Chapter 1   Introduction

Process Manager is a system for automating the flow of control for business processes. The components that make up Process Manager include a graphical design interface for defining processes, two administrative interfaces for configuring Process Manager and managing applications, and an end-user interface for creating work requests, handling work items, and performing searches.

This guide focuses on using the two administrative interfaces for configuring Process Manager and managing applications. Typically, two different categories of people are involved in administering Process Manager Version 6.0 Service Pack 2. These are information technology administrators (IT administrators) and business managers.

• IT administrators




are responsible for installing and maintaining Process Manager and for managing clusters and deployed applications. These tasks are performed in the Process Administrator interface.



• Business managers




perform administrative tasks for managing process instances and work items, for example, deleting process instances that need to be removed from the system. These tasks are performed in the Process Business Manager interface.

During the development phase, developers often find themselves performing both these roles. They perform the role of IT administrator when they clean up test applications and they perform the role of business manager when they delete process instances and work items.

This introductory chapter includes the following sections:

• Overview of Process Manager Components



• IT Administrator Tasks



• Business Manager Tasks

Overview of Process Manager Components

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Process Manager consists of these components:

Process Administrator	An application accessible through your web browser that is used for managing clusters and applications in Process Manager.
Process Business Manager	An application accessible through your web browser that is used for managing processes and statistics for Process Manager.
Process Builder	The Java application for building Process Manager applications.
Process Express	The HTML-based interface for end users who are accessing Process Manager applications.
Process Engine	The software internal to Process Manager.

Process Manager also uses these other components, which it associates into a cluster:

• a corporate user LDAP directory service



• a configuration LDAP directory service that stores the application definitions



• a relational database for user data, such as the products available from Informix, Oracle and Sybase



• one or more iPlanet Application Servers



• an iPlanet Web Server



• a mail server for notifications

When an application developer using Process Builder deploys an application they must identify the cluster on which to deploy it. All successfully deployed applications are available to any valid end user on any iPlanet Application Server across the cluster. All applications in a cluster share the same common database and directories. They access the same Directory Server for their process definitions and they use the same set of cross-application tables in the database, as well as the same corporate users and groups directory.

End users use Process Express to access the applications built in Process Builder. As they create new work requests and other examples of business processes, called process instances, and as they complete their assigned tasks, called activities in the Process Builder and work items in Process Business Manager, they are generating user data that is stored in the cluster's database.

Figure 1-1    Process Manager Components

IT Administrator Tasks

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IT Administrators are responsible for installing Process Manager, for creating and maintaining clusters and for managing deployed applications.

The first task is to install the Process Manager components and make sure they are configured correctly for your environment. See the Installation Guide for details.

The next step is to use the Administrator interface to create a cluster so that Process Builder can deploy applications that can be used across the enterprise. You can continue to manage and update the cluster as needed. For example, you may need to switch to a different corporate user directory or you may want to add other iPlanet Application Servers to the cluster.

IT administrators can use the Administrator interface for tasks involving clusters, such as creating and joining clusters. For some other tasks, such as switching to a different corporate directory, you need to use other interfaces such as the Netscape Console on the iPlanet Application Server or the iPlanet Web Server administration interface.

IT administrators should understand clusters and be familiar with directory servers.

IT administrators should read the following chapters:

• Chapter 2 "Overview of Cluster and Application Administration"




This chapter discusses the concept of clusters, explains how to access the Administrator interface, and discusses directory server concepts and terms.



• Chapter 3 "Configuration Files"




This chapter discusses the folders and files that Process Manager uses or modifies.



• Chapter 4 "Managing Clusters"




This chapter discusses clusters and explains how to create, join, and delete clusters and how to view logs.



• Chapter 5 "Managing Applications"




This chapter discusses how to manage deployed applications, including how to start and stop them, close and uninstall them, view the application logs and export and delete data.



• Chapter 6 "Databases"




This chapter provides general guidelines for using databases with Process Manager.

Business Manager Tasks

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Business managers use the Process Business Manager interface to perform administrative tasks for managing process instances and work items, for example, deleting process instances that need to be removed from the system.

Business Managers should read the following chapters:

• Chapter 7 "Managing Process Instances and Work Items"




This chapter discusses how to access the Business Manager interface. It explains how to search for process instances and work items, move a process instance to an exit point, view details and history, and change the state of work items.



• Chapter 8 "Statistics"




This chapter describes how to view statistics about process instances and work items, such as how many process instances were started, suspended and closed for a particular application.