Communication infrastructures are evolving towards an ad-hoc service provisioning scenario where programmability and flexibility are fundamental concepts. Network automation is expected to play a vital role in streamlining all aspects of the service provisioning process (i.e., deployment, maintenance, and tear down). However, to fully realize this autonomous operation vision, closed-loop automation procedures need to be developed.This tutorial will present the main motivations and challenges behind designing and operating closed-loop autonomous decision-making processes, including a brief overview of current standardization initiatives. The tutorial will then address several use cases showcasing how network automation can alleviate the complexity of the service provisioning processes and the benefits brought in by the introduction of network automation
