Automic Workload Automation

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  • 1.  Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Jul 31, 2019 12:05 PM
    Hi.  Can anyone direct me to additional information and/or provide some real world applications to the new Analytics component / functionality that is now included in V12?  We're in the process of planning our upgrade to V12 and while I think it's awesome that it's now included automatically with the product, if this isn't something we're going to use, then I don't want to worry about installing a PostgreSQL db and adding additional servers, etc.  I've been told that this is something that can be added in later, and my focus right now is upgrading to V12 given it is going EOL on 10/31/19.

    From my recollections of V12 in previous conferences (yes 2+ years ago) and talking with people I believe that it's allowing for:
    - Setting SLA's and sending out alerts / notifications if those SLA's are breached.
    - Allow to easily generate reports/charts based off of data from the db.
    - Be able to send links to those reports to users that do not have access to Automic.

    If anyone else can provide confirmation of that and/or any other features that are included - that'd be helpful.  Thanks.

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    Enterprise Scheduling Lead
    Takeda
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  • 2.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Jul 31, 2019 12:40 PM
    Following.

    We are in the same boat.  We already decided to skip analytics for now.  But I was also operating under the assumption that it was not needed for the new SLA feature.

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    Pete (AE V11.2)
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  • 3.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Aug 01, 2019 09:28 AM
    Hey Laura,

    The SLA/SLO engine is part of V12 via the JWP.

    Analytics will give you basic historical dashboards at first, abends end_ok etc.  SLA achievement is tracked as well.  Additionally you can chart variables from process assembly.  This allows you to do almost whatever you want (imagine what you can put in a static vara with the library of dynamic variables in automic.)

    It has limitations, mainly the charts are based on midnight UTC instead of your timezone.  There is an actionpack in marketplace for postgres maintenance, including dashboard emails.

    The requirements for the Postgres database size are vastly inflated.  I am currrently planning on installing our dev analytics on our dev ae server.  Prod I will probably get a dedicated 8Gig postgres server.

    You can upgrade to 12 without it.

    Good Luck,

    Scott


  • 4.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Aug 01, 2019 04:48 AM
    ​Hi.

    We have also decided not to install Analytics at this time, one reason for this is us not wanting to maintain an additional PostGreSQL database.

    Here are some bits I know about Analytics. Some of it is hear-say, so take it with a grain of salt.

    • it's optional

    • you might need it if you want in on certain advanced telemetry or customer focus group programs
    • I think this shows off some of it's features. Even though it says "Automic Web Interface" I think some or all of these widgets actually come with Analytics (but didn't double check):

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmsMPb8ysC8

      (Video even with a real disembodied voice this time, not the voice of the disembodied robot ...)
    • I once heard that Analytics is only free in a base version, and that there are advanced features that require an additional license, and saw some license category stuff backing that claim up somewhere. So you might want to check up on that before committing.

    Best,
    Carsten


  • 5.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Aug 01, 2019 09:33 AM
    Hi Laura,

    We have the same situation. We also decided not to install Analytics in the first place because of the additional database.

    According to my information, one function that requires Analytics is the Cockpit replacement. If you are currently using cockpit objects, you should consider implementing analytics (or think about replacing the cockpit objects).

    Kind regards
    Tim

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    Automation Evangelist
    Fiducia & GAD IT AG
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    Mitglied des deutschsprachigen Automic-Anwendervereins FOKUS e.V.
    Member of the German speaking Automic user association FOKUS e.V.
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  • 6.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Aug 01, 2019 09:44 AM
    The cockipits are replaced via the vara to grid / vara to chart in 12.x  Licensing on that is a bit vague (I think in 12.3 you get it all but in 12.2 vara to chart was licensed).  Vara to grid was a dashboard widget that would translate a static vara into colored text.  Vara to chart allowed dynamic variables to be dashboarded.

    https://docs.automic.com/documentation/webhelp/english/ALL/components/DOCU/12.2/AWA%20Guides/help.htm#Analytics/ANOP_User/Use_Cases/VARAtoChart_Static/VARAtoCHART.htm%3FTocPath%3DUsing%2520AWA%7CUsing%2520Analytics%7CAnalytics%2520and%2520Reporting%2520for%2520External%2520Data%7CUse%2520Cases%2520and%2520Examples%7C_____1


  • 7.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Aug 01, 2019 10:13 AM
    Hi Laura!

    I've got Analytics up and running, although I'm not yet using SLAs. I'm not entirely sure if anyone is interested here. 

    I have a couple of things I learned while getting Analytics up and running:
    • When I upgraded to v12.0, I used the "One Installer". It installed everything necessary, including Analytics, except PostgreSQL didn't install correctly. I ended up removing the version that came with the v12.0 (possibly v9.6.) Alex had me install v10.4. which installed easier and much cleaner. 
    • You may have to request a new license because it wasn't included before v12 and you'll need it for the pieces of Analytics. 
    • When configuring it, there's a lot of back and forth between Analytics\backend\application.properties and Tomcat \webapps\awi\config\plugin.properties to get it all talking,
    • I'm finding it very useful for pulling metrics on the fly and checking things like load-balancing between agents, Weekly and YTD stats, etc. 
    • I love that I can send a link to management so they don't have to log in. However, I've found that some times the dashboards don't load fully and you have to refresh a couple of times to see each widget.
      • The coolest thing is that you can drill into the dashboards sent via URL e.g. if your dashboard has a bar chart with the day's total jobs run, and there are failures, you can click on the day's totals and apply a filter to break that day down further by hour, and hovering will give you a count. 
          
    • I haven't used the action packs that come with the image. I'm just setting up my own dashboards for whatever I need immediately, and everything I have so far is pretty rudimentary, but will dig into that in the future. 


    I hope that helps. Let me know if I can help in any way... I'd love the opportunity to return any of the pearls of wisdom you've shared through the years!

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    [Designation]
    Sr. Systems Analyst
    UniFirst Corporation
    [City]
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  • 8.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Aug 02, 2019 06:15 AM
    Hi Laura, 
    you can find some more additionally information also here

    https://philippelmer.com/new-analytics-features-v12-2/

    I use analytics too and I think especially for operating it is a very useful enhancement.

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    Thx & rgds
    Christian
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  • 9.  RE: Analytics piece in V12

    Posted Aug 05, 2019 11:57 AM
    Thanks everyone for replying - very interesting information!  We've decided to proceed with implementing this, so hopefully I'll have more to share in the coming months.  I'll be sure to get more info on the licensing aspect - so thanks for that heads-up.

    @Scott.Hughes - I didn't understand what you meant about charting variables from process assembly - if you could provide a little more detail / explanation that'd be great.  Also, I found the sizing of the PostgreSQL db to be really high as well - thanks for your comment.



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    Enterprise Scheduling Lead
    Takeda
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