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| iPlanet Process Manager, Version 6.5 Process Administrator's and Business Manager's Guide |
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 roles are involved in administering Process Manager:
- Information Technology (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
are responsible for performing administrative tasks and for managing process instances and work items. These tasks are performed in the Process Business Manager interface.
During the development phase, developers often find themselves performing both 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 chapter contains the following sections:
- "Overview of Process Manager Components"
- "IT Administrator Tasks"
- "Business Manager Tasks"
- "Process Manager Clients"
Overview of Process Manager Components
Process Manager consists of the following components:
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
- a mail server for notifications
When an application developer using Process Builder deploys an application they must identify the cluster on which to deploy that application. All successfully deployed applications are available to any valid end user on any iPlanet Application Server across that 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
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 Process Manager 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 iPlanet 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, the difference between a single and multiple cluster implementation, 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
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 are started, suspended and closed for a particular application.
Process Manager Clients
Process Manager provides three clients to perform Administrative, Business Manager, and process application end-user tasks. Table 1-1 outlines how each of the three clients are used and how users can access them. For more information about the difference between Process Manager single cluster and multiple cluster implementations, see the section "About Clusters" in Chapter 4, "Managing Clusters."
The Process Administrator and Process Business Manager clients are discussed in detail in this manual. The Process Express client is discussed in detail in the Process Express User's Guide.
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