Best Practice: Reconcile the Bill with Agency Consumption Reports

The agency should always begin consumption management of GETS services by reviewing and understanding the reports that document its use of these services and reconciling that information with its monthly invoice. For EUC/Service Desk services, the agency should review the Invoice Detail Report for EUC found on the GETS Portal that includes the following information:

• Agency Name and Cost Center
• Asset Tag and Serial Number
• User Name and ID
• Usage Dates
• Invoice Number
• Rate and Amount Charged

If more information is required, there are other reports available, including the GETS/Legacy EUC device count report, the active/idle status report, and the connection report, to ensure that the count of EUC devices and their active/idle and connection status is accurate This includes EUC devices that have been reported as lost or stolen. Please contact the Agency Relationship Manager assigned to your agency if you need access to these reports.

If a potential discrepancy is identified:

• The agency should first match the expected change with the invoice collection date. Some services do not roll off the agency’s bill for almost two months depending on the request date.
• Once the agency determines that the discrepancy was not caused by the invoice collection date, the agency should submit a dispute using the Finance tab in the Remedy Service Request Catalog.

Best Practice: Right-size the Agency’s Count of EUC Devices

Reduction of an agency’s count of EUC devices reduces hardware service charges and EUC RUs. The agency should avoid maintaining unused or redundant devices, including those in the storage closet.

The agency must assess the financial impact and the timing to determine how to most effectively align with an upcoming EUC refresh period, for instance. In the meantime, the agency could change device status to idle and not connected to decrease RUs.

Best practice: Match the EUC Device to Worker Function

Since there is a cost difference among desktops, laptops, and premium devices, the agency should match the EUC device to the functions the worker performs. For example, an agency staff member may have both a desktop computer and a laptop computer when consolidation to a single device would still allow the employee to perform all work functions. Additionally, a staff member may be assigned a premium device when a standard, less costly device would suffice. As described above, the agency should assess the financial impact and timing of changes to existing EUC devices.

Best Practice: Reconcile the Bill with Agency Consumption Reports

The agency should always begin consumption management of GETS services by reviewing and understanding the reports that document its use of these services and reconciling that information with its monthly invoice.

For LAN services, the agency should review the LAN Services Invoice Detail Report found on the GETS Portal. It includes:

• Agency and Cost Center
• Site Name, Address, and Code
• Report Category
• Resource Description
• Asset Tag
• User Name and ID
• Invoice Number
• Rate and Amount Charged
• Usage Dates

For WAN services, the agency should first review the WAN Services Invoice Detail Report that includes:

• Agency and Cost Center
• Site Name, Address, and Code
• Report Category
• Resource Description
• Circuit ID
• Invoice Number
• Rate and Amount Charged
• Usage Dates

Additional WAN reports are available to determine circuit usage, including the WAN Hot/Cold Utilization Report (available from the AT&T manager for the agency) and the Agency Vital Net Report (available from the GTA CRM for one agency employee).

Best Practice: LAN – Right-size EUC Devices

The LAN Port RU is directly related to the number of the agency’s end user computing (EUC) devices that are active and connected to the network. Therefore, the agency should implement EUC best practices to right-size consumption.

Best Practice: WAN – Implement Hot/Cold Capacity Management Process

The agency should select and monitor transport circuit speed and capacity based on business requirements and application needs:

• If a circuit is “hot” (50% or above monthly average), the agency should first determine if the overutilization trend is a one-month occurrence or a multi-month trend. If overutilization continues over two or more months, the agency should upgrade the circuit.
• If a circuit is “cold” (1 percent or below monthly average), the agency should determine if the circuit is still needed and disable or disconnect.

Best Practice: Reconcile the Bill with Agency Consumption Reports

The agency should always begin consumption management of GETS services by reviewing and understanding the reports that document its use of these services and reconciling that information with its monthly invoice. For mainframe services, the agency should review the Mainframe Invoice Detail Report found on the GETS Portal. It includes:

• Agency and Cost Center
• Job Name
• RACF User ID
• Report Category
• Resource Description
• Invoice Number
• Usage Start and End Dates
• Units
• Rate and Amount Charged

If a potential discrepancy is identified:

• The agency should first match the expected change with the invoice collection date. Some services do not roll off the agency’s bill for almost two months depending on the request date.
• Once the agency determines that the discrepancy was not caused by the invoice collection date, the agency should submit a dispute using the Finance tab in the Remedy Service Request Catalog.

