Jul 24, 2007
Information, Not Data: Improving Business Processes with HP Output Server and HP OpenView Business Process Insight
The best executive reporting offers meaning. A real-time understanding of how key business processes are being impacted is much more meaningful than details about how the computing infrastructure is running.
How big of a problem is a print queue that has begun to exceed its service-level objectives? Is it more or less troublesome than a printer that just went off-line in the shipping department?
Linking IT data to business processes offers much richer information. Examples include: knowing that the print queue problem may delay a batch of outbound marketing letters and that the stalled printer is holding up shipping labels and delivery trucks.
Understanding the magnitude of business impacts—such as quantifying lost revenue or financial penalties—adds even more meaning and dramatically improves an executive’s ability to identify, understand, anticipate, and resolve costly business disruptions.
Combining HP’s Solutions For Better Management Information
HP offers two solutions that—when combined—have proven to significantly improve process information and positive business outcomes. Together, HP OpenView Business Process Insight and HP Output Server help bridge the gap between IT data and business process information.
HP OpenView Business Process Insight (HP OVBPI) allows enterprises to model business processes using key business data (such as “value of order” and “type of customer”). It correlates each step in the business process with the computer infrastructure upon which it depends.
HP Output Server (HPOS) extends the capabilities of HP OpenView Business Process Insight down to the level of individual document tracking—where many business processes break down—while virtually assuring that business-critical output reaches its intended destination.
HP OpenView Business Process Insight
HP OpenView Business Process Insight allows enterprises to model and monitor complex business processes. Should a problem occur with the computer infrastructure, HP OVBPI identifies which business processes are affected. It also determines the business impact, which is typically financial, but can also be outcomes such as the number of key customers or urgent orders affected.
HP OpenView Business Process Insight vastly reduces the cost, time, and effort required to achieve powerful business process visibility. It allows enterprises to:
- Use key performance indicators to measure business process performance, rather than just the availability of major applications and IT infrastructure
- Automatically monitor and escalate any violations of preset indicator parameters, along with the business processes
- Optimize complex business processes, including monitoring outsourcers, external partners and manual process steps
- Measure process peak loads or service oversubscriptions to allow IT to properly provision and better budget for actual business demand levels
HP Output Server
HP Output Server—the foundation of every HP Output Management solution—routes and tracks individual documents as they move from source applications to output destinations, such as printers, fax machines, e-mail, file, and web. HP Output Server shares specific, real-time detail delivery with HP OVBPI, to create a complete picture of business process performance.
HP Output Server software enables enterprises to reliably, efficiently, and cost-effectively manage high-volume business document distribution. There are number of modules available to enhance functionality, including:
- HP Web Delivery
- HP Output Manager for SAP
- HP International Printing for HP Output Server
HP Output Server does much more than simply deliver information reliably—it also improves business process efficiency and reduces costs. Its single-system view provides centralized control and management of all output jobs across the enterprise. HP Output Server’s ability to track and control documents as they move from source applications to individual destinations provides a wealth of job-level information that HP OVBPI can use to monitor business processes, including:
- Event notices for every job at every stage from start to finish
- Status of output devices
- Resource activity log
- Document attributes
- Extracts of document information, such as size of order and type of customer
HP Output Server’s Vital Role
Without HP Output Server, HP OpenView Business Process Insight cannot report on the crucial output delivery aspects of business processes. HP Output Server provides that vital visibility, giving enterprises true end-to-end process management.
Together, HP OpenView Business Process Insight and HP Output Server link IT and business resources to improve business understanding and decision making—saving time and money. The added business insight also allows IT departments to better set repair priorities, efficiently allocate resources, and more easily justify capital planning in business terms.
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