The Compleat Idiot's Guide to PBCS, No.16 -- Activity Reports

What’s happening?

In the traditional on-premises world, if you or your IT department can figure out how to monitor Planning (and Essbase and FR and FDMEE and who knows what else), the world is your oyster at least when it comes to server and application statistics.  Tracking Planning itself is, at best, an art and I’ve never seen anyone convincingly capture its statistics.  It’s hard.

At least in the on-premises world we can get our figurative fingers around the servers.  In the Brave New World of SaaS that simply isn’t possible.  In fact there is no access to server(s) behind PBCS.  And that’s not by accident but in fact is the whole point behind SaaS.  No muss, no fuss, just Planning in the cloud.  Seriously, is there anyone out there that likes owning Hyperion infrastructure except consulting companies with rapidly-declining infrastructure practices?  No, thought not.

No Essbase or Planning web application logs, no IP reports, no nothing.  How on earth do we geeks know what’s going on within our PBCS application?  Remember, this isn’t like on-premises Planning where you can look at servers while running Planning, looking at log files, or calling up and abusing your woefully overworked BOFH because things have gone FOOM!

So what what happens when your BOFH or even you, oh Gentle Reader, wants to know what on earth is going on in within your PBCS app?  Is it sclerotic in nature?  Was it formerly Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah fast before but now is like molasses on a cold New England morn?  Would you just like to know who, what, when, where, and how your system is being used?  You are in luck for PBCS now has an activity report that will give you deep insight into your pod.  And – cos’ it’s SaaS – the whole thing is there for the asking.  No IT, no fancy consultants, no nothing.  Or is that something?  You decide.

Steps to performance Nirvana

Who moved my Navigator?

Yes, the Cloud is ever changing.  Sometimes that’s a good thing, other times not so much.  I hadn’t logged into this instance in over a month and my beloved Navigator was nowhere to be seen.  After the mild panic attack, here it is and it’s the first step in getting to that activity report.

Look over it all with Overview

As noted above, everything changes if you haven’t looked at PBCS for a while.  Continue on, brave geek, and go to Overview to see the magic.  Honestly, it is really cool.

Check out the Activity

We’re getting really close.  The most recent day’s activity is available as is data going back 60 days.  

And what happens when a date is clicked on?  Magic, that’s what.

Let’s look at what we get

What we get is a window into PBCS’ soul.  Fair enough, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but if you think about all of the metrics that can be captured in an on-premises system and all of the metrics that cannot be captured in a SaaS offering (which is, um, everything), the fact that PBCS offers this up is really kind of gratifying.  Remember, this isn’t idle curiosity but instead how we Planning geeks understand what works and what does not work in our implementation.

I’ll put my comments into the grey boxes.  I’m pretty sure Oracle doesn’t supply running commentary on the report but if you ask really nicely, perhaps they will.

Activity Report

All Times in Pacific Standard Time

Number of Users

This is more than just the number of users – it’s the users over the last five days, how long they used it per day, how many users there have been over the last 7 and even 30 days.  Wowzers.

Metric	09/16	09/17	09/18	09/19	09/20	09/21	Today
Users	267	257	34	72	333	348	396
Usage Duration in Hours	121	124	44	58	159	186	248
Users Last 7 Days	478	479	466	483	574	608	653
Users Last 30 Days	865	861	808	776	825	868	890

Do you think the application is slow?  Or are you just (like me) incredibly impatient?  Numbers don’t lie and this report tells me if it’s the UI or calcs provide the most pain.  As one might imagine, it’s the calcs and they’re detailed by user, location, time of day, form (or Smart View), and time.  Must Write Better Code.

Percentage of UI Requests over 10 Seconds (1.03%)

