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Secures and controls State assets, but Visual Studio plugin has a lot of room for improvement

What is most valuable?

  • Check-out
  • Check-in
  • Promote
  • Demote

Just that the basic functionality works.

How has it helped my organization?

It saves State assets, for starters. Saving State assets is part of my job, and it's important. So that's how it's improving State work. We have a tool that secures and controls State assets.

What needs improvement?

Certainly, the Visual Studio plugin has a lot of room for improvement.

We need to improve communication. It's a mistake to send all the work over to India, that's my personal opinion. I think there's a real problem with communication in India. I've been on the phone with these folks and wasted my time, where we don't even understand what they're saying. I think the development of this tool should be brought back to the United States. I think it's a mistake to have it done it in India, where a real communication problem exists.

For how long have I used the solution?

20 years.

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Automic Automation
November 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Absolutely.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is not as much of a problem.

How are customer service and support?

Escalation comes from the technical team in the United States to Level 2 in India.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We switched over 20 years ago.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was complex due to the complexity of the tool.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

If we had a choice to choose again, we'd choose something different.

We've been plugged into the product for 20 years now, so it's a little difficult to do that, although I have teams or agencies now, that are breaking away and they're going and using other tools now. I got one agency using TFS. I've got another agency using GitHub, so I'm seeing the breaking down of this whole process. A lot of it has to do with the stability of the Visual Studio plugin, which has not been very good.

What other advice do I have?

Don't use the Visual Studio plugin. Go and use TFS. It's more seamless and it's a bigger tool. It will cost you more money, but you won't have some of the complexities, in terms of folks being able to do check-outs and check-ins. This Visual Studio plugin has been very complicated for the State of New Hampshire. It's caused a lot of problems. It's made me lose a lot of customers. I lost 81 customers last week alone. They don't like the product and I understand why. They have people in India developing it, who don't understand English, most of the time.

Even when you try to convey your message to them, there's all kinds of problems with dialog and interpretation that sometimes you get what you ask for, and sometimes you don't. Most of the time, you don't. You end up going back and forth, and back and forth to get any fix, then you get another re-fix. Then, you get another re-fix.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Batch Scheduling DTS, Service Delivery Lead at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable, easy to set up, and has a powerful scripting language
Pros and Cons
  • "It has its own object-oriented scripting language and you can reload your object in many different places."
  • "The vendor support is really bad and should be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We are a system integrator and Automic is one of the workload automation products that we implement for our clients.

This tool provides a great versatility of options for effective digital business automation. Integration with different platforms, ERP systems, business application, microservices, big data.

We are supporting multiple customers and their environments. Some of the most common uses are : SAP, SAP BW, Avaloq, FileTransfers, FTP/SFTP, Datastage, Informatica

What is most valuable?

It has its own scripting language which allows you to be even more flexible with the objects and create your own unique environment. You can easily have a single object with smartly defined parameters (variables) and reuse that object in many different workflows, passing different values to achieve different purposes. 

What needs improvement?

The vendor support is really bad and should be improved. The engineers taking our vendor tickets are not knowledgeble enough of the product and occasionally not helpful at all. Tickets usally are bouncing back and forth with very little helpful information or investigation from their side for a issue we are experiencing/reporting.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Automic Workload Automation for at least five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product and we plan on continuing to use it in the future.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Automic Workload Automation is scalable, although it can improve on the database side. When it comes to workload automation tools, the database is always at the back of the list.

My team has approximately 25 people in it, and we have teams in America and Germany as well.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is slow, and the people that take the cases are not really familiar with the product. Most of their answers are simply "Did you check the official documentation? Did you check the knowledge base articles?"

If we are at the point that we are asking for support, most times, we would have already checked everything place that we can.

Basically, they should be faster and more knowledgeable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In our team, we are using four workload automation tools including Automic, Control-M, Autosys, and TWS/IWS. We are supporting all of them but I concentrate on Automic because it's the one that I like the most.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It is pretty easy to install this product anywhere, regardless of whether it is an on-premises or cloud-based deployment. Usually, deployment takes four hours at the most.

