Stable, Safe, and Secure A-AUTO Provides A Smooth Transition To Excellent IT Systems Operation

Operating environment
License
Supported platforms
Basic license
Mainframe
UNIX
Linux
Windows
z/OSMSPXSPVOS3
AIXSolarisHP-UXMP-RASSolaris10x86
RedHatTurboLinuxz/LinuxSUSE Linux
Windows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003
Remote license
UNIX
Linux
Windows
AS400
OS400
Mainframe integration
Mainframe
UNIX
Linux
Windows
z/OSMSPVOS3
ERP interface
A-AUTO/Server
A-AUTO/WebClient
A-AUTO/Reports
Excellent IT operations management system designed for mission-critical application

Enables standardization of systems operation and IT application control through job management
on various platforms
Ver7.1
Stable, Safe, and Secure

A-AUTO provides a smooth transition to excellent IT systems operation
SAP R/3
AIXSolarisHP-UXWindows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003z/Linux
BW interface AIXSolarisHP-UXWindows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003z/Linux
Oracle EBS AIXSolarisHP-UX
Windows Server 2003Windows Server 2008
Internet Explorer 6/7
Windows 2000 ServerWindows Server 2003Windows XP
* Supported platforms differ depending on the versions of A-AUTO. Please consult your sales representative for the latest information.
For inquiries, please contact to:
BSP, Inc.
Head Quarters
Osaka Oce
Nagoya Oce
Fukuoka Oce
Sapporo Oce
Shinagawa Intercity A-29, 2-15-1 Kounan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-6029, Japan

Tel: +81-3-5463-6381 Fax: +81-3-5463-6392
Konishi-Nissei Bldg., 4-12-12 Minami-Senba, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 542-0081, Japan
Tel: +81-6-6245-4595 Fax: +81-6-6245-4186
Suzuki Bldg., 4-17-4 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi 450-0002, Japan
Tel: +81-52-561-6808 Fax: +81-52-533-0266
Hakata-higashi Honey Bldg., 2-2-2 Hakataeki-higashi, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka 812-0013, Japan
Tel: +81-92-437-3200 Fax: +81-92-437-3232
2-6-6 Shimonopporo Techno Park, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido 004-0015, Japan
Tel, Fax: +81-11-775-4242
BSP Solutions Incorporated

Head Quarters
a-auto.com
www.bsp.jp
www.kaizen-ikasu.com
Shinagawa Intercity A-29, 2-15-1 Kounan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-6029, Japan

Tel: +81-3-6718-2120 Fax: +81-3-6718-1650
BSP (Shanghai), Inc.

Head Quarters
11E Qianjiang Tower, 971 Dongfang Rd, Pudong, Shanghai

Tel: +86-21-50588268 Fax: +86-21-50588218
* A-AUTO is a registered trademark of BSP Incorporated.

* All company names and product names in this brochure are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
* The information presented in this brochure is subject to change without prior notice.
The BSP Group supports those in IT systems operation

BSP Inc . 2009 .01
a-auto.com
A U T-0 9 0 1 -0 9 0 8 -1 0 0 0 -3
Overview of A-AUTO
A-AUTO, a BSP product, is a job management tool that controls the order and execution times
of jobs. Released in July 1977, it has been used by numerous companies for over 30 years.
It makes your job management

easier and more flexible
A-AUTO is a job management tool that runs on various platforms, including mainframe,
Unix, MS Windows, Linux, and IBM i. It integrates job scheduling automatically across
dierent platforms, for various applications, from information systems to mission-critical
systems, providing nonstop job scheduling 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Even when
the workload is at its heaviest, A-AUTO continues its secure progress management and
gives stable support for ecient job management, without requiring additional stang.
Over 900 trusted customers

Over 900 companies have used BSP products or
services, including A-AUTO. Of the 150 leading
companies rated highly by Nikkei PRISM 2008, a
corporate evaluation system, 66 use BSP products
or services.
29 companies
Out of 100
companies
53 companies
Outstanding advantage of A-AUTO
Out of 150
companies
Flexible job scheduling across heterogeneous platforms

