JAMS Reviews

We have many uses for JAMS, primarily for jobs in our data warehouse, but also jobs for debt integration, ETL, moving data between organizations, scheduled archives and database maintenance, data quality work, and triggering analytics model updates.

We used to have a job scheduled to start at 03:00 AM, and it would run to 10:00 or 11:00 AM because we had to add enough buffer time between jobs to account for time variability in individual tasks. This often caused problems in production because the database would still be in use when our staff came in the morning, leading to user reports of sluggishness in the database. With JAMS, this process is completed by 06:30 or 07:00 AM, long before our users get in, so they're happy, and I'm happy. Everything is done by the time I get in to work, and I just have to take care of exceptions if there are any. JAMS is a win for our organization.

JAMS helps to centralize the management of jobs on all our platforms and applications; I transitioned everything over to it so we have a single application to control all tasks, which has been tremendously helpful.  

JAMS helped eliminate ''data slack'' across our applications, ensuring that current data is ready when users need it. Referring back to my previous example, the data warehouse job took until 10:00 to 11:00 AM to be completed, and users had to wait until then for full reports. Now, that's all done before they get into the office.   

The product helped to free up the IT staff's time, especially mine as the primary administrator. It saves me at least two to three hours a week on average.  

The product reduced the time it takes to carry out data warehouse jobs and send out reports by half. 

The ability to sequence jobs is excellent; it means we don't have to schedule them individually, and if one fails, it doesn't unwind the entire workflow.

JAMS is excellent for helping us be aware of and handle common issues that can prevent jobs from running. The solution notifies us when jobs go sideways, which is extremely helpful. Additionally, we can change our parameters if the network changes or if adjustments are made, allowing us to quickly alter a bunch of jobs just by updating a parameter. 

We use the solution's Interactive Agents; we deploy them on different servers to run the jobs directly. Adding interactive processes is very important to our organization.   

Running interactive tasks helps users focus on business processes. I'm the primary administrator for JAMS. It helps tremendously by allowing me to offload all the problems that can occur with jobs and all the associated rescheduling and rerunning of them. With JAMS, my job is much easier.  

JAMS is second to none when it comes to handling exceptions, exceptions meaning issues where a job might fail for one reason or another. I can dive into the job, and the log files are centrally located so that I can find the root cause very quickly. I can then address the issue, fix it, and rerun it all from one application.  

The platform's code-driven automation is excellent for helping us handle complex scheduling requirements. There hasn't been anything we haven't been able to do through PowerShell. 

JAMS helps us troubleshoot stalled jobs; it points us in the right direction as the centrally located log files allow us to see how far the job progressed and the specific point of failure. It gives us a good starting point for troubleshooting.  

Fortra is getting much better with documentation and examples, but there is still room for improvement.

There are a few minor issues on the schedule for items to be fixed; there are workarounds, but I'm looking forward to a patch that will resolve them more conclusively. There's a built-in report executer to deliver reports, which we can send to an individual, but we can't CC other staff, for example.

We've been using the solution for a little over three years. 

The solution is exceptionally stable; I can't think of a time when we had any issues.

The solution is scalable, as far as I can tell. We don't do rocket surgery here, so we haven't had to scale, but we could if needed. We have three users in total; two regular and one occasional. 

The JAMS customer service and support staff are unmatched in their ability to assist us and help us resolve issues. I rate them ten out of ten. 

We previously used Windows Scheduler and SQL Server Agent, so these aren't really third-party products or competitors to JAMS as such.  

We didn't migrate from a third-party product but switched from using a SQL agent built into SQL servers. Those jobs are triggered by JAMS now. We did a POC before migrating, and it took about two weeks. 

The migration process was as easy as it could be. Migrations are never easy, but it was as easy as possible.  

I was involved in the solution's deployment, and it was straightforward; it took less than a day. We didn't have much of an implementation strategy as we're a small shop. Usually, one other employee and I work with setting up servers and installation. He did the server setup, and then we configured the product, making minor tweaks as needed.

We did not use a consultant, though we contacted support for some advice, and they were extremely helpful.

In time, we have seen an ROI with JAMS, and the ease of use is a significant factor here. I reflect on how much time it has saved me, two to three hours a week, but it likely saves much more time in terms of setting up jobs and so on. On top of that, the visibility into where jobs fail, and the ability to fix issues as a result, makes our entire process more robust.

