AW: Workflow Performance

[Becker Stephan (extern)]

Hi Alon,
 
I have implemented several large scale workflow scenarios. It always =
seems
to come down to two factors: If the workflow and the underlying =
business
process are properly designed, and people are not flooded with =
workitems, it
is the load of dialog and background tasks generated by the workflow =
engine,
and the table growth in the runtime tables that makes things difficult =
in
productive environments.
 
Table growth can be countered by taking the sizes and growth factors =
into
account when specifying the hardware (one of my clients had 1Gig growth =
per
month just in the workflow tables, with just one big invoice =
verification
workflow on line item level..), the figures you need for this sizing =
will
need to come out of the stress test part of the integration test. Also,
ensure you archive closed workflows often, that will keep tables sizes =
low.
 
RFC load can be fought by giving workflow its own app server. If you =
have 49
anyway, another one or two for workflow won't really matter greatly in =
terms
of budget and such like, but they will make a world of difference for =
the
users, as large number of events can bring app servers close to a =
standstill
(sometimes beyond..), and users will go beserk.. The only thing you =
need to
do for that is point the RFC destination used for the workflow to a
different destination, that's it..
 
Next to that, you can do all sorts of optimisations, but they mostly =
scratch
the surface, and make little actual difference in terms of performance, =
but
depending on the circumstances, it would not be wise to ignore this
possibility. To alleviate peaks, for example, see which events you can
trigger with a time delay, so that the system does not have to cope =
with
dozends of events to be processed, when, say, a large invoice is =
entered and
triggers off a workflow per line item..
 
Hth,
Stephan
 
-----Urspr=FCngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Alon Raskin [mailto:araskin at 3i-consulting.com]
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 7. August 2002 23:55
An: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Betreff: Workflow Performance
 
 
My current client is quite concerned about Workflow and its impact on =
system
Performance. I would like to hear others who have had 'large' clients =
weigh
in on this.
 
I have tried to explain to my client that if we are kicking off many =
events
per hour then that can have an impact on the system performance. I =
explained
that this can be offset by using the Event Queue (I am not sure that =
that is
its proper name).
 
They are also concerned about having many workflows 'sitting around' =
and
listening for events to be raised. I told them that this is not really =
a
problem as the Workflow is not actually polling. In fact when the even
occurs it triggers the workflow.
 
I would love to hear from other people who have had experience with =
large
workflow implementations.
 
Just for your information, our site has just gone through a sizing =
exercise
and it seems that they will be needing 49 app servers. So we are =
talking
about some serious sized implementation.
 
I look forward to your thoughts about any workflow-performance =
experience
that you would like to share.
 
Regards,
 
Alon Raskin
3i Consulting Group
e: araskin at 3i-consulting.com
w: http://www.3i-consulting.com