Fortra's JAMS Reviews

Name: Fortra's JAMS
Brand: Fortra
Rating: 4.4 (34 reviews)

4.4 out of 5

34 reviews
96% willing to recommend

What is Fortra's JAMS?

Fortra's JAMS is a powerful tool for workflow automation, batch job scheduling, file transfer, and centralizing tasks, enabling streamlined job management and monitoring from a single console across multiple servers and systems.

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Fortra's JAMS is the #4 ranked solution in top Workload Automation solutions. PeerSpot users give Fortra's JAMS an average rating of 8.8 out of 10. Fortra's JAMS is most commonly compared to Control-M: Fortra's JAMS vs Control-M. Fortra's JAMS is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 62% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 17% of all views.

Helped 830,824 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Rob Grafrath

VP, Enterprise Systems at Capio

The extensibility feature, i.e., the custom execution method ability, is the most valuable feature. We can write a C# interface using the JAMS libraries. We copy the DLLs for the client interface over to our remote desktop and JAMS servers. Then, any of our JAMS users can open up a job definition and see the control developed by our developers. When the job command is issued, it executes our developers' code. I am happy with the exception handling, for the most part. When an exception occurs on one job inside of a series of jobs, it can make that series of jobs stop running, sending an email to someone to let them respond. There is also a monitor view where you can see everything that is currently running and any of the jobs that are currently in an error state. You can find them and try to rerun the job, or cancel it if the job doesn't actually need to be run. JAMS will attach the console logs from anything that has an error on the email that goes to the operators. Also, inside of the job monitor, you can go to the logs and dig down into the details to see what went wrong. It has the ability to use PowerShell to schedule jobs, enable, or disable triggers. The fact that they have JAMS PowerShell cmdlets is useful. This is not central to our use of JAMS, but I appreciate it. While they have extended PowerShell and created cmdlets, I tend to use that when I have to do things like kill all the jobs currently in the schedule, if something catastrophic has occurred. I use them on my test server more than production. On my test server, if I am running a bunch of tests and jobs, but I just want to wipe out the whole scheduler, then I can use a PowerShell command to do that. From time to time, a job is executed and gets stuck in a loop. It gets hung. Maybe the remote system freezes up. Something abnormal happens. It is pretty easy to deal with those. You can see them inside the JAMS monitor because JAMS will automatically calculate the average time that it takes for a given job to execute as long as it has had a few successful runs. The JAMS Scheduler can predict what should take five minutes to run. If it is running for 30 minutes, there is a percentage that shows inside the scheduler that the job is now at 600% of the normal run time. So, you will see this big number, 600% and climbing inside the monitor. You can research that. You can go find the hung process on the source system and respond accordingly. You can set up jobs such that they send alerts or have runaway job limitations. I personally don't tend to use the runaway feature. Our operators notice and respond accordingly to long-running jobs.

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Patrick Norton

Manager of Reliability Engineering and Security Operations at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

JAMS support has been among the most helpful and knowledgeable we've ever worked with. They're always eager to assist and quickly find solutions. While a few minor issues required escalation, we've been able to resolve them all within the current version of JAMS. After initial misuse, we have optimized the use of several agents deployed in our environment. This improvement was made possible through collaboration with internal stakeholders and guidance on JAMS best practices. While agents might appear to directly solve user problems due to their ability to perform custom tasks on machines, in our cases, they operate behind the scenes, unseen by users. JAMS handles exceptions well, especially when calling PowerShell scripts, successfully bubbling up errors. It centralized our job and orchestration management functionalities into a single control plane, providing visibility into previously siloed work. This consolidation streamlined operations and enhanced oversight through a unified dashboard. Additionally, JAMS empowered us to build advanced processes by effectively managing retries, workflows, and sequences. Without JAMS, replicating this functionality would have been manual and inefficient, lacking the comprehensive visibility and control JAMS provides. Data Slack refers to delays in data pipelines caused by disparate and siloed processes. Using JAMS, while powerful for scheduling and orchestration, can exacerbate this issue if teams break down processes into isolated tasks within different tools. This fragmentation leads to data sitting in queues and folders, awaiting processing. To improve efficiency and timeliness, it's recommended to consolidate these fragmented processes entirely under JAMS. This allows JAMS to execute the entire workflow from start to finish within a single execution, eliminating data slack and ensuring timely data delivery. JAMS has helped save IT staff time by automating tasks previously performed with scripts, and its scheduling feature has been particularly useful.

