Administration of the IMS Feature › Overview › How the TOP Limit Works

How the TOP Limit Works

In order to use the Alert Management option of the IMS Feature, the TOP Limit of work must be defined. TOP Limit processing works for each defined IMS system and is the last step in the total system managing. To define the TOP Limit, use the parameter called TOP Limit of most important transactions. The TOP Limit field can contain a value from 0 to 999. A value of 0 deactivates the TOP Limit, thus deactivating Alert Management. Otherwise, the TOP Limit number defines how many important transactions are to be statistically observed.

Within the TOP Limit, that is the number defined as a parameter, all transactions of the current system are statistically observed and, at the end, a runaway test check is performed. The statistical limits are based on up to eighteen months of stored interpreted measurements. To determine the top consumer and issue alerts, one of two conditions normally exist:

• Transaction consumption is static. A standard deviation check is performed and if the result indicates an increase in the consumption (runaway), an alert is issued.
• Transaction consumption is not static. A standard deviation check is performed and if the result indicates a drastic increase in the consumption (runaway), an alert is issued.

If there is a runaway situation, the transaction is added to the alert file with the state OPEN and the reason STAT. Alerts can be viewed under the Alert Management dialog.

The range of the statistical observation is limited to one year. There must be at least three occurrences of the transaction during the observation period.