The Cost of Managing IBM i
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With and Without Automation
How Automation Influences Everyday Decisions at All Levels
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Your Hosts
Chuck LosinskiDirector of Automation Technology
HelpSystems
Broadcasting live from Eden Prairie, Minnesota USA
Tom HuntingtonExecutive Vice President of Technical
SolutionsHelpSystems
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Labor
Hardware purchases/leases
Utilities/Telcomm
Software licenses
Cost Control and Budgeting
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• 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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• 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
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• 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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John DunnIT Operations Manager, Lamps Plus
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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
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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
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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
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Contact Information
Thank you for attending!
Chuck Losinski, HelpSystems+1 [email protected]
Tom Huntington, HelpSystems+1 [email protected]
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