Cronacle

Event-Driven and Dynamic Process Automation

Enabling the Real-Time Enterprise

A Redwood Software White Paper

Harmonize technology with business

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

What do we mean by 'Real-Time'? 3

The Benefits of Event-Driven Process Automation 3

Cronacle Overview 4

Cronacle Architecture 5

Cronacle Application Connectors 7

Cronacle Supporting the emerging enterprise 7

Enabling the Real-Time Enterprise - A Practical Example 7

Summary 8

Cronacle: Event-Driven and Dynamic Process Automation 2

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Executive Summary
The modern business enterprise is in a state of constant
change. The need to optimize business performance is often
compromised by pressure to reduce costs and adapt to
changing market conditions. The concept of ‘just in time’
delivery has long been a mantra for the manufacturing
industry where parts and materials are scheduled to appear
just at the time that they are needed for the next stage in a
process. This notion is now increasingly applied to the delivery
of information services such as web based purchasing,
telephone enquiry systems, on-line information retrieval and
inter company transactions: the so called ‘now economy’.
Added to this are increasing levels of legislation in many
countries demanding such things as freedom of information,
access to individual data and rapid notification of changes in
commercial status that increase the need for timely access to
information. These changes are creating the climate in which
the ‘real-time enterprise’ needs to become reality if businesses
are to succeed.
At the same time, many businesses also need to maintain their
existing infrastructures and methods to service established
and reliable lines of business that are not as dependent on the
need for immediate access to information. The traditional
background workload that has been the backbone for IT
operations for many years is still very much a part of the IT
landscape, although these too are subject to change such as
decreasing batch windows and increased complexity. With
24/7 global enterprises we now in fact see batch windows
substantially reduced or replaced altogether by near real-time
processing.
The challenge for the IT organization is to somehow adapt to
the increasing demand for information now from both internal
and external influences, maintain the stability of existing
established business processes and often to integrate or fuse
the two to optimize resource and information utilization. This
white paper describes the emergence of the need for real-time,
event driven process automation and how Cronacle was
designed specifically to address these needs.
What do we mean by ‘Real-Time’?
Modern business processes often rely on some sort of trigger
or event to initiate them. For example an event might be a
customer putting a call into a service center to report a fault
with a domestic appliance, an individual accessing a
government web-site to retrieve some electoral information or
a change in the financial status of an organization that
triggers the need for compliance with some legislation. Such
events are often unpredictable due to the nature of customer
demand and interaction; further their parameters are
unknown until they occur. However, common to all is the need
for access to and the processing of timely information. This
concept of being sensitive to the needs of the business and its
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processes at all times is the ‘real-time’ element of such an
environment. Moreover, real-time processing describes the way
in which an enterprise may respond to internal or external
business activity.
The IT infrastructure has to provide rapid access to information
when it is requested. We are not concerned here with the sort
of real-time processing that is typically associated with, for
example, environmental control systems at nuclear power
stations or flight deck systems on an airliner. The real-time
enterprise is concerned with timely response to events or
triggers to provide a level of service that is acceptable to its
customers and ensures the efficiency of the business.
Customers calling a support center to report faults want to
know that their problems are being dealt with and they will
receive a replacement part or a call from an engineer within an
acceptable time. The web user retrieving electoral information
wants reasonable response times to the enquiry with the
required information displayed quickly and without errors.
Similarly the CEO wishing to access financial data to meet
strict statutory compliance deadlines will want to be able to
retrieve that data at short notice, but without impacting on
the day to day operation of the business.
The Benefits of Event-Driven Process
Automation
As we have seen, emphasis is being placed on timely and
accurate response to events for the execution of business
processes. The number and nature of events varies enormously
and they can occur at any time of any day or night, such is the
un-predictable nature of the modern commercial environment.
The action taken in response to an event can become an event
in itself and trigger a subsequent chain of processes. Business
processes are driven by these events with the actions taken
entirely dependent on what the events are, when they occur
and where they originated. The events themselves will be
many and various, some of the more common examples being:
• On-line requests for information and/or web services.
• Inter company or department information exchange
(through EDI): As part of inter-departmental or extended
Supply Chain interaction
• Completion of a specific set of tasks that will result in
subsequent processing, based entirely on the
(unpredictable) outcome of the original tasks.
• Ad Hoc end-user demands
• Order-to-cash processes
• Sarbanes-Oxley compliance processes
• Invoicing & billing
• Consumer and B2B product replenishment
• Metering & RFID
• Etc.
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Real-time business activity is partly a result of the internet and
computer (or information) age. The “always-on” 24/7 global
economy dictates that the speed of fulfillment is often a key
competitive advantage that distinguishes one organization
from another. Those who serve their customers quicker (with
the right product or service at the right time) are often the
leaders.
Moreover, as business process differentiation overtakes the
differentiation of products and services as a key competitive
driver, organizations find that time-to-market is mission-
critical and that real-time awareness and reaction to business
events is essential.
Increasingly due to technology enabled global economics, so
much of the modern business process and when it is required
to execute cannot always be accurately predicted. Because of
this the traditional batch based ‘straight through processing’
approach may not always work. Furthermore it is not always
practical to schedule business activities around the demands
of background processing without one impacting on the
performance or availability of the other. The real-time
enterprise is about providing the means for addressing these
issues whilst meeting overall business objectives. Using events
to trigger processing is one way of managing these issues that
will enable:
• Improved business responsiveness to external events.
• The ability to perform processes based on up to the
minute information.
• A framework for integrating multiple business processes
without the need for radical changes to applications.
• Increased capability to respond to change.
• Better management of process dependencies.
Of course it is not simply a case of implementing a means for
reacting to business events in a given way. It is necessary to
not only manage reaction to these events, but to also manage
the integration of the event-driven process with existing
scheduled or batch processes. Managing the two together
ensures that end-to-end critical system performance is not
compromised. Particularly as organizations embrace enterprise