Top 30 Worst Performing User Interface Actions over 10 Seconds

Duration (Min:Sec)		User	Time	Screen	Action	Object	Durations (Min:Sec)
373:34		xx250059	20:52:49	Smart View	Adhoc Get Default Grid		Essbase=373:33
216:46		xx250460	18:32:37	Smart View	Adhoc Get Default Grid		Essbase=216:45
188:58		xx250253	18:38:45	Smart View	Adhoc Get Default Grid		Essbase=187:52
188:32		xx185095	19:59:32	Planning	SmartView
185:24		xx200008	05:43:39	Planning	SmartView
184:21		xx185020	16:05:31	Smart View	Adhoc Get Default Grid		Essbase=184:20
174:14		xx250036	15:20:52	Smart View	Adhoc Get Default Grid		Essbase=173:09
143:15		xx250180	05:24:46	Planning	SmartView
99:17		xx129565	05:43:39	Planning	SmartView
01:25		btchadmin	16:36:30	EPM Automate	Download File Zip	File Name=EXP_Sec.zip
00:59		xx185067	10:03:50	Smart View	Save Form	40.0 Revenue (USD),	Essbase=00:01 User Experience=01:08 Client=00:07 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:56 Network=00:02
00:45		xx185091	13:00:02	Smart View	Save Form	40.0 Revenue (USD),	Essbase=00:01 User Experience=00:54 Client=00:08 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:42 Network=00:01
00:40		xx185126	12:26:21	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:01 User Experience=00:46 Client=00:05 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:38 Network=00:00
00:38		xx185126	12:03:19	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=00:50 Client=00:10 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:36 Network=00:00
00:38		xx185126	11:42:56	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=00:55 Client=00:11 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:35 Network=00:06
00:36		xx185135	13:10:28	Application Management	User Login Report	Access During=120,
00:32		xx185085	02:43:53	Planning	PlanningCentral
00:31		xx185154	08:11:51	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=01:25 Client=00:52 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:28 Network=00:01
00:31		xx185099	20:19:18	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel	Essbase=00:01
00:29		xx250289	10:48:24	Smart View	Save Form	9.D Software (Owned Leased),	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=00:52 Client=00:21 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:28 Network=00:01
00:28		xx185126	12:23:13	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=00:36 Client=00:07 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:27 Network=00:00
00:28		xx185126	12:06:31	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=00:44 Client=00:12 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:25 Network=00:04
00:27		xx185091	12:58:23	Smart View	Save Form	40.0 Revenue (USD),	Essbase=00:01 User Experience=00:46 Client=00:17 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:24 Network=00:01
00:27		xx185154	08:24:21	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=01:26 Client=00:51 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:24 Network=00:07
00:27		xx185091	04:47:50	Smart View	Save Form	40.0 Revenue (USD),	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=00:49 Client=00:14 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:25 Network=00:08
00:26		xx185013	01:34:31	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel - Summary,	Essbase=00:11 User Experience=03:20 Client=02:49 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:05 Network=00:04
00:26		xx185013	01:19:19	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel - Summary,	Essbase=00:10 User Experience=03:17 Client=02:50 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:04 Network=00:01
00:26		xx185091	07:48:50	Smart View	Save Form	40.0 Revenue (USD),	Essbase=00:01 User Experience=00:55 Client=00:25 Data Validation=00:01 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:22 Network=00:03
00:26		xx185091	07:50:55	Smart View	Save Form	40.0 Revenue (USD),	Essbase=00:01 User Experience=00:48 Client=00:20 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:23 Network=00:02
00:25		xx185154	08:28:58	Smart View	Save Form	10.A Travel,	Essbase=00:00 User Experience=01:13 Client=00:45 Data Validation=00:00 SmartPush=00:00 Business Rules=00:22 Network=00:03

How many Planners use the system?  How long do they use it?  And when?  PBCS tells all.

Users by Hour

Number of Users by Usage Duration

Who uses it the most?  Who uses it the least?  

Top 10 Most Active Users by Usage Duration

User	Usage Duration (Min:Sec)
a12345.btchadmin	1321:10
a12345.xx250110	310:03
a12345.xx185157	289:05
a12345.xx185398	237:53
a12345.xx210023	229:28
a12345.xx111085	223:30
a12345.xx185095	205:40
a12345.xx185265	204:48
a12345.xx185135	203:41
a12345.xx250118	189:02

10 Least Active Users by Usage Duration

User	Usage Duration (Min:Sec)
a12345.xx185113	00:00
a12345.xx185082	00:00
a12345.xx250330	00:00
a12345.xx185072	00:00
a12345.xx162800	00:01
a12345.xx185057	00:06
a12345.xx185005	00:11
a12345.xx250243	00:16
a12345.xx185066	00:17
a12345.xx250173	00:19

Browser problems are a fact of life in Planning-land.  Think of all of the pain that surrounds IE11 and Enterprise Mode.  Ugh.  Perhaps you can convince your Planners to go with something a bit less old fashioned.  At least you’ll know what they use.

Browser Version Usage

Browser Version	Usage Count
Microsoft Internet Explorer 11.0	3
Chrome 53.0.2785.116	2
Firefox 45.0	1
Firefox 48.0	1

Is that enough?  It should be.

Inquiring minds want to know

What I’ve illustrated is what’s available today in PBCS.  Is that available in out-of-the-box on-premises Planning?  Do I really have to ask?  No.

Putting aside the smugness that comes with PBCS’ features vis-à-vis on-premises, what else might PBCS provide to us in the way of an activity report?  I for one would like to know:

• What, on average, are my longest Business Rules by form?  Slow “saves” – we know these are really form calculations – cause users to lose their Planning minds.
• How long are my longest Business Rules, attached to a form or not?
• Perceived performance can come from a slow UI, or a slow calc, or a slow save to Planning.  But a bad network connection also makes things slow.  That’s not an application fault.
• What’s been changed in the application.  You know what you’ve changed, but what about other developers.  Actually, if you’re like me, you have no idea what you’ve changed, oh, 15 minutes after you’ve done it.  Projects can be crazy…

So what would you like to see when it comes to Planning diagnostics?

Be seeing you.