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3.1.5.3 Report Interpretation


When the parameters presented on the panels in Section
3.1.5.2 are executed, the reports shown in Figures 3-7, 3-8,
3-9, and 3-10 are produced.  Since the purpose of this run is
to validate the model, the Job Input Queue Time Report and
Job Class Throughput Report are the most important because
they give a comparison of the actual and simulated data.  The
other two reports are produced from the simulation results.
Each report is discussed next.

INITIATOR BUSY REPORT

The principal use of the Initiator Busy Report shown in
Figure 3-7 is to see how busy each initiator is during the
simulation period.  In addition, the report provides a
breakdown of the workload by class for initiators that serve
several classes.

Initiators which are lightly used (under 25 percent) are
candidates for elimination.  Figure 3-7 shows that for the
initiator structure used by the sample system, none of the
initiators are heavily loaded; indeed, many are very lightly
loaded.

This same initiator structure is used in the application
strategy, where changes in the structure are tested.  The
fact that so many initiators are lightly loaded is central to
the changes proposed.

When studying this report, also review the breakdown of
occupancy time by class for heavily loaded initiators.  This
breakdown can be useful in detecting situations where one
class is being blocked by other classes and, therefore, is
not being adequately served by the initiator structure.  This
in not a consideration for the sample system, because each
initiator serves a single class.


                         INITIATOR BUSY REPORT
            SYSTEM = TEST                           RUN DATE =  JAN 8, 1988
                               MODEL PARAMETERS
                START DATE/TIME                END DATE/TIME
                 07JAN88:07:00                 07JAN88:17:00

                                PRIORITY AGING
                            PRILOW PRIHIGH PRIRATE
                               5      11      24


                             INIT   1 CLASS: D
                          CLASS   JOBS STARTED   % BUSY
                         -------  ------------   ------
                            D          23         77.7

                             INIT   2 CLASS: D
                          CLASS   JOBS STARTED   % BUSY
                         -------  ------------   ------
                            D          22         64.7

                             INIT   3 CLASS: D
                          CLASS   JOBS STARTED   % BUSY
                         -------  ------------   ------
                            D          26         48.4

                             INIT   4 CLASS: D
                          CLASS   JOBS STARTED   % BUSY
                         -------  ------------   ------
                            D          14         30.8

                             INIT   5 CLASS: D
                          CLASS   JOBS STARTED   % BUSY
                         -------  ------------   ------
                            D          17         19.8

                             INIT   6 CLASS: D
                          CLASS   JOBS STARTED   % BUSY
                         -------  ------------   ------
                            D           4         32.9

                             INIT   7 CLASS: D
                          CLASS   JOBS STARTED   % BUSY
                         -------  ------------   ------
                            D           6         21.0

                                  ...etc...


 Figure 3-7.  Case Study - Initiator Busy Report

JOB QUEUE SIZE REPORT

The Job Queue Size Report shown in Figure 3-8 serves as a
check of the information in the Job Input Queue Time Report
by showing fluctuations in the job queues over the simulation
period.

The report for the sample system shows the following:

    o  The start of the simulation was a period of little or
       no batch activity (no jobs arrived in  the system).
       This is desirable; it means that the simulation will
       be more accurate.

    o  Classes A, B, C, and D were active.  Classes F and W
       had little activity (these are only used for special
       purposes on the system being studied).

    o  No class was subject to particularly large
       fluctuations in workload arrival rates.

    o  Several classes show spikes in arrivals (e.g., 15:00
       for class B), but the spikes are generally worked off
       in the next few periods.  Class D shows some
       sluggishness in this regard and should be investigated
       further.

The Job Input Queue Time and Job Class Throughput Reports are
of particular interest because they contain both actual and
simulated data.  In addition, both reports contain data on
queue times (one in a plot and the other as an average).  The
two reports are discussed separately below, followed by some
comments on comparing the information in the two reports.

                               JOB QUEUE SIZE REPORT
                  SYSTEM = TEST                     RUN DATE =  JAN 8, 1988
                                  MODEL PARAMETERS
                   START DATE/TIME                END DATE/TIME
                    07JAN88:07:00                 07JAN88:17:00

                                   PRIORITY AGING
                               PRILOW PRIHIGH PRIRATE
                                  5      11      24

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  |     |  CLASS A  |  CLASS B  |  CLASS C  |  CLASS D  |  CLASS F  |  CLASS W  |
  | TIME|MAX END  NO|MAX END  NO|MAX END  NO|MAX END  NO|MAX END  NO|MAX END  NO|
  |     |QUE QUE ARR|QUE QUE ARR|QUE QUE ARR|QUE QUE ARR|QUE QUE ARR|QUE QUE ARR|
  |-----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------|
  | 7:00|  2   1   2|  1   0   1|  3   0   6|  2   1   2|  .   .   .|  1   0   4|
  | 7:30|  1   1   0|  1   0   2|  2   2   2|  2   2   2|  .   .   0|  1   0   1|
  | 8:00|  2   1   3|  1   0   7|  3   3   1|  4   2  11|  .   .   0|  0   0   0|
  | 8:30|  2   1   5|  8   0  15| 10   4  21|  4   2  11|  .   .   0|  0   0   0|
  | 9:00|  4   3   9|  6   5  13|  8   7   7|  4   2   2|  1   0   1|  0   0   0|
  | 9:30|  4   3   3| 18  18  20|  8   8   2| 12  11  15|  1   0   1|  0   0   0|
  |10:00| 11  10  19| 27  26  17| 17  16  10| 16  15  13|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |10:30| 12  11  11| 38  37  14| 21  20  10| 20  19   7|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |11:00| 16  15  24| 45  38  17| 25  20   8| 33  31  21|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |11:30| 20  18  16| 43  38  11| 24  23   6| 44  43  15|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |12:00| 21   5  39| 40  13  18| 36  19  30| 44  32   3|  1   0   1|  1   0   1|
  |12:30|  7   5  10| 24  21  30| 22  19   7| 33  32   3|  1   0   1|  0   0   0|
  |13:00|  7   5  26| 27  23  20| 21  19  10| 34  32   5|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |13:30|  9   8  16| 36  35  30| 23  23   7| 34  33   5|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |14:00| 17  14  19| 41  38  17| 25  24   8| 36  34  10|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |14:30| 25  24  28| 51  50  28| 36  36  15| 37  35   9|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |15:00| 42  40  35| 92  89  55| 48  48  20| 39  38  12|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |15:30| 42  35  21| 91  86  15| 55  54  12| 54  54  18|  1   0   2|  0   0   0|
  |16:00| 36  25  20| 92  91   9| 63  63  12| 67  65  17|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |16:30| 26  20   8| 93  82   8| 63  61   7| 69  67  10|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  |17:00| 21  17   1| 82  82   0| 61  61   0| 67  67   0|  0   0   0|  0   0   0|
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Figure 3-8.  Case Study - Job Queue Size Report

