Automation Change Control Expert™

(A.C.C.E.)™

User Guide

Version 1.2.1
Arbiter Software LLC is the leading provider of workload automation change management solutions. Arbiter’s flagship
solution - ACCE TM, is an innovative, seamless approach that provides an unparalleled level of end-to-end visibility and
control over all enterprise workload automation changes across multiple environments. The end result is simplified
management and governance, increase visibility and reduced TCO.

Copyright 2010 Arbiter Software LLC. All rights reserved. Arbiter Software, ACCE, the Arbiter and ACCE logos and all
other Arbiter product names and slogans are trademarks of Arbiter Software LLC. Other product names and/or slogans
mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Specifications and product offerings are subject to change without notice.

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Workload Automation Product Reference
 CA Workload Automation AE (AutoSys) R11 SP3, R11 SP4, R11.3

 CA Embedded Entitlements Manager (EEM)

 CA Workload Control Center (WCC)

 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

 Microsoft Active Directory (AD)

 Windows Server 2003/2008

 SQL Server 2005/2008

 Microsoft Internet Explorer

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 Contents
1. Automation Change Control ................................................................................................................. 5
1.1 Change Control ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Benefits ................................................................................................................................................................... 5
1.3 Automation Change Control Expert (A.C.C.E.)™ ..................................................................................................... 6
2. Using A.C.C.E.™ ..................................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Overall System Flow................................................................................................................................................ 8
2.2 Logging In ............................................................................................................................................................ 9
2.3 Home................................................................................................................................................................. 10
2.3.4 Manage a Request ........................................................................................................................................ 20
2.3.5 New Request ................................................................................................................................................. 20
2.3.6 Actions on Job ...............................................................................................................................................21
2.3.7 Search............................................................................................................................................................ 22
2.3.8 Reports..........................................................................................................................................................22
2.3.9 Configuration ................................................................................................................................................ 35

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1. Automation Change Control
1.1 Change Control
To address the increasing demands of a business, Information Technology is required to be
both dynamic and agile. Solutions must now address the needs of the entire enterprise. As
complexity increases, change management plays an important role in managing the
environment and in reducing Total Cost of Ownership. The importance of Change Management
is highlighted in the area of workload automation, where the need to synchronize and manage
processes in a controlled, reliable and systematic manner across environments makes it crucial.
Organizations are realizing the importance and competitive advantages of implementing an
enterprise-wide change management system for their workload automation. As complex job
processes and dependencies span the enterprise, effective change management of job
definitions becomes critical.

1.2 Benefits
Many organizations today are ill-equipped to adequately manage change within their workload
management systems. Organizations typically have no dedicated change management solution
in place or they have several disparate applications loosely patched together. As such, most
organizations do not have the visibility of changes across multiple environments nor do they
have the assurance that any changes will be successful at run time.

Communication breakdown is a typical symptom of organizations that rely on disparate tools

and processes to manage their workload change management. Most organizations do not have
knowledge of what is being changed in production, degrading their confidence that these
changes will be successful at run time. Typically, managers are not aware of the number of
changes, the type of changes or even if they are being reviewed by anyone other than the
person making the change. When a change gets implemented without a review cycle or
approval process, it decreases accuracy of the change and increases its risk of downtime. In
many cases, when changes are “thrown into production” there is no knowledge of the change,
making it very difficult to find a resolution should that change fail. Application downtime
translates into lost revenue, so knowledge is the key to ensuring changes are more accurate.

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1.3 Automation Change Control Expert (A.C.C.E.)™

Automation Change Control Expert (ACCE)™ provides full management at all levels of change
for AutoSys. ACCE provides knowledge and assurance that changes are being thoroughly
tested and validated prior to being moved to production. ACCE also removes risk by validating
changes before they reach the review team. With organizational compliance to adhere to SOX
and ITIL requirements, the need to audit and review each change going into the production
environments is now a necessity. When a change is moved in without peer review or support
personal having knowledge of that change, the organization increases its risk of downtime.
With control over change, the support groups have full knowledge that the change has been
implemented and they can review any documentation necessary pertaining to the change to
assist in the recovery of the problem.

ACCE will become a critical part of any AutoSys environment and will improve service levels by
managing all aspects of the lifecycle of change for your workload automation solution.

