A workload scheduler supporting the definition of a cumulative weighting
index is proposed. The scheduler maintains (384-386) a profile for each
job; the profile (built using statistics of previous executions of the
job) defines an estimated usage of different resources of the system by
the job. A tuning module imports (304) the attributes of the jobs from
the profile. The attributes of each job are rated (306-307) according to
an estimated duration of the job. The rated attributes so obtained are
then combined (308-320), in order to define a single cumulative index for
each job and a single cumulative index for each application (for example,
weighting the rated attributes according to corresponding correction
factors). In this way, the cumulative indexes allow an immediate
comparison (324-356) of the impact of the different jobs/applications of
a plan on the whole performance of the system.