IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation as a service

IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation as a service (IBM CP4BA service) is a modular set of integrated software components, built and designed to automate work and accelerate business growth. This document describes how to connect IBM watsonx Orchestrate to IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation as a service and import skills on watsonx Orchestrate.

Configuring the connection

As a builder, you can connect to IBM CP4BA service and access skills in the following IBM apps:

To connect watsonx Orchestrate to IBM CP4BA service

  1. Enter the following connection details:
    • Review the general considerations before connecting to IBM CP4BA service.
    • On Username, enter the functional ID or service credentials.
    • On Password, set the password of your username.
    • Choose the target environment as either Development, Test or Production.
    • On Connection URL, set the URL of your IBM CP4BA service instance.
  2. Click Connect.

Upon successfully connecting to IBM CP4BA service, you can discover skills from apps and projects built in your specified environment. Following are the steps to import skills on watsonx Orchestrate:

  1. On the Add skills page, expand the folder containing the skills and select the skill of your choice. Each skill has a unique set of features. You can expand each skill to understand what it does.
  2. Select the skills that you want to add.
  3. Click Save as draft. You’ll see a notification when the skill is imported.

The newly added skill is now listed on the Skills and apps page with a Ready to publish status. It's now time to enhance and customize the skill to suit your requirements. Publish the skill to the skill catalog so that your team can start using it.

General considerations

Before connecting watsonx Orchestrate with IBM CP4BA service, take note of the following general considerations:

Parameters Details
Functional ID or service credentials
  • Use the IBM CP4BA service functional ID or service credentials generated for your service account. If you don't have your functional ID or service credentials, you must contact your CP4BA account administrator for more assistance.
Connection URL You must specify the Connection URL while connecting watsonx Orchestrate with IBM CP4BA service. To get the connection details:
  • Log in to your IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation service instance.
  • Using the IBM CP4BA service URL as an example, you must prefix the environment and tenant host details to the URL. Suppose the URL is "cp4ba.automationcloud.ibm.com" then the format of your connection URL must be "env-tenant-host.automationcloud.ibm.com" (for example, "dev-cp4ba.automationcloud.ibm.com").
  • Where env can be either dev, test or run (or any custom environment name you are using).
  • The tenant-host is your tenant hostname.
Note: Information on the tenant host, functional ID, service credentials and the connection URL are sent after you request access to the IBM CP4BA service instance. Contact IBM Support or your IBM CP4BA service account administrator if you've lost the details.

Using the skills

As a user, you can access the prebuilt apps and skills that IBM CP4BA service offers for IBM Business Automation Workflow and IBM Operational Decision Manager and use them.

To connect watsonx Orchestrate to the IBM CP4BA service skills, complete the following steps:

  1. Enter the username and password while you run the skill.
  2. Specify the member credentials. See Supported authentication schemes for more details.
  3. Click Connect app.
  4. Use the skills.
Note: If you're unsure about your member credentials, contact your IBM CP4BA service account administrator for more details.

Supported authentication schemes

The following are the supported authentication schemes specific to the apps:

Apps Authentication type
IBM Business Automation Workflow Basic auth (LDAP)
IBM Operational Decision Manager Basic auth - Static credentials
Info: Review the known issues for Building skills from apps.

Parent topic:

→ Building skills from apps