Summary

If performance tuning is a search for lost time, then you need ways to determine where time is being lost. Instrumentation in the Oracle database is very effective for diagnosing SQL performance problems, but PeopleSoft delivers a huge stack of technology that sits between the database and the user.

The metrics described in this chapter can identify which parts of the application, in which tier, are consuming the most time. Some problems are not caused by SQL performance, in which case trace tells you that the performance bottleneck is not the database, and you are not much further forward.

Fortunately, many problems do come down to SQL performance, in which case PeopleSoft metrics indicate which processes, and sometimes which step within a process, you should examine in more detail. You can then choose a specific process or transaction to trace. Chapter 11 looks in more detail at how to use database instrumentation in PeopleSoft.