Reinventing Workload Automation with SOA

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REINVENTING WORKLOAD AUTOMATION WITH SOA
ZapThink, LLC y 108 Woodlawn Road y Baltimore, MD 21210 y info@zapthink.com y www.zapthink.com Reinventing Workload Automation with SOA November 2007
REINVENTING WORKLOAD AUTOMATION WITH SOA November 2007 Analyst: Tony Baer Abstract Although typically thought of as an artifact of legacy computing, batch processes remain vital to today's real-time enterprises. Behind the real time systems that power the real time enterprise, such as customer order fulfillment, account management, supply chain scheduling and optimization, or financial trading systems, are regularly-updated back office business systems. Over the years, batch technology has evolved from script-based automation to rules or policy-driven workload automation. By leveraging Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), enterprises can evolve batch workloads from standalone data center operations to components that are intrinsic to composite, Service-Oriented Business Applications. CA's move to extend their AutoSys workload automation product by embracing SOA best practices and Web Services is an important step in transforming workload automation from its roots as an IT operations scheduling aid to a dynamic, business-driven process.
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ZapThink, LLC y 108 Woodlawn Road y Baltimore, MD 21210 y info@zapthink.com y www.zapthink.com Reinventing Workload Automation with SOA November 2007
I. Batch Processes and the Real Time Enterprise During the height of the dot.com bubble, the conventional wisdom was that the Internet was supposed to change everything in business. Although the Internet helped enterprises forge new connections to business partners and customers alike, it did not change the fundamentals of conducting business or managing IT systems. Similarly, today's ascendance of the real time enterprise has not eliminated the need for effective batch processing. Behind the real time systems that power the real time enterprise, such as customer order fulfillment, account management, supply chain scheduling and optimization, or financial trading systems, are regularly-updated back office business systems. Today, batch processes remain essential for one key reason: it is simply not efficient to regenerate a complete forecast or business plan every time the business processes a single event such as an incoming customer order. Real time enterprises do require systems that can support dynamic processes; however, it is best to reserve that capacity for aspects of data or processes for the most volatile high-velocity markets. While the need for Nonetheless, while the need for batch processes hasn't changed, the nature of batch processes batch processing today has certainly evolved. For instance, while scheduled hasn't changed, the batch processes remain relevant for time-related processes such as end-of-nature of batch period reporting, real time enterprises may require more flexibility for adapting to processing today has temporary or permanent market fluctuations, or to planned or unplanned certainly evolved. changes in underlying IT infrastructure. New requirements for managing compliance with increasingly stringent regulatory mandates may dictate the need for policy-driven workflows with the capability for dynamically triggering batch processes when specific scenarios arise. For instance, a Sarbanes Oxley violation might trigger a rollback and new round of updating core financial systems outside of the normal schedule. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) presents enterprises with the opportunity to expose information and processes as self-contai... [download for more]