What about the implementation team?

I have done the deployment several times, myself.

What other advice do I have?

This is a good product and I can recommend it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
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Automic Automation
November 2024
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SystemsE3ac2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at a tech services company
Real User
You can create very fine, granular workflows with a lot of possibilities
Pros and Cons
  • "You can create very fine, granular workflows with a lot of possibilities. It gives you the possibility to do things in many ways."
  • "I am heading up the AWI. I desperately miss the possibility to show my read-only users on the Explorer side only their folders, not all the folders."

What is our primary use case?

We use Automic Workload Automation (AWA) for different things in the company, e.g., batch-bookings, archiving, virus scans, flight plans, etc. It is used for everything in the travel business which has IT. We do a lot of batch things within the industry, as it is a wide field.

How has it helped my organization?

The company does not notice our team much, which is not so good. However, that is because we can are quick and solve problems before they happen. We monitor and see where problems might occur, so we are not noticed so much in the company, but it helps in avoiding problems.

The automation helps a company to do things without manual processes. This is the definition: Without having to do so many things manually. 

One example that we have with a new customer is that they hosted their programs and everything themselves. The developers received calls almost every second night saying, “We have a problem,” without having on-call duty, but they did not have any on-call duty. Yet, they still received calls saying, “There's a problem.” They just had to rerun something, and it worked. Yet, every second night, they got called. 

With the automated solution they are now happy, because we can easily say, “If it breaks down, it might be a networking problem. Just restart three times and after about five minutes, run it, and it will be okay." Nobody gets called and everything works. The solution is easy for them now. For us, it is a small thing. It helps a lot, not only in huge business problems, but with the smaller ones. We have a much better night sleep and can develop their stuff better.

What is most valuable?

You can create very fine, granular workflows with a lot of possibilities. It gives you the possibility to do things in many ways. We do not have so many cases where you just can copy information here and there. Our customers have special needs, and we can use the tool to do that.

What needs improvement?

I am heading up the AWI. I desperately miss the possibility to show my read-only users on the Explorer side only their folders, not all the folders. This is something I would like to have on the dashboards (for example), where I can show them from an assembly side just their folders, not all the folders. They should have only rights to their folders, so why are they able to see all the other folders? It is confusing for them and not very comfortable. I told this to the developers already.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is quite stable. I have been with the company for a year and a half, and in that time, we have not had any major breakdowns. We do not have many issues with the stability at the moment. 

We are now testing on the new release and the AWI. We are a little skeptical about what is coming up, but we will wait and see.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I am a little new to the administration. At the moment, we are planning the new release where it will be easier to scale it to our needs. Though, I can't say anything about the actual version that we use at the moment.

How is customer service and technical support?

I have raised several incidents. I have been quite content with how they have gotten back to me, which is good. Even with the transformation now to CA, I like the way they work.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very complex. This company and the one that I worked at before found the very first migration from whole systems, like TWS, to the Automic product challenging. They were not used to all the features that it had. Though, I did not hear a lot of complaints about it.

What other advice do I have?

I would encourage people to use the solution.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Automati4bee - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation Engine Admin at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It is flexible and provides a large scale, but the technical support does not provide us with the answers that we need
Pros and Cons
  • "Integration with most of the platforms that we have within the company's Windows, Linux, and Unix. Integrating these inside the automation agent for scheduling, backups, file transfer, and SAP jobs."
  • "Our users are used to the flatline of the UC4. When we introduced the AVI, they are not interested nor motivated to use it."

What is our primary use case?

In our company, we use it for the following:

  • Scheduling of SAP and ERP jobs.
  • Backing up most of our servers.
  • ITSM and scheduling using the automation agent.
  • Running our non-ERP jobs, or for some other applications. 
  • File transfer and automation services.

How has it helped my organization?

