Progress Conversion/Upgrades
Garrison Systems is well experienced in several types of customization work; conversions, upgrades, new installations, third-party bolt-ons, SQL ODBC connections, etc. Experience since Progress v6 has afforded many opportunities to upgrade and expand application environments as well as integrate third-party software and applications into existing environments.
Notes:
• This type of work requires a solid set of testing and quality control measures.
• Warning: These projects tend to go longer than initially planned especially if the user community wants to carry forward historical data and transactions (which is almost always the case). Several different conversion (data mapping) programs have to be developed to dump and import historical data.
• As always, if the customer can provide business specific Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), etc it will always be appreciated since almost every company operates their business a little different.
Time: On average, these projects can go anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 years, depending on the complexity of business requirements as well as the validation of new software.
Database Assessment
This will entail examining the current state of health of your existing Progress database. Some of the areas that will be examined will be overall performance throughout (I/O), overall design of the database (good or bad), Buffer Hit Percentage Ratio, database startup parameters, SQL Brokers, Asynchronous Page Writers, memory usage, network connections, etc.
In addition, specific slow running or long-running programs, or processes like the month end close, can be examined for various improvements in Index key usage and programming styles.
We will be looking for bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
This process will end with a formally written Analysis and Recommendation Report on the database examined. This is not a canned analysis, it will be approached as a custom process each time since each database and environment is unique.
Notes:
• This work can be performed remote (if the network allows outside access) or onsite.
• If the customer wants changes made to their database, this process is highly recommended before any actual database changes are made.
• Input from the customer as to business hours peak run times, slow times, and other characteristics of the business' activity are extremely helpful.
Time: On average, normally 3-5 business days.
Database Design Programming
Programming isn't normally considered a Database Adminstration function (to a purist) but, in the case of the Progress environment, the method or style of programming can, under certain circumstances, have a major impact on the performance of the database. Part of good DBA practice is to oversee the type of coding style that is going to be installed into the production system (before it is installed). Sometimes this is referred to as 'Code Review' and may be performed by a senior experienced Progress programmer.
As a secondary part of this function, under the constraints of government regulation (e.g. "SOX" aka. Sarbanes-Oxley), a structured method and software package for tracking software installations, and versions of software, is required. This is a necessary part of meeting auditor requirements as well as a good management practice for a DBA.
Garrison Systems has an in-house written application that can be custom modified for your IT department, with a little programming effort, to track application programming changes and versions installed. It is known as AXIS. Other well known commercial packages include packages like Round Table, UNIX sandbox, etc.
As mentioned above, today, this type of work is highly regulated through SOX and it carries with it overly severe punishments that can be inflicted by the federal government. Non-compliance with SOX can actually cause a drop in the company's stock price, if it is openly reported at the stock analyst's meeting.
Notes:
• This work is considered fulltime (as much as 24x7x365) yet can be performed remote (if the network allows outside access) or onsite.
• As always, if the customer can provide current business policies, access to in-house SOX management, etc it will be appreciated. Typically there are company standards already existing about the corporate policy of installing software changes, reporting change, etc. – especially in a large corporation.
Education and Training
The best way to train your staff for optimal efficiency is to 1) give them formal training, and then 2) pair them with at least one senior person who can help them work through the difficulties of the real world corporate IT environment. I have found no better way to train a staff.
Progress Software's training is notorious for one thing; it's insufficient and the programmers go back home feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. Garrison Systems can get your software developers up-to-speed in a fairly short amount of time. DBA training can be offered along with programming but it is recommended that the programming training is attended before the DBA concepts are approached.
Training and Education can be contracted as part of another assignment, in-house, one-on-one, as a group, or whatever best fits your situation. Remote training isn't recommended since it is difficult to control the open floor questions and time spent on each topic.
Notes:
• "As part of another project": Sometimes training can be incorporated by the Consultant or Trainer into a live working version of an actual application. This is unorthodox but perfectly acceptable.
• As always, if software developed in a training environment is planning to be used in a live business application, all the steps of quality control, testing, code review, etc should be adhered to before that program is moved into the production environment. (See Topic on "SOX Compliance").
Full Outsourcing of DBA Maintenance
If you are short on permanent staff, or want to remove the details of technology management from the immediate office, Garrison Systems can be contracted to work on short, or long, term DBA assignments. This assignment can consist of 1-2 people to as many as several specialists depending on the demands and complexity of the computing environment.
