Difference Between Functional Trace and Global Workload Monitor

The difference between the functional trace and the Global Workload Monitor is the type of data displayed and the way in which the data is displayed.

While the Global Workload Monitor displays aggregated data, the functional trace provides a more detailed view, since it displays raw statistical data and can therefore, for example, trace the actions that belong to a business process across system boundaries. The functional trace also displays traces from ABAP systems (SQL trace and runtime analysis) and from non-ABAP systems (DSR traces).

The figure below shows the way in which the statistics records for the J2EE Engine are displayed in the two statistics display transactions Global Workload Monitor (ST03G) and functional trace (STATTRACE):

Since the J2EE Engine is a non-SAP R/3 System, the agent exports the statistics records. Depending on the type of display, the agent either passes the data to the DSR collector to be aggregated (display variants a and b in the Global Workload Monitor) or directly in the display transaction (display variant c in the functional trace). There are the following display variants:

Display Collector Aggregates After Hourly Collector Run
The collector aggregates the data during the transfer. The statistics records collected by the hourly collector run are stored in the database and displayed in the Global Workload monitor (transaction ST03G).
Display Collector Aggregates Between Hourly Collector Runs
So that you do not have to wait until the hourly collector run to display aggregated statistics files, the Global Workload Monitor (transaction ST03G) provides the Last Minutes' Load function, which allows you to aggregate and display statistical data during runtime without storing it in the database.
Display Raw Data as Single Records
With single record display (c), the raw statistical data is displayed in the functional trace (transaction STATTRACE). The data is read directly by the functional trace from the statistics files for each analysis using the agent. This means that the granularity of the information in the functional trace is finer than that of the data in the Global Workload Monitor. If traces were activated, the trace data is also transferred to the monitoring system.