The Cost of Managing IBM i Without Automation

The Cost of Managing IBM i

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With and Without Automation

How Automation Influences Everyday Decisions at All Levels

© HelpSystems. Company Confidential. 2

Your Hosts

Chuck LosinskiDirector of Automation Technology

HelpSystems

Broadcasting live from Eden Prairie, Minnesota USA

Tom HuntingtonExecutive Vice President of Technical

SolutionsHelpSystems


Labor

Hardware purchases/leases

Utilities/Telcomm

Software licenses

Cost Control and Budgeting


• Labor• Scalability and resource utilization• Automating outside IBM i• Security, BI, and HA• Outsourcing• Interview with John Dunn at Lamps Plus• Automation is a journey• Case studies

Concerns


Labor Concerns

• What is your vision for your team?Is your team onboard?

• Your business is expanding, but not your IT budget

• Frustration, quality of life, burnout, firefighting

• Turnover, retraining, loss of experienced employee resources


Labor Focus without Automation

• Hire more operations staff• Retraining new staff• How do we handle vacations or

holidays• Sick time• How are new tasks deployed• IT audit reporting


Labor Benefits with Automation

• Empowers staff to think about the business rather than mundane tasks

• Process documentation• Stable staffing level• Staff education and training• Reduced need for off shift• Minimize on call• Job satisfaction• Better quality of life


Resources and Scalability Concerns

• As business increases, so does staff• Hard to find qualified people• Always looking at increasing hardware

spend • ITOA – IT Operations Analytics• Audits• Inter-platform politics


Resources and Scalabilitywithout Automation

• Difficulty with inserting new tasks• Lag time between events• Unpredictable and inconsistent• Manual checklists, runbooks, and cheat

sheets• Requires more staff• Negative impact on development• Impacts IT improvement plans


Resources and Scalabilitywith Automation• Automation scales• Improves deployment• Easier to provide audit data• Predictable and consistent• Tasks are more event driven• Better utilization / no dead time

between steps• Get more out of what you already

own• Makes planning easier


Enterprise Workflow Concerns

• Sharing data between systems and monitoring file transfers is critical– Document storage– Point of sales– Data Warehouse– FDIC required data

• It’s no longer IBM i – those “other” systems are critical• DIY IT – your end users want raw data

– (Think accounting/finance)• Timing can be critical• Inter-platform politics


• Timer jobs• Dummy files to trigger events• Problem determination difficulty• Rescheduling due to holidays or system downtime • Change control approval is complicated

Enterprise Workflowwithout Automation


• Single enterprise scheduler• SLAs are built into the automation• Notification and escalation are built-in• DIY IT – your end users want raw data

– (Think accounting/finance)• Timing can be critical• Think event-based

Enterprise Workflowwith Automation


Security, BI, and HA Concerns

• Automation is not just the night processing• Automate security/audit reports and run at off hours• Automate BI data transfers and reporting reactive to

nightly/weekly/monthly• HA role swap is way too manual• Data security group forgets about automation


Security, BI, and HAwithout Automation

• IT audits are time consuming• Data is gathered manually• BI end users running heavy duty during peak hours• HA role swap is very command driven


Security, BI, and HAwith Automation• Audit reports are distributed automatically• No IT involvement, direct to auditor – self service auditing!• Minimal BI data transfer latency• HA role swap is consistent – no forgotten steps• Easier to make incremental improvements


Outsourcing ConcernsBuilt-in is Best

• Aren’t going to address application automation needs• Aren’t going to address application message handling• Maintain status quo• Specialize in:

– Monitoring– HA and backups– Software / hardware upgrade


John DunnIT Operations Manager, Lamps Plus


Automation Is a Journey

• Do you have the tools and skills?• What else can be automated in the organization?• Be an automation analyst/manager• Put automation into your job description


Recap

• Labor costs• Scalability and resource utilization• Automating outside IBM i• Security, BI, and HA• Outsourcing won’t help• Automation is a journey• Case studies


What IT Problems Do We Solve?• Enterprise Scheduling and Business Process Automation

– IBM i, AIX, UNIX, Linux, Windows

• Monitoring (IBM i, Linux, AIX, Windows)• Security and Compliance (IBM i, AIX, Linux)• BI and Data Warehouse (IBM i)

– Modernize your data access

• Document Life Cycle Management– Electronic forms, signature, work flow, distribution

• Network Monitoring• Backup and Recovery (IBM i)• SLA issues


Contact Information

Thank you for attending!

Chuck Losinski, HelpSystems+1 [email protected]

Tom Huntington, HelpSystems+1 [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

The Cost of Managing IBM i Without Automation

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