge after entering.

 

RSVP: To ensure sufficient seating and food, please RSVP  to ted.keller@yellowcorp.com by April 25 if you will be attending the meeting.  Please provide the name of each person attending, their email address, and organization (employer, school, self-employed, etc.).

 

Kansas City Computer Measurement Group
Doing More with Less
Improving the Processes of Performance and Capacity Planning
April 29, 2002

Sponsored by the SAS Institute

 

 

08:00 – 08:20

 

Continental breakfast

08:20 – 08:30

 

Welcome, announcements

08:30 – 09:30

 

Performance Management Meets IT Strategic Planning

Sid Finehirsh, The CMX Group

09:30 – 9:45

 

Break

09:45 – 10:45

 

How to Formulate and Communicate Technology's Leadership Role in Organizational Change

Joseph Brady, SAS Institute

10:45 – 11:00

 

Break

11:00 – 12:00

 

Performance Monitoring:

Alice & the Rabbit Hole? or Aladdin & His Lamp!

Kevin Downs, Pepperweed Consulting

12:00 – 1:15

 

Lunch

   Presentation by the SAS Institute

1:15 – 2:15

 

A True Capacity Plan is a Process, Not an Event

Joe Bell, Fujitsu

2:15 – 2:30

 

Break

2:30 – 3:45

 

Integrated Service Management –

the Foundation for Ongoing IT and Business Alignment

Moses Onitilo, Principle Technologies, Inc.

 

 

 

 


Abstracts

 

Performance Management Meets IT Strategic Planning

Sid Finehirsh

Founder and CEO

The CMX Group

 

"Scorecarding" has become the most talked about method of communicating IT success or failure.  If this approach to measuring progress toward strategic goals has not been introduced into your organization, it probably will be soon.  Did you realize that you, as a capacity and performance analyst, are uniquely positioned to create an IT Scorecard for your organization?  Did you know that system performance, capacity planning, and IT accounting metrics are the corner stones of an effective IT Scorecard?  This presentation will examine how to upgrade your current performance measurements into clear and concise objectives that align with the strategic goals of the business organization.

 

Biography

Sid Finehirsh is a nationally recognized authority on management applications of IT measurement.  He has conducted seminars and spoken on chargeback, capacity planning and IT strategy at major industry conferences, seminars and live webcasts.  In addition, Sid is the chairperson of the Management Track for CMG.  His published articles and columns have appeared in various journals and conference proceedings including:  CMG, SHARE, CFO Executive Conference, IT Financial Management Association, IQPC's Cost Allocation and Chargeback for IT Conference, and SUGI.  Sid is the Founder and CEO of the CMX Group, a professional services firm of specialists who bring to each client a unique blend of experience and knowledge in leveraging technology to create business opportunity.  Since 1983, CMX has assisted hundreds of Fortune 1000 clients in the areas of IT Accounting and Chargeback, Capacity and Performance Management, and IT Strategy.

 

 

How to Formulate and Communicate Technology's Leadership Role in Organizational Change

Joseph Brady

Solution Manager

SAS Institute

 

This presents a business model that describes how the infrastructure, supply chain and fiduciary responsibilities intertwine with each other.  As these functions interact, there are many levels of technological requirements to provide the analysis and communication to the different levels of employees from PhD to MBA to Shop floor worker.

 

You will be exposed to the output the many forms of analyses and communication methods.

 

Biography

Joseph Brady is a Solution Manager for the SAS Institute.  A former college instructor, his specialty is the integration consumption based costing and scorecarding.  He is a contributor to BetterManagement.Com.  His current project is the development of the IT Value Management Solution.

 

 

 

Performance Monitoring:

Alice & the Rabbit Hole? or Aladdin & His Lamp!

Kevin Downs

Solution Architect

Pepperweed Consulting

 

How does server performance management affect you?  Do you feel like Alice or Aladdin?  Do you know what’s going to happen next or are you a master of your wish!?

 

This presentation will demonstrate industry standard tools that will help you to achieve the coveted “Lamp” status for enterprise-wide, server performance management across both Windows and UNIX platforms.

