Applying additional resources
If, after all of the preceding approaches have been exhausted, the performance of the system still does not meet its objectives, the critical resource must be enhanced or expanded.
If the critical resource is logical and the underlying real resource is adequate, the logical resource can be expanded at no additional cost. If the critical resource is real, the analyst must investigate some additional questions:
- How much must the critical resource be enhanced or expanded so that it ceases to be a bottleneck?
- Will the performance of the system then meet its objectives, or will another resource become saturated first?
- If there will be a succession of critical resources, is it more cost-effective to enhance or expand all of them, or to divide the current workload with another system?