Fortra's JAMS Reviews

We use JAMS for managed file transfer and job scheduling with Fortra's diverse enterprise application. The managed file transfer is both internal and with external third-party vendors.

JAMS has streamlined our job management across all platforms and applications by offering a centralized, single-pane control. This allows us to easily view, test, and manage all job connections, reruns, and schedules in one place. Instead of relying on older, manual scripting methods, JAMS provides a clear visual interface that shows exactly which jobs are running and when.

The centralized control and visual clarity have greatly improved our workflow. When troubleshooting stalled jobs, the error-handling feature helps pinpoint failures quickly, allowing us to retrieve delayed information or identify processing issues. As a result, we've reduced troubleshooting time by 10 to 25 percent.

Previously, we manually managed file transfers by writing scripts, but the automated MFT feature has been a game-changer for our company. It allows us to track where files are going and detect errors if anything fails, ensuring seamless connections with third-party vendors.

If a file between vendors is missing, JAMS quickly locates it. It also alerts us if a connection is lost, helping us resolve the issue before attempting a file transfer. Effective error handling is crucial in job scheduling, and while some scripting is needed to properly view errors, JAMS supports PowerShell commands, making error navigation straightforward and helping us identify job run issues.

JAMS handles exceptions well, though each error must be configured based on specific customer needs. Once set up, it provides the data we need in the desired format.

Code-driven automation is one of JAMS' most critical features. We run nearly 3,000 jobs daily across various time slots, with some scheduled on specific days, such as the first day of the month. How we schedule and run these jobs is vital to our operations.

JAMS currently lacks the ability to implement SOX controls, which is a limitation for us as a company listed with Stock Exchange, where all transactions are audited. While it offers a feature to save files for a month, it doesn't segregate data between finance and SOX-related compliance.

Incorporating SOX-related features would save us from manually reviewing last year's data and gathering evidence for audits. A more robust audit feature within JAMS would be a valuable enhancement.

We have been on the JAMS platform for almost 18 months now.

We had some initial issues with JAMS because we had trouble understanding the number of connections we expected JAMS to handle. We undersized our servers with a lower CPU and memory, so the server was always at 90 percent utilization. Once we provided them with adequate resources to process the data, we did not see any issues. Rightsizing the server and understanding your workload will help you know what your end product should look like.

We are still evaluating this and don't think it will be difficult.

I rate Fortra support eight out of 10. We've contacted technical support about concerns and enhancements, and we've received a positive responses. There's some room for improvement, and once they make those improvements, I will change it to a nine. 

Positive

We had a homegrown SFTP solution that required updates whenever we wanted to do something new, so we switched from a manual SFTP method to an automated MFT system. It has helped us a lot because of the automated monitoring and alert system. It sends emails to users when jobs end or fail. 

The initial setup was fairly simple. We had a misunderstanding about how it should be set up that took some time to correct, but it was fairly easy once we understood how it should work. 

The core configuration was completed in a couple of days, but configuring the applications and vendor took almost six months. This was not due to the product, but because of the limitations we had working with different vendors and switching from one system to another. That switching took time.

It requires a little maintenance every week or every couple of weeks. We recycle the servers to free up the connections. All Java connections need some maintenance. We haven't seen any instability. It's effective and comfortable to use.

Initially, we sought help from a JAMS consultant. Their technical representative was available every time, and their support team was great. Whenever we had any questions or doubts during the initial days of implementation, they were very responsive. They helped us through the process of getting it running.

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.

We looked at two or three other products, like BMC Control-M and the AWS MFT solution.

We rate Fortra JAMS a nine out of ten. One important consideration is file retention. If you need to keep files for more than 30 days, you’ll need to archive them elsewhere to avoid losing them. Maintaining job history beyond 30 days is crucial to us, especially for SOX and audit purposes, so it’s important to plan for that.

Additionally, if you don’t want to expose your JAMS implementation to the internet, it’s necessary to set up a DMZ and establish a secure connection between the DMZ and JAMS to protect it from external threats.

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.

Most of our use cases are for automating our SQL jobs to run and send an email.

It used to be really hard for us to set up SQL jobs to email, once they were done. Or, if there was a problem, we couldn't get it to do anything smart and intuitive because that's not the way SQL works. Once JAMS came along, we could set our SQL jobs to run at 1 PM every day. When a job runs, if it can't get its data or it takes too long — or whatever criteria we set up for it — it will email us and let us know that the job needs attention.