 

Biography

Kevin started his computer career in 1992 at UPS.  There he supported desktops and the Novell Netware environment.  After UPS, Kevin switched to a consulting company that supported Novell.   Kevin then moved into the Microsoft world where he was contracted to support a Windows NT server environment at Lucent Technologies.  He then became a Lucent employee where his responsibilities included managing the Lucent World Wide WAN.  Switching back to the consulting world Kevin started working for his current employer, Pepperweed Consulting, as a Senior Enterprise Management consultant.  Kevin is currently working as a Solution Architect for Pepperweed designing enterprise management implementations.

 

Kevin holds many certifications including:

            hp OpenView Certified Integration Expert
                        Network Management
                        Application and System Management

            hp OpenView Certified Consultant

                        IT Service Management

            Certified NerveCenter Administrator

            Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

            Microsoft Certified Professional – Specialist: Internet

 

 

A True Capacity Plan is a Process, Not an Event

Joe Bell

Regional Systems Engineer

Fujitsu

 

This session will begin with a refresher on the historical stages of the Capacity Planning Process and how it matured, was de-emphasized, and now is reemerging in importance.  This session will explore questions like:  What are the factors that will cause capacity planning (under whatever name) to again become important?  Are the processes developed during the mainframe days still valid, or should we rebuild them from scratch?  Where will capacity planning be in the not so distant future?

 

Biography

Joe Bell has over 30 years experience in various areas of the computer industry, including military data processing, manufacturing, retail and Telecom industries, software development, systems programming, capacity and performance management, and various vendor experiences.  Joe holds a BA in mathematics and an MS in Computer Science (EE), both from MU.  Currently Joe is a Regional Systems Engineer for Fujitsu Technology Solutions.

 

 

Integrated Service Management –

the Foundation for Ongoing IT and Business Alignment

Moses Onitilo

ITSM Practice Manager

Principle Technologies

The enterprise management arena has undergone considerable change since the dot com era.  We have seen numerous vendors including HP Openview, CA, Tivoli, and Peregrine (to name a few) offering tools to manage various IT Infrastructure components and services.  Unfortunately, none of these tools address the underlying issue of business processes which should be the drivers for technology and tool selections in an IT organization.

 

Although the majority of the previously mentioned vendors have ITIL/ITSM based tool sets, most have failed to help organizations realize the potential of these tool-sets in building an IT infrastructure and aligning People, Process, and Technology with the business.

 

This presentation will review the underlying processes that are part of a successful Integrated Service Management environment, which facilitates continuous business improvement of IT.  Accurate and timely Capacity and Performance Management are a critical component of this model which increases the IT organizations overall value, improves it's ability to align with the organization as a whole, and facilitates IT Operations and Support cost control.

 

 

Biography

As Principle Technologies ITSM Practice Manager, Mr. Onitilo is responsible for overall project management, environment assessments, and solution architecture.  Mr. Onitilo is a nationally recognized, ITIL certified, expert specializing in project management, training, architecture, configuration and implementation of ITSM infrastructure processes and tools.

 

Prior to his current position, Mr. Onitilo was a Senior Enterprise Management Consultant and Project Leader for Avaya Communications providing project management and technical consulting services for a global Service Desk solution.  As a Unix systems and networking consultant with SIAC (New York Stock Exchange) he facilitated a large mid-range operations service management re-structuring effort.  Moses also spent several years in London as a consultant to Hewlett Packard specializing in Unix system management, configuration and administration.  Mr. Onitilo began his IT career as a Help Desk support analyst.  His combined technical and management experience provides a unique and valuable perspective to our clients.

 

Mr. Onitilo recently co-wrote a white paper on IT Service Management, which was presented at the HP Openview forum, June 2001.  Mr. Onitilo is currently writing several white papers, one of which explores the limitations of Service Desk, Network or Systems Management software implementations without thorough analysis of the underlying business processes.

 

Mr. Onitilo holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with Honors, in Information Technology and Mathematics from Middlesex University and a Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Business and Finance from South West London College.