ACCE considers four key areas of change management that are essential to any workload
automation environment. It gives you MANAGABILITY over your workload automation
environment the way it is intended. ACCE gives you the confidence and ASSURANCE that
changes being migrated are accurate. It provides you the VISIBILITY you need to know the
impact of any changes to your environment. ACCE provides an added layer of SECURITY across
all your workload automation environments.

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2. Using A.C.C.E.™
The following chapter will guide you through the different areas of A.C.C.E. and give you an overview
on how each feature can be utilized.

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2.1 Overall System Flow

Figure 1 – Detailed System Flow

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2.2 Logging In
The login screen is the portal for entry into A.C.C.E. It can use either Active Directory or
Apache Directory for the authentication of users.

To log into A.C.C.E., go to the following url:

http://ACCEServerName:8080/ACCE

*ACCEServerName is the server on which you have installed A.C.C.E.

Your login screen will appear as follows:

Figure 2 – A.C.C.E. Login

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2.3 Home
Upon logging in, you will arrive at the Home screen of A.C.C.E and will see the below
information:

Figure 3 – Home Screen

There are three tabs in Home. They are Pipeline, Queue and Dashboard. Each of
the tabs and their functionality are described below.

2.3.1 Pipeline Tab

From here, users will be able to view the following based on the access they have been
granted:

 My Change Requests – Requestor

 My Queue – Reviewer
 Change Approvals – Manager, Queue Manager
 Change Migrations – Migrator
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2.3.1.1 My Change Requests
Under My Change Requests, a user will be able to view all change requests appropriately
configured for their role. The user will be able to view:

 Change requests based on the business unit – Business units mapped to the user
will be listed in the ‘Business Unit’ dropdown.
 Information for each change request will be listed in sortable columns –
Examples are Change # (the ID number of the change request), Current
Environment, Status, Progress, etc.
 A user can view all change requests mapped to the same business unit – By
selecting ALL in the ‘Requests’ dropdown, any requests made for any user
mapped to a specific business unit will be show along with its applicable
information.

From the Change # column, a user may click on the ID and is redirected to the Status
tab of the Manage A Request section.

Figure 4 – Manage A Request

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2.3.1.2 My Queue
This section is designated for any user mapped to a Reviewer role. In this section, all
change requests will be available and can be listed based on specific business units. All
columns in this section can be sorted by the user to make information easier to locate.

From the Change # column, a user may click on the ID and is redirected to the Status
tab of the Manage A Request section.

Figure 5 – My Queue

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2.3.1.3 Change Approvals
From the Change # column, a user may click on the ID and is redirected to the
Status tab of the Manage A Request section.

Figure 6 – Change Approvals

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2.3.1.4 Change Migration
From the Change # column, a user may click on the ID and is redirected to the
Status tab of the Manage A Request section.

Figure 7 – Change Migration

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2.3.2 Queue
All change requests that are in the system and have not yet been migrated to
Production will be listed under the Queue tab.

On the left-hand sidebar, all environments and the change requests in them are listed
according to their status. They appear based on the ‘Business Unit’ dropdown. A user
can select All (default) or a specific business unit. By selecting a status under an
environment on the left, all change requests that belong to that status will be displayed
in the main section. The following details will be displayed:

 Change #
 Requestor
 Status
 Prod Move Date (Production Move Date)
 BU (Business Unit)
 Assigned User

A user with access to the Queue tab will have the ability to assign or reassign a user for
a change request. This option is ONLY available if a change request is “Pending Review”
and when a specific Business Unit is selected from the dropdown. Available users for
assignment will be based on the selected Business Unit.

From the left-hand sidebar, you can also select specific users and view the change
requests assigned to them based on environment and status.

From the Change # column, a user may click on the ID and is redirected to the Status
tab of the Manage A Request section.

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 Figure 8 – Manage Queue

2.3.3 Dashboard
The Dashboard tab provides the user with statistics on change requests based on
various information such as environments, status, users and due dates. There are two
options for the user to choose from, Graphic report and Data report.

