Logica

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Monitoring Applications without Specialists at Logica

The Challenge

Logica's service delivery business provides IT services to utility companies, local authorities, government offices, and public companies. It also provides outsourcing services to a number of Health Authorities around the country.

The company operates a wide range of applications in a number of different environments. Given the complexity of these, it was often difficult to pin point the source of any application problem that arose, especially if it was an intermittent issue. Logica recognised that an improved and more proactive service could be provided if detailed monitoring of the performance of applications was undertaken to identify potential issues at an early stage.

The Solution

"There was a scarcity of good monitoring applications for Fujitsu Services' VME® mainframe systems," said Ian Myatt, Technical Consultant, Logica. "Fujitsu Services suggested developing the PATROL® Knowledge Management (KM) application to support OpenVME®.

The first field trials of this identified a range of issues, many due to the size and complexity of the installation. We also identified a deficiency in the interface to high-level job schedulers. Fujitsu Services noted the list of issues and when we received the next test version they had all been addressed. It is exactly what a large scale commercial site such as ours needs."

The Benefits

With fewer service disruptions, Logica easily meets service level agreements and this further lowers the risk of penalty charges.

Logica can apply proactive service management even before a customer's application is moved to its systems. It uses PATROL® KM to remotely monitor the application, gain an understanding of its idiosyncrasies and develop the most effective migration plan.

Transient problems were previously difficult to trace, particularly within the environment of large volume transaction processing. Now the system identifies immediately when a threshold has been exceeded and highlights the circumstances surrounding any slow down.

The Implementation

Logica set up thresholds for 2000 items within the OpenVME® system using a graphical interface common to all mainframe, UNIX® or Microsoft® Windows NT® systems. Monitored items are organised by customer rather than by system function so it is a simple task to identify the customer and provide immediate advice. Operators are alerted to a threshold being exceeded by an audible alert and flashing icon. The operator simply double-clicks the icon to trace the source of the issue. The system can also automatically alert Logica support staff via a pager.

The Expertise

Logica service delivery team runs nearly a hundred different applications under OpenVME®, it also inherits operating procedures with applications that are less than optimal. An outsource provider in this situation would normally be required to develop expertise in each application. However, Fujitsu Services' PATROL® KM enables the company to monitor applications and understand how they behave with inherited procedures without the need for specialists to undertake an investigation of code. This means that first level support staff can explain an issue to a customer. No application specific expertise is required.