JOB INPUT QUEUE TIME REPORT

The Job Input Queue Time Report shown in Figure 3-9 is
organized by queue time.  Strong agreement of the simulated
and actual distributions in the report indicates that the
model accurately simulates the system being studied.
Discrepancies indicate problems in the model for particular
classes or for the entire system.

We can make the following comments about the plots in the
example:

    o  The plot shows a high tail for the actual queue time.
       This usually reflects some external interference such
       as an operator hold.  This lengthens the actual queue
       time but is not reflected by the simulation.  If the
       tails of the distributions diverge sooner than about
       the 95th percentile, you should investigate the causes
       and be cautious in using the simulation results.

    o  The number of observations hidden are caused by two
       factors:  points at which the two plots coincide and
       points at which several observations occur for one of
       the plots (either actual or simulated).  The large
       number of hidden observations means that the
       simulation closely reflects the actual system.

JOB INPUT QUEUE TIME REPORT 13:05 FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1988 ACTUAL QUEUE TIME = A SIMULATED QUEUE TIME = _ JOB CLASS=D PLOT OF JOB_AQTM*ACT_DONE SYMBOL USED IS A PLOT OF JOB_SQTM*SIM_DONE SYMBOL USED IS _ | 6:56:40 + | A | A | | | 5:33:20 + I | N | P | U | T | A 4:10:00 + Q | U | E | U | E | 2:46:40 + T | _ I | _ M | A_ E | __ | __ 1:23:20 + __ | ____ | ___ A AAAAAA | _ AAA | ___ AA | _______________________________________________________________________________________ AAAA 0:00:00 + AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA -----+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+----------+----- 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0 PERCENTAGE OF JOBS SELECTED NOTE: 119 OBS HIDDEN


  Figure 3-9.  Case Study - Job Input Queue Time Report


JOB CLASS THROUGHPUT REPORT

As with the Job Input Queue Time Report, strong agreement of
the simulated and actual data in the Job Class Throughput
Report, shown in Figure 3-10, is desirable, because it means
that the simulation closely reflects the actual system.

We can make the following comments about the report:

    o  Classes with jobs that are very short may not be well
       simulated by the model, depending on the value
       specified for the simulation clock step.

       In our sample, the simulation clock step value is 30
       seconds.  As the report shows, the actual times for
       job classes F and W are not close to the 30-second
       value; they are not well simulated by the model.

    o  The average queue time, while reasonable for some
       classes, is not in particularly close agreement
       overall for the simulated and actual data.  This
       indicates that further investigation of the system
       under study is necessary.

       An analysis of other variables in the BATJOB File
       showed JES priority aging taking place at a rate which
       did not agree with the definition used in the model.

       In addition, the average is a poor descriptor of the
       distribution of queue times for this data.  This is
       discussed below.

COMPARISON OF QUEUE TIME AND THROUGHPUT REPORTS

Since both the Job Input Queue Time and Job Class Throughput
Reports contain information describing the input queue time,
it is important to compare the data in the two reports.

In our example, the comparison is striking.  The throughput
report shows queue times in the range of 0 to 30 minutes.
The plots in the queue time report reveal that few, if any,
jobs have queue times near the average.  The majority of jobs
have little or no queue time at all.  Those that do have a
queue time have times much longer than average.  In short,
the distribution is quite skewed; the average is not a good
descriptor of the jobs being studied.

In general, if the value for the coefficient of variation is
greater than 3 on the Job Class Throughput Report, the
average input queue time may be an unreliable measure due to
the high degree of variability of the data.  Further
investigation of the system under study may be needed prior
to drawing conclusions.

                         JOB CLASS THROUGHPUT REPORT
            SYSTEM = TEST                           RUN DATE =  JAN 8, 1988
                               MODEL PARAMETERS
                START DATE/TIME                END DATE/TIME
                 07JAN88:07:00                 07JAN88:17:00

                                PRIORITY AGING
                            PRILOW PRIHIGH PRIRATE
                               5      11      24

                        ------ ACTUAL -----  ---- SIMULATED ----
                        JOBS  AVG WAIT  CV   JOBS  AVG WAIT  CV



                  A      313   0:11:05   3.1  297   0:13:59  2.9
                  B      306   0:29:08   2.8  265   0:25:09  2.4
                  C      147   0:11:01   3.3  140   0:12:54  3.5
                  D      123   0:16:48   3.7  120   0:11:25  2.5
                  F        6   0:00:07   0.2    6   0:00:00  0.0
                  W        1   0:00:10   0.0    1   0:00:00  0.0


 Figure 3-10.  Case Study - Job Class Throughput Report