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    <title><![CDATA[Discussion on 10 ways to build a solid capacity planning effort ]]></title>
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        <title><![CDATA[Another item for your list of benefits]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-267190-2530080]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I worked as a consultant in performance analysis and capacity planning for over 15 years before retirement (albeit for much larger than desktop systems).  Needless to say, whenever an upgrade is needed it involves the expenditure of more money.  I found my analysis and recommendations always worked best when I involved higher level executives in the process.  One of my approaches was when they are growing their business, they will want to know exactly how long their systems will keep the business running before another upgrade is required; especially when additional and yet unknown workloads are added.  This is where the &quot;art&quot; and &quot;experience come in.  But the best buy-in argument was that they will want to go to &quot;the well&quot; for money only one time in the next 2 or 3 years.  I would then present to them several scenarios (graphics included) of how their computers would perform (best case, typical and worst case) based on input THEY gave me.  They could then make their choice of how much they wanted to include in their budget for future growth with minimum push-back from the bean counters.  I also asked them to include my services in their budget every 6 months to determine if they were still on track with projections and make adjustments based on reality.  I found this work very challenging, rewarding and satisfying as I became their friend to help them with difficult decisions.]]></description>
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        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jwlindsey@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:46:56 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Very good list]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-267190-2529961]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Very good points. 1,2,9,and 10 should get you started. Just don't wait fast results - unfortunately often today even big corporations see capacity planning just a bunch of programs and reports? Capacity planning is very interesting but almost a forgotten &quot;art&quot; currently.Learn modeling or even simulation of systems and infrastructure, on log run there will be surprises and it is nice to know boundaries before they happen. Don't assume anything - in theory an application or system may have certain characteristics, the reality may be totally different. Very important to know what business plans executive branch and for example security organization have, they don't always think capacity when making their decisions! And markets change all the time! Don't try to make too long forecasts before you have enough(?) data - you will be hard pushed by other organizations and executives but try to explain why unknown is impossible to estimate. Watch patterns and trends both technical and business, they often tell more than just cold facts. Some large vendors have very good resources, some don't - participate conferences, seminars, user groups, talk to other capacity people - unbelievable amount information is available but has to be found and filtered, especially vendors try to push their views and often have no idea of you business model. From beginning make the data you collect compatible with future data, any numbers and figures must have the same meaning next year, otherwise they will come (almost) useless and may even give wrong results. Watch rules, regulations, laws, etc - they may have a huge effect sometimes and even more so if the company works globally. Don't forget disasters, backups, restores, etc. And so on, remember every business environment / infrastructure / etc is different and ever changing so there are no canned answers in capacity planning. And be ready for political fights, those always happen when talking about resources and future!]]></description>
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        <dc:creator><![CDATA[tuomo@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:20:46 -0700</pubDate>
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