Creating plans

To create a plan

1. From the Cost Analyzer console, click the Planning tool tab.

2. From the Actions pane, click Create Plan.The Create Plan dialog displays as shown in the following figure:

   

3. In the Plan Name field, enter a name for the plan.
4. (optional) In the Plan Description field, enter a description to identify the plan.

5. In the Usage Month field, click the Calendar icon to browse the application server and select an available usage month cost model.

   Note

   The selection of the usage month automatically loads the name of the referenced cost table for the selected month into the Evaluation Cost Table field.

6. Select an Evaluation Cost Table for the plan.You must select a cost table to be used by Cost Analyzer for the cost evaluations in the plan. This cost table can be the same cost table that was active during the usage month or can be a different cost table. Your selection of the Evaluation Cost Table depends on the operations you want to perform in the plan.

   To make your selection, perform one of the following actions:

   • If you want the calculations of the exercises performed in the plan to be based on the same cost table that was used during the usage month, you do not need to change the selection. When you selected the usage month, Cost Analyzer automatically loaded the name of the referenced cost table that was active during that month; consequently, you can skip to Step 7.

   • If you want the calculations of the exercises performed in the plan to be based on a different cost table, click the selector to display the Select Cost Table dialog as shown in the following figure:

     

     The dialog lists all of the available cost tables. A green check mark indicates the current active cost table. The calendar icon () indicates that this cost table was the active cost table for the selected usage month.

     From the list of cost tables in the dialog, click the cost table you want to use and then click Select Cost Table.

     The selected cost table is loaded into the Evaluation Cost Table field.

   Note

   For every plan, a baseline of the MLC product costs is always calculated from the cost table that was active during the selected usage month. This baseline of costs is unaffected by the selection of the Evaluation Cost Table.

   The baseline of costs is used so you can compare the actual costs of the month against the cost changes affected by the operations you perform in the plan.

7.  In the Workload Type field, use the drop-down list to select the workload type for the plan.For more information about workloads, see Cost-Analyzer-workloads.

   Note

   The Planning tool bases the list of Workload types on the selected Month Cost Model.

8. In the Plan Operation type field, click the type of plan you want to create.The plan operation type determines the operations that you can perform. You can select from the following plan types:

   • LPAR and Workloads – to perform operations on LPARs and CPCs
   • Job and STC – to perform operations relating to batch jobs

   For more information about the operations you can perform in each type of plan, see Planning-tool-overview.

9. In the Select Plan CPCs field, select the CPCs you want to use for the plan.

   Note

   The list of available CPCs depends on the selected workload type.

10. When finished making your selections, click Create Plan.Cost Analyzer creates the plan and makes it available for an exercise so you can explore potential reduction operations.