IT Operations Intelligence

Datavard is pushing IT Operations Intelligence with a solution of the same name specifically for Hana. What's behind it?

Gregor Stöckler: The objective is to gain or derive intelligence from Hana usage data. It provides effective support for optimizing SAP operations and helps to use Hana systems more cost-effectively.

What does that mean in concrete terms?

Stöckler: IT managers or IT operations managers receive precise facts about which SAP data and applications users are using, how and at all. This is highly relevant for optimizing infrastructure costs.

With Hana, you want to accelerate important data as much as possible. There is a permanent growth in data that may or may not need to be stockpiled. So, which data is important, and which is the right data?

The question arises as to the most cost-optimal data storage location: on a Hana system, in an archiving system, or in a nearline system?

Stöckler: Correct, this is certainly one of the most important use cases. The great thing about this technology is that it allows you to automate archiving and data relocation. Furthermore, you can use this intelligence for fully automated regression testing to simulate real user behavior.

What is the implementation of IT Operations Analytics like?

Stöckler: Intelligent agents are used that run in the system and access and collect data. These are activated and imported into the SAP productive system by means of a transport request. The intelligence that is used in test and development systems is then ultimately generated there.

As a rule, the agents are anonymized, aggregated and processed in a BI system. Data is accessed via a front end developed with Fiori. With our solution, it is not necessary to install separate hardware and software.

Is there a cost-benefit analysis for IT Operations Intelligence?

Stöckler: We provide reference examples for the various use or application cases of IT Operations Intelligence. For example, we used the solution to identify around 140 reports at a bank that were accessed around 500 times a day.

Each time, the runtime lasted about a minute or more. Extrapolated, this adds up to a lot of unproductive work time - every day. We were able to minimize this time drastically.

Which SAP customer groups do you address with IT Operations Intelligence?

Stöckler: We mainly address SAP customers with a system of two TB and more or with a more complex system landscape, with more than one SAP system of the same type.