Orchestrate IT Process with an Integrated Workflow Management

Transcription

1 Orchestrate IT Process with an Integrated Workflow Management

2 Table of Contents Introduction...3 What is Workload Automation?...4 Workflow...4 Workload...5 Combining Workflow and Workload...5 CA Workload Automation Solution...7 Workflow Engine...7 CA Workload Automation Architecture...8 Workload Control Center...8 Automation Engine...8 Integration with Other Scheduling Environments9 Workload Control Center and the Workflow Engine...9 Conclusion...10 Copyright 2007 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is for your informational purposes only. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document As Is without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. In no event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised of such damages.

3 Introduction Over two years ago, CA unveiled its strategic direction for the CA Workload Automation vision. Early in 2007, CA unveiled its updated solution, with new capabilities and features. CA s work in 2007 culminates with the recent release of r11. CA s Workflow and Workload Management features and capabilities are on the leading edge of technology now that CA s formidable scheduling products have been engineered into Workload Automation. Figure 1 depicts the evolution of job scheduling as it builds toward r11. NEXT EVOLUTION OF SCHEDULING FIGURE 1 In the past, job scheduling has been a static type of tool in the data center, used to manage jobs primarily according to a calendar. It has evolved into a tool that is more business-oriented. As technology progressed, so did customers and the market, so that larger and more complex demands have been placed on job schedulers. Since CA announced its vision for Workload Automation, it has driven this vision through strategic product releases, known as r11, developing the CA job scheduling product known as AutoSys or CA-7.

4 Page 4 of 10 What is Workload Automation? Workload Automation represents the evolution of traditional job scheduling and job management to meet the requirement of real-time business and on-demand IT environments. It involves real-time processing of tasks that can be either submitted to a scheduler for later processing or immediately executed under the appropriate conditions. Workload Automation provides the tools to construct and orchestrate processes using batch jobs. The difference between Business Process Automation and Workload Automation is that Workload Automation does a better job of managing the underlying data center. It works hand-in-hand with the current market s Business Process Automation Solutions. The key attributes of execution of the CA Workload Automation solution, the keys to executing CA s vision and strategy, include: Simplified workload automation Business workflow integration (workflow engine) Policy-based management (business rules engine) Traditional job scheduling (IT event and calendar) Service-oriented automation Web services as a key enabler Workload management exposed as a service Extension of job types and business events Workload resource optimization Resource usage and workload placement Grid-enabled workload placement Virtualized workload resources Dynamic workload orchestration Dynamic critical-path analysis Automated monitoring Workflow management is important for enabling many of these key attributes, and this is delivered in the Workload Control Center (WCC). Workflow A company creates a business process to identify resources, manual and automated tasks, and activity relationships to realize a business goal. Workflow provides process definition, design, and orchestration. It extends automation capabilities and helps simplify management in the data center. As a result, workflow can be viewed as the automation of real IT processes that reside outside or above the job scheduling product. Workflow management defines workflow as the automation of a business process, in whole or in part, during which documents, information, or other tasks are passed from one participant to another for action according to a set of rules. A workflow management system is one that provides procedural automation of a process by management of a sequence of work activities and the invocation of the appropriate human and/or IT resources associated with the various activity steps.

5 Page 5 of 10 Workflow is the term used to describe: The tasks, steps, organizations, and people who are involved The required input and output of information The tools for each step in the process The workflow engine is the component in a Workload Automation program that knows all the procedures, all the steps, and understands the rules for each step. A workflow engine determines whether the process is ready to move from one step to the next or to any alternative steps due to the situation. Workload Workload is focused on the processing of batch-oriented tasks that can be either time- or event-driven. A workload solution provides definition, monitoring, and policy on how, what, and where a particular job is to run. Most of the activity within a Workload Automation solution is handled at the technology level, as opposed to the business process level. Combining Workflow and Workload Combining workload with workflow is a solution for integrating processes with traditional batch scheduling, providing a more consistent approach for end-to-end process management. Workflow management solutions can link business processes to the batch processes. Workflow can simpli-fy and standardize approaches to common problems by automating them and implementing solutions at the source of the problem. For example, if a job flow in a job scheduling product fails, the workflow can invoke a given response that is the remediation process. This prevents unnecessary human involvement in an issue that may happen often.