The product is reasonably priced, and we don't have any add-ons.

We did a POC with ActiveBatch Workload Automation, but JAMS is the more modern tool, the price is much better, and the ability to script using PowerShell is a big plus.

I rate the solution nine out of ten. 

My advice to others considering the solution is that they will be surprised by how much it will help.

JAMS did not help eliminate any monitoring tools because we had none.

We run thousands of tasks for various purposes, including data manipulation, human resources, data flow, data management, and scripting. We use the solution for any task involving data management that must be scheduled.

The product gives us an excellent idea of what is happening and when. We have much control over job scheduling, and the workflows work very well. We've also built a lot of complex processing in the workflows where we can configure tasks to run at certain times or only when specific conditions are met, such as if another job succeeds or builds a particular file. The control JAMS gives us is outstanding.

JAMS helps centralize the management of jobs on all our platforms and applications, as it's all in one console. This is very important because we don't need to go to 50 different servers to get the big picture; instead, we can see it from one.  

The solution helped eliminate data slack across our applications; we have much control over the timing and sequencing of jobs, so the data is available precisely when needed. If we can determine when data is required, JAMS can help facilitate that. This availability is essential as data timing is central to many critical applications. 

JAMS saves us time when troubleshooting stall jobs because it's a centralized console where we can see all the failed jobs together and access the logs. Occasionally, we have situations where 20 or 30 jobs fail simultaneously, and we can manage it all in one place, which works very well. The time saved is about four hours per day. 

The product helped free up our IT staff's time, and the team would be larger if we didn't have it, which also frees up time. Using JAMS saves approximately 50% of our time.  

The most valuable feature is the easily accessible data in the database because we run a lot of SQL scripting against the database.

The workflows are easy to build, and we have a lot of control over how, when, and where jobs will run, which gives us a lot of flexibility. We've been able to do everything we want in JAMS at an excellent price. We've used the solution on many different servers for many applications, so that worked well.

JAMS helps us be aware of and handle common issues that can prevent our jobs from running. We receive emails that show logs from the application, which gives us a good picture of the situation in a failure, with essential information, including the problem and what we need to do about it. 

The solution's ability to handle exceptions is complete, and we have no problems at all with that. 

The tool's code-driven automation for helping us handle complex scheduling requirements is fantastic. It addresses advanced scheduling in our workflows very well and allows us to factor in sequencing, time, dependency on other jobs, etc., giving us great flexibility. This is important to us and a significant part of the solution's capability. If we didn't have JAMS, we would have to build our own mechanisms to manage job sequencing, but JAMS provides that capability in a straightforward WYSIWYG interface that works well. 

When looking at a folder in JAMS with many jobs, it would be good to have better information in the list display of what's inside those jobs. We get some information, but other important details are missing.

Sometimes it's difficult to find which workflow or workflows a job is in which could be improved.

I've been using the solution for about twelve years. 

Overall, the solution is stable, and that improved over time. We had the occasional issue, but those were more to do with factors on our end than with JAMS. For example, we had the JAMS database running on a very slow server, and we sometimes ran out of server space, which isn't an issue with the solution. When we run out of room, we have to restart JAMS, and it doesn't recover particularly well, but this doesn't cause too much of a problem.

JAMS is highly scalable; we run tens of thousands of jobs daily, and there seems to be plenty of room for more. We have about 50 total users in our company. 

The tech support is fantastic; they're highly responsive, skilled, and knowledgeable. We usually get a good response within an hour when we contact them. We contacted them by phone and used screen sharing when encountering nasty problems. In one case, they spent several days assisting us through a big issue by phone. They've been very supportive and knowledgeable, so I rate them ten out of ten.

Positive

I don't remember what product we were working with before JAMS, but when we switched, it was like a breath of fresh air, as the previous solution was very difficult to work with. 

The initial setup was very complex as we had a lot of jobs, and we worked with JAMS Professional Services. The most significant factor is the learning curve. Now I'm familiar with the product, I could go into a new site and set it up within a few hours; experience is an important element. One staff member is sufficient for maintenance. 

I haven't been involved in the financial side for several years, but we buy one host and unlimited agents, and we get a reasonable price for that. We're happy with the amount we pay and the scalability it provides.

I rate the solution ten out of ten. 

JAMS eliminated virtually all our other monitoring tools, as 99.9% of what we do is with the solution. We do a few minor tasks in Linux for crime jobs, and we have to use Task Scheduler in a few situations because we can't have centralized processing. We use JAMS 100% where we can.