Best Practice: Reduce CPU Hours

The most effective way to reduce costs associated with mainframe services is to reduce CPU hours. Agency staff or third parties hired by the agency may:

• Maintain, optimize and/or tune applications to increase the efficiency of DB2 and Customer Information Control System (CICS) code.
• Review and optimize frequency and scheduling of batch jobs.
• As DB2 code levels are upgraded, rebind all application code.
• Implement CICS Threadsafe:
  • More information is available in the IBM Redbook Threadsafe Considerations for CICS, SG24-6351
  • Combine CICS regions after implementation of CICS Threadsafe

From a long-term perspective, the agency may decide to migrate applications to non-mainframe processers when possible. Moving application code to servers and using the mainframe as a database server allows code running on the Mainframe to use the less costly z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP engine).

Best Practice: Optimize Mainframe Storage and Back Up

There are also best practices for mainframe storage and backup. Since GETS provides, real time, off-site backups for mainframe data, the agency should terminate redundant backups. Additionally, the agency should implement its data retention plan for long-term data storage.

Best Practice: Reconcile the Bill with Agency Consumption Reports

The agency should always begin consumption management of GETS services by reviewing and understanding the reports that document its use of these services and reconciling that information with its monthly invoice. For server services, the agency should review the Volume Charges and Trend (VCT) Report and Invoice Detail Report for Servers and Storage that includes:

• Agency Name and Cost Center
• Resource Description
• Server Host Name
• Server Instance Name
• Rate and Amount Charged
• Invoice Number
• Usage Dates

If a potential discrepancy is identified, the agency should first match the expected change with the invoice collection date. Some services do not roll off the agency’s bill for almost two months depending on the request date.

Once the agency determines that the discrepancy was not caused by the invoice collection date, the agency should submit a dispute to using the Finance tab in the Remedy Service Request Catalog.

Best Practice: Select Server Type and Complexity Based on Agency Business Needs and Requirements

When an agency upgrades application servers or considers servers for a new project, the agency should consider its requirements for the application (including requirements of contracted third-party vendors) and use the server complexity matrix above to guide the selection of server type and complexity.

Note: System architecture significantly impacts server complexity. For example, if an application has been load balanced or if it is running in a Microsoft Cluster Service, that server would be a high complexity server.

Best Practice: Decommission Replaced Servers

Once an agency upgrades to new servers or existing servers are refreshed, it is imperative that the “old” servers are decommissioned. Otherwise, they continue to incur HSCs and/or server complexity RUs. The agency should verify that the old servers are removed from the invoice.

Best Practice: Follow Best Practices for LAN Attached Device RU

The LAN attached device RU is charged for each active, connected end user computing device. The agency should follow best practices for consumption of EUC devices to minimize this cost.

Best Practice: Delete Unused Email Accounts

Each agency email account incurs an RU. Deleting unnecessary email accounts reduces an agency’s costs for email accounts hosted in Office 365.

Best Practice: Reconcile the Bill with Agency Consumption Reports

The agency should always begin consumption management of GETS services by reviewing and understanding the reports that document its use of these services and reconciling that information with its monthly invoice. For voice services, the agency should review the Invoice Detail Report for Voice Services found on the GETS Portal. It includes:

• Agency and Cost Center
• Report Category
• Resource Description
• Telephone Number (if applicable)
• Rate Code
• Invoice Number
• Usage Dates
• Units and Rate
• Amount Charged

If a potential discrepancy is identified:

• The agency should first match the expected change with the invoice collection date. Some services do not roll off the agency’s bill for almost two months depending on the request date.
• Once the agency determines that the discrepancy was not caused by the invoice collection date, the agency should submit a dispute using the Finance tab in the Remedy Service Request Catalog.

Best Practice: Disconnect circuits no longer in use

The agency should disconnect circuits when a department or office closes or downsizes and in other circumstances when voice services are no longer needed.

Best Practice: Set agency telecommunications policy in accordance with state telecommunications policy

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and GTA jointly set telecommunications policy in Rules, Regulations and Procedures Governing the Acquisition and Use of Telecommunications Services and Equipment (OPB-GTA Policy 4, Revision 9). The agency should set and implement its agency-level telecommunications policy to meet the requirements of the state policy and right-size its assignment of telecommunications resources to agency staff based on job function.

Best Practice: Reconcile the Bill with Agency Consumption Reports

The agency should always begin consumption management of GETS services by reviewing and understanding the reports that document its use of these services and reconciling that information with its monthly invoice. For storage, the agency should review the Invoice Detail Report for Server Storage on the GETS Portal. This report includes the following details:

SAN	Backup - Legacy	Backup - Transformed
Units	Units	Units
Server Host Name	Server Host Name	Server Host Name
Usage Date	Usage Date	Usage Date
Cost Center	Cost Center	Cost Center
Array Name	Dataset Name
Array Type	Volume/Serial No.
Array Model

If a potential discrepancy is identified:

• The agency should first match the expected change with the invoice collection date. Some services do not roll off the agency’s bill for almost two months depending on the request date.
• Once the agency determines that the discrepancy was not caused by the invoice collection date, the agency should submit a dispute using the Finance tab in the Remedy Service Request Catalog.
  

