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The '''Capacity Plan''' contains different scenarios for predicted business demand and offers costed options for delivering the service-level targets as specified. This plan allows service designers to make the best choices about how to provide quality service at an affordable price point.
+
The '''Capacity Plan''' contains different scenarios for predicted [[business]] [[demand]] and offers costed options for delivering the [[service]]-level targets as specified. This plan allows service designers to make the best choices about how to provide [[quality]] service at an affordable [[price]] point.
  
 
The Capacity Plan helps gauge the most cost effective way of provisioning resources and services by aligning them to your organization’s demands.
 
The Capacity Plan helps gauge the most cost effective way of provisioning resources and services by aligning them to your organization’s demands.
*Ensure that system components perform as efficiently as possible
+
*Ensure that [[system]] components perform as efficiently as possible
 
*Describe system capacity requirements for systems and applications
 
*Describe system capacity requirements for systems and applications
 
*Ensure that infrastructure components can perform required functions
 
*Ensure that infrastructure components can perform required functions
Line 9: Line 9:
 
*Provide satisfactory service levels in a cost-efficient manner
 
*Provide satisfactory service levels in a cost-efficient manner
  
The Capacity Plan is the cornerstone of the [[Capacity Management|Capacity Management]] process, and good capacity management is an important part of the infrastructure and deployment planning. Within [[ITIL Service Design|Service Design]], many other processes are highly dependent on it: Design Coordination, Availability Management, IT Service Continuity, Information and Security Management, and others.
+
The Capacity Plan is the cornerstone of the [[Capacity Management|Capacity Management]] [[process]], and good capacity [[management]] is an important part of the infrastructure and deployment planning. Within [[ITIL Service Design|Service Design]], many other processes are highly dependent on it: [[Design]] Coordination, [[Availability Management]], IT Service Continuity, Information and [[Security Management]], and others.
  
Many processes outside Service Design depend on it as well: [[IT Financial Management (ITFM)|IT Financial Management]] ([[ITIL Service Strategy|Service Strategy]]), [[IT Operations (Information Technology Operations)|IT Operations]] Control, [[Application Management|Application Management]], and Technical Management ([[ITIL Service Operation|Service Operations]]).
+
Many processes outside Service Design depend on it as well: [[IT Financial Management (ITFM)|IT Financial Management]] ([[ITIL Service Strategy|Service Strategy]]), [[IT Operations (Information Technology Operations)|IT Operations]] [[Control]], [[Application Management|Application Management]], and Technical Management ([[ITIL Service Operation|Service Operations]]).
  
  
 
== Elements of Capacity Plan<ref>What are the Elements of the Capacity Plan [https://advisera.com/20000academy/knowledgebase/itil-capacity-plan-a-document-you-need-but-probably-dont-have/ Advisera]</ref> ==
 
== Elements of Capacity Plan<ref>What are the Elements of the Capacity Plan [https://advisera.com/20000academy/knowledgebase/itil-capacity-plan-a-document-you-need-but-probably-dont-have/ Advisera]</ref> ==
*Scope: Having business demands (drivers) collected in a single place on one hand, and available IT resources on the other, allows organizations to identify any inefficient or wasteful resources at a single glance. Therefore, one of the first steps in writing down a Capacity Plan would be to list all business demands (drivers), and IT services supporting them. Any business services that aren’t supported by the IT organization should not fall within the scope of the Capacity Plan.
+
*Scope: Having business demands (drivers) collected in a single place on one hand, and available IT resources on the other, allows organizations to identify any inefficient or wasteful resources at a single glance. Therefore, one of the first steps in writing down a Capacity Plan would be to list all business demands (drivers), and IT services supporting them. Any business services that aren’t supported by the IT [[organization]] should not fall within the scope of the Capacity Plan.
*Manage the resources required for IT service delivery: Once there is a high-level IT and business services overview, it is imperative to drill down to the actual physical resources that drive IT services. This part is fairly technical, as it includes actual hardware components (and other resources) and their inner workings, and only subject matter experts generally know its impact on a service. Physical resources will include the server’s physical properties (e.g., CPU, RAM, HDD, INAC, etc.), licensing, running modes (e.g., physical, virtual, clustering, etc.) or service level (e.g., failover, load balancing, high availability, security, etc.). These properties should be correlated as closely as possible with expected service level in terms of capacity and/or performance.
+
*Manage the resources required for IT service delivery: Once there is a high-level IT and business services overview, it is imperative to drill down to the actual physical resources that drive IT services. This part is fairly technical, as it includes actual [[hardware]] components (and other resources) and their inner workings, and only subject matter experts generally know its [[impact]] on a service. Physical resources will include the server’s physical properties (e.g., CPU, RAM, HDD, INAC, etc.), licensing, running modes (e.g., physical, virtual, clustering, etc.) or service level (e.g., failover, load balancing, [[high availability]], security, etc.). These properties should be correlated as closely as possible with expected service level in terms of capacity and/or performance.
  