We were using UC4, which was very good. We have had some challenges within the application as it moves forward to the new features. 

For example, our users are used to the flatline of the UC4. When we introduced the AVI, they are not interested nor motivated to use it.

There are some challenges because of the new features and the new change of interfaces. Nevertheless, we use this application to organize our jobs and to integrate the applications within the company. It is useful for report generation and backups.

It is good and efficient in terms of workload.

What is most valuable?

  • File transfer
  • The solution for rocket automation, as a file transfer and its agents.
  • Mostly SAP scripting.
  • Integration with most of the platforms that we have within the company's Windows, Linux, and Unix. Integrating these inside the automation agent for scheduling, backups, file transfer, and SAP jobs.

What needs improvement?

We have a lot of file transfers with Quest. Hopefully, their product management can add this feature since we do the file transfers now with SharePoint.

We want to establish a service where we can be a file transfer expert for everything. We want an automation engine that we can use within our company. We would like to use this particular software to provide file transfer service.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is more stable now. In the previous versions 8 and 10, it is more stable, but with the AVI version 12, it is more complicated and we encounter a lot of problems. We need to install hot pieces and badges every time, so it means downtime for us. This is starting from version 12, which is why we are not happy with it. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It provides a large scale for us, because it is flexible, in terms of usage. We have done a proof of concept within this application.

How is customer service and technical support?

I think we are known to the technical support. Unfortunately, the technical support does not help much with our problems until you get to the gurus due to the complexity of our problems.

What other advice do I have?

Automation is very powerful. This solution is flexible in terms of platform integration. They need better CA support , because in terms of issues and problem solving, the support is not good. It would be much better if CA had some dedicated support to customers.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
it_user778713 - PeerSpot reviewer
Unix Administrator at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
We have been working with them for a long time and we trust their products

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use of this product is to automate our ERP system.

What is most valuable?

  • ECUs
  • Easy scheduling
  • Reliability

How has it helped my organization?

The benefit of this particular solution is that we are familiar with the product already. Therefore when implementing this system, it will have a lot of the same characteristics as the old one. So it is the ease of transition made easier rather than going to a new automation system.

For how long have I used the solution?

Still implementing.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. We have not had any crashes or downtime with it in our testing. We are very happy with it and it runs pretty fast.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are a small organization. We do not run that many jobs, so we do not plan on scaling it up much.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have used technical support and the community, as well. I have found to get answers quickly to solutions that worked - asking both the technical support and the community.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We actually have an older product AppWorks 6.0 that we currently use, and we are transitioning from AppWorks to Automation several months from now. We are currently in the developmental stage. 

The current solution we have is not supported, which is why we are switching.

How was the initial setup?

I was initial in the initial setup. It was complex. We had a person come in from CA and assist us with the setup. It went smoothly. It took us about a week to get it up and running. However, it has been up and running, and we have not had any real issues with it since. 

We still actually have not implemented this version as it is in its test phase.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It would be good to have some dashboards that come with the package rather than it be a cost to add them on.  

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at this solution and we also look at another company. The reason we went with this solution is because we had been working with them for a long time and we trusted their products. For us, our learning curve would not be as steep.

What other advice do I have?

They have gone from UC4 to Automic to CA in a very short amount of time, so they changed their face a lot. With those changes, they are actually doing a lot more technical advances. I think that they are a product that is continually growing, which is good.

Look at this product. Give it a shot, but also understand what your needs are. Look at several products before coming to a decision on what you want to do to resolve your ERP issues.

Most important criteria when selecting a vendor: A partner who is truly interesting in helping us meet our goals and who can provide a solution in a fast, reliable timeframe.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Development Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Easy to deploy and integrates well with our CICD pipeline
Pros and Cons
  • "It integrates well with the CICD pipeline."
  • "We would like a way to test our cloud-based automations on-premises, and then migrate them to the cloud after they have been tested, without needing an additional license."

What is our primary use case?