Users, from the Dashboard tab, will be able to obtain:

 Number of change requests in each status by environment

 Number of change requests in each user queue by environment
 Change requests that are due for Production migration on specific dates in each
environment by each status
 Change requests that have Service Level Agreements overdue in each
environment based on specific dates by each status

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2.3.3.1 Graphic Report

Figure 9 – Graphic Report

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Under Changes Due/Overdue, a user may find the following information:

 Changes Due
o Number of change requests by environment and status that need to be
migrated on the selected date
 Dropdown dates will be in ascending order
 Data shown defaults to the next scheduled date
 Changes Overdue
o Number of change requests in each environment that has crossed the
Service Level Agreement time duration and is pending action by the user
 Data shown defaults to All for scheduled date
 User must choose specific date

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2.3.3.2 Data Report

Figure 10 – Data Report

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2.3.4 Manage a Request
By clicking on Manage a Request you can take a change request ID number and enter it
under the Status tab to retrieve the following information:

 Environment Progress
 Overall Change Progress
 Change Status
 Current Environment
 Days until overdue
 Scheduled PRD Migration Date
 Assigned User

See Figure 4 - Page 11

Once you have entered the change request ID number or selected the link on any
change request ID number throughout the application, you will also then have access to
the Manage tab. Otherwise, this tab is not available until some change request ID is
selected.

2.3.5 New Request

When a user is ready to create a new change request, they can click on the Create New
link under the Pipeline tab or go to the New Request section of A.C.C.E. The following
screen will appear:

Figure 11 – New Change Request

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2.3.6 Actions on Job
The Actions on Job section of A.C.C.E. is a tool within the tool that allows management
to track ALL changes on AutoSys jobs. It is not an automated system, but allows users
to request any AutoSys job changes needed and allow appropriate personnel to respond
to the requests. It allows AutoSys administrators to secure a more procedural practice
for job change requests.

2.3.6.1 Request Action

Figure 12 –Request Action

From the Request Action link, you can request the appropriate user make a change to
an AutoSys job based on the drop down list and the available actions. The selected
action will prompt the user to fill in the corresponding fields based on the specific action
being requested.

You may also select the “Existing” button and enter in an ID number from a previously
requested change.

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 2.3.6.2 List of Actions
The List of Actions link is a queue for all pre-existing job actions that are waiting
approval or rejection. Here, the appropriate user will select the “Request ID” number
and will choose what steps need to be taken (i.e. Completed, Delete, Cancel, etc.).

2.3.7 Search
If a user is looking for a specific Change Request, the Search section allows for several
categories on which to narrow down your selections. One of more of the search criteria
can be used. They are:

 Change # – Change Request Number - if you don’t know the specific one
 Status – New, Pending Approval, Rejected, Migrated, etc.
 Change Type – Normal or Emergency
 Environment – Development, QA, Test, UAT, Production, etc.
 Type – Normal, Mass Change, Delete Jobs
 BU – Business Unit
 Reviewer – based on a specific user
 Requestor – based on a specific user
 AutoSys Instance – DEV, QA, TST, UAT, PRD, etc.
 Prod. Move Date – allows you to select based on a date range
 Created Date – allows you to select based on a date range
 Overdue – any change request that missed its production migration date

2.3.8 Reports
When logging into the Reports section, you will have the option of view twelve different
types of reports. Once selected, you can view the report along with exporting it to one
of six different formats. The formats are:

 XML file with report data

 CSV (comma delimited)
 TIFF file
 Acrobat (PDF) file
 Web archive
 Excel

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The twelve different pre-canned report types are:

Action Request Report – View all Requested or Performed changes to jobs by date
range with the ability to sort by Requested Date or Completed Date.

Figure 13- Action Request Report

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All Request Report – Comprehensive with all change requests that have been
submitted for migration and have not yet been migrated but will NOT include change
requests that have a status of New, Withdrawn or Rejected. Columns are sortable in
ascending or descending order.

Figure 14 –All Request Report

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Approvals Report – Lists all change requests that have been approved or rejected.
Change requests that have a status of New, Withdrawn, or Migrated will not be listed.
Columns are sortable in ascending or descending order.

Figure 15 –Approvals Report

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Charge Back Report – Lists change requests that have been migrated to production
based on the date range entered. The information will be broke down by all Business
Units that had change requests during that time frame. It will give the number of
change requests, number of jobs migrated and the percentage of jobs migrated for each
business unit based on the total number of jobs migrated.

Figure 16 –Charge Back Report

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Compliance – Lists all details and activity of the specific change request entered into
the field. Columns are sortable in ascending or descending order.

Figure 17 –Compliance Report

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CR Approver Report – See a list of anyone who approved a Change Request for any
particular Business Unit in a date range.

Figure 18 - CR Approver Report

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CR Full Details Report – Enables you to see exactly what happened to all jobs within
a Business Unit by date with detail down to the individual job field level.

