(6/29/01 – advanced copy from Tammy Murray)
Description of the System:
Decision Support System (DSS) provides specific data to University staff members who need information to perform their jobs. This service facilitates the manipulation of data so that sound quality management decisions can be made. It integrates data from multiple sources, such as Financial, Human Resources and Student systems. It also provides a presentation format that is more user-friendly, and facilitates cross functionality among the University Staff.
DSS uses operational files from Purdue’s human resources, financial, and student information systems to create DSS tables which are easy to use and designed to provide quick and accurate responses to users’ queries. Academic schools and business offices can use this information to manage their operations.
The Decision Support System allows access to an Oracle database server that contains much of the University’s administrative data. By using Oracle query tools (such as Brio) or other software that support Open Database Connections (ODBC) such as Microsoft Excel, this data can be retrieved. Custom reports, graphs and tables can be created from this retrieved data.
Period of Agreement:
This agreement will be reviewed annually and will be modified by mutual agreement when there are changes that impact the agreed upon service levels.
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... the University of Texas at Austin who is the director of the school's Information Systems Management Program."The term itself, data ... level as well.Data warehouse data excludes data that will not be used for Decision Support System (DSS) processing, while operational ... solid platform of integrated, historical data from which to do analysis. Data warehouse provides the facility for integration in ...
Main Roles:
Roles that will be used to support DSS are as follows:
System Owners: Mike Szczepanski , Peg Jasper, Barb Stahura, Data Stewards
Business Analyst: Tammy Murray, Dan Whiteley, WAI Analysts
Data Base Administrator: Ernest Stalnaker, Data Base Administrator
Production Control: Production Control Administrators, Ted Weidner, Dick Spear, Don Marshall, Production Control Group Leaders: Student – Lorna (Autosys), Business – Karen Sturgeon (Autosys)
Additional Technical Support: WAI Team (Debbie Belter, Melissa Burton, Clif Ivy, Wendy Huston, Amy Prior) and UNIX administration (Bob VanLaere)
See Appendix A for information on how to contact these individuals.
Application User and Volume Metrics:
Current DSS clients number over 650. Growth has leveled off and the addition of new users is slow. The average number of DSS queries per day is 1000, and continues to increase. Peak activity for both HR/FIN and Student DSS occurs after a respective DSS refresh.
Availability:
DSS is available except for refreshes, service maintenance, and server backups. When DSS is available, this availability is classified into two categories; attended and unattended mode:
Attended Mode:
□ Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with support for the WAI Business Analysts and Customer Support
Unattended Mode:
□ Monday through Friday, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. with no support from the WAI Business Analysts and Customer Support
□ Saturday and Sunday, no support from the WAI Business Analysts and Customer Support
□ University Holidays
When DSS is in attended mode, periodically, it may need to be unavailable during this time for application enhancements, database maintenance or server maintenance. However, this will be minimized if at all possible. Downtime will be communicated to users. Users will be supported by Customer Service and the WAI Business Analyst, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. See the section “Problem Reporting and Resolution” for specifics on what area is responsible for various support. If DSS would need to be in attended mode outside the regularly scheduled time, the WAI Business Analyst should be contacted. He or she will gather the information and involve all appropriate parties to determine if the application can be made available outside the above stated time.
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If a problem should occur while DSS was in unattended mode that would require the server that contains DSS to be taken down, the WAI Business Analysts should be notified ahead of time when possible.
Scheduled Application Unavailability:
DSS HR/FIN Refresh – With the exception of the Proposal Award table, all DSS data through the last day of the previous month should be available by 5:00 PM on the third business day of the current month. Proposal Award table data is refreshed on a daily basis and should be available through the previous day’s activities by 8:00 am of the current day. In the event that problems prohibit a successful refresh of the Proposal Award table, the table will be refreshed and up to date by 8:00 am the following morning.
DSS Student Refresh – Student tables are refreshed according to an established Refresh Schedule available on the web. The Student Academic Award table data is refreshed on a weekly basis, and should be available by 8:00 am on the day following the refresh.
Each month a scheduled backup of the entire DSS system will be done. These backups are scheduled for the first Tues. after a normal monthly DSS HR/FIN refresh. They are scheduled to begin at 9:00 pm.
Dependencies on Other Services:
A few selected individuals are using software to dial into the University and using Brio to query on the data warehouse. Therefore, access for these users to DSS will be subject to problems with the software. DSS will also be subject to network problems and internet service provider problems for home usage.
