如何设计一个自动化工作流

作为一个孩子, I achieved one of the typical American-boy rites of passage early on: I tempted fate by pressing two of my fingers together when a drop of Super Glue fell on one of them, 看看它们能不能粘在一起. 天啊，他们真的.

在流媒体行业, the “glue” we use isn’t quite as painful—nor does it require copious amounts of acetone or nail polish remover to disconnect digits—but it serves a similar purpose by tightly binding together portions of our typical streaming workflows.

在本文中, we look at a few key areas where workflow management tools have the best chance of automating an ordered sequence of tasks or processing steps, 这样人力百家乐软件就可以集中在其他领域. 粘性因素, which is part of the decision between buying or renting a workflow automation solution, 可以归结为几个关键方面.

你的工作流程是为实时事件设计的吗?

In a few workflow automation solutions that are more akin to master control solutions for broadcast, 这些任务可以自动处理实时工作流或基于文件的工作流. Both have the end goal of customizing content delivery to multiple platforms and device types, 但是大多数工作流自动化都是基于资产的内容.

While this might bring to mind video-on-demand (VOD) assets—which have a set of fairly standard steps, 例如转码或翻译, that can be automated—there’s also room to automate prerecorded content into a playlist. 这可以包括插入广告, 广播的旗帜, 保险杠, and a few other bits necessary to simulate a traditional live-linear broadcast channel.

了解最终的交付意图——实时事件, 模拟直播(live-linear), or true VOD—is a key first step in properly implementing your own media logistics and automation solution.

媒体物流

早在2015年， Ooyala, wholly owned by telecom giant Telstra, acquired a media logistics company called Nativ. 公司有一个主要的软件平台, 叫绪, 哪些可以安装在本地, 用于云配置, 甚至可以打包为托管服务.

native与Adobe等公司合作, 亚马逊网络服务, 还有许多编码器公司, 比如阿梅, 电影《百家乐软件》英文名, 和谐波. Nativ also partnered with other workflow companies such as 粗线 and Telestream.

The approach Nativ took was to use cloud-based solutions to replace traditional media asset management systems (MAMs) with a multi-platform approach that emphasized data continuity alongside automation of content preparation for each device platform.

通过替换MAM作为中央存储库, 而是专注于从创造到消费的更大图景, the approach Nativ took was one that allowed its cloud-based Mio offering to be multi-tenant as well as multi-platform.

仍然, 与久经考验的MAM方法保持一致, Mio集中了资产和数据, 至少在逻辑上. 这意味着有关资产的信息将是集中的, 即使资产存储在各种可访问的位置.

Offering a browser-based workflow design tool allowed users to streamline and cluster their work orders, 对于基于文件的转码管道和实时内容摄取.

设计工作流

正确设计工作流, 无论您选择使用哪种工作流管理工具, 整个行业都认同以下五个关键步骤.

首先，需要定义工作流. 与设计数据库表结构的方式大致相同, linking the tables of seemingly disparate data together with a visual design tool, some workflow automation companies offer object-based workflow design software to greatly speed up this process.

第二个, 作为基于定义的设计的一部分, 需要按顺序标识许多节点或处理步骤. 简单来说, think of these as additional features or functionalities that are processed only when preceding steps are completed.

第三, 作为在序列中移动资产的一种方式, 需要确定每对节点之间的切换. 这可以简单到将资产通过FTP传输到另一个监视文件夹, or as complex as duplicating the asset for delivery into multiple watch folders.

虽然这些过渡点可以被认为是处理步骤, 大多数工作流工具将它们简单地视为预处理或后处理步骤, 这取决于它们发生在特定工作流中的节点的哪一侧.

有趣的是, this space has now been automated by companies whose focus was on large file transfers. 这样的公司粗线 (现为IBM所有)，或者 Signiant 提供文件加速传输. aspa甚至为其Orchestrator产品提供了一个工作流设计器, 哪一种能自动完成地点之间的部分转移.

“文件是可以定向的, processed and redirected with easy-to-define rules based on an organization’s workflows and using existing IT infrastructure,该公司在其Orchestrator页面上写道. “[Orchestrator] integrates seamlessly with third-party plug-ins and ensures that each processing step is accurately performed.”

signant曾与媒体公司合作, 比如Discovery, to create acceleration and automation at the very first step in the delivery process: ingesting content from a large number of sources.

Discovery has created a 生产商’s Portal as a way to streamline content submission for more than 600 production partners. 该系统, 由Discovery的内部IT团队构建, allows production partners to “send finished programs and all associated elements to cloud object storage over any Internet connection,，包括自动将资产签入Discovery的MAM.”

A Signiant software client sits on the production partner’s desktop and ties back to a Signiant-managed infrastructure in the cloud, 允许加速生产者和发现之间的文件传输.

现在，回到这五个关键步骤. 第四是分配配置. 这是将自定义功能添加到每个节点的点. 在上面的第二步中可以做到这一点, but some industry experts recommend laying out all the nodes and transitions before assigning functionality in the configuration step. This may help avoid getting caught in the weeds before laying out the big-picture sequences.

第五，也是最后, validating the workflow is key to determining that the workflow will properly automate. 例如, this “test run” approach could uncover points at which a failure of a node sequence requires human intervention, 这限制了整体自动化.

任何一点的失败都会触发工作流无效的警告. 当这些点被确定, 您需要决定是否将用户任务警报添加到工作流中, 这样人类就会意识到需要被关注. 另外, you’ll need to choose a process sequence that properly automates between the steps that have been identified as errors in the validation process.

也, 超出初始验证, 理解序列故障的总体影响也很重要, and whether it applies to a particular asset or for the entire group of assets being processed.

查看流程

在基于文件的工作流自动化的早期, 没有太多的方法来可视化工作流中的进度. 要么是经过处理的文件被放到了正确的位置, 在一段不确定的时间之后, 或者呼叫的技术人员收到错误警报.

然而，这些天一切都变了. 从仪表板到管道可视化, today’s workflow automation tools and services offer several windows of insight into your bottlenecks.

Even when the content has been processed and uploaded to a content delivery network (CDN), 有仪表板来监控流的一致性. 例如，在 2017流媒体百家乐软件手册，我们讨论了一个过度(OTT)“热图”仪表板服务质量买家指南.

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