My advice to those evaluating the solution is to set up your server to run the jobs you need to run beforehand. Those are generally already in place if you're switching from another tool. JAMS is a very lightweight application, so you don't need a lot of processing power. Dictate a host and a failover host server, and you can build a development environment. Still, it is optional as there are decent ways of promoting code from development to production. The solution is relatively straightforward and lightweight.

We implement Fortra's JAMS for our clients, utilizing their existing scripts, batch jobs, and stored procedures. We define all batch jobs within JAMS, providing our clients with a single console to monitor and track the status of their running jobs.

Integrating JAMS into our existing IT infrastructure is a straightforward process. JAMS provides templates for common execution methods like command jobs, SQL jobs, and SSH jobs. We need to define the location of the jobs on the agent server and update their schedules based on our existing workflows.

Our clients have many departments, each with specialists for different tasks. Some manage SQL queries, others handle batch jobs, and others deal with ongoing jobs. This requires them to access various servers simply to check if jobs are running successfully. JAMS provides a single point of access, allowing them to monitor the status of all jobs from one location. This fosters shared knowledge among different departments. Previously, individuals might not know how to check the status of specific jobs, like SQL queries, leaving them in the dark about their success. JAMS empowers all IT personnel to view the status of any job, enabling them to track progress, identify errors, rerun jobs, and resolve critical issues.

We receive immediate notification of errors and can view them on the monitor. However, while the JAMS log reflects errors within the job itself, it often lacks the information needed to resolve them directly. As a result, we still rely on programmers or developers to interpret the logs and assist with troubleshooting. Nevertheless, the notification system provided by JAMS is a valuable tool.

JAMS helps us schedule jobs efficiently by notifying us of long-running jobs and allowing us to set jobs to run in sequence.

The JAMS central management console provides a convenient single point of access for monitoring all running jobs. This allows for clear visibility into job statuses, enabling clients to promptly address both successful jobs and those encountering errors.

JAMS helps eliminate data slack across our applications. We can react to errors so the data doesn't get stuck on the server.

JAMS helps cut troubleshooting time for stalled jobs by 50 percent. Logs stored on JAMS are based on the project's allocated budget. For troubleshooting, we can access the JAMS server. However, previously, resolving issues required accessing the server hosting the specific job and finding someone familiar with it. JAMS's primary strength lies in notifying users and pinpointing the error location within the job, streamlining the troubleshooting process.

JAMS helped eliminate the need for multiple monitoring tools. Since our clients no longer use task schedulers, there's less confusion; some people found the Windows scheduler difficult to understand. JAMS provides a user-friendly way to view job schedules. We provide an initial transfer to familiarize clients with the monitor's components. Now, with JAMS as a common tool, teams can easily understand each other's jobs, regardless of whether they're front-end or Windows scheduler-based. This is a significant improvement.

By using JAMS, IT personnel can focus on other tasks without needing to actively monitor their servers. When an error occurs, JAMS automatically notifies them via email or through the JAMS website, allowing them to address the issue promptly. This not only reduces the time IT personnel spend on monitoring, but also provides them with peace of mind knowing they'll be notified of any problems.

JAMS handles job dependencies and error recovery in our environment well.

While I appreciate the other features, the agent stands out for its ease of installation and configuration for JAMS monitoring. We can define thresholds to detect jobs running longer than usual and receive notifications when that occurs. Job monitoring is also a valuable feature for our clients.

While JAMS's cross-platform capabilities are good, my only concern is the need to download an ODBC driver to connect to specific databases. It would be highly beneficial if JAMS natively supported these connections, eliminating the need for separate driver downloads for each database.

With no programming experience, I find JAMS code-driven automation challenging due to the required PowerShell scripting. While JAMS offers helpful guides, the technical barrier remains significant.

I have been using Fortra's JAMS for three years.

JAMS has been stable with no bugs or major disruptions. I would rate the stability of JAMS nine out of ten.

Scaling JAMS is easy and user-friendly to do. Minimal configuration is required.

The technical support is good and quick to respond.

Positive

The initial deployment is straightforward, requiring only a few clicks and some data entry. It took two weeks and involved two IT personnel.

Our clients have experienced a return on investment by using JAMS, thanks to the improvements it has brought to their processes.

