Help/Systems Launches Free Automation Assessment Tool

Published: May 9, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Wondering how automated your iSeries operations are, and what kind of rewards you can reap from further automation? So is Help/Systems, which just launched a free service called Robot/CHECKUP that will evaluate your current level of automation, and suggest where you can make improvements.

Robot/CHECKUP is a hybrid product--half installable software, half Help/Systems service--that can help OS/400 shops gain a greater understanding of where they stand in relation to other IT groups, while helping Help/Systems to sell more software to new and current customers along the way.

Here's how Robot/CHECKUP works: First you obtain the Robot/CHECKUP product by contacting Help/Systems. Then you run the tool on your OS/400 server, while simultaneously answering a series of questions on a Help/Systems Web site. The company takes the results from both of these, and gives you specific recommendations based on six common automation areas, including job scheduling, message management, backup and recovery, report management, performance management, and operations management.

The product then outputs an executive summary based on its readings. For each of the six categories, you will see the industry average score, (based on recent surveys, Help says), your score (based on the analysis of your data), and your automation rating, which is a comparison of the two. You will also see specific scores for specific iSeries operation tasks, such as pages printed, disk space used, processor activity, page fault rates, and FTP actions, the company says. You can also drill down into the summary section to get more information about how Robot/CHECKUP arrived at your score.

To take the CHECKUP, contact a Help/Systems sales manager. To find out how, go to www.helpsystems.com.