Best Practice: Establish an Agency Data Management Program

The Georgia Technology Authority strongly recommends that each GETS agency establish a comprehensive data management program. This program, which will impact the tape and backup RUs, should:

• Set and enforce a data retention policy based on state and federal requirements.
  • Align backup schedules with best practices to maintain data integrity and manage costs.
    • Use backup only for data recovery, not for long-term data retention
    • After transformation, set appropriate backup parameters:
      • 3 to 7 versions of data (active and inactive copies) retained for 60 days (or less)
      • Inactive versions are removed from backup storage after 60 days (or less)
      • Inactive versions greater than 7 are removed from backup storage
    • Set up long-term storage (Backup Archive RU) for data to be stored more than 60 days
  • Establish cutoff dates for archived file storage and regularly review stored tapes and other media to identify those that are eligible for disposal.
  • Using the RFS process, dispose of tapes and other media that are:
    • Past the agency’s retention requirements
    • No longer needed due to transformation and the implementation of the new, transformed backup system (Tivoli Storage Management)
• Store only agency-related data.
  • Monitor agency data to identify and remove personal games, music (e.g., MP3 files), photographs (e.g., JPEG, GIF files), video files, etc.
• Eliminate data redundancy such as duplicate data files.
• Establish and enforce agency storage limitations for:
  • Email accounts
  • Personal folders
  • Department shared drives
    

Best Practice: Right-size SAN

There are also best practices related to SAN and the associated SAN tier RUs that the agency should consider:

• Select the appropriate amount of SAN for new servers and applications during the requirements gathering phase of the RFS process. Excessive SAN that goes unused is an unnecessary cost for the agency, while too little SAN can negatively impact performance. In most cases, the third-party application vendor provides optimum SAN requirements to the agency, and the agency shares this information with IBM as part of requirements gathering.
• Select the appropriate SAN tier based on the agency’s business need. As previously stated, over 90 percent of state data resides in Tier 2 SAN. This best practice is easy to implement for new servers and new or upgraded applications. However, for existing servers and applications, the agency should determine if the cost of moving the data to a lower tier outweighs the savings realized from the lower tier RU.

All requests to add, change, or delete existing storage and associated charges are submitted via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog.

If an agency decides to increase, decrease, change, or remove existing mainframe services, it submits a Request for Solution (RFS) via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog to add, change or remove applications or storage.

All requests to add, move, remove, or change EUC devices and their associated Resource Units and charges are submitted via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog.

• The agency submits a catalog request for the addition, move, change, or removal of up to 40 devices in one location.
• The agency submits a Request for Solution via the Remedy Service Request Catalog for the addition, move, change, or removal of more than 40 devices. A Custom Solution Proposal (CSP) will be generated that specifies a per unit charge for the IMAC services for multiple devices if desk side visits are required.

All requests to add, move, remove, or change existing LAN-WAN services are submitted via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog.

For LAN services, the agency submits a:

• Catalog request via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog for 1-9 users
• Request for Solution (RFS) via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog for 10 or more users

For WAN services, the agency submits an RFS via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog to:

• Request a circuit upgrade, disable or disconnect
• Analyze network traffic distribution

All requests to add, move, remove, or change existing server services and their associated resource units and charges are submitted via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog.

• The agency submits an IMAC request via the Remedy Service Request Catalog for all server decommissions.
• The agency submits a catalog request via the Microsoft tab in the Remedy Service Request Catalog to delete email accounts. (In some cases, the agency may directly manage its Office 365 email accounts.) The agency also submits an RFS via the Remedy Service Request Catalog for a new project that requires server services. The agency should work closely with its third-party application vendor and the GETS infrastructure service provider partner to identify agency requirements that determine the selection of server instance type and complexity.

All requests to add, move, remove, or change existing Voice services are submitted via the online Remedy Service Request Catalog.

Any wiring/cabling changes require prior approval by the appropriate agency staff.

Asset Management – Strategic process for selecting, tracking, reporting, and disposing of tangible GETS equipment and property (EUC).

End User Computing (EUC) – The Service Tower that includes desktops, laptops, network printers, and common software, including Windows and MS Office.

Resource Unit (RU) – Unit of billing used to measure consumption of IT services provided by GETS.

Service Desk – The Consolidated Service Desk is the single place to call to ask service questions or to report problems with any GETS service.

Service Tower – A grouping of related Resource Units that covers the cost of GETS service.

Service Provider – Georgia Technology Authority

Service Provider Partners – The vendors who are part of the GETS contract. This includes AT&T, Atos, NTT DATA and Xerox, among others.

