## 9.4 Post-system implementation 

## 9.4.1 Tuning the system 

After the system has been implemented, there are a number of ongoing tasks that should assist in ensuring that the system continues to provide an effective archiving and records management system to all users. Many of these tasks could be considered as maintenance tasks and will include a number of soft tasks such as meeting with system users on a regular basis. 

Regular meetings with business owners will enable the IS department to anticipate many of the issues that may occasionally occur, such as performance issues or changes to configuration, security, or personnel. 

Other, perhaps more traditional, IS tasks under the maintenance heading will include performance monitoring, storage availability, and possible server outage recovery. Some of the tasks that should be reviewed are discussed in this section: 

GLYPH<SM590000> Tuning the system 

GLYPH<SM590000> Upgrades 

GLYPH<SM590000> Disaster recovery 

Specific information about performance tuning was covered in an earlier chapter, but there are some performance tasks that can be applied to specific aspects of the system. 

Much of the data in the system (much configuration data as well as all of the document metadata) is stored in a relational database system, in the sample environment, which is DB2. When you receive reports of poor performance, ask the following questions to quickly determine the best place to start looking for a potential cause: 

GLYPH<SM590000> When did the problem first occur? 

If the problem has been occurring for some time, and if a database monitor schedule has been implemented, you can use historical data to find differences. This will enable you to focus on changes in system behavior and then focus on why these changes were introduced. On Windows-based systems, Performance Monitor can be used to begin to identify areas of concern. 

GLYPH<SM590000> Is the performance issue constant or intermittent? 

If the poor performance is continual, check to see whether the system has started to handle more load or if a shared database resource has become a bottleneck. Other potential causes of performance degradation include increased user activity, multiple large applications, and removal of hardware 