A-AUTO integrates job scheduling across heterogeneous platforms, including mainframe,
UNIX, and MS Windows, with complete upward and downward compatibility.
Source: Prepared by BSP, Inc. from data

reported in Nikkei PRISM 2008.
Secure job management based on scheduled date

Reliable execution of batch jobs is essential to the operation of mission-critical
applications. A-AUTO provides secure job management, taking advantage of its longstanding experience, including batch processing on mainframes.
Out of 50
companies
66 companies
Internal control and A-AUTO
Eective for controlling IT applications

A-AUTO keeps a record of every job, to provide proof that batch jobs have been
executed as scheduled.
COBIT* presents an internal control framework for IT, including 34 processes for four domains.
One of those processes, operations management, is dened in section DS13 of COBIT, which
states the requirements of operations management as follows:
A-AUTO integrates the management of all batch processes, including mission-critical

applications, and automatically controls the execution of jobs.
Business Processes
Business
opportunity
Monitoring the IT infrastructure
Receiving
order
Instructions
for shipment
Inventory
clearance
Inventory
adjustment
Demand
forecast
MRP
Manufacturing
instructions
Shipment
Sales
Stocks
Billing
Receiving
payment
Payment
Cash
disbursement
Manufacturing
report
Read-time
information
Placing
order
Arrival of
goods
Maturity model in COBIT/DS13
Production
control
Accounting
Ordering
Inventory
control
JOB2
JOB4
JOB3
are used.
Level 4: Keeping jobs managed and measurable

HR & payroll
Billing
Responsibilities for executing operations are clearly defined, and ownership is assigned.
Any deviations from established norms are quickly reported so that they can be
addressed and, if necessary, corrected. A continuing effort exists to increase the auto-
JOB6
JOB8
JOB9
JOB10
JOB11
To minimize the need for intervention by operators, automated scheduling and other tools
Daily activities can be measured and monitored on the basis of the established service levels.
JOB5
JOB7
Repeatable functions are formally defined, standardized, documented and communicated.
to reduce the number of unscheduled events.
Automated executions of jobs by A-AUTO

JOB1
Level 3: Dening Process
Strict controls are exercised over putting new jobs in operation and a formal policy is used
Acceptance
of goods
Application Systems
Sales
administration
Formulating procedures and instructions for operations

Organize the scheduling of jobs
Receiving
EC order
Quote
Control objective in COBIT/DS13
mation of the process and thus to ensure continuing improvement.

JOB12
JOB13
By keeping track of all these processes, A-AUTO provides IT governance compliant with COBIT.
* COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology) is a formulation of best practices for IT management.
It was started in 1992 by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI), and the first edition was released in 1996.
Renewed screen made available on the web
Simplified transition from development to production
A-AUTO Ver 7.1 integrates job network definition, job network monitoring, and system monitoring into
Because a user can maintain master files in the unit of application group, it simplifies the acceptance
one screen on the web. This is an improvement over the earlier version, which required individual client
of additions and modifications from development environment into production environment.
software for each function.
Multiple job networks can easily be

assigned to a single application
Screen from new Ver7.1
group for various kinds of process-
Screen from previous version
ing, such as maintaining master

files, scheduling, and queuing.
Job network monitoring
Stable operation made possible by load balancing

Thanks to its capability to distribute loads among systems, which is made possible by a new
load-balancing function, system operations can be more stable and job networks can be processed in
a shorter time than it previously could.
A-AUTO monitor
Jobs can be added or deleted on a date preset by
the operator.
Monitoring screen
Job networks
Load balancing function

This function distributes
Advanced capability for large-scale systems
load by selecting a server

among predened servers
whose CPU utilization is
The increased scalability and performance of A-AUTO Ver 7.1 enable it to handle larger amounts of
data and integrated servers. It provides stress-free control of tens of thousands of job networks a day.
Job networks are automatically assigned to a
The new version offers improvements in the speed of job networks initiation and control, so that any
machine with lower CPU utilization.
low, and executing the job

network in that machine.
job operations in an increasingly scaled-up open system can be handled perfectly.
A-AUTO provides excellent

service to large systems
formed by the integration of
servers or caused by increased
amounts of data.
Flexible configuration of job networks