GETS HE – Georgia Enterprise Technology Services Hosting Environment

Incident – An unplanned interruption to an IT service or a reduction in the quality of an IT service.

Legacy Environment – Location of any non-transformed server in GETS.

Resource Unit (RU) – Unit of measure for IT services provided by GETS.

Server

• Application Server – Types Wintel or Unix server that hosts end-user or business related functions for the agencies
• Infrastructure Server – Servers used for Domain Services, Enterprise Security, Enterprise Backup, Enterprise Monitoring, Enterprise Scheduling, and Software Distribution.
• Instance Complexity – Classification of support for a server operating system based on agency-defined need for system availability, system use, problem resolution time, etc.
• Physical Server – The actual computer hardware used to provide shared processing or resources.
• Server Technical Platforms – AIX Server, Exchange, Linux, Novell, Unix, and Wintel
• Utility Server – Servers used for File & Print, Enterprise Gateways, and Presentation and Terminal.
• Virtual Server – Software layered on a physical server that executes programs like a physical server (e.g., Hypervisor, VM Ware).

IMAC – Install, Move, Add, Change

IMAC-D – Install, Move, Add, Change, Delete

Trunk – A common group of central office lines (pooled) that terminate in Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems or Key Telephone systems.

Video Conferencing – Conferencing that allows two or more locations to engage in two-way audio and video communications simultaneously.

Web Conferencing – Webinar allowing a presentation to be shared with remote locations.

Capitol Hill Fiber – A high-availability, high-bandwidth fiber network surrounding the Georgia State Capitol and the Twin Towers (Sloppy Floyd Veterans Memorial Building).

DNS Domain Name System – The “phone book” for the Internet that translates computer host names into IP addresses.

IMAC – Install, Move, Add, Change

IMAC-D – Install, Move, Add, Change, Delete

IP Internet Protocol – The primary communications protocol, or system of digital rules for message exchange within or between computers, that establishes the Internet.

IP Addressing Services – A numerical label assigned to each device on a network (DNS, DHCP).

Network – Connections that allow computers to share data.

IPAM Internet Protocol Address Management – A method of tracking and modifying the information associated with a network's IP address space.

LAN Local Area Network – A network that connects computers in a small area, like an office.

WLAN – Wireless Local Area Network

MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching – Technology that speeds up network traffic flow and makes it easier to manage.

Network – Connections that allow computers to share data.

POP – Point of Presence

POP Diversity – A WAN site that is connected to the state network via multiple WAN access links and the WAN access links are connected to two different AT&T MPLS POPs for a redundant connection.

Archive – Long-term data storage based on agency retention policy and schedule.

Backup and Recovery (BUR) – Daily, weekly or monthly occurrence of copying SAN data to tape for data preservation and restoration if data are lost.

Change Ticket – A request to change an existing, steady state service.

GETS – Georgia Enterprise Technology Services

GETS HE – Georgia Enterprise Technology Services Hosting Environment

Incident – An unplanned interruption to an IT service or a reduction in the quality of an IT service.

Legacy Environment – Location of any non-transformed server in GETS.

RFS – Request for Solution, the process used by an agency to initiate a project.

Resource Unit (RU) – Unit of measure for IT services provided by GETS.

Service Provider – Georgia Technology Authority

Service Provider Partners – The vendors that are part of the GETS contract. This includes AT&T, Atos, NTT DATA and Xerox, among others.

Service Tower – A grouping of related Resource Units that covers the cost of a service.

Storage Area Network (SAN) V – Storage for data used daily by applications and file servers.

ABEND – Sudden failure of a computer program, i.e., abnormal end.

Batch Processing – Execution of a series of programs without manual intervention.

CICS – Customer Information Control System middleware that supports rapid, high-volume online transaction processing.

CPU – Central processing unit is the hardware in a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program.

CPU Hours – The unit of measure for application jobs running on the mainframe CPUs. This differs from wall clock hours. Each job may use the CPU for less than a second at a time, but all those microseconds are added together to measure CPU usage.

General Purpose Engine – An IBM 2817-606 processor (or equivalent) that operates at a known throughput and availability for application processing.

zIIP – Engine z Integrated Information Processor, a special processor that provides a higher throughput and lower cost, if applications can utilize zIIP.

DASD – Direct Access Storage Device

Database – Organized collection of data (DB2).

DB2 – IBM Database 2, a relational model database.

ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning

Mainframe – Highly stable, reliable computer designed to handle very high volume throughput (e.g., bulk data or transaction processing).

TCP/IP – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet.

Thread-safe – In computer programming, a program portion or routine that can be called from multiple programming threads without unwanted interaction between the threads.

Throughput – Amount of data processed in a specific amount of time.

Tuning – Improving system performance, usually to handle a higher load.