JAMS is priced competitively compared to similar solutions and offers flexible licensing options to cater to user needs.

I would rate Fortra's JAMS eight out of ten.

We have three JAMS users in our organization and over 50 in our client's organizations.

I particularly recommend JAMS to our clients in the financial industry. It offers valuable features for monitoring job execution, receiving error notifications, and integrating seamlessly with other applications.

I use JAMS to run repetitive tasks that I need to do each day, like loading database entries, performing backups, and building daily reports. The organization uses it for complex workflows, sequences, and ad hoc jobs.

We aren't using JAMS for much complex scheduling. We schedule tasks on weekdays, but we aren't using a calendar to specify holidays. That is something on the to-do list. We want to have it scheduled to run on the work week except for holidays or other exceptions. However, it can run jobs based on sets of schedules and sequences. 

We consolidated several Windows scheduling servers into the dev and production JAMS environments. A few servers still have custom-scheduled tasks, but we moved most jobs from Windows Task Scheduler to JAMS.

JAMS helps us troubleshoot stalled jobs. For example, if I get a work ticket to check out a failing job, it's easy to look at the log file tab on the job and quickly get the details I need. Error logs are verbose and well-written, so I know what is wrong, whether it's the credentials or a file that can't be found. 

If a job fails or there's a trigger for a bad read text pattern, JAMS will send an email alert. I usually don't hear or see the functions, and I don't know if anybody is watching the monitor tab in the scheduler to see if there are any failing jobs. Aside from any email alerts when a job fails, I have found no real dashboards—at least not with 7.3. It may not be the case with the latest version.

It hasn't enabled us to eliminate monitoring tools so far. Only a few teams use JAMS to send custom monitoring reports, and additional software comes with the VM build. It hasn't been removed. All of the organization-wide tools stay, but some of them might be utilized less. If those teams are using custom JAMS reports more than other tools, it's probably because they could tailor their JAMS script to display the information that's most relevant to their team's needs. 

JAMS provides some flexibility in that aspect. They can run jobs to check the status of the database or Windows services. It gives them the freedom to build those tasks into a sequence or a workflow and get that report back fast instead of using a tool like SolarWinds. You'd need to create a dashboard and find an admin person, and that'll take time, whereas they can just do this quick job, and it gives them the exact information they want. JAMS frees up some at-instance time. Job automation, scheduling, and the ability to pause while other jobs finish saves time. 

I like how you can add new execution methods on the fly. It isn't overly complex to add Python script support to an execution method in the JAMS system. The scheduling is excellent. You can schedule a maintenance window and take that resource unit out of everything. It halts all of the jobs. 

We did that when we upgraded the last time. It's helpful because we don't need to worry about upstream and downstream jobs or any triggers and kickoffs. I also like that the JAMS uses PowerShell and has a PowerShell module. 

Regarding JAMS' exception handling, I will say that the person scripting a job should try to catch those exceptions and do their own internal logic for it. JAMS will generate an error if I write a script with an exception, and it'll display that error in the log. JAMS catches it. 

I would like to see the ability to interface with Microsoft group-managed service accounts, but they're still in the research phase. They need to ensure everything's legit and safe. The report designer and dashboards could also be improved. We're running 7.3, so I don't know if they have updated the reporting in 7.5, but I think the reports and dashboards could be better.

If I open one of JAMS' pre-installed reports but don't launch it on the server where the scheduler's installed, it will take forever to load through our VPN connections. It may be related to how we have our servers set up. I don't know if that's an issue with JAMS or not, but I need to be careful about where I open the report designer. Otherwise, I will sit there with an endless blue circle. I can open it on my workstation or use a remote desktop to access the server and open it via that. 

It would be helpful if the data in that report designer could be leveraged in Power BI. I don't know if they have that already, but that could be one way to improve the reporting and dashboards. Maybe there's already a way to do that. I should look at their website first or contact support because Fortra's support is fantastic and always super helpful.

The company has been using JAMS for about two years, but I've only used it for a year and a half. 

JAMS has been pretty stable. We have a single instance, so we're not running high availability, and the uptime has been solid. We have only had to go down to do scheduled reboots for server patching.

It's easy to scale the VM vertically where JAMS is deployed. To scale horizontally and install more agents, we would need to buy more licenses for the agents. It's a matter of contacting support and having the money to buy more licenses. It isn't too difficult to contact our account rep. We don't have problems buying licenses for additional agents. 