Because the conditions for operating job networks on a server become increasingly complicated, more
detailed and precise functions are required, so that system operators can manage the conditions with
the least burden. For example, one new function uses the return code of the preceding job to
determine which job to process next. This function makes it possible to execute complicated jobs by
changing a setting of the master file, without complicating the script for the batch job.
Jobs can be initiated up to 10 times as fast as with the previous version.
JOB001
Return code
is 0.
JOB002a
Return code
is not 0.
JOB002b
JOB003
The next job can be selected

depending on the return code
of the preceding job.
Standardizing job management
Making job management easy
A-AUTO integrates the management of all batch processes, including mission-critical applications,
and processes jobs automatically without requiring particular attention to the platforms or systems
being used. Since it has proven compatibility with a wide range of ERP software, monitoring tools, and
A-AUTO can be easily operated by almost anyone, without special skills. Therefore, it does not depend
on a particular operator, and makes seamless operation possible, even on a complex system.
clustering software provided by various manufacturers and vendors, your choice of tools is wide open.
Dening a job network

The deni t i on of a j ob
Open mainframe server: IBM zSeries

z/OS
JOB1
UNIX
JOB2
network can be maintained
z/Linux
z/Linux
z/Linux
for z/Linux
for z/Linux
for z/Linux
JOB4
JOB5
JOB6
on t he screen easi l y.
Detailed
JOB7
JOB8
Concurrent
jobs
TM
precise
execution conditions for a

JOB3
job network, including the

preceding job, starting
for Linux
for UNIX
and
t i m e, m axi mum ret urn
JOB10
JOB11
JOB9
JOB13
attributes, and execution

priority, can be specied.
for Windows
IBM System i5
(AS400)
for Oracle E-Business Suite
code, hold and data wait
Windows
Linux
JOB14
JOB12
ABAP
for OS400
for R/3
Modifying a schedule
The operator can view the
Managing jobs by schedule dates
details of a scheduled job

network on the web, and
for overall control of job network
can easily modify the date
for control of the order in which job networks are processed. If for
scheduled for a job network.
A-AUTO operates on two concepts of date: an

processing, and a
some reason a daily job network cannot be processed on its scheduled day, it must be processed on
the following day. Because A-AUTO operates on two concepts of date, the system will process the job
network twice on the following day: the job network for the proceeding day followed by the job network
for the current day. Another benet is that, for IT application control, both the originally scheduled
date for a job network and the date of its actual execution can be clearly recognized.
Change of operation date

Operation date: April 1
Schedule date: April 1
ANET0001
Monitoring progress of
Operation date: April 2
BNET0001
job networks
Information on the execu-
A-AUTO makes it possible to

distinguish the job network
for April 1 from the one for
April 2 although these two
are in the same job network.
tion status of a job network

and i t s precedi ng and
following job networks can
be easily monitored on this
ANET0001
screen.
Automatic e-mail notica-
BNET0001
tion of any failure in the

An e-mail will be sent to a designated
person if any failure occurs during the
processing of a job.
processing of a job network

is also available.
Security management function for internal control
Completely automated procedures, from data arrival to job execution
Scheduling jobs in the proper order is only part of maintaining internal control. Each job must also
When the execution of a job network is to be triggered by the creation or update of external les,
be registered in the master les by an authorized user. With A-AUTO, you can control each user's
A-AUTO's "data wait" function enables you to have the job network wait until multiple conditions have
operation authority to maintain each le. Also it can log any change to the les for audit
been met. A-AUTO/Event monitors the creation or update of the les; when that occurs, it
purposes, and from that log you can conrm that no unauthorized change has been made.
automatically releases the wait conditions set by A-AUTO.

When a le dened for an
event is created or updated,
the data wait conditions are
automatically released.
It can also be triggered by
various kinds of event monitoring, such as message monitoring and process monitoring.
A-AUTO/EventAgent
Screen dening each user's authority to maintain
master les
File monitoring
Arrived
data
When?
Who?
What?
How?
Audit trail log
Arrived
data
Arrived
data
Mainframe integration
Users of A-AUTO for mainframe can integrate job management, with those on A-AUTO for Unix, Linux,
or MS Windows. A-AUTO for mainframe makes possible not only entirely integrated job management,
Test mode function

