Recommendations for defining performance targets
Applies to this Azure Well-Architected Framework Performance Efficiency checklist recommendation:
| PE:01 | Define performance targets. Performance targets should be numerical values that are tied to workload requirements. You should implement performance targets for all workload flows. |
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This guide describes the recommendations for establishing and exposing performance targets. Performance targets are metrics that define performance objectives. These metrics are expressed as a single numerical value or a numerical range. They're clear and specific metrics that drive continuous improvement. Performance targets are a numerical foundation for improvements, and they help teams align their efforts toward specific goals. Without clear performance targets, teams might lack focus and lack of accountability for performance issues. By setting performance targets, teams can work toward specific objectives and drive continuous improvement.
Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Data flow | The movement of data within a system or between systems. |
| Dependency | A component that a workload relies on. |
| Flow | In a workload, a sequence of operations that performs a specific function. It involves the movement of data and the running of processes between components of the workload. |
| Metrics | Numerical values that are collected at regular intervals. Metrics describe some aspects of a system at a particular time. |
| Performance targets | Metrics that define performance objectives. These metrics are expressed as a single numerical value or a numerical range. |
| User flow | The paths or sequences of actions that users take within an application or system. |
| Workflow | The sequence of steps that a workload runs to accomplish a task. |
Key design strategies
Establishing performance targets is an essential step for achieving workload performance efficiency. Performance targets define the desired level of performance for your workload and help you gauge its effectiveness in meeting those objectives. Performance targets provide a benchmark to measure and compare a workload's efficiency. This benchmark can help you highlight improvement areas. The targets also align tasks with your organization's objectives and enhance business outcomes. Additionally, performance targets offer guidance in resource allocation, helping you ensure that workloads can adapt to varying demands while maintaining optimal performance.
Set performance targets early
Set performance targets before you deploy your workload. For a workload in a design, performance targets require research. Conduct market research, competitive analysis, and surveys to generate your performance target ranges. For a production workload that has no performance targets, use production data and customer feedback to establish performance targets.
Determine performance requirements
Determining performance requirements is about identifying essential performance metrics like response time, throughput, and latency that are critical for your application. Aligning these performance targets with your organization's business goals ensures the workload meets the desired standards, whether for a best-in-class or average product. For example, you might aim to reduce response times, increase throughput rates, or optimize resource use.
When setting performance goals, it's important to align the organization's objectives with the distinct needs of the user base. Users ultimately determine the success of performance, emphasizing the need to align performance targets with their expectations. This balance ensures that performance targets capture the intended user experience and the overall efficiency of the workload. To comprehensively gauge and optimize workload performance, you should consider setting performance targets for the following list:
Individual components: Individual components are the separate units or segments of the workload, each potentially having distinct performance attributes and demands.
User flows: These pathways chart how users maneuver through the workload, and ensuring their fluidity directly enhances user experience.
Workflows: Workflows defined internal processes are crafted to achieve particular results and often dictate operational efficiency.
Data flows: Data flows refer to the movement and interaction of data within the workload, helping identify potential inefficiencies or bottlenecks.
External dependencies: External dependencies are elements outside the primary workload (integrated third-party services or tools) that can significantly affect performance.
Scale units: Scale units relate to the workload's scalable segments. Ensuring robust performance under increased loads is pivotal, especially in growth scenarios.
Technology levels: Technology levels are direct performance indicators such as the speed of API access, database operation latencies, and potential network delays.
Business transactions: Business transactions represent end-to-end user operations like completing a purchase or booking a service, their seamless execution is directly tied to user satisfaction.
Workload all up: This holistic metric gives an overview of the collective performance encompassing all components and aspects of the workload.
Identify key metrics
Identifying key performance metrics involves determining the essential measurements that track the progress towards achieving workload performance goals. This identification provides a quantifiable way to measure and improve performance efficiency. When you identify key metrics to focus on, consider metrics related to availability, capacity, and response time:
Availability: Error rate is an availability performance metric. Error rate represents the percentage of failed requests over a period. A common target for error rate is 0.1% percent of requests.
Capacity: Throughput and concurrency are sample capacity metrics. Throughput refers to the ability to handle a specific number of transactions within a given time period. For instance, an application might need to sustain 100 million transactions per month. Concurrency is a measure of simultaneous users or actions.
Response time: Latency and load time are common response time metrics. Latency is the time it takes to respond to a request (200 milliseconds). Load time is the time it takes for an application or web page to be interactive. A common target is 99% of sign-in requests completing less than 1 second.
Set specific targets
After you identify the key metrics, you need to specify performance targets or thresholds for each metric. Performance targets should be measurable, realistic, and aligned with your workload objectives. For example, you might set a target response time of less than 500 milliseconds (ms) or a target error rate of less than 1 percent. Avoid qualitative assessments of performance like fast or slow. By using numerical targets, you can objectively assess performance over time. As you set specific performance targets, consider these recommendations:
Consider the customer: When you set performance targets, adopt a customer-centric perspective. Recognizing the customer as the ultimate judge of performance helps ensure that performance targets align with customer expectations. This alignment involves considering both organizational objectives and the distinct requirements of the customer base. When you integrate these two aspects, you can tailor performance targets to reflect the desired customer experience and overall workload effectiveness. By defining performance objectives that consider customer expectations, you can strive to provide a high-quality customer experience and meet the needs of your customers.
Use percentiles: Percentiles, such as P99, P95, and P50, are the industry standard to represent the result of performance assessments. Percentiles are measures that indicate how much data the number includes. For example, P99 covers 99% of the data. Use percentiles, rather than simple averages, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of workload performance. To measure percentiles, collect performance data over a period of time, typically using monitoring tools or logging mechanisms. Then analyze this data to determine the response time values at different percentiles.
Document and expose performance target
Documenting and exposing performance targets is about recording all performance targets in a centralized location. Meeting performance targets is a shared responsibility between development and operations teams. To ensure that the workload consistently meets or exceeds these targets, provide teams with the information and access to take action. To document and expose performance targets, consider these recommendations:
Document performance targets: Document all performance targets. Ensure that all performance targets are documented in a centralized location, easily accessible by both development and operations teams. It promotes alignment and aids in real-time decision-making.
Expose performance targets: All responsible teams should be able to review and create actionable tasks from the performance targets. Use information radiators, such as dashboards and reports, to make the performance targets accessible.
Make it actionable: The documentation and information radiators should suggest clear next steps. For example, a rise in errors might prompt an immediate check, or meeting a target consistently might suggest a reevaluation of that benchmark.
Evaluate customer feedback
Evaluating customer feedback involves actively seeking out and analyzing the responses and suggestions of your customers. Actively collecting and analyzing customer feedback offers valuable insights into their needs and expectations. Regular communication helps in adjusting performance targets in line with changing preferences and tech trends. A focus on customer needs means that the workload not only aligns with technical benchmarks but also undergoes continuous refinement. This approach, emphasizing customer satisfaction, ensures that the workload remains relevant and successful in the long run.
Azure facilitation
Setting performance targets: Azure Advisor provides performance recommendations that can inform your performance targets.
Azure Monitor is a full-stack monitoring service that provides a complete set of features to monitor your Azure resources and measure performance targets. It collects platform metrics and provides ready-to-use dashboards. It allows you to configure alerts based on metrics. It also stores and correlates metrics to ensure a single source of truth.
Related links
Performance Efficiency checklist
Refer to the complete set of recommendations.