It would be cool if we could install multiple agents and have the scheduler server ensure we only use the number of licenses or agents allotted under our licensing agreement. For example, if our prod environment has licenses for three agents, we could deploy six agents that are available to run jobs, but the scheduler would ensure that only three agents are active simultaneously within that environment. That would be an interesting feature.

I rate Fortra's support a ten out of ten. The turnaround is always quick when I email them. They're knowledgeable about it. I can send them a few screenshots and logs, and they respond with some suggestions. They typically resolve the problem on the first try. I haven't used their telephone support, but other people have told me that works just as well.

Positive

I wasn't around for the initial installation when the company first purchased JAMS, but I was indirectly involved with the upgrade from version 7.2 and to 7.3. The upgrade process was extremely straightforward. Fortra's support provided a Wiki article to walk us through it. We backed up the files and performed the steps. You go through the installer to upgrade it.

I rate Fortra's JAMS a ten out of ten.

We have a student information system (SIS) for education. We have 50 school districts that run on the same database, and they all can run reports through the GUI. JAMS manages the reports. We have a throttle so that they don't overpower the system. So, the stuff comes through the system and the throttle manages it, and then if there's a certain report that runs over, we can kill it. They can run it again with better parameters. That's pretty much the main use. We have a lot of nighttime jobs that we schedule through that as well.

It's deployed on our private cloud. We run our own server. In terms of its version, we're on the most recent version.

If JAMS has a deadlock, we get a notification. When there's a deadlock, it'll kill the job. If something runs too long, it kills it. We also have a throttle, which also helps the whole system to work. If we didn't have the throttle, it would be bedlam. It would be crazy. 

It absolutely helps to eliminate data slack across the applications. It'll kill jobs; it'll kill deadlocks faster; and it'll kill long-running queries. We can get in there, and where the software doesn't allow us to kill the job, we can get into the SQL Server, but JAMS is much cleaner, and more people can get into it without having to expose the database access to people. We can give them JAMS access where they can kill the job.

It saves time when troubleshooting stalled jobs because of the fact that more people can get into it without having the access to the backend. 

It has 100% helped to free up the IT staff’s time. Previously, there used to be two or three of us for monitoring, but now, we've boiled it down just to me. I get the notifications, and I handle them. It has absolutely reduced staff time.

The overall product is fantastic. I love it. It has been a fantastic, solid product. If I have one tiny bit of a problem with it, the support team gets in touch with me right away. I don't know if I've had another service that has been as fantastic as the JAMS support team. 

I would like a simple web interface that I could give to my team to go in and kill jobs or see why jobs died so that we don't have to drill down deeper into the application and know everything about it. It would be good to have a really clean web engine that would say here are the jobs running.  We can then click to see the time running and whether any of them fails and other similar things. I know they have one, but it's not very simplistic. It would be awesome to have a simple one. 

I have been using this solution for about 15 years.

It's 110% rock solid. JAMS has never failed us. It has been rock solid.

We only use it for one thing. I don't have any input on its scalability because we don't use it for anything else. We only use it on one platform. So, there's no centralization. We have one main application. It has the front end, the back end, the middleware, and all that jazz. All the jobs to maintain the software are run through JAMS.

We probably use the simplest features of JAMS. We have no complex code-driven things.

I would rate them a 10 out of 10. They get back to you faster than your mom will call you back. When we've had problems, such as if I've had a job that keeps on failing and then I say, "Here's the error code, and I don't know why it's failing," they're right back. They are fantastic. Although I haven't contacted them in probably a year, when we first started up, our software code was sketchy or a little weak, and it failed. JAMS was right there when we had problems with scheduling things. They were fantastic. Their support is amazing. The product is solid. It's as solid as it can be.

Positive

JAMS was our first and only one. I know they did a lot of research on it, and they picked JAMS. The whole state uses it. They picked it, and we didn't know. We didn't come from anybody, and we aren't going to anybody, that's for sure.

I've installed it many times. It's simple as a pie. With a few clicks, you are done. It gets done as fast as you can click. It's very simple. As long as you have all the parameters, a database, and your web front end, it's super easy.

Our licensing is pretty cheap because we have a state solution. So, we pay only $1,000 a year. 

We're a software provider for school systems. We are state-owned. There are 13 of us throughout Ohio, and we have a collective agreement with JAMS or a collective licensing through JAMS. Because we have so many licenses, we get a discount on the renewal, etc.

