How Citrix Aligns IT to Business Goals
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The document discusses effective IT accounting and chargeback strategies using TrueSight capacity optimization at Citrix Online, highlighting the importance of aligning IT resources with business demands. It outlines the challenges faced in capacity management and the need for accurate cost visibility and fair resource distribution. Key lessons include the iterative nature of cost models and the necessity for transparency and trust in financial management processes.
![© Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc8
How Business relies on IT
Fundamental company culture:
“meeting customer needs”
Every product is designed to
deliver exceptional reliability,
speed, security and ease of use
.. while being affordable to
businesses of all sizes
“Citrix Online is considered a key
example of the software as a
services (SaaS) / application
service provider (ASP) software
business model” [Wikipedia]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/effectiveaccountingandchargebackwithtruesightcapacityoptimization-150102143325-conversion-gate01/85/How-Citrix-Aligns-IT-to-Business-Goals-8-320.jpg)
How Citrix Aligns IT to Business Goals
- 1. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc1 ALIGN IT RESOURCES TO BUSINESS DEMAND The business value: cost visibility Split by Cost Center Cost of each ‘Product’ over time
- 2. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc2 Renato Bonomini, Manager @ Moviri Troy Hall, Senior Systems Business Analyst @ Citrix Online October 14th, 2014 Effective Accounting and Chargeback with TrueSight Capacity Optimization
- 3. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc3 Agenda 1. Your speakers Renato Bonomini @ Moviri, and Troy Hall @ Citrix Online 2. The Business The central role of IT in Citrix Online 3. Why Accounting and Chargeback? Making users pay for resources they consume fairly and accurately 4. How we leveraged TrueSight Capacity Optimization Lesson learned and best practices 5. Future steps Where do we go from here
- 4. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc4 Your Speakers Renato Bonomini and Troy Hall
- 5. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc5 Renato Bonomini • Background in DSP and HPC, manager of the US subsidiary of Moviri • Expert in the architecture and design of Capacity Optimization and related processes • Systems engineering experience in companies ranging from startups to larger brick-and-mortars • Senior business systems analyst and developer for Citrix Online products Troy Hall @renatobonomini renato.bonomini troy.hall
- 6. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc6 The Business The central role of IT in Citrix Online
- 7. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc7 A division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) Citrix Online offers the leading Web-based remote access and collaboration services in the SaaS model, as well as high- definition audio conferencing • GoToMeeting • GoToMyPC • GoToAssist • GoToTraining • GoToWebinar
- 8. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc8 How Business relies on IT Fundamental company culture: “meeting customer needs” Every product is designed to deliver exceptional reliability, speed, security and ease of use .. while being affordable to businesses of all sizes “Citrix Online is considered a key example of the software as a services (SaaS) / application service provider (ASP) software business model” [Wikipedia]
- 9. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc9 Why Accounting and Chargeback? Making users pay for resources they consume
- 10. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc10 TrueSight Capacity Optimization at Citrix Online 2011 Infrastructure Capacity Management for CloudStack How to simulate P2V, V2V migrations? How to optimize our services? 2012 Capacity Management process is mature Service capacity improved by a factor of 2 (= cost saving 50%) How to tie Business to IT? 2011 Business Aligned Capacity Management Business Aligned Capacity, data from Splunk and SalesForce How much is our infrastructure used? 2009 Infrastructure Capacity Management Visibility of infrastructure capacity 2013 How do we identify which services are costing more? Support IT Financial Management Cost per Service identifies “offenders”
- 11. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc11 The model was updated once a year with % based on a single point in time of one KPI Lack of trust from product owners asking “Which services are costing more than others?” Lack of accuracy and visibility Changes are rapid, manual maintenance of lists takes too much time and is error-prone A small inaccuracy (even with a small impact) loses a lot confidence in the process After Improving 2X the capacity of audio and video services to manage end-users, new challenges come from IT Financial Management With so many products and resources, where should Capacity Planners spend their time? Should each product deserve the same amount of effort? How do we make cost show- back fair and accurate? How do we deal with a constantly changing environment? Who’s consuming resources? How do we focus on priorities? Why Accounting and Chargeback? Manual Infrequent No Visibility
- 12. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc12 What were the challenges? Technical Challenges • 8 cost centers: (compute, network, storage, data transfer, etc.) • Hierarchy: Configuration Management • ACB model: Allocated vs. Metered • Model updated once a year • Shared resources • Virtualization Social Challenges • Ownership of data • Ownership of process • True comparison • Acceptance
- 13. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc13 • Accuracy • Frequency • Priority based on cost • Move capacity where needed The effort required for monthly showback reporting is minimal, saving precious time and providing detail for even greater IT resources savings • Automatic data collection • Automatic hierarchy definition and update • Automatic generation of reports • Time and effort saved Increased satisfaction of business units, more educated IT decisions Resources are freed up and reallocated to more critical business objectives Ability to quickly reconfigure models and automatically generate auditable results Outcomes
- 14. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc14 How we leveraged Capacity Optimization Lesson learned and best practices
- 15. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc15 In your organization: Is allocation and showback of costs and resources fair? Or in other words Are our smaller services using most of your resources?
