Bookshelf v7.5: Performance Tuning Terminology

Table 2 provides definitions of specific terms related to performance and tuning Siebel eBusiness Applications. For definitions of performance and scalability, see About Performance and Scalability.

For definitions of terms used commonly with Siebel eBusiness Applications, refer to the Glossary.

Table 2. Performance Tuning Terminology
Term	Definition
Concurrent users	The number of application users actively using and accessing the Siebel application, or a particular element such as an AOM process, at a particular time.
Latency	Delay experienced in network transmissions as network packets traverse the network infrastructure.
Think time	The wait time between user operations. For example, a user brings up the Account screen and spends 10 seconds reviewing the data for an account. This 10 seconds is the think time for this operation. Think time is a critical element in performance and scalability tuning, particularly for AOM. When think time values are correctly forecasted, then actual load levels will be close to anticipated loads.
Process	An operating system (OS) process. For example, a Siebel Server component such as AOM consists of multiple OS processes, referred to as multithreaded processes.
Multithreaded process (or MT server)	A process running on a multithreaded Siebel Server component that supports multiple threads (tasks) per process. AOM components run multithreaded processes that support threads.
Task	A concept for Siebel applications of a unit of work that can be done by a Siebel Server component. Siebel tasks are typically implemented as threads.
Thread	An operating system feature for performing a given unit of work. Threads are used to implement tasks for most Siebel Server components. A multithreaded process supports running multiple threads to perform work such as to support user sessions.
Response time	Amount of time the Siebel application takes to complete an operation. Therefore, it is an aggregate of time incurred by all server processing and transmission latency for an operation. Response time may be as experienced by an application end user, or may be the amount of time needed for some other operation that is unrelated or indirectly related to end user sessions.
Throughput	Typically expressed in transactions per second (TPS), expresses how many operations or transactions can be processed in a set amount of time.