A-AUTO V7.1 oers a test mode.
Developers can use it to execute
test jobs along the production
but also partial utilization of its functions, focusing only on job dependency and leaving the
management of individual jobs to individual systems.
Only the modied job network is set to be executed
Mainframe centered integration
using the development environment.
environment.
Test mode enables batch libraries
to be dened by job network unit.
ANET0002
Development
libraries
network has been modied, there is

networks in a development environment. Instead, you can use production library and conguration. This
makes through testing easier.
A-AUTO
A-AUTO
A-AUTO/Link
A-AUTO/Connect
Development environment
Therefore, in case a part of job

no need to prepare all the job
Integrated operations - coexistent with Unix/Linux/Windows
Production environment
ANET0001
ANET0002
ANET0003
Production
libraries
Job dependencies
A-AUTO
master les
Job dependencies
A-AUTO
master les
Master les and schedule information

are centrally managed in mainframe.

are managed individually.
A-AUTO/Link
A-AUTO/Connect
A-AUTO basic license

A-AUTO
master les
are managed individually.
A-AUTO with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

Job execution control for R/3
ABAP
Job
Job
A-AUTO provides interfaces with ERP tools
A-AUTO/Mail connects data attached to e-mails sent or received with data processed by applications.
such as SAP R/3 and Oracle E-Business
A-AUTO/Mail makes it possible to automatically extract le(s) attached to email you receive, or
Suite. With its excellent job-scheduling
automatically attach le(s) to e-mail that you send.
functions, A-AUTO manages batch jobs
ABAP
on ERP and controls their execution.

Job execution control for Oracle EBS
Concurrent job
Job
Job
Concurrent job
System conguration of A-AUTO for R/3

Operations management server
R/3 DB server
Mail server
Monitoring
on receipt
of e-mail
Thus A-AUTO makes it possible to connect

jobs on other systems with jobs on ERP,
and thus to standardize the operations
management of all systems.
Application
data
Sending
e-mail
Monitoring received
e-mail and extracting
attached files
Application
data
A-AUTO/Mail
Monitoring arrived files

and sending email with
the files attached
Connection
with
applications
System conguration of A-AUTO for

Oracle EBS (example)
Operations management server

Job execution control
E-mail integration
A-AUTO for R/3
A-AUTO
master le
AUTO R3
denition le
Operations management report
ABAP execution control
*Japanese only
A-AUTO
master le
The A-AUTO/Reports function is provided to meet users' requirements for such tasks as releasing
Job execution control

SAP R/3 system
BW Server
Oracle EBS server
A-AUTO remote license

A-AUTO for R/3 BW
interface option
R/3 AP server
BW InfoPackage
execution control
Job
execution
control
information on scheduled jobs managed by A-AUTO to end users or summarizing master information in
a report so that schedules can be checked in advance.
<Network owchart>
Job for executing

concurrent jobs
A-AUTO for OracleEBS
OracleEBS
Concurrent jobs
On this report the correlation of preceding and following job networks can be
viewed in owchart format.
DWH interface
To build a data warehouse (DWH), data from various sources must be extracted and processed. A de
facto standard software of an ETL tool reduces the workload required for processing and converting
data during system development.
A-AUTO can control jobs created by this tool just as it can control other jobs.
With this interface, Waha!Transformer , works as an automation system of data transformation and
reduces operations management load signicantly for DWH system.
<Schedule list>
On this report, the scheduled dates for
job networks can be viewed in list format.
Database
Hyperion Essbase
IBM Red Brick Warehouse
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle
IBM DB2
etc.
Data
Data
Job
Creation
Edit
Processing
Conversion
Loading
Transfer
Arrival monitoring
Creation monitoring
Integrity check
Recovery
Failure notication
Execution
Monitoring
Recovery
Failure notication
Connection with
applications
ETL tool
Operation tool
* "Waha!Transformer " is a registered trademark of Beacon Information Technology Inc.
10
Facilitating Migration to Open Systems by Use of A-AUTO
Case study: Kobe Steel Ltd.
By sharing information and preparing thoroughly, Kobe Steel's migration team achieved
a smooth, relatively fast transition from its legacy systems to open systems.
Kobe Steel, Ltd. (hereafter "Kobe Steel"), has been a leading iron and steel
System conguration of new accounting system of Kobe Steel using A-AUTO
producer in Japanese and global markets since its foundation in 1905. It holds
KOBE STEEL GROUP
the largest share in various industrial segments, ranging from iron and steel and
welding products (such as steel plates and wire rods) to aluminum and copper,
industrial machinery, and construction machines.
One of its group companies, Kobelco Systems Corporation (hereafter "Kobelco
Systems), provides a variety of IT services, such as consulting, system integra-
Company Name: Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Founded: 1905
wholesale power supply, aluminum and copper
products, machinery, construction machinery,
real estate and other businesses.
planning, and logistics of the products Kobe Steel produces. Kobelco Systems
: http://www.kobelco.co.jp/
also has strength in IT infrastructure solutions, including data center solution.
system that uses BSP's job management software, A-AUTO. This shift took only
about a year. Regarding the project, BSP has recently interviewed Mr. Nobutaka
Koga and Mr. Masahiro Kanto of the IT Planning Department of Kobe Steel and Mr.
Masaki Nakanishi and Mr. Seiji Okubo of the Strategic Outsourcing Group of
Kobelco Systems headquarters.
Migration to IT infrastructure on
the open systems for the next
generation was conducted aggressively
Kobe Steel headquarters is working to

