Performance Optimization Tools

Learn how to use the performance monitoring and optimization tools in the Shifts platform to diagnose issues, improve system response times, and ensure optimal operation for all users.

Overview

The Performance Optimization Tools in the Shifts platform provide Super Administrators with powerful capabilities to monitor, analyze, and improve system performance. These tools help you identify bottlenecks, track resource usage, and implement optimizations to ensure the platform runs efficiently even with high user loads. This article explains each tool and how to use them effectively.

Accessing Performance Tools

To access the performance optimization tools:

1. Log in with a Super Administrator account
2. Navigate to System Admin in the main menu
3. Select System Analytics from the dropdown
4. Click the Performance tab to access performance monitoring tools

Additional performance tools are available in the System Health and Operations sections of the System Admin dashboard.

System Analytics Dashboard

The System Analytics Dashboard is your central hub for performance monitoring:

Performance Tab

The Performance tab provides real-time and historical metrics on system performance:

1. Response Time Trends: Line chart showing:
   • Page load times
   • Server processing times
   • Database query times
2. Performance Indicators: Key metrics with status indicators:
   • Response Time: Fast (≤500ms), Acceptable (500-1000ms), Slow (>1000ms)
   • Database Query Time: Fast (≤50ms), Acceptable (50-100ms), Slow (>100ms)
   • Server Processing Time: Fast (≤100ms), Acceptable (100-200ms), Slow (>200ms)
3. Slowest Pages Table: Lists pages with the longest load times:
   • Page path
   • Average load time
   • Average database time
   • Average server time
   • View count
4. API Performance: Metrics on API usage and performance:
   • Top API endpoints by usage
   • Average response times
   • Error rates

Operations Tab

The Operations tab provides system health and operational metrics:

1. System Uptime: Percentage with status indicators:
   • Excellent: ≥99.9%
   • Good: 99.0-99.9%
   • Needs Improvement: <99.0%
2. API Usage Metrics:
   • Request volume by endpoint
   • Error rates with status indicators
   • Average response times
3. Resource Utilization:
   • CPU usage trends
   • Memory usage trends
   • Database connection pool usage

System Health Dashboard

The System Health Dashboard provides real-time system status:

1. Connection Status:
   • Database connection status and latency
   • Redis connection status and details
   • External service connections
2. Resource Monitoring:
   • Disk space usage with warning thresholds
   • Memory usage with warning thresholds
   • Background job queue size
3. Error Monitoring:
   • Recent error count
   • Error type distribution
   • Error location breakdown

To access the System Health Dashboard:

1. Navigate to System Admin in the main menu
2. Select System Health

Analytics Cache Management

The Analytics Cache system improves dashboard performance by pre-computing metrics:

Configuring Analytics Cache Refresh

To configure how frequently analytics are refreshed:

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Settings
2. Find the Analytics Settings section
3. Select a refresh frequency:
   • Hourly: Analytics refreshes every hour
   • Daily: Analytics refreshes at 1:00 AM daily
   • Weekly: Analytics refreshes at 1:00 AM every Monday
   • Monthly: Analytics refreshes at 1:00 AM on the first day of each month
   • Manual Only: Analytics only refreshes when manually triggered
4. Click Save Settings

Manually Refreshing Analytics

To manually trigger an analytics refresh:

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Analytics > Monitor
2. Review the current analytics processing status
3. Click the Refresh Now button
4. Monitor the processing status (Pending → Processing → Completed/Failed)
5. Review error messages if processing fails

Background Job Management

Background jobs handle resource-intensive tasks asynchronously:

Monitoring Background Jobs

To view and manage background jobs:

1. Navigate to System Admin > Background Jobs
2. View statistics on:
   • Active jobs
   • Pending jobs
   • Failed jobs
   • Completed jobs
3. Filter by job type, status, or date range
4. Select a job to view details:
   • Job parameters
   • Execution time
   • Error messages (if any)
   • Retry information

