Overview

This topic describes how to configure, schedule, run, and check the status of the summarization process.

The data displayed in Surveyor reports is aggregated, summarized data.

When Surveyor is first installed, data must be generated before it can be summarized. When the Surveyor server sends data to the database, the summarization process must wait until the data is fully committed before processing can begin.

The time required for the data summarization process to complete depends on the amount of data to be processed. After initial summarization, data is summarized on an incremental basis and typically takes less time to complete. On subsequent summarizations, only data that has been added since the last summarization is processed.

Affected Version

NOTE: The content in this topic refers to Surveyor versions 6.0.1xx through 6.0.4xx.

Information

Scheduling the Process

The administrator decides when to schedule the data summarization process. We recommend that you use the Windows Task Scheduler to run this process, and that you run this process at times when the Surveyor server is not required to be active.

When deciding how often you want to run the summarization process, or what schedule to follow, consider how current you want the data to be in your dashboard.

Consider scheduling or manually running the process on a daily, monthly, or quarterly schedule, depending on your reporting needs. Run summarization on a monthly basis if viewing the data once a month is sufficient. Allow up to a day for summarization to complete if summarization runs only once per month. Run summarization on a daily basis to keep the dashboard up to date without increasing the load on the Surveyor server.

For details, see Run the data summarization process manually and Run the data summarization process as a scheduled task (Windows Server 2003).

Factors affecting processing time

When a large amount of data is being processed, the computer running the summarization process can use significant system resources and the process may take some time to complete. If you are running the summarization process on the Surveyor server computer (recommended), be sure to run the process when Surveyor server is not required to be active.

Factors affecting the time required for the summarization process to complete the first time it
runs:

• Database I/O. The summarization process potentially requests large amounts of data for the database to read out. The speed of database I/O can affect how quickly the summarization process completes.
• Defragmentation. Table indexes are defragmented during the summarization process. The amount of defragmentation required can affect how quickly the summarization process completes.
• Groups. Number of locations, business units, policies, and administrative groups.
• Memory. Available memory for SQL and the summarization process also can affect the time required.

Running the summarization process

Before running the summarization process, you may want to verify that the
summarization.exe.config file contains the correct database connection string.

To start the process:

• Run DataSummarization.exe as Admin from the same folder
  as DataSummarization.exe.config on the same computer as the Surveyor server
  (typically C:\Program Files\Verdiem\Surveyor\BackgroundProcessor\).
  
  NOTE: You must run DataSummarization.exe as Admin.

The process automatically begins to read data out of the DeviceComponentStatePeriod and
DeviceSample tables, and then writes the summarized data back into the
ComponentStateDaySum and ComponentStateHourSum tables.

         NOTE: Only one summarization process can be run at one time.

To check the status of the summarization process, you can use several methods:

• Check the processes running in Windows Task Manager.
• Run Perfmon.exe.

To view the results of the summarization process:

• Open the log file DataSummarization.log in C:\Program Files\Verdiem\Surveyor\Logs.

Settings that affect summarization

The following settings and values affect data summarization calculations and how data is
grouped and displayed in the Surveyor Administrator console and Sustainability Dashboard
reports:

• Device baseline values in the Edit Device Baseline dialog box – Affects data calculations
  for all reports.
• Device baseline values in the Edit Device Baseline dialog box – Affects data calculations
  for all reports.
  NOTE: To increase the accuracy of reporting, you can specify watt draw values for
  individual computer models. For details, see "Configure watt draws for
  computers" in the Surveyor 6 Administrator Guide.
• Administrative groups (device assignment) – Affects how data is grouped and displayed
  in reports.
• Policies (device assignment) - Affects how data is grouped and displayed in reports.
• Business units (in database metatdata) – Affects how data is grouped and displayed in
  reports.
• Location (in database metadata) – Affects how data is grouped and displayed in reports.

If possible, it is recommended that you define these values before you run the summarization
process for the first time to get the most accurate and uniform report results over time.

When you make changes to default baseline settings in the System Settings page or through a
device's right-click menu, watt draw values, groups (policy assignment), policies (device
assignment), business units, or locations, only data that is collected and summarized from
the time of the change will reflect the new settings (historical data will still be based on the old
settings). To get the most accurate and uniform reporting results, you may need to
re-summarize data.

Database tables used in the process

The data summarization process reads OrchestratorSurveyor data out of the
DeviceComponentStatePeriod and DeviceSample tables, and then writes the summarized data
back into the ComponentStateDaySum and ComponentStateHourSum tables.