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Chris Waring

Sr. Vice President, Managed Services and Delivery at Powwr

The most valuable feature is the basic core of the software itself. That is just the level at which you can set scheduling and dependencies between jobs, how everything can be set and scheduled based off of one another, and the ability to run jobs across 25 to 30 different virtual machines. It gives the ability to be able to run jobs on all those servers as well as have them all be visible. In the schedule from one centralized JAMS client location, we can bring up the client interface and see everything that runs across our entire infrastructure, which is really invaluable. We can instantly access all the log files for anything that happens, e.g., if we get any job errors. That is definitely what is most valuable to us. There are some different batch queue features, e.g., we can quickly change the servers where jobs are running. When we made a full move to Azure to be fully cloud based, we had to change all our jobs and the servers that they were going to be running on. The way it had been originally set up was that we used batch queues, where each job would run on a particular server and it would be assigned to the queue, which had the agent definition in it. That told it what server to run on, which was very easy. We didn't have to go through and change thousands of jobs. We only had to go through and change about 20 to 25 different queues, then just point them at different servers. Therefore, it was a very quick and easy change. We have used some of the built-in PowerShell FTP capabilities within JAMS as well as some of the other PowerShell capabilities. We also use the triggers a little bit, when we are watching for files to appear in a particular directory, etc. The exception alerting process is reliable; it works. We don't do anything really fancy with it, and it is mostly based on the actual jobs themselves. For example, if an SQL job, some Windows executable, or an SSIS package that we're running returns an error exit code, JAMS certainly handles that and lets us know. It then does, with the rest of the job surrounding it, what we have configured it to do. From that perspective, it is great. We have some specific instances where if jobs run too quickly or take too long to run, we use the exception alerting process on probably a few dozen different jobs that we have that are really important. The few times that it happened. It has saved us a lot of headaches because it is able to report those exceptions to us. We use a fairly decent amount of the log file exceptions, where you can go in and parse the JAMS job log file for specific entries as it goes through. Then, it can actually error the job out for a job that otherwise might not end in an error. In our case, we wanted to be alerted and have it halt a process if some specific text string shows up in the job log. We have that set up on a number of different jobs, which saves us from a lot of headaches. It has worked out pretty well for helping us handle complex scheduling requirements. We use it in one specific instance where our customers interact with our web-based platform. It has a section where our customers can go in and run one-off versions of their specific processes. So, they will go in and upload a new file, then they want to basically process that file into the system. What they can do is go to the page, upload their file, and then there is a button there that allows them to process it. That button actually links directly into our JAMS server using the JAMS APIs. That will kick off the jobs within JAMS directly. We have it set up so it only allows it to run it during certain times a day. It can check and monitor to see if an instance of a job is already running for that client. If it is, it returns back and tells them that they need to wait for the current one to finish. It returns the actual history from JAMS so they can see all the previous instances of their jobs that have run. This is a really nice feature that our customers really appreciate. It also saves us a lot of time. What would happen in the first couple years before we implemented this, our customers would upload their file, but then they would send in a support ticket for us to run their processes during the day and all our customer processing happens mostly overnight. Therefore, they would want this intraday update of the process. As soon as we implemented this for all of our clients, those support tickets just disappeared. It made a big difference in our ability to support customers.

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Fortra's JAMS mindshare

As of January 2025, the mindshare of Fortra's JAMS in the Workload Automation category stands at 1.6%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Workload Automation

PeerAnalyst reports

Type	Title	Date
Category	Workload Automation	Jan 15, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Jan 15, 2025	Download
Comparison	Fortra's JAMS vs Control-M	Jan 15, 2025	Download
Comparison	Fortra's JAMS vs Redwood RunMyJobs	Jan 15, 2025	Download
Comparison	Fortra's JAMS vs Automic Automation	Jan 15, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Control-M	4.4	26.5%	98%	118 interviews Add to research
AutoSys Workload Automation	4.2	15.5%	95%	79 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Fortra's JAMS excels with its planning capabilities, job dependency management, and batch scheduling. Its intuitive interface, natural language selection, and powerful PowerShell integration add flexibility. Features include extensive automation, exception handling, and interactive agents enhancing efficiency across platforms. Robust support and DR-readiness aid seamless operations. Users value its ease of parameter updates, security, and customizable alerts. Its central dashboard simplifies monitoring and troubleshooting, while its code-driven automation supports complex scheduling needs.

"JAMS has helped save IT staff time by automating tasks previously performed with scripts, and its scheduling feature has been particularly useful."
"I appreciate JAMS for its readily available templates that allow me to create and deliver stand-up presentations within minutes quickly."
"The dashboard is intuitive."

Room for Improvement

Fortra's JAMS needs better simulation for process termination, a revamp of the user interface, and more intuitive job setup methods. Improvements in search capabilities, documentation clarity, and security permissions are necessary. It lacks source control, hindering job management. The web-based interface is sluggish. Error messages lack detail, and monitoring tools are insufficient. Enhancements in reporting, automation error handling, and notifications for hung jobs are also required. Greater transparency in C# development and improved browser client functionality will be beneficial.

"The monitoring of the JAMS product and its performance is an area of concern for me."
"The monitoring of the JAMS product and its performance is an area of concern for me."
"The error messages from JAMS often need clarification, hindering our ability to resolve issues swiftly."

ROI

Fortra's JAMS reduces labor costs by automating job monitoring and freeing up personnel. Its cost-effectiveness is evident, saving significant time weekly for organizations. Users experienced a reduction in expenses as JAMS operates more efficiently than alternative tools. The system simplifies job setup and troubleshooting, enhancing productivity. Staff can focus on development over problem-solving. Clients report increased efficiency and operational improvements, contributing to a significant return on investment with Fortra's JAMS.