I would absolutely recommend it to anybody. If you don't give it a try, you're a fool. At least give it a try because you'll find that it's an easy install. It's an incredibly easy management tool to go around. The setup wizards are nice. It's a little slow on some of the history look-ups, and I don't know why. Other than that, it's very clean with a good front end and easy manageability.

In terms of helping us to be aware of and handle common issues that can prevent our jobs from running, we haven't had anything. It will kill a job if there's a deadlock, and obviously, we get notifications if there are bad parameters in the job run, but I don't have any notifications about not running because of permissions, low resources, or anything like that. We don't have that kind of thing set up.

I would easily rate it a 10 out of 10. With the stability and the support, to me, every day, it's a 10.

Previously, all the jobs were on different platforms, so the monitoring was not centralized. That was the main challenge about two years ago. After implementing JAMS, especially in staging and production, we have one dashboard or console that we look at every day. It's easier to monitor jobs. It's efficient. We can easily track which jobs have failed. The administrator can work in a productive and proactive way. In one dashboard, we can navigate and see which jobs are running and which jobs have failed or have been successful. We also have direct email notifications. In terms of administration and monitoring, it really helps administrators to monitor 24/7 operations, and when it comes to the business, we give them the capability to monitor the jobs. They can monitor the jobs as well when they are executed in one place. They can navigate to the domain structures from different domains, and they can monitor their own servers every day.

We started with the custom dashboard just two weeks ago. It's easier for us to monitor through the custom dashboard. We're able to customize the dashboard for the things that we want to monitor.

When it comes to automation, we have already implemented a couple of scripts. For example, we have a daily agent check, so we created a PowerShell script to monitor that. Every day, that job executes and checks which jobs agents are offline or inaccessible, and it will then send an email notification to the administrator. We can then check the server status and identify why the server is offline or inaccessible. In terms of automation, we are able to work with the developers based on their requirements. We have already implemented different jobs. We have automated some of the API jobs. We have also automated the process of restarting application services.

We have different batch-processing jobs. Some of them are weekly, and some of them are monthly. We can proactively monitor all batch-processing jobs that are recurring on a weekly or monthly basis.

JAMS saves time when troubleshooting stalled jobs. When we have an issue, we check the logs and the execution history. We also have documentation of the common issues in Confluence. We did not encounter any major issues so far. We haven't had any fatal or severity one issues. They have mostly been basic issues. Most of the time, it was an execution issue. For example, we had a monthly patching activity that affected our servers at times. During patching, the server was rebooted, and the jobs that were running at that time got terminated. We had raised our concern with the JAMS team about the synchronization. When the server is rebooted or restarted, the expectation is that JAMS and the server will synchronize. We encountered this issue in the previous versions. When we upgraded the version, we did not encounter that anymore.

Using an enterprise system like JAMS to manage our jobs gives us peace of mind. In addition, we don't require many administrators for monitoring the jobs. In our current environment, there are only three of us at the moment. I'm working during the daytime, and the other two are working during the nighttime. Three of us are enough to monitor and manage JAMS. It's a time saver because you don't need to monitor it from time to time. It automatically manages everything.

The feature or capability to import a job is most valuable. We can import an existing job from different platforms, and all the configurations get migrated as well without modifying the code, job schedule, etc.

Its integration capabilities are also valuable. There is API, and then there is integration with Snowflake and Power BI. The PowerShell integration is also very powerful.

It has been good so far. We are very satisfied with JAMS' capabilities and features. When I joined the company, we migrated all the jobs from different environments, such as from SQL and Oracle databases, Cron jobs, and Windows task scheduler, to JAMS. We onboarded different departments to JAMS. The product and the business teams are very satisfied as well with how JAMS works. They especially like the self-service capability wherein they can provision or deploy their own jobs in lower environments. Developers are able to leverage different development processing jobs. They are building their own PowerShell scripts and are integrating with other applications through APIs.

The ACL or access permission area needs to be improved. When it comes to defining and providing security permissions, it's a bit confusing if you are new to JAMS. JAMS needs to improve the features for security access or permissions.

I've been using JAMS for about two years. 

From time to time, the JAMS team will update you about the latest release. So, in terms of stability, the JAMS team will support you in maintaining your system. We haven't had any issues with stability. We are very satisfied with that because when they release a new version, we are informed ahead of time. We appreciate that kind of engagement.