renovate its IT infrastructure by migrating
from its mainframe-based system to open
systems by the end of March 2012. In the
former system environment, every revision
of applicable laws and regulations required
a modication, which entailed high costs
for maintenance. Another major problem
was that the many changes and modications had made the system so complicated
that overall control and management were
dicult.
Taking all this into consideration, the
company determined to place
Mr. Nobutaka Koga

IT Planning Department
Kobe Steel, Ltd.
11
as a core of the
new system, and set a goal to establish
an IT infrastructure that would oer high
availability, low operational cost, and the
ability to adapt exibly to future modications and extensions.
The company launched full-scale discussions for the renovation of the accounting
system in 2006, and began planning and
designing a new system architecture
based on application packages. In April
2007, Kobe Steel set up a test environment and the preparation for the full-scale
development phase started.
A-AUTO was selected for the job management of the new accounting system. Said
Mr. Koga, "Internally developed operation
Mr. Masahiro Kanto

IT Planning Department
Kobe Steel, Ltd.
A-REMOTE/Win
Windows2003
A-REMOTE/Win
A-SUPERVISION
Client
A-SUPERVISION
Client
Job management (Nadahama)

Windows 2003 (back-up)
Windows 2003
(production)
A-AUTO/Client
A-AUTO/Client
Windows 2003 (test)
A-AUTO/Win
A-AUTO/Win
A-AUTO/Win
A-SUPERVISION
Server
A-SUPERVISION
Server
A-SUPERVISION
Server
New accounting system (Nadahama)
Kobe Steel is currently collaborating with Kobelco Systems on the transition of its
project, it began a major shift of the headquarters accounting system to a new
Windows2003
Description of Business: Iron and steel products,
tion, and outsourcing in various areas including product design, production
headquarters' business systems to open systems. In 2006, as a part of the
Headquarters (Shinko building)
Back-up environment of Kobe Steel's SAS (Nadahama)
Windows 2003
(production)
Company Name: Kobelco Systems Corporation
A-REMOTE/Win
Windows 2003
(production)
A-REMOTE/Win
Windows 2003
(production)
A-REMOTE/Win
Windows 2003
(production)
Founded: 1983
Description of Business: Consulting services,
A-REMOTE/Win
design, development, and maintenance for
Windows 2003
(production)
A-REMOTE/Win
Windows 2003 (test)
Windows 2003 (test)
A-REMOTE/Win
A-REMOTE/Win
Windows 2003
(production)
A-REMOTE/Win
business systems and networks, outsourcing

and other services
: http://www.kobelcosys.co.jp/
tools had been used on the mainframe, but

as part of our move to the open systems
we had already adopted A-AUTO to
manage jobs on open systems, such as
those on nancial and HR systems. Our
choice for the new accounting system was
also A-AUTO. Because so far we have
encountered no problems in operations
management, we believe that there is no
reason to install any job management
software other than A-AUTO."
Throughout the project, all of the

team members shared the same
awareness and purpose
In the migration project, the highest

emphasis was placed on establishing the
framework, by preparing thoroughly and
Mr. Masaki Nakanishi

Section Chief
Headquarters Technical Development Oce
Service Business Division
Strategic Outsourcing Group, Department I
Kobelco Systems Corporation
Mr. Seiji Okubo