- 16. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc16 Why TrueSight Capacity Optimization & Moviri Why TrueSight Capacity Optimization for Accounting and Chargeback • Configuration, utilization and operational data is available • .. and if not: easily imported • Analytics and reporting functionalities are automated • Dedicated view to create, update, run ACB models Why • 10+ years of experience in Capacity Management • 200+ enterprise customers worldwide, managed the majority of Capacity Optimization implementations • BMC MarketZone integrations between TrueSight Capacity Optimization and – Splunk, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Entuity
- 17. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc17 3 components of Accounting and Chargeback Identify the actual costs to give transparency and to allow control over spending (“metering”) Cost Identification Distribute the costs to the business units to control where money goes (“showback”) Cost Allocation Cost Recovery Each BU pays back according to identified usage (“chargeback”) • Visibility of costs • Foundation for accounting • Finance and IT costs don’t match • Who pays for what is unclear • Visibility over where the money is spent in terms of BU • Disagreements over method • Complex task • Strong influence on behavior • Cost control becomes a discipline • Trust is required and difficult to achieve, quick to lose
- 18. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc18 Choose your method for IT Service Cost Allocation KPI Description High/Low Level Allocation Direct Cost allocation Measured Resource Utilization Tiered or negogiated rate Service Based pricing Simplicity A billing method that is easy to manage and invoices that are easy to understand +++ ++ + ++ + Fairness BUs want to pay only for their own usage and avoid cross- subsidization + ++ +++ ++ +++ Predictability BUs seek little or no variation between their budgets for IT services and actual ++ + ++ + Controllability A cost structure that will enable BUs to actively manage their IT costs +++ + ++ ++ Complexity Effort to define, run and update the model + ++ ++ +++ +++
- 19. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc19 Workflow & Tips Target Hierarchy Cost Objects Cost Rates Allocation Charge- Show-back Leverage automatic relationships import start from data you are already collecting Use templates Hourly resolution for metered accounting Start with simple models (allocation) Iterate the cost model a few times Thanks to @michelefollo, @trivasco, @GalloAndreas for their bubbleheads
- 20. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc20 Lesson learned: not a linear but iterative V-process Start from a simple model organized with your complete showback hierarchy Use cost items that already exist in CO to minimize complexity Compute cost rates, input them in the model, run & evaluate results Check with stakeholders Evaluate the current model for the 4 KPIs: Simplicity, Fairness, Predictability, Controllability Expand to additional cost items if necessary Review cost rates, differentiate according to type of hardware if necessary Evaluate difference between expected results and current scenario
- 21. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc21 Future Steps Where do we go from here
- 22. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc22 • Extension of scope to additional cost items such as Network traffic • Allow product owners to center their decisions around cost of the infrastructure on a consistent base • Support simulation at cost level: “where is the cheapest DC for installing application X?” Refine cost models with additional cost items Extend adoption Perform what-if on cost Next steps for Accounting and Chargeback
- 23. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc23 No “one size fits all” model: experiment in V-cycles to find the one that your organization trusts the most Benefits go beyond “who receive the bills”: an effective way to prioritize effort- intenstive cost-saving activities in Capacity Management Simplicity and fairness are two of the most important factors 3 Key Take Aways 01 02 03“Demo or die” “Money talks” “KISS”
- 24. © Copyright 1/2/2015 BMC Software, Inc24 Thank You. [email protected] @renatobonomini [email protected] Moviri booth at Engage Solution Showcase Atlantic Hall B 512
Editor's Notes
- #3: Notes / to-do's Minimize text Funny pictures as bio What are the requirements/needs that brought ACB? Not clear Outcomes in $$ where possible
- #6: Cut down the amount of words