software applications to help better manage their businesses
it becomes clear that traditional batch scheduled processes
and event-driven processes must be integrated to minimize
performance issues and customer response times. This so
called ‘business process fusion’, will therefore often involve
multiple applications such as SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft and
will usually span many operating system environments
including mainframe, UNIX, Linux and Windows. These
interdependencies must also be managed leading to an
architecture based on the delivery of service levels that are
acceptable to the user or customer.
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Cronacle Overview
Many solutions exist for the traditional straight through batch
job scheduling approach to managing business processes.
These solutions are, typically, based on an underlying
technology that was suitable for the days when organizations
ran heavy overnight batch workloads on dedicated mainframe
processors. The batch approach makes a key assumption: that
there will be some period during the day or night when there
will be sufficient time and system resource to ensure that the
batch work will complete without impacting on-line users. This
technology is not necessarily appropriate for today’s diverse
infrastructures when there is no 100% guarantee that
resources can be idle at the time required for the batch to run.
Additionally, these solutions also tend to work on the concept
of a daily schedule that allows planned jobs or tasks to be
scheduled with specific input parameters during the ‘daily
schedule load’ but which do not easily allow for last minute
(i.e. real-time) changes to the schedule should unpredictable
business activity take precedence.
Cronacle has been designed from the ground up in a different
and unique way to other products. Cronacle is not just a job
scheduling solution; it is a real-time event-driven process
automation solution. The heart of Cronacle is an automation
engine and repository designed to monitor for and react to
business events anywhere in the managed environment.
Cronacle will respond to such events by executing processes
using information passed by the trigger events to ensure that
the processes executed are running in conjunction with up-to-
the-minute data. As well as responding to events, Cronacle can
also raise events that can be used to trigger further processes,
can cause alarms to be raised on a higher level systems
management console (for example via SNMP trap, email or
SMS) or be passed as parameters to subsequent processes.
Automatic load balancing assures optimization of resources
across the network by making sure that tasks are run on
systems that are least utilized. This has the effect of increasing
performance, reducing the time taken for process execution,
reducing contention and often allows organizations to defer
acquisition of additional hardware. Complex dependences
between processes in different applications and operating
system environments can be resolved from a single point of
control.
Capable of running traditional batch schedules as well as
taking the more flexible, dynamic event-driven route, Cronacle
can integrate processes of both types efficiently. Complex and
dynamic calendars can take account of any degree of
complicated time based dependencies to define when a
process can run such that if an event occurs to trigger a
process, it will only run under the appropriate calendar
conditions. Low level integration with key applications such as
SAP, Oracle and web application server environments (e.g. SAP
NetWeaver® and IBM WebSphere) and integration with
systems management frameworks such as Tivoli Enterprise
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Console and HP OpenView provides the assurance that critical
workload is dealt with in the correct manner for the
application environment and that dependencies between
applications can be managed without specialized application
modifications.
With support for all major operating system environments
including Windows, all popular implementations of UNIX,
Linux, IBM z/OS and OpenVMS plus a unique level of support
for Java and J2EE application environments, Cronacle provides
a single administrative console for management and
automation of the entire process environment. By automating
the execution of processes in real-time Cronacle delivers many
benefits to the business such as:
• Reduced execution time for long running job suites: load
balancing processes across multiple systems, immediate
execution of follow on processes and simultaneous
execution of tasks that are not dependent on each other
all help to reduce the overall elapsed time taken for long
running suites to complete.
• Performance improvements delivered through extremely
fast levels of job submission: In benchmark tests Cronacle
has been proved to create, schedule, execute and monitor
in excess of 25 jobs per second on a single process server.
• Simplified management of mixed environments: Because
Cronacle supports all major environments. Management
overheads are significantly reduced through the use of a
Figure 1: Cronacle Architecture
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single console for all process execution. Staff responsible
for operational aspects do not require operating system or
application specific knowledge.
• Reduced manual errors: Automation is recognized as a key
means for reducing the errors that can be associated with
manual intervention.
• Real-time response to business events: By using an event-
driven approach Cronacle is able to respond quickly to
external events that drive business processes. There is no
concept of a daily schedule load with Cronacle so any
process, once defined to the system, can be invoked at any
time even if it has not been run for weeks, months or even
years. When the trigger event occurs, the process will run
with the input information that is relevant now.
Cronacle - Architecture
Cronacle is designed as a distributed architecture consisting of
several components that work together in an intelligent ‘grid’
providing a robust and resilient environment. The key
components are:
• Cronacle Repository
• Cronacle Process Servers
• Client Interfaces
• Application Connectors
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Cronacle Repository
The repository is the heart of Cronacle. This is the engine that
drives the execution of processes through the event
monitoring mechanism and contains all the definitions of the
processes, when they can run, where they can run, under what
event conditions they run, any required resource locks, what
events are raised and so on. Using the concept of re-usable
objects, the repository provides a flexible and extensible
environment for the storage of process related definitions. The
repository resides on a single server in the network and
provides the central point for managing the workload. The
repository server does not need to be a dedicated system and
Cronacle supports all industry standard high availability and
disaster recovery solutions to provide a fully resilient
environment. This ensures that the repository is always
available in event of a primary system failure and guarantees
continued operations. A single repository can manage the
workload for the entire enterprise.
Client Interfaces
Redwood Explorer: Administration of the Cronacle
environment can be performed using several client interfaces.
The main interface used for administration and management
is the Redwood Explorer. This Windows based GUI provides an
easy to use tool for the definition of the Cronacle process
automation environment using familiar point and click
mechanisms. It uses graphical tools to show job chains and
dependencies as they execute, has a real-time console for
monitoring the live workload, provides access to process
output and log files, has graphic diagrams to show in clear
detail the status of complex process chains and shows the
status of monitored events. Job forecasting can also be viewed
in an intuitive diary type interface.

