Chapter 11.1

Operational Analytics: Response Time

Abstract

At the heart of success in the operational environment is transaction response time.
Transactions are at the heart of many businesses, and when the computer malfunctions,
the business suffers. The journey a transaction has to take is a long journey through the
computer. The single largest impediment to good performance is the I/O operation. When
the I/O operation is executed, the computer operates at mechanical speeds, not electronic
speeds. The effect of I/O on performance is especially important in the face of a program
that has to do lots of I/Os. When one transaction in the job stream has to do lots of I/Os,
queue time can result. When queue time becomes a factor, a transaction sits and waits in
a queue until transactions in front of it execute.

Keywords

Transaction response time; I/O; Mechanical speed; Electronic speed; Performance;
Queue time

Analytics can be used throughout the computing environment. Indeed, one of the values
of even computerizing a system is to be able to do analytics.

One of the most important environments in corporate computing is that of the operational
environment. The operational environment is one that is the place where detailed, up to
the second decisions are made. The operational environment is used primarily by the
clerical community. The operational environment is where the business of the corporation
is transacted.

Fig. 11.1.1 shows that there are two primary processing and decision-making
environments in most corporations. There is the operational environment, and there is the
management decision environment.

Chapter 11.1: Operational Analytics: Response Time