Figure 19 - CR Full Details Report

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Late and Overdue Report – Lists any change requests that have gone beyond their
Production Migration Date along with the number of days overdue. Columns are
sortable in ascending or descending order.

Figure 20 –Late and Overdue Report

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Queue – Lists all change requests that are NOT in a Withdrawn or Migrated status.
Columns are sortable in ascending or descending order.

Figure 21 –Queue Report

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Rejected CR Report– Will bring up any change requests that have been rejected in
the past number of days entered to populate the report. Columns are sortable in
ascending or descending order.

Figure 22 –Rejected CR Report

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Repeat Offenders Report – Will list change requests with jobs that have failures in
the past number of days entered to populate the report.

Figure 23 –Repeat Offenders Report

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User Management Report – Provides details about users who are tied to specific
business units, environments and roles.

This report is based on six sub-reports:

1. By User and Business Unit

2. By User and Environment
3. By Business Unit and User
4. By Business Unit and Environment
5. By Environment and Business Unit
6. By Environment and User

Figure 24 –User Management Report

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2.3.9 Configuration
In the Configuration section, A user designated as an A.C.C.E. Administrator (Admin) will
be able to create and maintain details related to each AutoSys instance, environment,
associated business units and associated users. There are six tabs that the Admin will
be able to use to give A.C.C.E. the settings and feel consistent with business needs and
these setting can be changed at any given time as needed.

2.3.9.1 AutoSys Instance

The first tab under Configuration is AutoSys Instance. It will allow you to add any
number of AutoSys r11 instances used by the organization.

Figure 25 –AutoSys Instance Tab

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By clicking on the “Add Instance” link, you will be prompted to enter the following
information:

 AutoSys Instance Name (Three-digit)

 AutoSys Host Server
 Port that AutoSys Application Server uses
 AutoSys User ID (ID created during AutoSys installation)
 AutoSys User Password (verified a second time)
 Database Type
 Database Host Server
 Port that Database uses
 AutoSys Database ID (mdbadmin)
 AutoSys Database Password (verified a second time)

There are also “Test Connection” options for both AutoSys and the Database so the
Admin can verify that all information has been entered correctly. You will always have
the option to edit or delete any AutoSys instance after it has been added.

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Figure 26 –AutoSys Instance Add

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 Field Name AutoSys/Database Allowed Values On Action
Instance name N/A Length - 3 alphanumeric with the Save
following special characters _ - @
#$

User Id AutoSys / Database Length - 16 alphanumeric max Test

with the following special
characters _ - @ # $

Password AutoSys / Database Length - 64 max (no spaces) - 8 Test

min

Retype Password AutoSys / Database Length - 64 max (no spaces) - 8 Test

min

Host AutoSys / Database Length - 64 max (no spaces) Test

Port AutoSys / Database Length - 5 numeric max Test

Database Database Length - 64 alphanumeric max Test

with the following special
characters _ - .

Table 1 – AutoSys Add Field Attributes

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2.3.9.2 Environment

From the Environment tab, a user has the ability to define a new Environment, map
AutoSys instances to an Environment, set the global change window for the
Environment, set the lead time based on the “Change Type” for the Environment and
set the Global SLA for the Environment.

Figure 27 –Environment Tab

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2.3.9.3.12.3.9.2.1 Define Environment
Click on the “Add” link to define a new Environment. Enter the three-digit AutoSys
Instance and enter a description of the Environment (length of up to 16 alphanumeric,
also using _ - @ # $). From the dropdown, you can select whether or not it is a
Production or Development Environment.
You will have the option to edit the “Detailed Name” of any Environment listed. If you
try to save a duplicate Environment, you will get the following error:

“<Environment name > already exists”

Figure 28 –Environment Add

By clicking on the “Delete” link, all AutoSys instances mapped to the

Environment will be unmapped and the Environment will be deleted. If the
Environment is part of a Business Unit Environment mapping, the following error
message will appear if a “Delete” is attempted:

“Cannot delete as environment is mapped to BU”

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2.3.9.3.22.3.9.2.2 Map AutoSys Instance
From here, AutoSys instances can be mapped and unmapped to Environments. An
AutoSys instance cannot be unmapped from an Environment if it is part of a change life
cycle.

Figure 29 –Map AutoSys Instance

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 2.3.9.3.32.3.9.2.3 Global Change Window
This section allows the Admin to set different change windows for an Environment. On selecting an
Environment, all available change window schedules for the Environment will be displayed.

