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The PPM methodology
Predictive Performance Management (PPM) makes use of a range of tried and tested Compuware tools to ensure smooth application deployment.
The Compuware PPM toolkitThe PPM methodology uses a number of well established Compuware tools to effectively accomplish development, infrastructure and business transaction profiling, along with load testing tasks. Each element of the toolkit performs an essential task that makes certain applications perform as intended for the end user and the enterprise as a whole.
Quality in developmentThe first stage of any deployment is to create effective code that is bug-free and not liable to place enormous demands on the ICT infrastructure. Compuware's market leading DevPartner Studio includes two key tools, Code Coverage and Debugging, to ensure quality development code from the outset. The DevPartner Studio can supplement conventional debuggers by helping programmers to detect 'memory leaks' and 'stealthy errors' where a variable is not properly initialised, but the problem does not manifest itself until later. These errors are hard to find and yet a memory leak, for example, when multiplied by thousands of transactions, can cause untold harm. Risk based testingTesting is about risk mitigation. However, application testing invariably gets squeezed to meet delivery schedules. To minimise the risk of failure when going live with a new application, organisations must ensure that all the business critical parts of an application have been rigorously tested. PPM enables the valuable outputs of risk assessment to be captured and
fed into test planning and execution. Compuware's QACenter assigns
weightings to individual application elements to denote their relative
criticality; these weightings translate into high, medium or low priority
for each test. Testers can use the weightings to develop test strategies
that mitigate risk by focusing the testing effort on the most business
critical parts of the application. This makes certain that essential risks
are prioritised and tested when time to deployment is short. Application profilingApplication profiling looks at the environments in which the application will run, assessing not only the demands that the new application will create, but also monitoring the network capacity, server platform and usage of other applications. This information can then be used to evaluate the application's likely effect on the organisational infrastructure. This helps to identify any upgrades that might be required and establish the business case for them. Because PPM quantifies performance early in the cycle, business managers have time to find budget when performance levels dictate additional bandwidth or hardware. The ability to improve performance remains inexpensive if profiling is carried out early. PPM capitalises on this, so that architectural changes can be made at this stage without slowing down deployment. Load testingOnce the application has been profiled using ApplicationVantage and Predictor, and potential problems ironed out, load testing then becomes a more effective and efficient process, usually working first time. QALoad will ramp the load onto an application by creating virtual users, from hundreds to thousands. A number of variables can be simulated so that the application is fully tested in all transaction environments.
What are the benefits of PPM for an organisation? Find out here For answers to some common questions about PPM, click here Call to actionFor more information on the power of PPM, e-mail info@compuware.co.uk or call 01753 444 466 and speak to an advisor about what PPM can do for you. |
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