Pricing

Fortra's JAMS offers competitive pricing models, appealing to enterprise buyers by providing scalable and cost-effective solutions. Licensing is flexible, based on job counts or agents, with initial setup costs around $10,000 and annual maintenance fees typically $5,000. Users benefit from unlimited agent installation and reasonable renewal pricing. Some users reported complexity in pricing and additional costs for components like agents, but overall, JAMS remains priced below competitors like Control-M and Tivoli, providing substantial value for functionality offered.

"Fortra's JAMS pricing structure has deteriorated significantly since its acquisition by Fortra."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The licensing model for JAMS is straightforward and based on the number of agents, not the number of jobs you run. It's cheap and fairly simple."

Popular Use Cases

Fortra's JAMS is employed primarily for workflow automation and batch job scheduling, including SSIS tasks, SQL procedures, and Python scripts. Organizations extensively use it for file automation, managing transfers, and facilitating data management across environments. It enables centralized maintenance and allows for custom execution methods, ensuring efficient processing of complex workflows and ad hoc tasks. JAMS is integral in IT operations, from moving files to database management, serving various sectors like finance, education, and government.

Service and Support

Fortra's JAMS customer service receives praise for being responsive and knowledgeable, with many rating it highly. They are quick to address issues, often responding within hours, though some mention occasional delays. Users appreciate the support team's expertise, especially in resolving complex problems. JAMS also provides helpful training resources and proactive support, improving usability for clients. While most users express satisfaction and rate them between eight and ten, a few see room for improvement in documentation and consistency.

Deployment

Users found Fortra's JAMS initial setup straightforward, often completing it within a day or a few hours if infrastructure was ready. Support resources were helpful, although some experienced challenges with documentation and permissions. Deployments ranged from simple to more complex involving migrations and multiple server setups. Some organizations utilized consultants, while others managed internally with ease. Learning curves existed, but with proper guidance and experience, users appreciated its capabilities and scalability.

Scalability

Fortra's JAMS demonstrates high scalability across diverse organizational needs, accommodating various job execution volumes without major capacity issues. Users appreciate its flexibility in adding agents, supporting distributed environments, and handling multiple job executions efficiently. While some experience licensing constraints, others rely on additional infrastructure to scale. Overall, businesses of different sizes benefit from JAMS's ability to manage large numbers of daily operations smoothly, with minimal configuration required for expansion.

Stability

Fortra's JAMS is praised for its stability. Many users find it rock solid, reporting that it rarely crashes or experiences downtime. Issues that arise are usually due to external factors or resource constraints. Users have noted improvements in stability with newer versions and commend the system for handling substantial workloads. JAMS is seen as reliable, with few disruptions and steady performance, although some prefer the desktop version for better stability.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Fortra's JAMS Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Healthcare Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Non Profit

Energy/Utilities Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Government

Insurance Company

Educational Organization

Logistics Company

Comms Service Provider

University

Legal Firm

Photography Company

Hospitality Company

Pharma/Biotech Company

Outsourcing Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Performing Arts

Construction Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Compare Fortra's JAMS with alternative products

Learn more about Fortra's JAMS

Widely used for scheduling SSIS jobs, SQL Server stored procedures, Python scripts, and FTP jobs, Fortra's JAMS offers comprehensive solutions for data manipulation, reporting, backup tasks, and job coordination. Organizations automate file movements, database maintenance, and nightly processes, providing a centralized platform for job management and monitoring across servers and environments.

What are the most important features of Fortra's JAMS?

Planning Capabilities: Efficiently plan and coordinate job schedules.
Job Dependency Management: Manage dependencies between jobs to ensure proper execution order.
Batch Scheduling: Automate and schedule batch jobs seamlessly.
Single Pane of Glass: Centralized console for tracking all automation tasks.
Interactive Agents: Deploy agents for interactive job management.
Natural Language Scheduling: Create schedules using natural language commands.
Custom Execution Methods: Implement custom methods for job execution.
PowerShell Integration: Integrate with PowerShell for enhanced scripting capabilities.
Exception Handling: Robust handling of job exceptions to minimize disruptions.
Monitoring and Historical Views: Comprehensive monitoring and historical job views for better oversight.
Extensibility: Extend the platform to meet specific needs.
File Watching: Monitor files and trigger jobs based on changes.
Complex Scheduling: Handle intricate scheduling requirements for diverse scenarios.

What are the main benefits of using Fortra's JAMS?

Centralized Control: Manage all jobs from a single console.
Efficiency: Increase efficiency by automating repetitive tasks.
Scalability: Easily scale job management across multiple servers.
Reduced Errors: Minimize human errors through automation.
Improved Monitoring: Benefit from robust monitoring and alerting options.
Customizability: Tailor workflows and schedules to specific needs.
Integration: Seamlessly integrate with a wide range of applications and systems.
Time Savings: Save time with efficient job scheduling and execution.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, Fortra's JAMS enables seamless automation of critical tasks, ensuring data integrity, compliance, and operational efficiency. Whether it's automating nightly batch processing for financial transactions, managing data flows in healthcare, or coordinating manufacturing processes, Fortra's JAMS provides a robust solution to enhance productivity and reliability.