Its scalability seems good. We have a lot of users using it. We have 12 to 15 internal departments using it, and we have 300 to 400 users. The roles of its users vary from department to department. The most common roles are developers, QA, business analysts, and managers. In terms of maintenance, there are three of us who are managing JAMS.

Currently, in staging, we have around 500 jobs, and in production, we have close to 1,000 jobs. We don't have any plans to increase its usage at this time. If the number of servers increases, we will plan ahead of time and increase its capacity. 

We encountered a few issues, but we didn't have any major issues so far. When we encountered an issue that wasn't familiar to us or that we couldn't resolve or troubleshoot, we created a ticket. They set up a meeting session with us. We collaborated and identified the issue and documented the issue so that if we encounter the same issue in the future, we have documentation about how to fix the issue.

I'd rate their customer service a nine out of ten. We don't have any issues. When you create a ticket, a good thing is that they respond immediately. Most of the time, I go to the JAMS portal to create and submit a ticket. There's chat support that will immediately respond to your inquiry. That's a good way to submit a ticket to JAMS support. They respond immediately via chat. They also ask you to provide the logs in case of any issues. For an in-depth investigation, they will also schedule a meeting so that they can have a working session to review the issue and resolve it as soon as possible.

Positive

We didn't use any other solution previously. As far as I know, my team was managing the jobs for each platform separately. We didn't have a central solution before. This is the first time that we have an enterprise platform like JAMS.

When I joined the company, the database engineering team had already started to deploy it. It was already set up.

Our setup is standalone at the moment. We have two environments. We have the staging environment. All of our platforms are deployed in staging, and then we have a separate box for production. There is a plan for high availability. This year, we are planning to include that option and implement it.

We have on-premises deployment, and we also have a private cloud. We have Azure, and we are also exploring AWS.

I do take care of the upgrades. The upgrade process is very simple. There is online documentation. The upgrade procedure is quite similar to other solutions.

Based on what I know, we only consulted our JAMS vendor. We did not go to a third-party consultant.

We would have got an ROI, but I'm not aware of the numbers. We are still using this product, so there must be an ROI.

It was already deployed when I joined this company.

We had two internal people who evaluated it and installed it in staging and production. They learned it on their own. When I joined the company, I didn't have any prior experience with JAMS, so they gave me training, and I learned from them. The main challenge was that while learning the platform and its functionalities, we were also doing onboarding. We were migrating different jobs to JAMS, and we encountered some issues. For example, while migrating the jobs, we had to disable them because there was another phase of the project for communicating with the product team and identifying the jobs that needed to be enabled and the jobs that weren't needed anymore. So, we encountered different challenges while importing the jobs, configuring the jobs, and assigning the access permissions, but from that experience, we learned a lot. Overall, it was a good experience.

I'd rate JAMS a 10 out of 10 for its features and capabilities. In terms of features, JAMS has almost all features. JAMS can meet the needs of most companies or organizations at the moment. We don't find any limitations.

We use JAMS to run various tasks, such as nightly claims processing jobs. It's also helpful for moving files around and interfacing between the cloud and our on-prem systems. 

The company has 50 to 100 users, including admins, developers, and on-call maintenance staff. We also have reporting staff who monitor jobs to see if they are succeeding. 

JAMS enables us to formalize simple tasks, reducing the amount of manual work. We can package all the access needed for those tasks, so a non-expert can deal with a problem without disturbing people. It automated 100 percent of the functions that can be automated. It's the only scheduler we have. 

It's hard to quantify how much labor it replaced. It's more than 10 days annually but probably less than 100. It saves staff maybe a day every four weeks. JAMS has centralized management. It is a critical way we deal with multiple systems that interface.  

We have eliminated some tools. For example, we can use JAMS as a monitoring tool and use it in place of Enterprise Manager. Regarding time saved, JAMS saved about 15 to 20 percent compared to our previous scheduler. JAMS also costs less than our last system, significantly reducing operational overhead. 

JAMS handles complex schedules well enough. That's one of the main reasons we use it. We use JAMS to populate our data warehouse every night, ensuring the updated data is available every morning. Troubleshooting failed jobs in JAMS is straightforward. You can navigate the logs quickly, and it sends you an email pointing to the source of the problem. 