Figure 30 –Global Change Window

To add a new Global Change Window, click on the “Add” link. The Schedule Name can have a
maximum length of 128 alphanumeric and special characters. The First Occurrence Date can be set by
selecting the calendar and choosing the appropriate date.

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 Figure 31 - Daily Scheduling

Figure 32 - Weekly Scheduling

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2.3.9.3.42.3.9.2.4 Global Lead Time
Configure Global Lead Times for each Environment and Change Request type.

Figure 33 - Global Lead Time

2.3.9.3.52.3.9.2.5 Global SLA

Define Service Level Agreements for each Environment and phase of the Change
Request.

Figure 34 - Global SLA

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 2.3.9.42.3.9.3 Business Unit
A Business Unit can be referred to as the ‘Group’ or ‘Application’ that your business has assigned a role
to. The Business Unit section is where configuration parameters are set for each Business Unit (B.U.).

2.3.9.4.12.3.9.3.1 Define BU
Click the Add link to define a Business Unit.

Figure 35 - Define BU

2.3.9.4.22.3.9.3.2 Global Life Cycle

Global Life Cycles are simply the order in which your Change Requests are
processed through different environments.

Figure 36 - Global Life Cycle

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 Figure 37 - CLC Edit

2.3.9.4.32.3.9.3.3 Env-AutoSys Instance Mapping

In Env-AutoSys Instance Mapping you can add a Change Life Cycle to a Business
Unit specifically and also map various fields between instances.

For example – Any machine in the Billing Business Unit in DEV that has a
machine name of accedev will be automatically changed to acce-prd when
migrated to production.

Figure 38 - Env-AutoSys Instance Mapping

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2.3.9.4.42.3.9.3.4 Change Window
Business Units can have their Change Window set by the ‘Global Change
Window’ attribute described earlier in this section. However, you can also set the
Change Window to be specific to the Business Unit.

Figure 39 - Change Window

2.3.9.4.52.3.9.3.5 Map Identity/Notification

The Map Identity/Notification section is where most of the Business Unit specific
configuration is done. Elect which roles are required and assign users to their
respective roles.

Figure 40 - Map Identity/Notification

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2.3.9.4.62.3.9.3.6 Job Mapping
Assign job names to Business Units, enabling greater security for your
environment. Business Units can only see the jobs that have been assigned to
them.

Figure 41 - Job Mapping

Figure 42 - Job Mapping – Edit

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2.3.9.52.3.9.4 General Settings
The General Settings section contains numerous configuration options related to
A.C.C.E.

2.3.9.5.12.3.9.4.1 General
Configure a multitude of options, including Job Validations and Migration
settings.

Figure 43 – General

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2.3.9.5.22.3.9.4.2 User Roles
The User Roles section pertains to A.C.C.E. specific roles, separate from Business
Unit roles. Super Users are administrators of the tool, while Action Requestors
and Action Performers are specific to the Actions on Job menu.

Figure 44 - User Roles

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2.3.9.5.32.3.9.4.3 Change Type
Create multiple Change Types to identify your Change Requests. You can also
flag them as an Emergency Change Type.

Figure 45 - Change Type

2.3.9.5.42.3.9.4.4 Email Notification

Input e-mail client information and configure A.C.C.E. to automatically send e-
mails to the users that are relevant.

Figure 46 - Email Notification

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2.3.9.5.52.3.9.4.5 Default Responses
Create messages for default responses required in the tool.

Figure 47 - Default Responses

2.3.9.5.62.3.9.4.6 Personal Settings

Personal Settings apply to only the user currently logged in.

Figure 48 - Personal Settings

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2.3.9.5.72.3.9.4.7 Job Name Standards
Create Job Naming Standards to regulate compliance with business standards.

Figure 49 - Job Name Standards Add

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2.3.9.62.3.9.5 Report Settings
Configure reports using A.C.C.E.’s pre-canned reports or create your own and assign
them in Report Settings.

Figure 50 - Report Settings

2.3.9.72.3.9.6 User Setup

If A.C.C.E. is not bound to Active Directory or Apache Directory, you can create Users
and Groups under the User Setup tab.

Figure 51 - User Setup

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2.3.9.82.3.9.7 License
Contact Arbiter Software for license information. Apply the license by clicking ‘Update
License’ on the License tab and entering the key provided.

Figure 52 - License

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