IT Service Management, 3rd Edition

15 CAPACITY MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE

The capacity management process is responsible for all activities related to the provision of adequate and cost-effective capacity. The scope also includes performance management.

Capacity and performance are tightly linked because although service levels are usually expressed in terms of performance (e.g. response time, throughput rate etc.), when resources run short of capacity, performance suffers.

EXAMPLE

A good analogy is a supermarket’s ability to serve its customers in a reasonable time. In order to allow shoppers to checkout without having to queue for a long time, there is a continual need to balance the number of checkout staff with the number of shoppers.

The capacity management process ...