REQUEST: combining system metrics with business metrics

[tbircher@capaciteam.com]

[Non-subscriber request - please reply to tbircher@capaciteam.com]

I am an officer in a company focused on system capacity management services. Strategic planning services are not part of our corporate vision, but analyzing and evaluating computer system performance is a growing piece of the strategic puzzle...especially as IT investments occupy larger percentages of corporate Balance Sheets. Helping with this evaluation is what CapaciTeam is all about.

That being said, one of my goals is finding logical and useful ratios combining business metrics (FTEs, Revenues, Expenses, etc.) with system performance metrics (processes completed, CPU utilization rates, etc.). My research is turning up no existing information on the topic. It is hard to believe that such analysis isn't being done...without such ratios, executive management teams have no idea how to evaluate the relative success and/or failure of their IT investments.

Everyone I have asked about this topic says "you're right", but nobody has offered useful feedback regarding existing measurement structures...maybe no such evaluation tools exist, I don't know. Any ideas, comments, resources, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Todd Bircher
CapaciTeam, Inc

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