Capacity Management Audit

The Capacity Management Audit allows customers to obtain an independent measure of the quality of their Capacity Management capability. Capacitas consultants will work on site with the customer’s staff and collect evidence of which activities are carried out and to what extent and quality standard they’re carried out to.

Depending on the customer’s requirements comparisons will be made to:

• Best Practice
• Previously audited customers
• Previously audited customers in the same industry sector
• Previously audited customers with a similar technology mix
• Previous audits of the same customer
• Different levels of process maturity (based on a maturity model)

A score will be calculated for approximately twenty broad categories but the customer can drill down to each category to compare their scores at a detailed level for each individual element. An example of these comparisons is shown below.

These scores will form a basis for a gap analysis that will focus on the differences between the current status and the target. A plan to close these gaps will then be drawn up with timescales, actions, owners and expected results. The customer can choose to engage Capacitas to manage this plan and/or carry out some of the tasks associated with it.

This audit service has a benefit over internal audits as it is both independent and carried out by individuals with years of Capacity Management experience as opposed to people with generic auditing skills. Often internal audits become ‘tick-in-the-box’ exercises with no real intention of improving things.

An external, independent audit also removes the possibility that people who have been working within the department being audited are too close to the activities and process to provide an accurate reflection. The independent audit guarantees objectivity.

The self-assessment can be used as evidence that the audit service is required, in this way the services are compatible.

Need

• Identify areas that are needing extra resource
• Identify areas of weakness
• Identify areas of strength
• Establish targets for process performance
• Create a Continual Service Improvement Plan
• Compare process performance to similar installations
• Avoid failing internal audits

Challenges

• Availability of published standards of process performance
• Availability of published measurements of similar installations’ process performance
• Availability of evidence of activities undertaken

Our Service

Our staff have experience of undertaking capacity management audits and also helping clients successfully pass internal audits. Our service includes :

• Review of organizational elements
  • Position of process in organisation
  • Ownership
  • Capacity management process
  • Scope

• Review of monitored resources
  • CPU
  • I/O
  • Disk space
  • Memory
  • Logical resources

• Review of business elements
  • Collection of business volumes
  • Business volume prediction

• Review of service quality elements
  • Business service requirements
  • Quality of service measurements (throughput, response time, elapsed time)

• Review of analysis
  • Resource utilisation
  • Performance
  • Forecasts
  • Scenario planning
  • Sensitivity analysis

• Review of involvement in the application development lifecycle
  • Performance testing
  • Application lifecycle

• Review of capacity management infrastructure
  • Team organisation
  • Capacity database / information system
  • Automation

Capacitas can provide staff as and when needed at short notice.

Features & Benefits

Delivering Results:

• Pass internal audits
• Obtain authorization for resources where needed
• Demonstrate effectiveness
• Redirect efforts where benefits are delivered

Flexible Resourcing:

• Multiple staff can be used as-and-when needed, enabling the customer to ramp up and down effort quickly and cost-effectively
• Staff only used when needed – no on-going charges compared to permanent staff or contractors
• Work can be conducted on-site or off-site

Value-for-Money:

• Our team utilises experienced capacity management auditors
• Comparisons made with other audit customers as well as best practice and target results

Pragmatic Approach:

• Scope can be adjusted depending on what does and does not need attention
• Recommendations made to achieve target performance (not necessarily best-practice)

Service-Focussed Expertise:

• Ability to relate findings to real service benefits

Example Customers

• PGDS

Next Steps

• Review the Resources section on this page
• To email for further information click here
• Call our offices on +44 (0) 20 7841 9950 to arrange a meeting