That really has helped. When I first started here 15 years ago, I ended up having to babysit SQL jobs all day long and watching for code that wasn't written correctly, or for a lock on something that stopped the job, or somebody didn't put timeouts on it. Once JAMS came along, we set up one set of criteria for quite a few jobs, and for every job we could say, "Here's your database, and run it with these criteria." That freed up our developers' time and my time, and we had a trackable source that would tell us what was wrong. It literally changed all of our lives.

I no longer have to wait for someone to give me all the information about a job that failed, wait for somebody to respond, or question somebody about what they're asking me to fix. It's all right there. The dashboard for JAMS is very intuitive and informative.

It's helped save time—in the extreme—when troubleshooting. Our jobs don't necessarily stall anymore because we've fixed everything that ever stalled. We now know how much of a timeout to put on certain data sources or certain procedures, but we would not have known that as easily without JAMS.

When we first began using JAMS, it freed up about 50 percent of my time, or 20 hours a week. And it saved each developer about 10 hours a week, and maybe more. There have also been some advances made in SQL that have helped. But because we've been using JAMS for so long, the savings are really immeasurable. We've relied on it for so long, and we'll continue to rely on it in the future.

When a job doesn't work, all I have to do is open JAMS and open the job and, 99 percent of the time, it tells me what I need to do, or what happened, or I know where to look. Before, if a job failed and just kept failing, we had no idea where to even start looking. We'd have to go to the logs on SQL Server, which meant everybody had to have admin rights to look at the logs. Now, we have just set up JAMS to run with a service account that has the ability to do that, and then everybody can look at their own jobs and fix them. Sometimes, it's just a matter of needing to rerun a job because something was down in the network.

By setting it up with a service account that has access to everything, we don't have to run it under my name or anyone else's name. We can set it up so that everybody has permission and I don't have to worry about granting someone permission. And I don't have to give them access to the email account where the failure or success email might be sent. Everything is done with the agent or the service account. And when a new data source comes online, we just give it to the service account agent, and that sets it up so that everybody has access.

Another way it has helped is that before a client logs in to see their daily reports, and they're not there because something happened to them, we're saved by the fact that JAMS emails tell us that it's happened. We can go in and fix it before the client logs in and finds out that something failed. Or, if something was down, like FTP, we can let the client know in advance so that if they log in, they will know that the data is not available and that we know already and are working on it. JAMS has made us look smarter to our clients.

For example, when you log in to your computer and do a local Google search for shopping, the results that you get can cost our client a lot of money. It is very hard to get the top result without spending a lot of money because what Google says is that your data integrity matters a lot. If your data is stale, or you haven't done a refresh on your inventory, Google will push you down in the results and move somebody else up. That means that stale data is a big concern for our clients. Some of our clients rely on Google for 90 percent of their business. If we have their data messed up, their business is messed up because of us. We have to know that their jobs are failing and why, and be able to tell the client, early on, that this is happening so that they can do some manual uploading until we fix what's wrong.

The scheduler is the most valuable feature. Using that, we can set up all of our data sources to be available. We use multiple different data source providers and they're already in JAMS. All somebody has to do is go into JAMS and say, "I want to use Adverity," or, for whatever client it is, that they want that client's data for these dates and these criteria. They can specify that they want it sent to this database or that FTP, and with only these column names. Whatever we want to do, we can almost write the code to do it in JAMS because we already have so much data in there. It's as if JAMS has made itself into its own picker.

It can also do exceptions, you just have to remember to program them in. As a rule, when you first start out with a job and JAMS, you probably aren't going to tell it what to do with errors until you see a pattern in your errors. And then you can say, "Try three times but wait five minutes each time." You go into the job in the monitor and it says it failed. Then you can change the criteria, such as how long it's holding, or repeat the job every 10 minutes until successful.

The code-driven automation for more complex scheduling requirements frees up time because it's really easy to use. It looks complicated, and when people start using it, it might seem a little bit overwhelming, but after you get all the definitions set up, it is very easy to do. It's almost like a stand-alone software that we can't live without.

JAMS is going to disagree with me about the following, because they think that this is not always a problem. But since COVID, we have had a lot of people working from home who can't always connect to the JAMS server. We use VPN, as most companies do, and we have it set up so that everybody can access the JAMS server. But many times, our people cannot access it.  They'll try to log in to JAMS and will tell me they can't and I don't know why not. Nothing has changed. 

I have to look at their access and what is wrong with their IP. We've discovered some problems over the years that have been the cause, and that's because it's all behind the scenes to us. We have two VPN servers and we figured out that one of the VPN servers didn't have the permissions for it to log in to the JAMS IP address. We fixed that. And sometimes, new people think that they can just log in to the JAMS server, but they haven't been set up with permissions. 

