When calculating traffic load for sizing systems, it is typical to look at traffic during business hours. The normal assumption is the heaviest load will be during the middle of the day during the week. But this is not always the case for every site. Other load periods can be due to:
- System maintenance scripts
- Batch Processing
- End of the month processing
- Workflow for a specialty facility.
Maintenance Scripts
An example of maintenance script load is the scripts that run for the Cloverleaf Interface Engine. These scripts typically perform the following:
- Cycle and archive the message storage files.
- Cycle and archive the process log files.
- Cycle and archive the monitor log files.
- Cycle the statistics logs.
- Cycle and archive the audit logs
- Cleanup old and temporary files.
Dependent on the number of sites and traffic these scripts can generate a significant load on the server. These scripts are typically set to run around midnight so the logs are maintained on a daily basis.
Batch Processing
Some sites still have a significant amount of batch processing which is usually scheduled to occur during off hours due to the number of transactions per batch. This can generate significant load in the interface engine as well as the receiving system for an extended period of time. Some interface engines allow for throttling or governing of the number of transactions being processed from a single source at a time. Judicious tuning of throttling parameters can alleviate some of the load issues.
End of the Month Processing
One of the most overlooked load periods can be the end of the month processing. Some facilities require the discharging and readmitting a patient to create a new visit or encounter number for the month. This additional traffic was observed to be ten times the normal load from midnight to 2 AM at one site. The load was so high it caused queues in the interface engine to be loaded causing alerts. The alerts had to be tuned to ignore this high load period. Additionally, the CPU load on the interface engine was three times the standard load for the same period during the rest of the month.
Specialty Facility Workflow
Specialty facilities sometimes have unusual workflow requirements. A major cancer center, for example, generated a significant number of lab orders per patient registration in order to establish the current status of the patient. Since inpatients at a cancer center are typically admitted for long term care the patients tend to arrive in town on the weekend with relatives. After spending time with relatives they arrive at the center and are registered on Monday morning. The load due to the Monday registrations is many times higher than the other days of the week.
Combinations
Without careful planning some of the high load periods can overlap. Maintenance scripts, batch processing and end of the month processing can overlap acerbating the load problem. Since these load sources are overlooked it is easy to have a significant impact on the system performance.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the highest system load is not always during the middle of a weekday but can be at another period based on the type of the facility and business rules for the facility. Due to the infrequent end of the month processing its load is easily overlooked when performing load analysis. Maintenance scripts processing and batch processing also cause significant load which can impact system performance during off hours.
For assistance with measuring system traffic load, please contact us at contactus@santarosaconsulting.com.
Rett Addy
Cloverleaf Integration Consultant
Santa Rosa Consulting, Inc.