Headquarters Technical Development Oce
Service Business Division
Strategic Outsourcing Group, Department I
Kobelco Systems Corporation
selecting the team members carefully. It

was very important to ensure that all of
those involved in the project would achieve
a consensus and a common awareness in
the transition process.
"The project was expected to involve 100
to 200 members at the peak period," said
Mr. Nakanishi. "We believed that it would
succeed only if all members united their
eorts. Because we prepared as carefully,
and devoted all of the time and eort
needed, the system development was
completed in about six months." Mr.
Nakanishi commented.
The hardest part of the development was
to validate the output from the new
system. They needed to be compared
every day against the output from the
current system. All these checks required
much time and patience. Having them
done by a single sta member could easily
have led to mistakes or low performance,
and the validation would have taken two or
three months. Therefore, the project team
developed a procedure by which the
workload was shared by multiple sta
members, in cooperation with operation
sta of the old system.
Reecting on the diculties he faced, Mr.
Kanto said, "A-AUTO was adopted in the
expectation that it would work as an
eective tool for job management covering
the interface processing between multiple
systems. We needed some eorts to

control EAI tool. At the beginning of the
project, we did not plan to have a test
environment for A-AUTO but we ended up
to set up one and tested job scheduling
carefully before going into the production."
The support services provided by BSP
made a large contribution to the success
of the project. Mr. Okubo rated BSP's
services highly, commenting, "When I sent
an e-mail to my BSP contact asking
questions on something I did not understand, I received a prompt reply within 20
to 30 minutes. Thanks to the quick, kind,
and complete responses to my e-mails, I
was able to bring the project forward
smoothly without delaying the validation
processes.
With the best formation of the

team, successful migration of the
system was nally completed.
In April 2008, the project was about to

switch over to the production phase. This
was the nal stage of the project, allowing
no mistake. To migrate all the data for the
full-year nancial closing to the new
system, Kobe Steel planned to process its
nancial data on the old system up to the
account-closing transactions for the term
ending March 2008, and therefore, keep
the old system operating even after the
cutover of the new system. That means
that two systems would be running in

parallel.
The migration process was tackled by a
carefully chosen team, in which the operation and development sta of the old
system collaborated closely with the
project team. As the project was handled
mainly by people fully familiar with both
systems, operations of the new system
after migration went smoothly. This was
the key to the success of the migration.
In May 2008, the complete migration to
the new accounting system was nished in
a short time, without any major problem. It
was an excellent accomplishment. Its
success was due to the careful and
detailed making of plans and selection of
team members, and the enthusiastic
eorts of all of those involved.
With this project successfully completed,
Kobe Steel is now working on a second
one, scheduled for completion in April
2010. The next goal is to standardize the
format of all data connections among the
companies in headquarters. This will lead
to the integration of the systems of all of
these companies, and ultimately that of
the entire Group. The challenges of Kobe
Steel and Kobelco Systems are far from
over, but past performance makes success
seem assured.
12
Using BSP A-AUTO for unied management of jobs on a

mainframe and on open systems
NSK Ltd. (hereafter "NSK"), which holds the largest share of the Japanese
ball-bearing market and a leading share globally, maintains a decentralized
global data center system for business transactions in three areas in the world.
It uses either a mainframe system or open system servers, depending on the
kind of applications being processed. This IT environment makes job scheduling
a formidable challenge.
The operation team put the priority on integrating operations management by
use of a common tool. Since the company was already using A-AUTO for its
mainframe, the introduction of a dierent tool would have not only raised diculties in stable and secure operations of the system, but also increased costs
and labor.
After thorough discussions, NSK chose to use BSP's A-AUTO for job scheduling
on both mainframe and open systems. This method made it possible to monitor
jobs on both systems from a single console. By maintaining the same level of
operating load even while new application systems were added on the open
system, it eliminated the need for additional operators and sta members.
Integration of the mainframe and

open system was required for job
scheduling
NSK is a leading company not only in the

ball-bearing market but also in other areas,
such as automotive products, precision
machinery products, and advanced electronic
motors. Since it rst entered the overseas
market in the 1960s, the company has
grown to a literally global enterprise, with
sales oces in 24 countries and manufacturing sites in 12 countries. Its global data
centers are distributed in the three sites,
each of which provides information processing services to the area it has responsibility for.
Because of its early start on promoting
computerized systems, NSK has both
mainframe and open system servers, and
currently uses the mainframe or open
system selectively depending on the type of
transactions. In 1998, after the job scheduling system developed internally for the
Mr. Makoto Moriya