6 Page 6 of 10 As another example, Figure 2 shows a simplified standard operating procedure. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FIGURE 2 The typical job scheduler can only automate the steps shown in the blue boxes. Many of the tasks are left to the interpretation of the administrator performing the process, shown in the green boxes. However, with workflow management this procedure could be automated from end-to-end by incorporating automation of the procedural steps with automation of the batch-oriented processes. The workflow orchestrates the tasks and helps the user proceed through checkpoints in both human- and system-based tasks. Any standard This provides a operating procedure in the data center can be defined and orchestrated using workflow. single repository and catalog of the procedures and processes used in the data center. Automating in this manner helps IT to reduce errors, improve efficiency, provide an audit trail, and document common procedures.

7 Page 7 of 10 CA Workload Automation Solution CA s Workload Automation Solution is more than just job scheduling: it enables customers to completely automate and manage processes within their data centers. It is not only job scheduling, it is process automation. Workflow Engine Workflow management is delivered with the r11 version of the WCC. Workflow is a common component and is distributed with a number of CA products today. It is a powerful workflow engine and includes a number of components, including: A Graphical Process Designer that allow users to build processes using drag-and-drop A number of integrator tools that help work with various top business applications and other types of IT tools, such as web services and command line interfaces A form designer that helps in developing input forms A process monitor for reporting and viewing processes as they work The workflow engine is a service-oriented application, so it works with web services and it can be exposed as a web service. Many customers wonder whether CA is trying to provide a run book automation (RBA) solution. A central element of RBA is the ability to automate documented procedures typically used in a data center and to manage these procedures with checks, balances, and actions. Workflow is a core function of most RBA solutions, and many RBA solutions also include integration with job scheduling or a rudimentary job scheduler embedded in the product. CA wants to provide customers RBA capability, as well as IT Process Management.

8 Page 8 of 10 CA Workload Automation Architecture CA Workload Automation is a full-blown IT process automation solution, and it provides process, script, job, and batch automation across the enterprise. Figure 3 shows the basic architecture of the product. CA WORKLOAD AUTOMATION ARCHITECTURE FIGURE 3 Workload Control Center One of the core components of the CA Workload Automation solution, as shown in Figure 3, is management and control. This component is known as the Workload Control Center (WCC), which is a management application that provides insight into all the processes that are running in the environment, configuration information, job definitions, and monitoring. It is based on an enterprise portal. All the tools incorporated in the WCC can be plugged into the whole management console and allow customers to manage everything from a holistic approach. Users can also take a role-based view, so it is not only a tool for the power user. WCC delivers the workflow capability and provides enterprise reporting. Automation Engine The second core component of the architecture shown in Figure 3 is the automation engine. This component controls the job scheduling, event processing, job definitions, resource monitoring, and resource management. Surrounding the automation engine in Figure 3 are boxes containing the Workload Automation enablers or workload agents that provide the key components for distributing a workload within an environment.

9 Page 9 of 10 Integration with Other Scheduling Environments The Workload Automation solution also provides integration with other types of scheduling environments, such as SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft. CA s solution integrates with the embedded schedulers in those environments in order to drive the defined work from a central location. Workload Control Center and the Workflow Engine The WCC is an enterprise management application that is included with the overall solution. It is a single point of access into a Workload Automation environment. The WCC includes all the tools to design, define, and manage the workload, and it includes enterprise reporting. It also includes the workflow management environment, role-based security, and access control. The WCC can manage a distributed Workload Automation solution or can manage a mainframe-based Workload Automation Solution. Figure 4 shows the main interface. WORKLOAD CONTROL CENTER FIGURE 4 CA Workload Automation includes both workflow management capabilities through its integrated workflow technology and advanced scheduling through its enterprise task scheduling engine. CA Workflow and CA Workload Automation are both software services. The web services approach within the Workload Automation solution includes many opportunities for integration and provides almost unlimited capabilities to automate many processes. For instance, workflow processes can invoke jobs that are defined within the Workload Automation Engine.

10 Page 10 of 10 Conclusion Process automation is an important capability for the data center today. In job scheduling environments, CA provides advanced automation capabilities and allows the process and procedures to be integrated with traditional job scheduling. CA also provides the ability to integrate many tasks that include both IT users and business users, providing a more logical and business-oriented view of workload processes managed by traditional job scheduling products. CA provides extended capabilities for users to address integration requirements, standardization of procedures, and compliance initiative in the data center through the combination of workflow and Workload Automation. To learn more about the CA Workload Automation architecture and technical approach, visit