Introduction:
Capacity management is a critical component of IT infrastructure management.
A well-implemented capacity management process helps organizations ensure that their IT systems can meet current and future business demands, avoid performance issues, and maintain service availability.
ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard provides guidelines for the implementation of capacity management in organizations.
In this article, we will discuss the requirements of A.12.1.3 Capacity management, review the policies and procedures, and provide a sample checklist for organizations to assess their capacity management practices.
Sample Checklist:
Requirements of A.12.1.3 Capacity Management:
The A.12.1.3 Capacity Management standard requires organizations to have policies, procedures, and practices in place for capacity management. The capacity management process should include defined service levels, monitoring of relevant metrics, alarms/alerts at critical levels, forward planning, and a risk-based approach.
Review of Policies, Procedures, and Practices:
Organizations should review their capacity management policies, procedures, and practices to ensure that they align with the requirements of the A.12.1.3 Capacity Management standard. The following checklist can help organizations assess their capacity management practices:
- Is there a documented capacity management policy in place?
- Are there defined service levels for critical systems and applications?
- Are relevant metrics being monitored, such as server CPU usage, storage space, and network capacity?
- Are alarms/alerts set up at critical levels?
- Is there a forward planning process in place that takes into account procurement lead times and change management?
- Is there a risk-based approach to capacity management, with a priority on critical services, servers, infrastructure, applications, and functions?
- Is there a process to review and update capacity management policies, procedures, and practices regularly?
- Are there any identified gaps or improvement opportunities in the current capacity management process?
Conclusion:
Effective capacity management is a critical element of IT infrastructure management and helps organizations ensure that their IT systems can meet current and future business demands.
The A.12.1.3 Capacity Management standard of ISO/IEC 27001:2013 provides guidelines for the implementation of capacity management in organizations.
Organizations should review their capacity management policies, procedures, and practices regularly to ensure that they are aligned with the standard’s requirements.
The sample checklist provided in this article can assist organizations in assessing their capacity management practices and identifying any improvement opportunities.
