Capacity Planning

Occasionally, clients ask for independent capacity plans when the capacity planning function has been turned over to an outsourcing supplier. There may be strategic plans that the client does not wish to share with the supplier (if for example, the supplier will benefit due to implementation of a proposed new initiative). When outsourcing suppliers charge a unit pricing fee for their services, they may defer capacity upgrades to improve profit margins. In situations where it is suspected that the supplier is engaging in these tactics, it is prudent to engage and independent party to perform a capacity analysis.

Outsourcing Management Services has the expertise to perform capacity plans for a variety of different technology platforms, on either an ad-hoc basis, or a periodic basis (quarterly for example).

Below are some of the outsourcing capacity planning activities that Outsourcing Management Services can be engaged to perform:

• Obtaining resource utilization information from client and/or client's outsourcing supplier
• Developing growth estimates from information provided by the client for normal business growth as well as an analysis of the impact of new initiatives
• Prepare capacity estimate
• Develop cost projections due the impact of the projected growth
• Recommend performance tuning where appropriate to help reduce or defer upgrades.

Capacity Planning Service Level Agreement

Outsourcing Management Services will establish service levels for the capacity planning service. These service levels will include financial performance credits if not performed per the agreement. Examples include:

• Completion of a capacity planning project within a fixed, agreed upon timeframe
• Accuracy of capacity plan growth estimates as well as cost consequences within an agreed upon variance

Key Benefits

• Ensures accurate capacity projections and cost impact
• Improved budgeting to account for growth

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