Director
Network Solutions Department
Corporate Planning Department
NSK Network and Systems Co., Ltd.
13
mainframe had been used for over 20 years,

it was replaced with A-AUTO. This was a
major shift. Since then, operation standards
based on A-AUTO have been developed and
steadily implemented.
The open system was introduced for le
servers and email servers around 1993
and has been used extensively in systems
for human resource and production control.
At the time, NSK was aiming to downsize
its system; its goal of eliminating the
mainframe led to the rapid expansion of
the open system.
Even after the full launch of the HR system
and the production control system, job
scheduling had to be managed by a development team. The unusual operation structure
ended continuing for a long time. Reecting
on those days, Mr. Makoto Moriya, Director
of Network Solutions Department and
Corporate Planning Department of NSK
Network and Systems Co., Ltd. (hereafter
"NSK Network and Systems"), a subsidiary of
Mr. Hideyuki Konuma

Manager
Case study: NSK Ltd.

System conguration of new systems with A-AUTO
Sales system
Company Name: NSK Ltd.

Founded: November 8, 1916
Description of Business: NSK Ltd. holds the
largest share in ball bearing sector in Japan
and now oers a full range of bearings and
sells them worldwide. Its business covers
other areas including automotive products,
precision machinery and parts, and mechatronics products. Aggressively expanding its
business operations to overseas in 1960s,
the company has 70 overseas sales oces in
24 countries, 37 overseas production sites in
12 countries, and 25,069 employees globally,
as of March 31, 2008.
L: http://www.nsk.com/
NSK, said, "Since our operation standards

were based on A-AUTO, any application
systems on the open system could not run
on our operation structure managed by the
operations team because open system had
not adopted A-AUTO." As an alternative,
"Another method, such as the implementation of unsophisticated job management
software and the scheduled activation of
scripts created by our own people, had to be
applied to each server," said Mr. Hideyuki
Konuma, Manager of the Network Solutions
Department.
A turning point came in 2006, when NSK
determined to employ the IBM zSeries as
the successor of the current mainframe.
The decision was based on the aim of
integrating the mainframe and the open
systems by using both z/OS and z/Linux
and operating them in one box. Taking
account of Mr. Moriya's idea that development and operations should be clearly
separated, it was determined to ocially
Mr. Tatsuo Tezuka

Manager
Operation Services Group
Mr. Shinichi Kikuchi

Operation Services Group
z/OS
z/OS LPAR for

production
(A-AUTO basic license)
Test environment
z/OS Test LPAR
A-SUPERVISION server
z/Linux
A-SUPERVISION
server license
Linux LPAR
Linux LPAR
(A-AUTO remote license)
Financial system
Test environment
Monitoring terminal
Linux LPAR
Linux LPAR
(A-AUTO remote license)
Linux LPAR
Linux LPAR
UNIX LPAR
A-AUTO was selected as a common

tool because of its stable and
secure operation and cost-saving
eect
At the beginning of the new project, the

question was what job scheduling software
should be selected for operations management. "As a precondition for assuming
responsibility for the applications on open
systems, our operations team put the
highest priority on using one common tool
for the operations," said Mr. Tatsuo Tezuka,
Manager of the Operations Services Group
of Network Solutions Department. It was
needed because running multiple job
scheduling tools on the system would have
degraded the stability and security of the
system operations and increased the labor
and cost for operations management.
Two software products were considered for
the project. One was a product of a foreign
vendor, and the other was A-AUTO for
mainframe, A-AUTO for Unix and Linux. In
autumn of 2007, after a careful screening
that took about a year, NSK decided on the
A-AUTO system. Mr. Moriya explained the
choice as follows: "The data centers in
western countries recommended selecting
the foreign vendor's product. However, to
save costs by managing the systems with a
common tool, NSK had to choose: Either it
could migrate the entire job scheduling that
A-SUPERVISION
client license
UNIX LPAR
transfer responsibility for the application

systems running on the open system to the
operations team.
A-SUPERVISION
client license
had been managed by A-AUTO for

mainframe to the foreign vendor's product,
or it could start to integrate newly
developed or installed application systems
into A-AUTO for open systems. Since
migration of the existing job scheduling
system would have been enormously costly
and time-consuming, our only option was to
adopt A-AUTO."
Mr. Konuma, who has been consistently
engaged in the operations control since the
days of depending on the mainframe, said,
"It had taken a year and a half for us to
complete the transition from the in-house
job scheduling system to A-AUTO for
mainframe," and recalled that he had oered
the opinion that "Because I thought that by
applying our experience we could avoid the
enormous expenditure of time and work that
the 1998 migration required, I believe that
A-AUTO should be selected."
Managing all job scheduling with