[[File:Elements of Capacity Plan.png|400px|Elements of Capacity Plan]]<br />
+
 
 +
[[File:Elements of Capacity Plan.png|450px|Elements of Capacity Plan]]<br />
 
source: Advisera
 
source: Advisera
  
*Gather and evaluate performance data: Once you have all the relevant data regarding business needs, supporting IT services, and their combined impact on service performance, you should gather the data that will compare our resources and required capacity, and record that data within the Capacity Plan. Evaluating performance data is not an easy task, and is generally performed by subject matter experts. Aside from collecting hard data, any incidents related to insufficient capacity should be recorded and evaluated alongside the performance data itself.
+
 
*Analyze the data, spot the trends, make the forecasts: Once you have all the relevant data gathered and evaluated, as time passes, it should be easy enough to spot trends that happen naturally, and determine whether they are aligned with business expectations. Those trends are the basis for making short-, medium-, and long-term expectations regarding capacity. The purpose of such monitoring is to avoid the negative business impact that a lack of capacity may present. A common example is a lack of storage space; from the moment when Incident Management records a “low disk space” alert, until you order, set up, and implement additional storage capacity (not to mention find the budget for such a scenario), you may be forced to either implement unhealthy workarounds (external USB drives) or shut down the service completely. Forecasts and what-if analyses are here to help predict and prevent such events, and respond to them in a timely manner without impact to agreed service levels.
+
*Gather and evaluate performance [[data]]: Once you have all the relevant data regarding business needs, supporting IT services, and their combined impact on service performance, you should gather the data that will compare our resources and required capacity, and record that data within the Capacity Plan. Evaluating performance data is not an easy task, and is generally performed by subject matter experts. Aside from collecting hard data, any incidents related to insufficient capacity should be recorded and evaluated alongside the performance data itself.
*Improvements and recommendations: As the last chapter of the Capacity Plan, you should write down any improvements and recommendations that are the product of data gathered, trend analysis, forecasts, business plans, etc. If some service is using a less-than-expected amount of resources and trends are negative, it is up to Capacity Management to recommend its reevaluation / redesign in order to eliminate extra resources that are not used, and shave off costs. On the other hand, if new technology shows up, or trends show faster-than-expected growth in demand, Capacity Management should be the first to react and recommend an increase of required resources. The list of improvements and recommendations should be accompanied by related costs, impact analysis, expected timescale, and affected resources and drivers.
+
*Analyze the data, spot the trends, make the forecasts: Once you have all the relevant data gathered and evaluated, as time passes, it should be easy enough to spot trends that happen naturally, and determine whether they are aligned with business expectations. Those trends are the basis for making short-, medium-, and long-term expectations regarding capacity. The purpose of such monitoring is to avoid the negative business impact that a lack of capacity may present. A common example is a lack of storage space; from the moment when [[Incident Management]] records a “low disk space” alert, until you order, set up, and implement additional storage capacity (not to mention find the [[budget]] for such a scenario), you may be forced to either implement unhealthy workarounds (external USB drives) or shut down the service completely. Forecasts and what-if analyses are here to help predict and prevent such events, and respond to them in a timely manner without impact to agreed service levels.
 +
*Improvements and recommendations: As the last chapter of the Capacity Plan, you should write down any improvements and recommendations that are the [[product]] of data gathered, trend analysis, forecasts, business plans, etc. If some service is using a less-than-expected amount of resources and trends are negative, it is up to [[Capacity Management]] to recommend its reevaluation / redesign in order to eliminate extra resources that are not used, and shave off costs. On the other hand, if new technology shows up, or trends show faster-than-expected growth in demand, Capacity Management should be the first to react and recommend an increase of required resources. The list of improvements and recommendations should be accompanied by related costs, impact analysis, expected timescale, and affected resources and drivers.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
== Contents Within A Capacity Plan<ref>Contents Within A Capacity Plan [https://wiki.en.it-processmaps.com/images/6/68/Capacity-plan.jpg IT Process Maps]</ref> ==
 +
Typically, the Capacity Plan contains the following information:<br />
 +
 
