The VMS DataCollector

We measure the use of the SAP systems under investigation using our own VMS DataCollector program. This includes recording large numbers of technical and applications-related parameters which provide the basic data for optimizing both cost and performance.

Obvious advantages of automated measuring are the client's radically reduced personnel requirement and the critical increase in the accuracy of the information recorded.

Recording is oriented to two essential factors – do users derive any benefit from the system and what is relevant for the running costs of IT?

• configuration of the landscape, production, testing etc.
• structure of the landscape in systems, hardware, software
• actual use of systems by the users in a tight time-grid (hourly or even more accurately) and over a representative period – usually four to six weeks
• the type of use: time-based contexts, processes, transaction-oriented with the generation of business documents versus the use of reports, BW-modules etc.
• the technical cost of use – CPU, memory, disk, database etc.
• costs within the system and at interfaces: batch input, RFC, ALE, IDOCs, mail, fax etc.
• the degree of customizing and use of the SAP standard and of extensions by the client
• qualitative factors such as response times, dumps, availability times;
• security aspects such as authorizations
• the cost of alterations through continual customizing and the client's home-grown applications.

To sum up: measuring records all relevant factors in order to obtain a precise and comprehensive picture of the use and cost of SAP operations.