But JAMS could do a better job of telling you what the problem is when you try to log in to the server. The way it works now is that if you can't log in to the server, it brings up a long form that you have to submit. And nobody likes to submit a long form and sit back and wait.

We've been using Fortra's JAMS for at least eight years.

JAMS is scalable but the problem that our company has is that we have about 144 companies under one banner. For example, if we have an airline company under our banner, and another company has an airline under their banner, we can't be connected because that would be a breach of contract.

That means we can't share our JAMS server with another company under our banner. That's a limitation of the JAMS license because you can only use JAMS on one server at a time; one license, one server, that's it.

Given that we're paying all that money, it would be nice if we could have it installed on a couple of servers so that one airline and another airline could both use it but not be on the same system.

JAMS support is very responsive and they know who I am when I call, so I don't have to go through their making sure that I'm an authorized user, et cetera. 

JAMS has versions and they only work with certain other versions. For example, if JAMS 21 is the current version and I'm setting up somebody in it, but they're connecting to our on-prem server, they have to have JAMS 6 instead of JAMS 7. If I put them on the wrong one, they'll never be able to connect. So when I have to re-download an older version of the software if I don't have it saved, JAMS always reaches out to me and says, "Do you just need software or something else?" They take a proactive approach to their support, which I appreciate because sometimes, when they contact me because I have to do a download, I'll say, "Hey, I have a quick question," and I can throw that in without waiting for a couple of days.

They're really the closest thing that we have ever found to being like a coworker who is dedicated to doing nothing other than fixing and scheduling things and checking on all of our data.

Positive

We never had any monitoring tools, other than the fact that we could look at the SQL logs, but that's like reading a foreign language. Rarely does the log ever lead you to an actual solution to a problem, whereas the JAMS logs do. They tell you what happened and to look at this or look at that. Sometimes it will even let you know that a password has expired, for example. At times, it tells you everything you need to know. At other times, it gives you enough that you know where to look and you can see that the login is not working, or the source is down, or for some reason, there's no data there for the day.

Things have probably changed, but back then, if you had SQL 2016 and 2018 and you set up a scheduled job for data in 2016, some of it was bound to fail. With JAMS, we don't have to worry about that because it will automatically tell us what version it is, and even tell us it won't work so we can easily fix it.

The initial setup was very straightforward. I can also export from my on-premises JAMS and import them so that the jobs and all the data criteria do not have to be set up on a new server from scratch. That is very helpful and that's what we did when we put it on the Azure server recently. 

For that project, we initially set aside three days where four of us were going to work on it because it took years to get JAMS exactly how we wanted it and we thought it was going to take a while. But it was very simple. It was up in about two hours.

A lot of people in our organization use JAMS with the service account. But in terms of people who set up new jobs, we have six admin users. There are another ten or so who use just the service account.

When we first got the software, we had something like two half days with JAMS people over a screen share. We've always had a service contract with them and the couple of times we've ever had to reach out to them they were very responsive. When we set this up, on our Azure server. We did not have to reach out to them.

We have absolutely seen return on investment with JAMS. It comes down to the fact that our developers can actually spend time developing instead of troubleshooting and looking at why SQL or the data source isn't working. Or they can simply say, "Hey, I got this email from JAMS, Kammy can you look at it?" Or they can say to my boss, "We have to stop using this data because every day we're having problems getting into it. Can we have a meeting about this?" All of that is JAMS-driven.

In the end, you'll find that it's really worth the price. There is some sticker shock, but it's worth every dime.

Several of us evaluated other options, but JAMS was what we all came back to because it was the only software we found that could do everything that we needed it to do for all the different kinds of data that we get. We deal with over 90 data sources with different kinds of data from different kinds of companies, and JAMS was the only one we found that really could handle them all.

JAMS doesn't centralize the management of jobs for all of our platforms because we have things that aren't built on SQL databases. We can't automate the login to some of the data that we work with because other places don't allow it. We would have to do that interactively with JAMS, so it would almost be pointless to use JAMS for something like that. But JAMS centralizes most of it. If you look at our scheduler compared to how many people used to have to run jobs manually every single day, or had to remember to do something and go back and look and see if it was successful, every single day, the difference that JAMS has made is tremendous. That is why JAMS is worth every bit of its very expensive cost.

My advice would be to understand that if you're spending hours a day or a week trying to figure out why

• SQL or automated data jobs or
• logging in manually and downloading data and moving data around or
• even archiving data (we do a lot of data archiving through JAMS because we can tell it: "if older than X, delete it.")

isn't working, JAMS can handle it all.

For anything that you code manually or have to pull up a script in SQL and look at logs for, JAMS can make it all easier, so that you don't have to do those things every minute of every day. You can spend about 10 minutes a day on them, whereas you might have spent three or four hours before.

