Automation Solutions Developer at HCL Technologies
Consultant
Added value to the delivery of services and the customer experience
Pros and Cons
  • "This tool is used in my organization for automating IT infrastructure related incidents or service requests."
  • "OCR capability should be added as a feature."
  • "It needs auto-triggering of workflows based on machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI)."

What is our primary use case?

We design end-to-end automation solutions for repetitive tasks performed by IT support teams.

How has it helped my organization?

This tool is used in my organization for automating IT infrastructure related incidents or service requests. 

What is most valuable?

  • Built-in operators available for most integrations.
  • Easy to manage.
  • Attended/unattended triggering
  • Scheduling of workflows 
  • Easy to debug flaws

What needs improvement?

  • Auto-triggering of workflows based on machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).
  • Integration with web/Windows-based applications should be included.
  • OCR capability should be added as a feature.
Buyer's Guide
CA Process Automation
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about CA Process Automation. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What was our ROI?

It has provided ROI by auto-resolving incidents or requests in the ITSM queue, improved MTTR and SLA adherence, and added value to the delivery of services and the customer experience. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user348378 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Technician at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
It help us straighten up the environment with respect to orphaned accounts, which means we're more secure. And while the different modules aren't so tightly integrated now, the new release fixes that.

Valuable Features

Ease of installation and maintenance – the role management functionality. We can do role modeling with our privileged accounts. Because of our type of our organization, we have legal considerations so Process Automation is an appropriate solution for us. For the end users it might be worse, but for the security division you get a lot of control.

Improvements to My Organization

The role modeling helps us to have more control over our users. It help us straighten up the environment with respect to orphaned accounts, which means the environment is more secure. So the benefit is more internal for IT.

Room for Improvement

Now there are five different modules, but it’s hard to follow what happens in each location, so we’d like to see the solution more tightly integrated. The new release should be more integrated.

Stability Issues

Very stable. So far, perfect.

Scalability Issues

It is scalable; we have doubled services across the environment.

Customer Service and Technical Support

They were good. They helped us a lot from the beginning, from installation through the whole process. Not just their support, but also their professional services are top notch.

Initial Setup

It’s very complex, which is one of the disadvantages. There are a lot of modules to make the concept whole. We required professional services for the installation.

Other Advice

It’s working, but it’s complex. For example, when you provision something, you have take a number of actions in a lot of places to make it work, so it’s hard to have a holistic picture of provisioning. It’s not so nice buying socks, but you need socks.

It’s a long process to make it work – first you have to go through your whole IT organization to identify users and accounts and groups. So you have to consider the impact of changes in the process for the IT group.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
CA Process Automation
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about CA Process Automation. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Business Intelligence Analyst & Developer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
The solution is highly scalable and provides a fault-tolerant environment.

What is most valuable?

If Google could translate ITPAM, it would say “Scalability”. The solution is highly scalable and provides a fault-tolerant environment. The web-based interface allows administrators to quickly see the status and state of each process being executed. The process design is very versatile in a way that adapts to any customer needs/requirements you may have. It gives the developer a bulk of alternatives, such as web services, JavaScript, or simply drag-and-drop technology to create your process.

How has it helped my organization?

For ETL purposes, this application accomplishes each requirement for data manipulation.

What needs improvement?

The solution engine is in Java. Regardless of developments, the solution will always be limited to what Java offers.

I think I speak for everyone: I’d like to have more best practices and samples in the documentation, and for it to be open for more product integrations.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using it for three years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

There were no issues with the deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

CA Process Automation is the one of most stable and scalable solutions, and it's completely fit for the purpose. If we are talking about stability, it is one of the applications that has few errors in the logging files. I would advise you to host the solution on a dedicated server in order to benefit from the full power and system resources.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With scalability, the application will always be limited to what Java offers. However, it offers a bulk of alternatives to achieve the requirements (web services, JavaScript, etc.). In the end, if you’re not able to achieve the final result, it's because you’re not following the right path.

How are customer service and technical support?

The support is quite close to development teams and they have enough technical knowledge to help a user to achieve their goals. They are fast in serving users, and the responses are accurate. However, the user must be precise in the description of the problem in order to expedite the initial troubleshooting.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I know the whole collection automation solutions that CA offers. I consider that the application fulfills completely its purpose.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a little complex. It has a lot steps where, to a common user, it might not be as simple as desired, but CA support provides documentation and the necessary support to ensure proper installation.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation of this application is fully described within the documentation, I have implemented it both through a vendor team and in-house. CA Support will reassure you that you have completed the implementation successfully.

What other advice do I have?

If you’re planning or looking for an application able to create process automation, stop looking. This is your application, as it is completely fit for the purpose.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user480762 - PeerSpot reviewer
Process Automation Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
We've been able to automate work that would have otherwise been done manually.

What is most valuable?

  • Javascript operators
  • Pre- and post-execution code
  • API integration
  • Powershell

How has it helped my organization?

We've been able to automate work that would have otherwise been done manually.

What needs improvement?

Error handling on a per operator basis allowing native retries. For example the get email operator if there is a blip in the network and PAM fails to communicate with exchange it takes the error path when really I’d want it to keep retrying until communication is restored. It can be worked around but then it becomes time consuming and cumbersome to implement. It’s the same for other operators too. I’d like to see a search function on the operations tab when looking at past runs, it’s a right faff sometimes trying to find a previous run.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for two years three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Every so often the service needs to be restarted otherwise it runs slower and slower. I think this may be due to a memory leak.

How are customer service and technical support?

It's excellent.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

At a previous company I used HPE Operation Studio, ITPAM was already implemented when I joined the company I’m currently at.

How was the initial setup?

I’ve reinstalled it a number of times, it’s straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

It’s a great product, extremely versatile but takes a certain skillset to use and implementation of automation can be time consuming when done properly.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user