- #9: Citrix Online, LLC (GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, GoToAssist, GoToTraining, GoToWebinar) From its roots as an entrepreneurial start-up company in 1997, Citrix Online has earned distinction for boldly disrupting business as usual by bringing easy-to-use Web-based services to business professionals everywhere. Today, Citrix Online product families radically simplify remote computing for millions of users worldwide. A division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), Citrix Online offers the leading Web-based remote access and collaboration services in the software-as-a-service model, as well as high-definition audio conferencing Creating better ways to get work done anytime and anywhere is how Citrix Online became the first to introduce computer remote access via the Internet. The company was founded as a collaborative effort by a university professor and two of his enterprising students for managing their communication when the professor was working from his offices and labs throughout the world. Together, they designed Web-based screen-sharing technology that allowed instant access to their computers, regardless of location. The former student entrepreneurs continue to shape and direct the company's technology vision, with Bernd Christiansen as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and Malte Muenke as Vice President and Chief Architect Developing purpose-built products from the ground up is fundamental to the company’s culture of meeting customer needs. Every Citrix Online product is designed to deliver exceptional reliability, speed, security and ease of use while being affordable to businesses of all sizes – from individual professionals to large organizations. This winning combination of simplicity and cost-effective pricing enables the company to enjoy widespread adoption of its Web-based offerings.
- #12: After proving a 100% increase in capacity of audio and video services to manage end-users, the Capacity Management and IT Financial Management teams were faced with similar challenges: How do we make cost show-back fair and accurate? The model was updated once a year with % based on a single point in time of one KPI and expensive to produce Lack of trust: product owners asking “How do you allocate back to products?” Lack of accuracy: management asking “Which services are costing more than others?” How do we deal with a constantly changing environment? Resources associated with services (products) change rapidly, manual maintenance of lists takes too much time and ultimately error-prone This degrades the quality of results but more importantly product owners spot small even the smallest and insignificant error(*) and lose trust in cost reports Who’s consuming resources? How do we focus on priorities? With so many products and resources, where should Capacity Planners spend their time? Should each product deserve the same amount of effort? Impetus - Manual (several day process to retrieve data used for previous chargeback) - Infrequent (effort kept chargeback percentage based and we just figured it once a year at best) - Availability/Visibility (never had place to show everyone the numbers and process for our chargeback)
- #13: Technical Challenges - Configuration Management (caplan domains/subdomains are handled manually) - Allocation vs. Metered (allocation model did not work for us. Metered does) - Shared Resources (products share some machines, how to account) - Virtualization (proper separation of chargeback for cloud and physical machines) Social Challenges - Ownership of data (finger pointing from one group to next about numbers used for second level calcs) - Ownership of process (who determines and publishes numbers) - True comparison (transparency shines light quickly where it may have not been before) - Acceptance (why are we using certain metrics to do this when there are others…but must be available via automation)
- #14: Increased satisfaction of business units, more educated IT decisions The accuracy and frequency of updates to the model allows product teams to effectively use these results during product reviews The priority of Capacity Planning efforts can now be based on cost of the infrastructure, to focus on cost-savings initiatives Resources are freed up and reallocated to more critical business objectives Resources are being returned to the pool thereby allowing Citrix Online to quickly move servers where they are needed Ability to quickly reconfigure models and automatically generate auditable results Automatic data collection Automatic hierarchy definition and update Automatic generation of reports More and more trust gained from product owners allow Citrix Online more time to focus on improving the definition of the model and to increase its adoption
- #16: Because a cat is needed in any slide deck
- #18: Size of each bullet is relative to how many organization go thru the 3 steps
- #19: MRU is the one where most organizations have adopted Capacity Optimization: technology limitations prevented this to be efficient in the past, now it is Tiered and Service Based are appropriate only for service providers or organization that manage very similar types of products/services between the different BU’s
- #20: For targets (who pays for what), leverage the TrueSight Capacity Optimization capability to automatically import relationships As cost-items, start from data you are already collecting Iterate the definition of <cost items, cost-rate, cost-model> a few times Create templates and reuse them Hourly resolution for metered accounting is the easiest and best-for-the-buck option