Configuring Background Jobs

To adjust background job settings:

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Settings
2. Find the Background Job Settings section
3. Configure settings:
   • Concurrency: Number of jobs to process simultaneously
   • Retry limit: Maximum number of retry attempts
   • Dead job retention: How long to keep failed jobs
4. Click Save Settings

Redis Connection Management

Redis is used for caching and background job processing:

Testing Redis Connection

To test and troubleshoot Redis connections:

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Health
2. Scroll to the Redis Connection Test section
3. Enter Redis endpoint (hostname:port)
4. Click Test Connection
5. Review connection results:
   • Latency
   • TLS status
   • Server info (version, memory usage, connected clients, uptime)
6. If connection fails, review troubleshooting tips

Configuring Redis

To modify Redis configuration:

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Settings
2. Find the Redis Settings section
3. Configure settings:
   • Connection endpoint
   • Port
   • Password (if required)
   • Enable/disable TLS
   • Connection pool size
4. Click Save Settings

Performance Reports and Exports

The system provides detailed performance reports for analysis:

Generating Performance Reports

To export performance data:

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Analytics > Performance
2. Set the desired date range
3. Click Export as CSV
4. The exported file includes:
   • Page load metrics
   • API performance data
   • Resource utilization
   • Error rates
   • User engagement metrics

Scheduled Performance Reports

To set up scheduled performance reports:

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Settings
2. Find the Performance Reporting section
3. Configure frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
4. Add recipient email addresses
5. Select metrics to include
6. Click Save Settings

Diagnosing Performance Issues

When troubleshooting performance problems:

Identifying Slow Pages

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Analytics > Performance
2. Review the Slowest Pages table
3. Look for pages with consistently slow load times
4. Click on a page to view detailed metrics:
   • Server processing time
   • Database query time
   • View rendering time
   • Resource loading time

Diagnosing Database Issues

1. Navigate to System Admin > Database Performance
2. Review the Slow Queries table
3. Examine query execution plans
4. Look for queries with:
   • High execution times
   • Large result sets
   • Table scans instead of index usage

Analyzing API Performance

1. Navigate to System Admin > System Analytics > Performance
2. Click on the API Performance tab
3. Identify endpoints with high error rates or slow response times
4. View detailed metrics for problematic endpoints

Best Practices

For optimal results when using Performance Optimization Tools:

1. Monitor Regularly: Check System Health dashboard daily
2. Trend Analysis: Look for patterns in performance metrics over time
3. Proactive Optimization: Address “Acceptable” metrics before they become “Slow”
4. Schedule Analytics Refreshes: Configure automatic refreshes during low-usage periods
5. Background Job Tuning: Adjust concurrency based on server resources
6. Redis Optimization: Monitor Redis memory usage and connection counts
7. Benchmark Regularly: Establish performance baselines and track changes
8. Staged Deployment: Test performance optimizations in staging before production

Performance Threshold Guidelines

Use these guidelines when evaluating system performance:

• Page Load Time:
  • Fast: ≤500ms
  • Acceptable: 500-1000ms
  • Slow: >1000ms
• Database Query Time:
  • Fast: ≤50ms
  • Acceptable: 50-100ms
  • Slow: >100ms
• Server Processing Time:
  • Fast: ≤100ms
  • Acceptable: 100-200ms
  • Slow: >200ms
• System Uptime:
  • Excellent: ≥99.9%
  • Good: 99.0-99.9%
  • Needs Improvement: <99.0%
• API Error Rate:
  • Low: ≤1.0%
  • Moderate: 1.0-5.0%
  • High: >5.0%

Related Resources

• Background Jobs
• Access Control Policies
• Redis Configuration
• System Health

This article should be updated when:

1. New performance monitoring tools are added
2. Performance threshold guidelines change
3. New analytics processing features are introduced
4. Background job management features are enhanced
5. Redis configuration options change