Analytics Is the Answer: Three Reasons Your Business Needs DB2 z/OS Analytics

While recently speaking at the Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago DB2 User Groups, it was really nice to hear all the opinions and different points of views on DB2 10 from all my familiar friends. It was only a couple of years ago when a friend told me their company had decided to get off the mainframe. He was deeply concerned for his job, skills and company. Talking about all the things that have happened recently, he gave me an update on his company’s new commitment to DB2 z/OS, the turmoil of the migration project and how he helps management understand the value within the DB2 z/OS platform by providing business analytics.

First, his company’s new commitment to DB2 z/OS is moving forward very quickly. The systems people are in the advanced stages of implementing DB2 10. The reason they are ahead of the pack now is because several failed attempts to migrate and implement their applications on that “other” database combined with business analytics, caused management to finally decide to stick with DB2 z/OS and the mainframe. Based on business analytics, it seems the “other” platform and database could not match the reliability, scalability and performance of DB2 z/OS. During this challenging time, the z/OS system wasn’t upgraded often. In the last year the systems people have gone from Version 7, to Version 8 and are now ready to go to DB2 10. My friend noted that z/OS is no longer called the mainframe, just the central big server.

Next, the turmoil of the project caused many of his friends and fellow employees to lose faith and leave the company. The young CIO didn’t get his big payday from the “synergies created by the new environment,” but did get wined and dined by all the vendors who sold his company products and tools. The company’s IT budget ballooned during the “migration” project, but is now reduced by returning to the central big server platform and jettisoning all the extra contracts. Consolidating UNIX environments, merging the “other” database into DB2 and moving SQL Server systems to the z/OS platform provide real performance advantages according to business analytics. The DB2 z/OS environment also can handle recoveries of the database to a point in time; something the SQL Server environment configuration and backups were having difficulty handling. Also having everything on one platform allows all the applications to share data.

My friend said that all these issues came to light as the business reviewed the business analytics of the performance of these attempts to get off the mainframe. By publishing the performance figures of the DB2 z/OS online transactions per day, the number of SQL statements completed and the number of jobs processed daily, management was able to understand through business analytics that as the number of transaction on the mainframe increased so did their business profitability. The core business processes ran on DB2 z/OS and the analysis of the numbers proved that getting additional features and functions into the core applications was the key for business growth. Management mistakenly thought migrating to the other platform would provide growth, but according to business analytics it is always new products, better customer service and product flexibility that increase business profitability. The business analytics of the environment were the key factor for management to understand the value within the DB2 z/OS platform.

The lesson? Get the business analytics going within your DB2 environment regardless whether its DB2 z/OS or DB2 LUW. A report showing the number of transactions, SQL executed and the programs per day are great statistics to start to send up to management. My buddy has three years of data and it shows how the workload on the DB2 z/OS environment continues to grow along with his company, making management eager to go to DB2 10. The transaction reports and analytics just might help your company avoid chasing the latest magazine trend, so get your reports and business analytics together as soon as possible.


Also I am beginning to plan my Regional DB2 User Group support for 2012 year. Please send an email to me at moc.ekluebevadnull@evad if you would like me to come and speak or offer a DB2 class at your local user group.


Public DB2 Performance Tuning & SQL Training Education classes in February in Chicago.

Dave Beulke & Sheryl Larsen Chicago February 22-24

February 22: DB2 SQL and Optimization Enhancements by Sheryl Larsen

February 23: DB2 10 for z/OS Performance Training by Dave Beulke

February 24: Two great seminars to choose from

Tuning SQL for Performance by Sheryl Larsen

or

DB2 Performance for Java Developers by Dave Beulke

http://davebeulke.com/db2-performance-tuning-and-sql-training-feb-2012/

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