Pivotal CRM Solution: Optimal performance over local and wide area networks
Performance and scalability are important considerations in any CRM selection and implementation process. A CRM's web platform is architected from the ground up for optimal performance over local and wide area networks.
These issues can be quite complex, and a proper investigation of performance and scalability should extend beyond simple questions regarding how long it takes to open a form or what kind of hardware is required for a given number of users.
Key Application Performance Factors
Application performance is typically—and most practically—determined by measuring how quickly a user can complete an end-to-end business task. This measurement depends on two factors:
1. Application Speed: How quickly the user can retrieve data and access functionality over a local or wide area network (for example, how long it takes to open a form)
2. Business Productivity: How quickly the user can complete a business task once they are in the application and the information has been retrieved.
Minimization of Server Round Trips
Description: Pivotal CRM is based on a three-tier architecture that offers clear separation of its foundation (database layer) from the middle tier (application server) and the presentation tier (user access tier). Pivotal CRM can enforce business logic, data integrity, rules, and workflow both at the middle tier and at the presentation tier.
Benefits: The ability to delegate enforcement of some of the business logic and workflow to the presentation tier allows for some client-side processing, offloading certain tasks from the Pivotal application server. This benefits the user by minimizing server round-trips, which results in a faster, more responsive application for the end user. For example, validating certain tasks or enforcing some rules on the client device—before a request is sent to the middle tier—can avoid extra round trips between the application server tier and the presentation tier, thereby improving performance.
Middle-Tier Caching
Description: The Pivotal Business Server, upon start, reads and caches the metadata definition and all components in the middle tier.
Benefits: As more users use the CRM system, the metadata, procedures, and execution methods get cached in the middle tier and the system becomes more responsive.
Factors that affect application speed include bandwidth, latency, server round trips, hardware, compression, and performance optimization. Factors that affect business productivity are screen design, navigation design in relation to the business context, number of clicks required to complete the task, ability to multi-task, availability and presentation of information, number of applications the user has to access to complete the task, and so on.
There are many factors that combine to impact performance and scalability for any size of CRM deployment. Ultimately, user productivity is the true performance concern. Each task the user performs in the system—whether viewing a record, retrieving search results, processing a lead, running a pipeline report, or converting a quote to an order and submitting it to the back-end ERP system—must be as fast, efficient, and easy to perform as possible. Each second wasted performing any of these tasks (or the multitude of other daily activities users perform in the CRM system) can quickly add up and result in a loss of efficiency and productivity.
These issues can be quite complex, and a proper investigation of performance and scalability should extend beyond simple questions regarding how long it takes to open a form or what kind of hardware is required for a given number of users.
Key Application Performance Factors
Application performance is typically—and most practically—determined by measuring how quickly a user can complete an end-to-end business task. This measurement depends on two factors:
1. Application Speed: How quickly the user can retrieve data and access functionality over a local or wide area network (for example, how long it takes to open a form)
2. Business Productivity: How quickly the user can complete a business task once they are in the application and the information has been retrieved.
Minimization of Server Round Trips
Description: Pivotal CRM is based on a three-tier architecture that offers clear separation of its foundation (database layer) from the middle tier (application server) and the presentation tier (user access tier). Pivotal CRM can enforce business logic, data integrity, rules, and workflow both at the middle tier and at the presentation tier.
Benefits: The ability to delegate enforcement of some of the business logic and workflow to the presentation tier allows for some client-side processing, offloading certain tasks from the Pivotal application server. This benefits the user by minimizing server round-trips, which results in a faster, more responsive application for the end user. For example, validating certain tasks or enforcing some rules on the client device—before a request is sent to the middle tier—can avoid extra round trips between the application server tier and the presentation tier, thereby improving performance.
Middle-Tier Caching
Description: The Pivotal Business Server, upon start, reads and caches the metadata definition and all components in the middle tier.
Benefits: As more users use the CRM system, the metadata, procedures, and execution methods get cached in the middle tier and the system becomes more responsive.
Factors that affect application speed include bandwidth, latency, server round trips, hardware, compression, and performance optimization. Factors that affect business productivity are screen design, navigation design in relation to the business context, number of clicks required to complete the task, ability to multi-task, availability and presentation of information, number of applications the user has to access to complete the task, and so on.
There are many factors that combine to impact performance and scalability for any size of CRM deployment. Ultimately, user productivity is the true performance concern. Each task the user performs in the system—whether viewing a record, retrieving search results, processing a lead, running a pipeline report, or converting a quote to an order and submitting it to the back-end ERP system—must be as fast, efficient, and easy to perform as possible. Each second wasted performing any of these tasks (or the multitude of other daily activities users perform in the CRM system) can quickly add up and result in a loss of efficiency and productivity.
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