Reliability:
DSS is expected to be available 98% or more of the regularly scheduled hours. Critical periods are year-end, financial reporting and budget and should be as close to 99.5% reliability as possible. The end users will need to communicate these critical periods to the WAI Business Analyst so that plans can be made to ensure the system is available. All parties recognize that there will be system failures and other unexpected events that affect the application’s availability.
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Performance Expectations:
Performance expectations must be based on the type of query being run. See chart below for the distinction between a simple, advanced or complex query. Performance may also vary depending on how users are accessing DSS. If software is being used to dial into the university and access DSS, some users may experience some slow response times.
|Query Type |MaxTime in Min. |Number of Tables |# of rows returned |# of Computed Columns |Sub-Queries |
| | |Opened | | | |
|Simple |1 |2 or less |500 or less |3 or less |None |
|Advanced |3 |4 or less |1,500 or less |10 or less |No more than one query of |
| | | | | |the “Simple” type |
|Complex |10 |More than 4 |More than 1,500 |More than 10 |More than 1 “Simple” query|
| | | | | |or any number of |
| | | | | |“Advanced” queries |
Problem Reporting and Resolution:
The following individuals should be contacted in regards to DSS. Problems regarding DSS may be logged and recorded by the appropriate individuals.
• Data problems – WAI Business Analyst
• Problems logging in – Customer Support
• Access Requests- Training Coordinator or WAI Skills Leader
• Specific questions on use of application – WAI Business Analyst
Notification:
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If there is a disruption in service, the WAI Business Analyst or someone from the WAI Support Team in his/her absence should be contacted immediately. He or she will then notify all end users of the situation. If DSS needs to be taken down immediately he or she will also notify the end users as soon as possible.
For scheduled down time, the WAI Business Analyst should be notified no less than two days prior to the scheduled down time. If the application needs to be taken down in case of an emergency, a one-hour notification would be helpful.
Application Maintenance:
The DBA staff will need to do maintenance to ensure tables and indexes have enough space. WAI staff will also perform maintenance on the data models. This work will be handled as described in the section, “Scheduled Application Unavailability.”
Expected Growth and Change:
The testing of Partitioning and some advanced refresh strategies are expected. If these prove to be beneficial, more space on DSS will be needed. The retention of additional years worth of data is also expected within DSS also leading to increased space requirements. Upgrades to BRIO are occurring about every 18 months and are usually required to maintain a supported version of the product.
Backup and Recovery:
The server that contains DSS will be backed up on the first Tuesday of each month after an HR/FIN monthly refresh. This backup begins at 9:00 pm. In addition, backups are made of mainframe files with each refresh. If DSS is found in someway to be corrupt, it will be recreated from one of the two above-mentioned backups.
Business Recovery/Continuation:
In case of a catastrophic interruption of business, DSS will become available as documented in the disaster recovery plan. The application should be restored with the most current available data.
Security:
Financial data in DSS is separated into two categories. Complete (includes access to restricted accounts) and general. Further information on security for the DSS can be found in a document entitled Security.doc located under WAI SupportAdminSecurity.
Periodic Review:
Periodic reviews of this SLA will occur on an as needed basis.
I have reviewed the Service Level Agreement for the DSS Project and I support it:
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GRANT PROPOSAL Proposed Project: Identifying problematic stress with in service oriented businesses INTRODUCTION Work can cause stress and also be affected by it. Stress causes many problems for American businesses today. One of the major sources of stress in a person's life can be his or her job. Deadlines, problems with coworkers, boss trouble, and long hours can all contribute to feelings of ...
_____________________ _____________________
Barb Stahura Don Bayless
Data Steward for Student Services Computing Director of Computing and
Network Services
_____________________ _____________________
Helen Green Mike Szczepanski
Director of Data Services Data Steward for Business Services Computing
Appendix A
|Individual |Office Number |Pager Number |
|Tammy Murray |494-9943 |NA |
|Ernest Stalnaker |494-0131 | |
|Lorna Underhill |496-3883 | |
|Karen Sturgeon |496-6373 |428-8576 |
|Melissa Burton |496-1256 |NA |
|Clif Ivy |494-9683 |NA |
|Wendy Houston |494-1859 |NA |
|Deb Belter |496-2937 |NA |
|Amy Prior |496-6441 |NA |
|Bob VanLaere |494-1878 |NA |
