The Guidewire Profiler screens

The Server Tools Guidewire Profiler screens provide access to a set of tools that are useful in gathering and analyzing information on the runtime behavior and performance of Guidewire PolicyCenter. The Profiler records the time spent in specific processing areas done by application code, as well as the configured rules and PCF screens. Use of this information can help narrow down performance issues with PolicyCenter components such as PCF screens, rules, custom code, batch processes, and work queues.

Profiler code is useful to record the following types of PolicyCenter operations and information:

  • Database SQL queries
  • Parameters passed to those SQL queries
  • Table row counts
  • Rule execution information
  • Gosu code execution
Important: Guidewire recommends that you exercise care in using Guidewire Profiler. Storing too much profiling information can cause the Profiler screen to become too cluttered, require extensive amount of space for storage, and, for long-running processes, hold on to too much memory at runtime.

Using Guidewire Profiler

One of the best uses of Guidewire Profiler is to review application data for a specific component or action in Guidewire PolicyCenter that has a quantifiable performance problem. Examples of the types of performance issues that are quantifiable include the following:
  • Response time that is poor (excessive wait times) for a particular PolicyCenter application screen
  • Batch process or work queue that has a low throughput/minute
  • Database activity that is high for a particular web service method

Guidewire Profiler does not collect memory usage statistics. If necessary, use a third-party tool to gather memory usage and garbage collection information.

Using Guidewire Profiler during development and testing

Guidewire Profiler is not only useful in diagnosing existing performance issues, it is also useful in preventing performance issues. For example, you can use Guidewire Profiler to do the following in the development and testing phases of an InsuranceSuite deployment:
  • Predict the scalability of a large operation by testing it with two or three data sets of increasing size.
  • Identify unused or unnecessary database queries that slow down performance so that you can remove them.
  • Test the performance of a PCF screen with a custom widget by profiling the screen both before and after you add the custom widget.

Required permissions to access Guidewire Profiler

To access the Server Tools Guidewire Profiler screens, you must have one of the required permissions.
Server mode Access
All server modes (production, development, testing) All users that have a role with the internaltools permission can access Guidewire Profiler. Some administrative accounts have this role permission by default.
All server modes except production (development, testing) All users in a development mode environment have access to the Server Tools if the value of parameter EnableInternalDebugTools in config.xml is set to true. This type of access is useful as it is sometimes necessary for a user to run certain tests of the application screens as a non-administrative user.

Useful Knowledge Base article

Guidewire makes available a Knowledge Base articles that discusses Guidewire Profiler. To view this article, access Guidewire Community at one of the following links:
After logging into Guidewire Community, search for the following article:
  • 6394 - Collecting Data to Diagnose UI Performance Issues