13 Conclusion

Good decision-making requires effective data analysis when making challenging decisions such as the allocation and timing of capacity. When you look at your own data you will start to see some clear patterns in demand for the services you provide, but sometimes it can be difficult to find enough data. In these situations it is perfectly acceptable to use simple visual tools that give some insight into how demand behaves.

The course should have given you a better insight into some operational problems such as response delays or queues in services. When data is collected you can bust the myth that queues only form when systems are under-capacity. The data analysis provides a better insight into why these delays occur.

Our final concept we looked at was that of unnecessary or ‘failure’ demand. This can be a really useful idea to challenge what demand is coming into a service and what workload it should give you. You are encouraged to try to apply this idea further in your own work.