Cronacle Process Servers

Each server that is to be capable of executing business
processes is equipped with a Process Server. This component
communicates with the repository and receives instructions
regarding the processes to execute, when and with what
parameters. It is through the location of process servers on
multiple systems of the same type that Cronacle can execute
automated load balancing. Using a concept of ‘queues’,
Cronacle can be configured such that specific servers can
execute work for a given queue; these servers are all available
to run any job in that queue. Cronacle constantly monitors
system resources on all process servers so that it is aware Figure 2. Redwood Explorer
which are the least ‘stressed’. For example a ‘Production’ queue
could be configured with a group of four Solaris systems all Process Manager for the Web: This very small footprint Java
assigned to that queue. When a production job needs to be based tool provides a valuable interface for remote operations
executed Cronacle can monitor system resources such as CPU enabling access to Cronacle from anywhere that the Internet is
load, paging rates and memory utilization on all process available. Should any runtime errors requiring operator action
servers in the ‘Production’ queue. The process server on which occur, Process Manager for the Web can be used by on call staff
resource usage is lowest would be selected to run the job to alerted by Cronacle that an exception has occurred. They can
balance the workload across the servers and reduce overall then manage recovery remotely by logging on through any
execution time. Further efficiencies can be gained by internet connection.
combining different queues onto the same process servers to
maximize resource usage.

