QUESTION
Why are 2018 transaction-per-second numbers still used in procuring services after the pandemic introduced remote learning?
0:51:02
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156 sec
NYC Public Schools acknowledge the need to update their procurement strategy to increase transaction per second (TPS) capacity.
- Eric Dinowitz questions the reliance on 2018 transaction numbers for service procurement. - Scott Strickland admits more capacity is needed, especially during peak periods. - The council member highlights improvements in user experience but points out technical back-end limitations. - Intekhab Shakil outlines the current procurement focus on user capacity, admitting oversight on TPS needs. - They commit to working with IBM to ensure adequate TPS procurement for future demands.
Eric Dinowitz
0:51:02
So why is it the case that you were still using transactions that are similar to the numbers in 2018 and have not updated those numbers and your and the the the services you're procuring
Scott Strickland
0:51:18
I think that's a fair question.
0:51:20
As we indicated this year and especially during a peak period, we need much more capacity than that to be successful.
Eric Dinowitz
0:51:28
But based on your testimony, it appears that there have been a lot of improvements on the student face and the user facing side.
0:51:36
Mhmm.
0:51:36
There was understandably saw a lot of confusion in March April of 2020, when we all pivoted to remote learning, teachers, we didn't know what to do.
0:51:46
There was little guidance.
0:51:47
It seems that there's more guidance on that end.
0:51:49
But it appears that there's a lot that hasn't changed on the on the back end, on the technical side.
0:51:55
And the 400 users per second, what what type of say is that designed for?
0:52:00
Who is that designed for?
0:52:02
400 transactions per second.
Scott Strickland
0:52:04
Yeah.
0:52:04
That that could also be answered by IBM.
0:52:06
I I think it's their offering for, and again, that's for a unit of a 1000 or excuse me, a 100,000 users.
0:52:15
We buy 30 of those to get up to 3,000,000.
0:52:20
It appears that we would need to have some mechanism to procure additional TPS for that number of users, especially when gonna that those numbers can be used in a peak period.
Eric Dinowitz
0:52:33
I mean, in all fairness, you're the one purchasing the product.
0:52:36
Right?
0:52:37
So we can ask IBM other technical questions.
0:52:40
But in terms of the New York City public schools, you're the ones purchasing a product and it sounds to me like you're purchasing the wrong product or you're purchasing a product based in the needs of 2018.
0:52:53
In the 400 trends, please?
Intekhab Shakil
0:52:55
I'll try to answer that.
0:52:57
As Scott was mentioning, we were buying for the number of students and parents who could log in, which was about 3,000,000.
0:53:05
So we will focus on that.
0:53:07
In terms of transaction per second, this had not been a major issue for us.
0:53:13
Even during the remote learning, and we did not pay enough attention to ensure that or that it needs to be increased so that we can continue because it worked consistently through during the pandemic.
0:53:26
Now knowing what we know and we have seen how it behaved, we will work with IBM to ensure that we procure the right quantity of transaction per second to ensure this does not happen again.