JAMS is easier to use and cheaper than our previous solution. The installation is more straightforward, and JAMS has a graphical user interface, so it's more accessible. The interactive processes are helpful. We don't use them often, but it's a nice feature to have.

It sends notifications to the person on-call when a job fails, but the failures rarely have anything to do with JAMS. It allows jobs to restart several times, which often resolves exceptions. I'm satisfied with how it handles exceptions. 

JAMS lacks source control features. Our previous solution had job control language, but JAMS doesn't. When migrating between versions, JAMS doesn't migrate all the data, like job change history, etc. Also, the scheduler doesn't have a way to make jobs invisible, so you can temporarily turn a job off if you decide not to run it today.

We have used JAMS since 2014.

The current version of JAMS is stable. It's more stable than the previous version.

I rate Fortra's customer service a nine out of ten. 

Positive

Deploying JAMS is straightforward. During the initial deployment and migration from the old system, we had to request servers and plan to deploy the client. There were three stages: installation, migrating jobs from our old system, and testing. 

The migration wasn't automatic. We had to reenter most of the jobs from the previous system manually. We took the opportunity to redesign the tasks a little. It wasn't that difficult, and we had no problems replicating the functionality or anything like that. The migration took about six months.

There isn't much maintenance after deployment. We can upgrade to the latest version in two or three hours. 

JAMS is cheaper than our previous solution, and we can run it on any server. The license for our old solution was limited to two servers. JAMS reduced our expenditures by about half compared to the other solution. 

JAMS is much cheaper than our previous solution.

I rate Fortra's JAMS an eight out of ten. 

We have batch processes that run either on-demand or on a scheduled basis. JAMS is used to manage and run those jobs.

We have realized significant savings in manpower. There's no need for operators to be submitting jobs manually, as it is automated. And the ability to chain a whole bunch of sequences or steps, again, results in labor savings.

It gives us a single pane of glass that allows us to see what is going on and that centralizes the management of jobs on all our platforms. We use it both in a production and non-production environment. We're certainly getting a lot of benefits from that.

And data is ready to go when our users need it, due to the fact that it's scheduling jobs and running them as quickly as the backend systems allow.

Another advantage is that the monitor interface gives very good information, good visuals that are color-coded so that you can quickly jump to where an issue is. That helps save time when troubleshooting jobs. In terms of our IT staff's time, JAMS is probably saving us a few hours a day.

One of the things I like the most, as a SQL DBA, is the fact that we can manipulate tables in the background. Also, the fact that you can have your own views and work with the product the way it fits best is a very helpful feature.

There are alerts if things fail, and we do have that functionality in place. For critical jobs, we also have notification that the job has run successfully. And JAMS is very good at handling exceptions. You can do retries.

In the version that we are using, it does validations when you try to delete an object and if there are any dependencies in place, the deletion process will not proceed for obvious reasons. However, there is no information provided as to what it was that caused the validation to fail. Where is that dependency? Right now, it's quite a tedious process to find which object is getting in the way. Getting information with details of the failure would be very helpful.

Also, sometimes the interface is slow. It will lock up the application for no apparent reason.

I've been using Fortra's JAMS for five-plus years.

It's a stable product. We've rarely experienced bugs or glitches.

It's also a scalable solution.

We have it in extensive use. We have hundreds of jobs that run on a daily basis, both in production and non-production environments. There are no plans at this point to expand our use. There simply is no need to have more jobs running. That said, we are in the process of doing an upgrade from 6.5 to 7, but there is no increase in the number of jobs planned.

I was not at the organization when the initial setup happened. 

In terms of training, we do not have formal training for JAMS. For the operators, it is really a handoff. It is quite intuitive for them. For admins, there is obviously a lot more to the product.

We have definitely seen ROI. It's a great labor-saving tool. The hours that would be required to manually submit and monitor these jobs would be quite significant if we did not have an automation solution in place.

The way that we have it licensed is by the number of jobs. We have two installations and there probably could be a little bit more flexibility in terms of moving licenses between one and the other. However, our situation is that we have one that is a production license and another that is a non-production license, so that may be the issue.

We have five hands-on users of JAMS including two admins and three operators who monitor and release jobs on an as-needed basis. The admins are the ones involved in maintenance, not that they're necessarily needed for maintenance, but they are the ones capable of doing whatever needs to be done.

I would definitely recommend it. Note that there is a learning curve, so you should go in with a plan. But it is highly flexible and very valuable.