Compliance at Speed

Aligning Performance Objectives with Compliance Regulations

Meeting both compliance and performance objectives requires structure and discipline. Compliance is usually a functional requirement while performance is most often a non-functional requirements. A structured process will achieve better overall performance by defining and tracking both functional and non-functional requirements together. Meeting both objectives can be accomplished by following the process outlined in the remainder of this report. This process includes the following steps:

1. Define the business goals for performance.

2. Identify constraints. These include:

   1. Business constraints
   2. Regulatory and compliance constraints
3. Design and develop for performance goals.
4. Execute performance measurement and testing.
5. Implement performance monitoring.
6. Mitigate risks.

1. Define the Business Goals for Performance

Ultimately, the goal of system development is to meet the business goals of your organization. Business goals include meeting compliance objectives. Without the business, information technology is irrelevant.

Understanding the business goals must be the first step, and understanding the system performance goals and expectations is of primary importance. For example, if the business goals of a financial services provider include executing more financial transactions (i.e., money transfers) in a shorter period of time, the business problem translates to clear performance expectations. The transactions per second (TPS) ...