If you are more apt to contract part-time support of the Progress DBA environment, please see the notes on Supplemental Staffing.
Notes:
• This work is considered fulltime (as much as 24x7x365) yet can be performed remote (if the network allows outside access) or onsite.
• As always, if the customer can provide other specialists such as UNIX Administrators, etc it will always be appreciated. Typically there are still Business Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that are still needed to act as a reference for business change related matters.
Ongoing Database Monitoring
This involves monitoring your database in several areas; overall growth, disk usage, Buffer Hits, number of records, Index key usage, etc. The reason for database monitoring is to be proactive about preventing a database crash before it has time to accumulate critical mass. This is an insurance policy against the risk of business system downtime.
A weekly, monthly, or bimonthly report can be issued showing all the current trends; depending on whatever the customer wants in the way of frequency.
Notes:
• This work can be performed remote (if the network allows outside access) or onsite.
• If the customer makes changes to their database, it can also be noted in the report to help track changes. This report can be used for executive reporting to higher management.
• Input from the customer as to business hours peak run times, slow times, and other characteristics of the business' activity are extremely helpful.
Time: On average, this process is best performed on 1-4 hours per week over a long period of time (as in continual monitoring).
Database Performance Tuning
The actions taken in this area will be contingent on the findings of the Database Assessment. All databases are different and have been used differently so there is no "packaged" approach as to what needs to be modified or customized. All aspects of the existing database, in it's current running environment will be examined for improvement. Some of those areas may involve Asynchronous Page Writers, memory usage, network connections, (-B) Memory usage settings, etc. All system parameters will be examined for use in improvement as well as disk space, allocations, and file placement.
Most enterprises hardly ever do performance tuning on their Progress databases, which is a poor management approach, until business disruptions start to take place. It is best to perform a deliberate and methodical analysis and then maintenance over time. This method is a proactive approach to heading off problems before they cause business disruptions. (Please see the comments about Ongoing Database Monitoring and Ongoing Support.)
This process will be summarized after each iteraton by a formally written Executive Summary of the Before and After Changes Report. This is never a canned analysis, it will be approached as a custom process each time since each database and computing environment is unique.
Notes:
• This work can be performed remote (if the network allows outside access) or onsite.
• If the customer wants changes made to their database, this process is highly recommended before any actual database changes are made.
• Input from the customer as to business hours peak run times, slow times, and other characteristics of the business' activity are extremely helpful.
• It is highly recommended that a spreadsheet of historical performance measures and DBA changes made is kept as an Audit Log over a continual time frame. This will help the DBA look for developing trends and evolvement of the database.
Time: On average, normally 2-5 weekends are required. This al depends on the amount of changes that need to be implemented.
Project Management
New business application? New Installation? Conversion? We can navigate you through the entire process from pre-work planning to implementation and follow-up maintenance.
Notes:
• Unless there is an in-house requirement on the project management software, MS Project is the preferred software to use.
Supplemental Support/Ongoing Support
If you already have a DBA staff, or part time staff, there are times when you need to add temporary DBA resources for a new project and other activities. Hiring a consultant DBA is a convenient way to add staff resources without going through Human Resources to justify adding permanent staff. Garrison Systems can be contracted to work on short, or long, term DBA project-based assignments.
If you are in-tune to contract out support of the entire Progress DBA environment, please see the notes on Full Outsourcing.
Notes:
• This work can be performed remote (if the network allows outside access) or onsite.
• As always, if the customer can give some time frame for the length of the project or assignment, it will always be appreciated. Fifteen (15) days notice of start, or stop, is customary.
OpenEdge Dump and Load/Axiom Dump and Load
We have experience in Progress Dump and Load in client-server and character versions of the DOS, UNIX and AIX environments. Specifically we have done Dump and Load procedures with the Axiom application (wire and cable industry) which is a bit more complicated than regular procedures due to the integration of SQL privileges and it's inbuilt, and layered, security system. Any Dump and Load operation that wipes out and rebuilds the database where SQL privileges are applied, require that the SQL privileges be re-applied for every table and every user on every database. It can be scripted and run in batch for faster processing.
A note on the operations of a dump and load: There is no way to short cut this process if it has never been executed before. The scripts need to be tested on a separate test environment. The actual operation needs to be run on a non-work day in off business hours. The completion time is heavily dependent on how large the database is. Backups are taken as part of the operation and also add time to the process.