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. 

Positive

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 ten 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 use Fortra's JAMS to schedule jobs.

JAMS agents are instrumental in supporting our growth and scalability.

We have been using JAMS for eight years, and the majority of its benefits were realized early on. However, it remains a valuable scheduling software that consolidates our over 500 jobs into a single platform. JAMS allows us to clearly organize our tasks for the data warehouse, web, and other applications. While we could run these jobs independently, JAMS provides a structured approach that simplifies management and reduces manual overhead.

JAMS helps centralize job management on all of our platforms and applications. This is crucial, and it is the reason we still use JAMS.

JAMS has enabled the IT team to allocate more time to other tasks. Without JAMS, job automation would consume significantly more of our resources.

JAMS has also helped us free up a moderate amount of time by making it easier to troubleshoot stalled jobs.

The dashboard is intuitive.

The error messages from JAMS need clarification, hindering our ability to resolve issues swiftly.

The JAMS client requires attention. Its behavior can be erratic, and certain features lack intuitiveness. For instance, the search function, while powerful, is not user-friendly and can be challenging to master. The overall user interface also needs refinement.

The JAMS report viewer can be improved and needs a lot of work.

We have been using Fortra's JAMS for eight years.

The upgraded JAMS system has significantly improved stability compared to its previous versions. Before the upgrade (last year), we were experiencing frequent issues due to the system's age. However, since the update, performance has been much more reliable.

It scales very well

The technical support response time is good but the quality of the response varies.

Positive

In my previous organization, we used Jenkins, a powerful continuous integration and continuous delivery tool. While I cannot definitively compare it to JAMS, I found Jenkins' user-friendly interface and extensive integrations with various backend systems significantly streamlined our development processes. Unfortunately, my experience with Fortra's licensing and sales practices was less favourable. I have concerns about the company's integrity, particularly following their recent changes to our licensing arrangement, which seemed to be implemented in bad faith. Such actions raise questions about their trustworthiness and future intentions, leaving me uncertain about what to expect from them.

In our complex environment, the initial setup for someone with no JAMS experience would be difficult, but it would be straightforward in a simple environment.

When we upgraded JAMS last year, we purchased the consulting services from Help Systems.The consultant assigned to us was excellent.

Fortra's JAMS pricing structure has deteriorated significantly since its acquisition by Fortra. Previously, both Help Systems and MVP offered more favorable pricing and licensing terms. However, Fortra's current pricing and licensing practices are unnecessarily complicated far less customer friendly. In addition to standard licensing fees, numerous additional costs are associated with using JAMS. Fortra's approach of charging for seemingly minor components, such as separate agents and schedulers, is frustrating and adds to the overall cost of ownership.

I would give Fortra's JAMS a rating of five out of ten. While the software is excellent, my experience with the company could have been better. As a result, I would not consider purchasing any other Fortra products in the future.

We have two JAMS users in our organization.

JAMS is a technically powerful tool, but it has a learning curve for new users. It's crucial to understand the user interface and how agents communicate with the back-end system. Before connecting JAMS to other applications, it's important to familiarize yourself with its capabilities. For example, some scripts can be executed directly within JAMS, allowing you to create jobs using JAMS' features before relying on external scripts. However, debugging failed JAMS jobs can be time-consuming due to the complexity of the logs. Once you've mastered it, JAMS functions effectively, though the licensing structure is a notable caveat.

We exchange files on a nightly basis with vendors.

 The ability to protect the data we exchange against cybersecurity threats varies depending on the type of data being exchanged. 

We use it to schedule batch jobs. Batch jobs are a combination of SSIS jobs, which is actually our group's main use case. I brought it in mostly to schedule our SSIS batch jobs. Then, there are other groups who are using it for SQL Server stored procedures. We also have another group using it for a few Python scripts and FME, which is a different type of ETL tool. So, we are using JAMS to schedule those four types of jobs as well as a bunch of FTP jobs.

The application developers have been doing a combination of migrating some of their older jobs, like Python scripts and SQL stored procedures, and FME jobs over to JAMS. Any new batch jobs that they are creating default to using JAMS. They mostly do interactive online type applications. However, on occasions where they do need batch processes, they just use JAMS.

The fact that we no longer need to use Excel spreadsheets is huge. Before JAMS, every group was keeping track of their own batch jobs. Nobody really knew what the other jobs were. So, if jobs failed, other groups wouldn't necessarily know. With JAMS, everything is done through a single scheduler. You can choose who to notify. 