We are working with telecoms to automate workloads. The use cases include automation from inception to activation. Some use cases also deal with professional services.

Our use cases are reflected in the cloud-based Workload Automation.

What is most valuable?

The ease of deployment makes it easier when it comes to the development and testing of the automations.

It integrates well with the CICD pipeline.

What needs improvement?

We would like a way to test our cloud-based automations on-premises, and then migrate them to the cloud after they have been tested, without needing an additional license. As developers, this would help us.

In the future, I would like to see a system where each developer works on their own changes, and they are submitted to a controller. At that point, the controller has the option to accept or reject changes from each of the developers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Automic Workload Automation for about four years.

I use many tools in combination with this product including Jenkins, GitHub, and GitLab.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a very stable product and personally, I have not had any issues with it. Our vision includes continuing to use it in the future.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Automic Workload Automation is scalable. I have experience with larger companies in different regions and I can say that a high number of IT staff, between 70% and 85% use automation tools.

For this product specifically, there are between 40 and 45 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

Personally, I do not have experience with technical support. However, I think people in our team have been in contact with them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not have a plan to adopt this product and didn't even discover it right away. Rather, we followed the new technologies and came up with new strategies that led us to it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy.

The first time we installed it, the process took between 30 and 45 minutes. After that, we replicated the installation and to deploy it takes no more than 10 minutes.

What about the implementation team?

My team is responsible for the deployment. One person is enough for the task. For the implementation from end-to-end, it should take between six and twelve hours.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.

What other advice do I have?

This is absolutely a product that I recommend.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Supporte6e9e - PeerSpot reviewer
Supporter at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
We are able to control and change our processes when necessary
Pros and Cons
  • "We are able to control and change our processes when necessary."
  • "Support is good and it works fine."
  • "The workflows should be clearer and more expressive."

What is our primary use case?

We use Workload Automation to control all our processes and the batch control.

We are working with version 10, and need to upgrade to version 12.2.

How has it helped my organization?

  • The product is clear and very visual. 
  • We receive feedback right at the moment that we need it. 
  • We are able to control and change our processes when necessary.

What is most valuable?

At the moment, we have clear batches to see workflows to control.

In the next version, I do not know what is coming up for us.

What needs improvement?

The workflows should be clearer and more expressive. I need this going forward.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have downtime during every upgrade. In the normal process, it works fine. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable.

How is customer service and technical support?

We are now in extended support. We are now in the change process, so we needed extended support.

When we contact support, we can get through to the right person to receive the correct answers.

What was our ROI?

The product has helped save, time, money, and resources. It has given us a competitive advantage in our industry. 

What other advice do I have?

Use the product. Support is good and it works fine.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Marcos L. Domingos - PeerSpot reviewer
Marcos L. DomingosITSM Specialist at Qintess
Real User

The amount of plugins and action packs available and for various products and technologies, really offers this flexibility.

Service Management at Siemens Industry
Real User
It saves time and manpower, which benefits our organization
Pros and Cons
  • "The product has benefited our organization. It saves time and manpower."
  • "The user interface has room for improvement."
  • "I would like to see the event engine in the next release."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is for automation in the area of SAP, as a specific solution in time management and access control systems. We are providing for this for any of our customers who use the automation engine. It is performing well.

How has it helped my organization?

The product has benefited our organization. It saves time and manpower.

What is most valuable?

Process automation.

What needs improvement?

The user interface has room for improvement.

I would like to see the event engine in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It has a normal scale for working with the tool.

How are customer service and technical support?

We use support when we make release changes. Technical support has been good to work with. They have been easier to reach now than in the past.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not have a previous solution, just something we built in-house. We have been using this solution for 20 years.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy. We have used it for 20 years, so we set it up in a special way. We were installation number 30 for this product. We have been working with it for a long time.

What other advice do I have?

Most important criteria when selecting a vendor: multi-platform usability.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
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Updated: November 2024
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Workload Automation
Buyer's Guide
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