Author: Zen and the Art of Computer Programming
1 Introduction
Machine learning, deep learning and automation technologies are becoming new trends in the information technology industry. Since 2017, more and more companies have begun to use machine learning technology to solve practical business problems. The application of this technology has gradually shifted from statistical models to data-based analysis methods. With the vigorous development of cloud computing technology, more and more companies are hosting their business architecture, infrastructure and data centers on the cloud, and Kubernetes is gradually becoming popular as a container orchestration system. The solution of automating business processes by combining AWS and Kubernetes is widely adopted. Its advantages include on-demand resource provisioning, elastic scaling, convenient management, observability, etc., which are all required by customers.
This article will elaborate on the basic concepts, architecture, principles and operating steps of process automation tools. During the practice, case codes and answers to common questions will also be given. Hope it can provide some help to readers.
2.Basic concepts
2.1 Introduction to process automation tools
Process automation tools allow users to trigger certain events or tasks based on specific rules or conditions. Its functions cover multiple areas, such as workflow engine, rule engine, ETL, monitoring, testing, feedback loop, etc. Process automation tools are mainly used for repetitive tasks in business processes, such as approval processes, order processing, etc., which can reduce labor costs, improve efficiency, and promote team collaboration. For IT departments and developers, process automation tools can reduce daily workload, save time, and improve work quality.
Process automation tools are divided into two levels:
- User interface layer: mainly used to define the relationship between nodes in the process, conditional judgment and jump logic;
- Task execution layer: including various script languages, programming frameworks, and operating environments, which can be customized by users.
Process automation tools generally consist of three major modules: configuration center, execution engine, and monitoring center.
- Configuration center: stores process templates (i.e. defined business scenarios), including various metadata, such as nodes, connection lines, etc.;