A-AUTO enabled integrated operations management without requiring additional cost
In September 2007 NSK installed A-AUTO

for its open systems. The implementation of
A-AUTO to IBM zSeries and other open
system platforms was started with the
introduction of new application systems. For
example, job scheduling by A-AUTO on the
sales and nancial systems is currently
managed with the system conguration
shown above. Operators and operation
management sta use the client terminals
A-AUTO
client license
of A-SUPERVISION to do the needed

monitoring and provide instructions for
temporary rearrangement of job scheduling
both on the mainframe (z/OS) and open
system (z/Linux or Unix).
Speaking for all the members of the
operations team at NSK, Mr. Shinichi
Kikuchi in the Operation Services Group
of Network Solutions Department says,
"Since with the new system, job scheduling is processed in the same way on the
open system as on the mainframe, we did
not have to assign new sta." Mr. Moriya,
Director of Network Solutions Department
and Corporate Planning Department,
expressed his view that "When the open
application systems now under development are applied to production environment, we should be able to handle their
operations management without additional
human resources, through full utilization
of operations management tools including
A-AUTO."
Mr. Takanao Miki, President and CEO of NSK
Network and Systems, showed high
appreciation of the BSP product, saying,
"For us, A-AUTO is an essential tool for
stable, safe, and secure system operations.
It is a unique job management tool. I fully
expect the product and the accompanying
services to expand their presence worldwide."
To meet such expectations of BSP customers, BSP is determined to continue striving
for further enhancement of the functions of
A-AUTO products.
14

Stable, Safe, and Secure A-AUTO Provides A Smooth Transition To Excellent IT Systems Operation

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Operating environment

Excellent IT operations management system designed for mission-critical application

Stable, Safe, and Secure

For inquiries, please contact to:

Shinagawa Intercity A-29, 2-15-1 Kounan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-6029, Japan

BSP Solutions Incorporated

Shinagawa Intercity A-29, 2-15-1 Kounan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-6029, Japan

BSP (Shanghai), Inc.

11E Qianjiang Tower, 971 Dongfang Rd, Pudong, Shanghai

* A-AUTO is a registered trademark of BSP Incorporated.

The BSP Group supports those in IT systems operation

It makes your job management

Over 900 trusted customers

Outstanding advantage of A-AUTO

Flexible job scheduling across heterogeneous platforms

Source: Prepared by BSP, Inc. from data

Secure job management based on scheduled date

Internal control and A-AUTO

Eective for controlling IT applications

A-AUTO integrates the management of all batch processes, including mission-critical

Monitoring the IT infrastructure

Maturity model in COBIT/DS13

Level 4: Keeping jobs managed and measurable

Repeatable functions are formally defined, standardized, documented and communicated.

to reduce the number of unscheduled events.

Automated executions of jobs by A-AUTO

Level 3: Dening Process

Formulating procedures and instructions for operations

Control objective in COBIT/DS13

mation of the process and thus to ensure continuing improvement.

Renewed screen made available on the web

Simplified transition from development to production

of additions and modifications from development environment into production environment.

software for each function.

Multiple job networks can easily be

Screen from new Ver7.1

group for various kinds of process-

Screen from previous version

ing, such as maintaining master

Job network monitoring

Stable operation made possible by load balancing

Load balancing function

Advanced capability for large-scale systems

load by selecting a server

Job networks are automatically assigned to a

machine with lower CPU utilization.

low, and executing the job

job operations in an increasingly scaled-up open system can be handled perfectly.

A-AUTO provides excellent

Flexible configuration of job networks

Jobs can be initiated up to 10 times as fast as with the previous version.

The next job can be selected

Standardizing job management

Making job management easy

Dening a job network

Open mainframe server: IBM zSeries

network can be maintained

execution conditions for a

job network, including the

t i m e, m axi mum ret urn

attributes, and execution

for Oracle E-Business Suite

code, hold and data wait