Queues can also be used to configure process servers to only

accept workload of specific types. For example one HP-UX
server could be configured to allow execution of SQL database
enquiries but not operating system commands. Like the
Repository, Cronacle Process Servers deploy techniques to
ensure high availability so that a job will run as long as there is
a process server available of the right environment to execute
the process, irrespective of where it normally runs.

Figure 3. Process Manager for the Web

Cronacle: Event-Driven and Dynamic Process Automation 6

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Redwood Shell: Providing a command line interface for the
execution of Cronacle commands, the Redwood Shell is
available for all process servers. It is located on the process
server host and can be activated on the operating system
command line and in the Redwood Explorer. All Cronacle
Repository objects can be created, altered and deleted using
the Redwood Shell language. The Redwood Shell language
enables you to create SQL-like scripts to easily create complete
process server runtime environments. It can also be used to
export the definitions of all Cronacle Repository objects.
API and CLI: Customized interfaces can be developed using
Cronacle’s extensive set of APIs. This method has been used by
some customers to embed Cronacle into their existing
application environment. This seamless integration has
enabled Cronacle to become an integral part of a custom built
application. Cronacle capabilities can also be invoked via the
Redwood Shell CLI.
Security features in Cronacle provide the facility to define user
roles to grant or restrict access to administrative functions at a
very granular level. Multiple individuals can be assigned to
specific roles, with each role responsible for managing
different parts of the workload. In this way the administrator
can manage who can access which parts of the environment
and what actions they can take against the workload.
Cronacle Application Connectors
Many organizations rely on complex but critical applications
such as ERP. These systems, from vendors like SAP, Oracle and
PeopleSoft, typically provide their own mechanisms for
executing workload but are restrictive and proprietary in
nature. Often these mechanisms will only work for one specific
instance of an application, they will invariably have limited
capability for integration with external alerting and
automation mechanisms and they are unlikely to provide
interfaces for integration with applications from a different
vendor.
Cronacle Application Connectors are specific modules that
provide low level integration with applications to ensure that
background processing carried out inside these applications is
monitored, controlled and managed as part of the wider
enterprise workload. For example background ABAP processes
running inside SAP can be managed by Cronacle so that, on
completion, they can be used to trigger further processes in a
different SAP system, in a different application or outside of
any application environment altogether1. Pre-defined Cronacle
application connectors exist for the most popular corporate
applications but Cronacle can also be integrated into any
custom built application that has interfaces to the outside
world.
1
Please see Redwood Software White Paper Cronacle for SAP solutions for more information on SAP integration.
2
For customer success stories please visit http://www.redwood.com/customers/overview.htm.
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By integrating Cronacle into the application scheduling
environment complex cross application dependencies can be
implemented reducing as much as possible the need for any
manual intervention between systems to progress the
workload through the enterprise. Operations staff require no
specific knowledge of the applications or the diverse operating
systems as they can manage the entire workload from one
point. Data can flow freely between applications ensuring
smooth end-to-end business automation.
Supporting the Emerging Enterprise
As more organizations adopt new, open, standards based
technologies for their application environments, the issues of
integrated automation for business processes become more
complex. Java and J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) are gaining
traction as the development platform of choice for a growing
number of IT organizations. Unfortunately Java, despite having
many advantages as a development and application
environment, does not typically integrate well with non-Java
environments and has very limited native systems
management capabilities. Cronacle addresses these issues
through its Java integration capabilities.
Cronacle uses core event-driven scheduling technology that is
designed to manage and integrate with other Java
applications. Running in its own Java Virtual Machine (JVM) or
inside an existing JVM environment such as SAP NetWeaver®
Web Application Server, IBM WebSphere or BEA Weblogic,
Cronacle complements and enhances the Java environment by
taking advantage of its strengths and providing solutions to
compensate for its shortcomings in handling time and event
based processing. By enabling communication and
dependencies between Java and non-Java workloads, Cronacle
ensures that all aspects of business processing can be
integrated from the mainframe, through UNIX and Windows
to the emerging web and Java based environments that are
becoming increasingly critical.
Enabling the Real-Time Enterprise – A Practical
Example
Because Cronacle was designed from the start as an event
driven management tool it is extremely flexible and can act as
a powerful automation platform for much more than simple
