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WHAT IS IT PERFORMANCE RISK?
“Performance” is defined as the throughput of business transactions compared to user needs, expectations or
requirements. IT performance risk is the risk that a company’s IT infrastructure will be unable to perform at
required levels due to inferior internal operating practices, technology and/or external relationships that threaten
the demand for the organization's products or services.
Performance and scalability are two sides of the same coin. Poor performance may be indicative of a scalability
problem, and scalability problems invariably lead to performance degradation. However, performance problems
may also arise from causes having nothing to do with scalability, such as the inadequate deployment of system
software or poorly designed applications. When looking specifically at performance risk, scalability is considered
the number one factor. A company’s IT infrastructure must be able to handle the volume and types of activities,
support the transaction levels it will experience after the business is up and running, manage activity spikes from
the promotions, and remain accessible under unpredictable business conditions.
Periodic testing is an essential part of assessing the performance of the IT infrastructure. Benchmarks are one
kind of synthetic test of performance. A benchmark procedure uses a predefined set of data and measures the
results returned by the system. Benchmarks are intended to make comparisons easy. A caveat to benchmark
designers, however, is that the data used may not accurately reflect what an actual end user may experience. A
crucial design consideration for the benchmark program and the data employed is how to predict real-world
performance. Benchmarks must be validated to prove the results are indicative of the performance experienced
by the user. In order to evaluate this, the benchmark designers show that the data accurately models the
workload encountered on these systems.
BUSINESS RISKS RELATED TO IT PERFORMANCE
Perspective performance risk is significant because of its implications. If an organization cannot scale its systems
to handle peak loads, end users may become aggravated and not visit the system again, leading to negative
images within the organization or in the external marketplace. End users not only look for availability, but they also
demand excellent performance. Performance is measured by quick response times and a fully functioning
production/service line. If an organization cannot meet IT performance demands, the result will be that a company
will lose money.
The following performance risks may arise through poor performance management:
• IT performance may fail to meet promised service levels, resulting in disappointed customers, users, or
violated SLAs and contracts.
• Bottlenecks in back-office systems can impact system performance, resulting in noncompetitive solutions.
• Technology performance may not be easily remedied without costly upgrades or new solutions.
• Hardware and software may not be scalable and may lack the ability to “keep up” with business expansion.
• Performance problems arise due to errors in implementing load balancing or other performance remedies.
Failure to manage performance risk can have the following impact:
• Performance may not be easily remedied given poor design or upgrade choices.
• The effectiveness of the system may remain unknown without defining adequate business and IT service-level
objectives.
• Total service may fail to meet client needs due to the performance of systems/processes that were not
adequately considered early on.
• Lapses in functionality could result in data integrity problems.
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PERFORMANCE MEASURES
Determine Baseline Performance Metrics and Criteria
• Conduct an accurate assessment early on to avoid future problems.
• Know how many concurrent users the system may need to support and the environment the users will be
accessing the system from.
• Verify that databases allow the maximum number of connections that the system will need when it goes live.
• Make sure that the computer on which the database resides has enough space and memory for data required.
Develop Performance Requirements and SLAs
• Work with vendors to understand and compare benchmarks.
• Learn the capacity and performance characteristics of all components impacting the end-user experience,
including hardware, software and networks.
• Understand if any technology incompatibilities exist that would impact performance.
• Maintain current systems since patches and maintenance typically improve performance.
• Build applications for the system with an eye for performance needs.
Ensure That the System is Scalable and Capable of Handling Increases During Peak
Times
• Understand the expandability of current hardware.
• Make sure there is enough storage.
• Generate dynamic content as efficiently as possible.
• Use load balancing on application servers to support more traffic than one computer can bear.
• Use redundancy, caching and excess memory, SANs, effective transaction processing software and
middleware, and other technologies to improve system performance.
Monitor the System Continuously to Ensure That it is Performing as Intended
• Use tools to simulate end-user traffic and monitor system information.
• Gather statistics about either real or expected system usage and perform load tests on the application servers.
• Use monitoring software for networks, systems, databases and middleware.
• Provide exception reporting through a management console to report not only problems but also warning
levels for performance.
• During daily operations, load testing and in production, monitor the CPU, storage, networks, databases,
systems and memory usage.
• Create specific performance thresholds for key applications.
• Baseline an acceptable performance profile for applications and allow for a minimum and maximum
performance level for all contributing components.
It is essential to fully understand the relationship between the system and other systems. Understand the
dependencies of all systems. Poor systems interactions can decrease overall IT performance. Limited capacity in
one component effectively causes a choke point, impacting overall performance.
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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
• Will the system scale to accommodate business growth plans?
• Do you feel confident that IT performance will remain acceptable when change is introduced?
• Will the system remain accessible during extended high-volume periods or after the introduction of changes?
• Will functional integrity remain during periods of high volume?
• Will your business performance remain competitive with competitors?
• Will load balancing and other capabilities be implemented to provide acceptable performance?
• What is the performance impact of introducing functionality such as more stringent security mechanisms or
new capabilities to the system?
• Have you examined the performance benchmarks for your configuration: hardware, system, database, etc.?
• Will the IT infrastructure provide acceptable performance as it scales?
• How will changes to the IT infrastructure affect performance?
• Will all the end-to-end interactions of the system perform within SLA commitments?
• Will functional integrity remain intact during periods of high volume?
• Are all the components upgraded to current maintenance releases?
• How well-managed are changes to the system?
• Have all important functional scenarios been verified?
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