 +
'''Part I: Business Scenarios'''<br />
 +
Known Business Initiatives
 +
*Description of the initiative
 +
*Likely impact on service/ resource capacity and performance
 +
*Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT services and resources
 +
**Medium- to long-term proposals
 +
**Short-term measures (details on ongoing measures or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5 of this [[template]])
 +
Known Business Volume Forecasts
 +
*Affected service(s)
 +
*Type of business volume
 +
*Likely impact on service/ resource capacity and performance
 +
*Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT services and resources
 +
**Medium- to long-term proposals
 +
**Short-term measures (details on ongoing initiatives or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5)
 +
'''Part II: Forecast of service utilization and performance'''<br />
 +
The second part of the Capacity Plan includes details an all service levels monitored by Capacity Management.<br />
 +
Assumptions and Database<br />
 +
Assumptions and data on which the forecast is based.
 +
*Trends in service utilization and performance based on current and historic data (short-, medium- and long-term)
 +
*Capacity and performance thresholds about to be reached
 +
*Exceptional deviations from the [[baseline]]
 +
*Forecast data for service utilization from the business side
 +
Forecasts
 +
*Short-, medium- and long-term forecasts for service utilization and performance.
 +
Measures to cope with extra demand<br />
 +
Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT services and resources.
 +
*Medium- to long-term proposals
 +
*Short-term measures (details on ongoing initiatives or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5)
 +
'''Part III: Forecast of resource utilization and performance'''<br />
 +
This section of the Capacity Plan includes details an all IT resources/ components monitored by Capacity Management.
 +
Assumptions and Database<br />
 +
Assumptions and data on which the forecast is based.
 +
*Trends in resource utilization and performance based on current and historic data (short-, medium- and long-term)
 +
*Capacity and performance thresholds about to be reached
 +
*Exceptional deviations from the baseline
 +
*Forecast data for service utilization from the business side
 +
Forecasts
 +
*Short-, medium- and long-term forecasts for resource utilization and performance.
 +
Measures to cope with extra demand<br />
 +
Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT resources.
 +
*Medium- to long-term proposals
 +
*Short-term measures (details on ongoing initiatives or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5)
 +
'''Part IV: Other potential impacts on service capacity and performance'''
 +
*Impact of (changes to) agreed availability, continuity and other service level targets
 +
*Impact of regulatory, contractual or organizational changes
 +
*Impact of new technologies and techniques becoming available
 +
'''Part V: Initiatives to adjust service capacity and performance'''<br />
 +
Overview of planned and ongoing initiatives to adjust service capacity and performance.
 +
*Service name
 +
*Person in charge of the service
 +
*Person in charge of the initiative to adjust capacities/ performance
 +
*Reason/ business case for the measure
 +
*Details on the measure
 +
**Affected infrastructure components
 +
**Activities to be carried out
 +
**Time schedule
 +
**Costs and resources
 +
**Possible alternatives
 +
**Current status
 +
 
 +
 
 +
[[File:Capacity Plan Template.jpg|400px|Capacity Plan Template]]<br />
 +
source: IT Process Maps
 +
 
 +
 
 +
== References ==
 +
<references/>

Revision as of 14:26, 6 February 2021

The Capacity Plan contains different scenarios for predicted business demand and offers costed options for delivering the service-level targets as specified. This plan allows service designers to make the best choices about how to provide quality service at an affordable price point.

The Capacity Plan helps gauge the most cost effective way of provisioning resources and services by aligning them to your organization’s demands.

  • Ensure that system components perform as efficiently as possible
  • Describe system capacity requirements for systems and applications
  • Ensure that infrastructure components can perform required functions
  • Identify and reduce inefficiencies associated with under-utilized resources
  • Provide a technical reference for team members
  • Provide satisfactory service levels in a cost-efficient manner

The Capacity Plan is the cornerstone of the Capacity Management process, and good capacity management is an important part of the infrastructure and deployment planning. Within Service Design, many other processes are highly dependent on it: Design Coordination, Availability Management, IT Service Continuity, Information and Security Management, and others.

Many processes outside Service Design depend on it as well: IT Financial Management (Service Strategy), IT Operations Control, Application Management, and Technical Management (Service Operations).


Elements of Capacity Plan[1]

  • Scope: Having business demands (drivers) collected in a single place on one hand, and available IT resources on the other, allows organizations to identify any inefficient or wasteful resources at a single glance. Therefore, one of the first steps in writing down a Capacity Plan would be to list all business demands (drivers), and IT services supporting them. Any business services that aren’t supported by the IT organization should not fall within the scope of the Capacity Plan.
  • Manage the resources required for IT service delivery: Once there is a high-level IT and business services overview, it is imperative to drill down to the actual physical resources that drive IT services. This part is fairly technical, as it includes actual hardware components (and other resources) and their inner workings, and only subject matter experts generally know its impact on a service. Physical resources will include the server’s physical properties (e.g., CPU, RAM, HDD, INAC, etc.), licensing, running modes (e.g., physical, virtual, clustering, etc.) or service level (e.g., failover, load balancing, high availability, security, etc.). These properties should be correlated as closely as possible with expected service level in terms of capacity and/or performance.


