Conversion to

UC4 Operations Manager

Introduction
UC4 Workload Automation Suite is IT process automation
software that can be used to integrate and accelerate enterprise
workload across your existing IT landscape. The suite includes
two modules - UC4 Operations Manager and UC4 Applications
Manager. UC4 Operations Manager is designed to address the
most complex data center automation needs while UC4
Applications Manager delivers advanced process management
and integration of business application workload. Each module
offers unique functionality specific to the environment in which it
is used.
This document describes the proven Rapid Results Conversion
process employed by UC4 Software to ensure a managed risk
and smooth transition from your existing scheduling tools to UC4
Operations Manager.

From Miracles to Structured, Centralized Processing................. 2

Process ............................................................................. 2
Automated Migration Routines .............................................. 4
Integration into System Landscape........................................ 4
Sample Project Plan ............................................................ 4
Conclusion ......................................................................... 5

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The motives to implement UC4 Operations Manager are many. There are, however, existing applications at work
in any existing data center. If it isnt broke, dont fix it! an axiom that often rules the data center mind-set,
forgetting that you have to fix many routine issues on a daily basis within your existing legacy systems causing
a substantial manual workload.

From Miracles to Structured, Centralized Processing

Data centers have transformed dramatically. Business and technology requirements are changing rapidly,
catalyzing the need to replace legacy job schedulers with limited application and platform support, restricted
scalability or missing 24x7 operations, by a sophisticated standard solution such as UC4 Operations Manager.
However, migrating from legacy schedulers like CA-7, Control-M, OPC/TWS etc., often seems to be too
challenging and undertaking, so compromises are made to retain legacy systems. For enterprises wishing to
convert to UC4 Operations Manager a variety of solutions are available. Conversion routines exist for almost any
combination of systems and scheduling tools. Our specialists from the UC4 Services Organization perform any
possible permutation of conversion according to your individual needs.

Process
The time needed for converting legacy systems greatly depends on the individual system configuration. Once
detailed information regarding the customers existing scheduling systems has been gathered and analyzed, the
UC4 Services Organization builds a project plan and creates a conversion proposal.
The conversion itself is performed as a team effort between the UC4 Services Organization and the customer.
The conversion process is similar for all system and
scheduling solutions and comprises five key phases:

Conversion workshop

Scheduler definition analysis

Rapid results conversion

UC4
Operations
strategy workshop

Ongoing conversion support

Manager

deployment

During conversion it is very important to keep the

production processes stable. Therefore conversions
are usually performed in modular steps. The job
numbers converted in each step depend on the
systems overall size. Smaller systems can be
converted all at once, but for larger systems with
thousands of jobs a successful conversion is a more
modular step-by-step process.
Phase I: CONVERSION Workshop
The conversion workshop ensures the success of a
conversion project and covers the following topics:

Figure 1: Replacing legacy schedulers with one

enterprise-wide workload automation solution.

Roles and responsibilities of team members

Knowledge of old scheduling environment (production control, operator, administrator, programming

personnel, security administrator)

Knowledge of UC4 (standards and rules, conversion rules)

Scheduler related assessment

Identify typical flows

Identify interfaces

List all scheduler related products

Identify features to automate the script

Identify manual interventions

Identify the change management

Identify which jobs are obsolete (have never run, not run since certain date etc)
2

Conversion strategy

Define UC4 standards, such as naming conventions, application/folder structure

1:1 conversion or re-design during conversion

Identify options for conversion routine

Identify conversion packages / pilot package

Best practice for the interface between two schedulers in production

First draft of project schedule

Conversion proposal

Phase II: Scheduler Definiton Analysis (Offsite)

Definitions are not simply copied into the UC4 system. Rather, they are analyzed to determine the optimal
method for the conversion. The phase starts with analysis of the current scheduling environment, which is
accomplished by using standard reports from the existing scheduling product. To eliminate manual conversion
work, the conversion routine will be enhanced and adjusted in accordance with the customers standards and
needs. A list of suggestion to solve all cases where the automatic conversion process does not cover all
scheduling definitions will be created. The result of the phase will determine the time and scope of the conversion
project.
Phase III: Rapid Results CONVERSION
For large conversions it is recommended to start with a pilot conversion. The amount of jobs in the pilot should
be limited and should reflect the typical way of working with the existing scheduler.
The pilot has following goals:

Proof of conversion tool

Conversion knowledge transfer

o

Conversion methodology

Practical application

Creation of any newly required

objects, such as Alerts or Events

Simulation of converted jobs

o

Run dummy jobs and compare

result with the old scheduler

Figure 2: Typical migration process

Testing of converted jobs

o

Abend procedures

Notifications

File triggers

Interface to old scheduler

Newly implemented UC4 features

Creation of interfaces / custom exits

Creation of custom reports

Promotion of migrated jobs (if applicable)

One of the key goals throughout this phase is the transfer of knowledge to the customers personnel, which is
critical to a successful conversion.
Phase IV: UC4 Operations Manager Deployment Strategy Workshop
This workshop covers the following topics:

Review of Rapid Results Conversion

Conversion plan for remaining jobs

Rollout plan for remaining environments

Documentation of the workshops results

Phase V: Ongoing CONVERSION Support

Ongoing conversion support can take many forms from onsite assistance to workshop type intermittent
meetings. Typical tasks during the ongoing support include modification of the conversion tool or the assistance
with manual conversion of objects or customized tasks.

Automated Migration Routines

UC4 Software provides automated migration tools for the following schedulers:

ASG: ZEKE

BMC: Control-M

CA (CA-7,
Jobtrac)

IBM: TWS (Maestro, OPC)

ORSYP: Dollar Universe

Redwood: Cronacle

Unix: Cron

Home-grown scheduling tools

Others (Cron, Bagjas, APX, etc.)

CA-Scheduler,

Autosys,

TNG,

The general process of the migration is described

below:

Figure 3: Integration into the system landscape

Generate several reports from the old scheduler

Translate the data into UC4 compatible format (scheduler definitions e.g. jobs, parameters, calendar;
customer specific adjustments e.g. naming conventions; and other customization)

Create an UC4 import file (transport case)

Load the objects into the UC4 system (test environment)

Integrate the objects into the system landscape

Integration into System Landscape

Usually customers develop their own solutions based on the existing schedulers interfaces. For obvious reasons,
such solutions will cease to work during a migration and new solutions have to be created. For example a Perl
script that reads out storage-pools from a TSM database and creates the housekeeping process for each storage
pool every day, using the schedulers command line interface / APIs, will become one process in UC4 which you
can pass parameters to.
UC4s extensive experience with conversion makes those manual adjustments easy and controls the overall risk
of the migration. Our conversion team is comprised of experts in the field of scheduling with many years of UC4
experience and can draw on many previously created template solutions.

Sample Project Plan

Below is an example of a typical conversion
project. The project plan is defined as a team effort
between UC4 and the customer. Factors
determining duration and degree of automation
are:

Complexity

Customizations

External interfaces

Follow-up strategy (UC4 / customer)

Figure 4: Sample of conversion project plan

Conclusion
Many factors catalyze the decision to migrate an existing job scheduler to a sophisticated process management
system such as UC4 Operations Manager.
Initially, this may seem an impossible undertaking, no matter what the benefits promised are. Be assured, with
our extensive professional expertise and years of experience, UC4 specialists can transfer almost any form of
scheduling data and create a modern process management solution with UC4 Operations Manager.
Many successful migrations and satisfied customers prove that it is not only possible to change to UC4
Operations Manager from legacy systems, but also that it shows a real and rapid return on investment.
BENEFITS

Managed risk due to outstanding migration experience

Faster ROI than doing it by yourself

Full enterprise-wide process management, integrating all applications and platforms

Unlimited scalability, thanks to state-of-the-art software architecture

Centralized process management and control

Future-proof application environment from dedicated software vendor

Reduced maintenance and training costs

Increased reliability of workload processing

www.uc4.com