Automated SLA performance analysis monitor with impact alerts on downstream jobs

• US 5,893,905 A
• Filed: 12/24/1996
• Issued: 04/13/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Lindgren, Richard W. Jr., McIntyre, Michael R., Baker, John Fitzgerald, Haehn, Ann Oneta, Donovan, William T. Jr., Crockett, Burt L., McAvoy, Wayne C., Main, Anthony A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kenneth S.
• Application Number:
  US08/772,855
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 705/11, 395/200.54, 395/676, 395/185.1
• US Class Current: 705/7.38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring the performance of selected data processing jobs, comparing actual performance against the Service Level Agreement (SLA) to which each monitored job belongs, identifying discrepancies, and analyzing impacts to other jobs in a job stream. The present invention, also referred to as the Automated SLA Monitor (ASM), is a distributed computing platform comprising one or more Production Consoles for extracting job performance data from the production mainframe computers (or production midrange computers in other embodiments), one or more Production Servers for housing databases, one or more Maintenance Workstations for entering and maintaining SLA data, and one or more Client Workstations for presenting selected data to the user. When a job that is part of a SLA causes a delay, the ASM, by monitoring jobs of selected SLAs and production computer platforms, notifies the user of any problem with a selected SLA job, identifies the SLA critical path of which the job is part, along with all downstream dependent jobs, and determines the impact on the SLA of dependent jobs. The ASM reports these impacts to the user by automatically notifying the user if the SLA is in danger of not being met. The ASM also notifies the user of abnormal processing based upon actual performance of a job in previous executions by averaging prior run data and comparing the results to the current performance of a job to determine if the job is running faster or slower than normal.

Claims

1. An automation method for monitoring data processing jobs that are part of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying which data processing jobs to monitor;

(b) retrieving records from an exception data table, a prior run data table, and a clocktime data table for said identified data processing jobs;

(c) triggering an alert when said identified data processing jobs are negatively impacting any of said SLAs;

(d) displaying data related to said SLAs to a user per user'"'"'s request; and

(e) performing steps (a)-(d) at regular time intervals.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step (c) comprises the steps of:

(1) triggering an alert if an exception on said identified data processing jobs exists;

(2) triggering an alert if estimated completion time exceeds SLA completion time; and

(3) triggering an alert if a current job has not started on time.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein step (2) comprises the steps of:

(i) determining calculated clocktime of remaining jobs in a SLA jobstream;

(ii) summing said calculated clocktimes of said remaining jobs in said SLA jobstream to obtain said estimated completion time; and

(iii) comparing said estimated completion time with said SLA completion time.

4. An automation system for monitoring data processing jobs that are part of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), comprising:

means for identifying which data processing jobs to monitor;

means for retrieving records from an exception data table, a prior run data table, and a clocktime data table for said identified data processing jobs;

means for triggering an alert when said identified data processing jobs are negatively impacting any of said SLAs;

means for displaying data related to said SLAs to a user per user'"'"'s request; and

means for monitoring said identified data processing jobs at regular time intervals.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said means for triggering an alert comprises:

means for triggering an alert if an exception on said identified data processing jobs exists;

means for triggering an alert if estimated completion time exceeds SLA completion time; and

means for triggering an alert if a current job has not started on time.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said means for triggering an alert if estimated completion time exceeds SLA completion time comprises:

means for determining calculated clocktime of remaining jobs in a SLA jobstream;

means for summing said calculated clocktimes of said remaining jobs in said SLA jobstream to obtain said estimated completion time; and

means for comparing said estimated completion time with said SLA completion time.

7. A distributed computing platform for automated Service Level Agreement monitoring, comprising:

at least one production computer for executing data processing jobs;

at least one computer console, wherein said computer console extracts job performance data from said production computer and is connected to said production computer via data communication lines;

at least one production server connected to said computer console via a communication link, wherein said production server stores said job performance data extracted from said production computer and SLA job performance data;

at least one maintenance workstation for loading data pertaining to SLAs on said production server;

at least one client workstation for automating SLA monitoring and displaying actual performance of jobs, SLA performance of jobs, problems, and impacts to downstream jobs to a user; and

a local area network (LAN), wherein said LAN connects said maintenance workstation and said client workstation to said production server.

8. The platform of claim 7, wherein said production server compares said actual performance data with SLA data, identifies discrepancies, and identifies impacts to downstream jobs.

9. The platform of claim 7, wherein said data communication links include one of SNA, dialup access via a modem, and TCP/IP.

10. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps within a multiuser data processing system environment for monitoring data processing jobs that are part of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), the method steps comprising:

(a) identifying which data processing jobs to monitor;

(b) retrieving records from an exception data table, a prior run data table, and a clocktime data table for said identified data processing jobs;

(c) triggering an alert when said identified data processing jobs are negatively impacting any of said SLAs;

(d) displaying data related to said SLAs to a user per user'"'"'s request; and

(e) performing steps (a)-(d) at regular time intervals.

11. The program storage device of claim 10, wherein step (c) of said method steps comprises the steps of:

(1) triggering an alert if an exception on said identified data processing jobs exists;

(2) triggering an alert if estimated completion time exceeds SLA completion time; and

(3) triggering an alert if a current job has not started on time.

12. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein step (2) of said method steps comprises the steps of:

(i) determining calculated clocktime of remaining jobs in a SLA jobstream;

(ii) summing said calculated clocktimes of said remaining jobs in said SLA jobstream to obtain said estimated completion time; and

(iii) comparing said estimated completion time with said SLA completion time.