job processing. The constant awareness of and response to
business events makes Cronacle an ideal backbone for the real-
time enterprise. The following example is based on a real
world scenario implemented by a Cronacle customer.2
A major book distributor provides the connection between
publishers and book retailers, packing and shipping some
200,000 books a day to over 1500 bookstores. Each of the
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stores creates a daily file of books that are required from the
distributor. In order to ensure efficient and accurate
distribution of books an automated system was required to
upload orders from each store, generate the order picking list
for warehouse staff and distribute updated catalogue
information to each store.
Cronacle can detect the moment the order files arrive from
each of the remote stores, if an order file is not received from a
store during the designated time period Cronacle raises an
alert. The order information collected from each store is used
as input to the order processing system so that picking lists
are prepared for warehouse staff. Cronacle is also responsible
for managing all updates and reporting jobs that need to run
to provide management information, generate stock orders
from publishers and so on. Timing of such an operation is
critical to ensure accurate and timely picking by warehouse
staff. The real-time efficiency of Cronacle ensures that the
warehouse packing slips for each order are generated at the
same time that the box for a particular store is moving along
the conveyor belt waiting to be filled. Address labels, stickers
and shipping notes are similarly produced to meet the boxes
as they progress through the warehouse to ultimately coincide
with collection by the courier. Should any important job fail,
Cronacle will automatically notify operations staff and can
trigger automatic recovery actions. Through the automation
delivered by Cronacle the distributor can guarantee service
levels to its customers ensuring turnaround of orders within
acceptable timescales.
Because Cronacle is not application or operating system
environment specific it can also be used to manage regular IT
housekeeping tasks such as backup processing. Further
Benefits can be derived by integrating the application
workload with systems tasks. For example, rather than the
backup starting at a given time, make it start as soon as the
production workload has completed – maximizing use of
available time. Integration into systems management
frameworks through SNMP, log messages or automatic
function calls ensures that any failures are highlighted as soon
as they occur. Such integration can go beyond just notification
of failed jobs. Cronacle uses real-time resource monitoring to
track various system metrics on each system in the
environment such as CPU utilization, memory usage and
paging rates. Not only is this information useful for load
balancing, it could also be used to alert operations staff of
Redwood is a registered trademark and Cronacle is a trademark of Redwood Software. SAP®, SAP NetWeaver and all other SAP products and service names mentioned
herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries. All other products or company names mentioned are used for
identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
© Redwood Software 2006.
All rights reserved.
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underlying stress in the environment so that pre-emptive
action can be taken to correct the situation before a failure
occurs.
Summary
Maintaining the balance between support for existing
business processes and the need to adapt to newer
technologies more suited to modern business practices is a
challenge. By implementing an infrastructure that can
integrate both of these environments through intelligent,
event driven automation the IT organization can free up
valuable resources to focus on other aspects of running the
business. Align the automation with the business itself and
the framework is in place for establishing a real-time, business
event driven enterprise focused on the timely and reliable
delivery of goods and services.
Cronacle is designed specifically to operate in this way. Tight
integration with leading applications such as SAP leads to
extensive knowledge of the application environment. Process
execution through the awareness of and reaction to real-time
events allows activity to happen at precisely the right moment,
using the most current information available: maximizing
efficiency and use of available resources.
Through its ability to manage incredibly high levels of
throughput, its resilience in supporting mission critical
systems, the dynamic management of business critical
workload across multiple operating systems and its seamless
integration with key application environments, Cronacle is an
ideal solution for the challenges of integrating the real-time
business environment with existing, established and still
important background processing needs of the enterprise.
About Redwood Software
Founded in 1993, Redwood Software (www.redwood.com)
enables organizations to maximize the value of their IT
infrastructure and business information through effective,
real-time event-driven process automation, job scheduling and
enterprise report management solutions. Redwood has more
than 3100 customer installations worldwide from retail,
manufacturing and financial giants listed on Fortune’s global
list of the worlds 50 largest companies to community
hospitals, universities and other regionally run businesses.
Redwood is a global organization with offices in Germany, the
Netherlands, the U.S., the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
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