Elements of Capacity Plan
source: Advisera


  • Gather and evaluate performance data: Once you have all the relevant data regarding business needs, supporting IT services, and their combined impact on service performance, you should gather the data that will compare our resources and required capacity, and record that data within the Capacity Plan. Evaluating performance data is not an easy task, and is generally performed by subject matter experts. Aside from collecting hard data, any incidents related to insufficient capacity should be recorded and evaluated alongside the performance data itself.
  • Analyze the data, spot the trends, make the forecasts: Once you have all the relevant data gathered and evaluated, as time passes, it should be easy enough to spot trends that happen naturally, and determine whether they are aligned with business expectations. Those trends are the basis for making short-, medium-, and long-term expectations regarding capacity. The purpose of such monitoring is to avoid the negative business impact that a lack of capacity may present. A common example is a lack of storage space; from the moment when Incident Management records a “low disk space” alert, until you order, set up, and implement additional storage capacity (not to mention find the budget for such a scenario), you may be forced to either implement unhealthy workarounds (external USB drives) or shut down the service completely. Forecasts and what-if analyses are here to help predict and prevent such events, and respond to them in a timely manner without impact to agreed service levels.
  • Improvements and recommendations: As the last chapter of the Capacity Plan, you should write down any improvements and recommendations that are the product of data gathered, trend analysis, forecasts, business plans, etc. If some service is using a less-than-expected amount of resources and trends are negative, it is up to Capacity Management to recommend its reevaluation / redesign in order to eliminate extra resources that are not used, and shave off costs. On the other hand, if new technology shows up, or trends show faster-than-expected growth in demand, Capacity Management should be the first to react and recommend an increase of required resources. The list of improvements and recommendations should be accompanied by related costs, impact analysis, expected timescale, and affected resources and drivers.


Contents Within A Capacity Plan[2]

Typically, the Capacity Plan contains the following information:

Part I: Business Scenarios
Known Business Initiatives

  • Description of the initiative
  • Likely impact on service/ resource capacity and performance
  • Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT services and resources
    • Medium- to long-term proposals
    • Short-term measures (details on ongoing measures or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5 of this template)

Known Business Volume Forecasts

  • Affected service(s)
  • Type of business volume
  • Likely impact on service/ resource capacity and performance
  • Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT services and resources
    • Medium- to long-term proposals
    • Short-term measures (details on ongoing initiatives or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5)

Part II: Forecast of service utilization and performance
The second part of the Capacity Plan includes details an all service levels monitored by Capacity Management.
Assumptions and Database
Assumptions and data on which the forecast is based.

  • Trends in service utilization and performance based on current and historic data (short-, medium- and long-term)
  • Capacity and performance thresholds about to be reached
  • Exceptional deviations from the baseline
  • Forecast data for service utilization from the business side

Forecasts

  • Short-, medium- and long-term forecasts for service utilization and performance.

Measures to cope with extra demand
Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT services and resources.

  • Medium- to long-term proposals
  • Short-term measures (details on ongoing initiatives or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5)

Part III: Forecast of resource utilization and performance
This section of the Capacity Plan includes details an all IT resources/ components monitored by Capacity Management. Assumptions and Database
Assumptions and data on which the forecast is based.

  • Trends in resource utilization and performance based on current and historic data (short-, medium- and long-term)
  • Capacity and performance thresholds about to be reached
  • Exceptional deviations from the baseline
  • Forecast data for service utilization from the business side

Forecasts

  • Short-, medium- and long-term forecasts for resource utilization and performance.

Measures to cope with extra demand
Proposed measures to cope with extra demand for IT resources.

  • Medium- to long-term proposals
  • Short-term measures (details on ongoing initiatives or proposals entering the concrete planning phase are included in section 5)

Part IV: Other potential impacts on service capacity and performance

  • Impact of (changes to) agreed availability, continuity and other service level targets
  • Impact of regulatory, contractual or organizational changes
  • Impact of new technologies and techniques becoming available

Part V: Initiatives to adjust service capacity and performance
Overview of planned and ongoing initiatives to adjust service capacity and performance.

  • Service name
  • Person in charge of the service
  • Person in charge of the initiative to adjust capacities/ performance
  • Reason/ business case for the measure
  • Details on the measure
    • Affected infrastructure components
    • Activities to be carried out
    • Time schedule
    • Costs and resources
    • Possible alternatives
    • Current status


Capacity Plan Template
source: IT Process Maps


References

  1. What are the Elements of the Capacity Plan Advisera
  2. Contents Within A Capacity Plan IT Process Maps