The ability to work out dependencies between jobs is the most valuable feature, which is actually the main reason why we went with JAMS. We went from everybody trying to keep track of stuff on Excel spreadsheets to being able to see things graphically, and say, "This job should not continue or start unless another job begins." That is very useful. Plus, we have a bunch of jobs that are using File Watchers. So, the job doesn't start up until a file is put on a shared drive, which is the automation that JAMS provides that the old SQL Server agent did not do at all.

It provides notifications. 

The fact that JAMS provides metrics is actually nice, although this feature is not really used that much. Before it was a lot harder to get metrics, whereas there are now metrics if we want them.

The client needs a complete revamp as it is not the most intuitive of methods of setting up jobs.    We have encountered situations like options disappearing and with no obvious way of getting it back, we have had to open up a Support ticket just to figure out how to get the missing options back

I have been using it for around three years.

We are about two versions behind. Our upgrades are done by our infrastructure team. We decided that to reduce the amount of work for them that we were going to limit upgrades to approximately every six months, because JAMS does frequently update their software. For the most part, it is fairly stable. We have basically worked out with our infrastructure team to not update every time a new version is released. So, it is done around twice a year.

The product is quite stable and we haven't run into any major issues.

Our infrastructure is pretty straightforward. It is just SQL Server jobs. It works fine on all our Windows machines. We might be exploring a Linux machine for scheduling a SQL Database job, but we haven't done that yet. 

The plan is to have all our batch jobs managed by JAMS. For various reasons, mostly related to strange quirks, they weren't able to just migrate every single thing to JAMS, but that is the end goal. We want to have a single scheduling tool that manages all our batch jobs.

We haven't really encountered any scalability issues. Most of our jobs run at night. We have a bunch of daily jobs that run every half an hour. Therefore, it has not been a huge strain on the JAM server.

There are not that many users of JAMS, probably five or six. We have one administrator who is part of our infrastructure team who can configure JAMS etc., but acts in more of an implementer role. He was the one who installed the software. Setting up jobs and things like that is left up to my group. There are two people in my group who have permission to create and submit jobs. Then, we have about three or four inquirers who look at the output of the jobs, but don't have the permissions to submit jobs.

Reach out to their support, because they're support is really good.

I would give HelpSystems IT support a nine out of 10, which is really good. I have been very impressed with their support. The only reason for a nine out of 10 is sometimes it takes at least a day for them to get back to me, which isn't really that big a deal. However, for the most part, if we do it within U.S.A. working hours, then I get a response pretty quickly. Also, after hours, I think I have sometimes gotten their London support.

We have had situations where we would hide things and could never figure out how to actually get things back. We would inadvertently just hide things without even knowing that we hid them, then we literally have to reach out to JAMS support. As far as kudos, JAMS support is excellent. They are very responsive. There have been little things like, "We lost a window. How do we get that back?" The fact that you had to hover over a specific area of the UI, then depending on where you hovered, you could get that particular window pane back. That was the first thing that we ran into, because it was like, "We lost this. How do we get this back?" 

I actually was the one who brought the product in. My group was looking for a scheduling tool. Until I arrived, everybody was just using the built-in scheduler, which was fine, but it was impossible to look at things practically or even determine dependencies. So, everybody was just using spreadsheets, but I hadn't. The place I came from, which was the private sector, had money. They were using a full-fledged scheduling software, Control-M, which was really expensive. When I came to San Francisco Public Works, they didn't have it. Therefore, I started looking around to see what was available. 

Previously, we were using SQL Server Agent. Migrating these has been going well. One of the great advantages of JAMS is it can just convert SQL Server Agent jobs directly, which is not ideal because you are still running SQL Server Agent. This is one reason why we are doing things slowly. We are decomposing the SQL Server Agent jobs into steps and scheduling those, rather than running SQL Server Agent jobs.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. We just followed the instructions that were on the webpage. So, on the actual JAMS site, there are steps you need to follow if you are installing JAMS. We just followed them and pretty much everything worked. 

The deployment took less than an hour. It was pretty quick.

We went from nothing. We just deployed all the new tasks first. So, all of the SSIS jobs that my group had built. These were all new. We didn't really have anything to convert because it was already there. That was the initial phase. That is why it was pretty quick. Once we were comfortable using it, we started to expand the use of JAMS to start converting some of the SQL Server agent jobs into JAMS.

We migrated from an on-prem JAMS to an Azure VM JAMS. So, we actually did a migration, which also involved an upgrade in the process. There was a time when we hadn't upgraded JAMS for over a year, so we were way behind. What we were told by JAMS support is to upgrade our JAMS first, then redeploy it on an Azure VM, and that went without a hitch. I was quite surprised and impressed by how easy it was. Support also said, "If you need us, we can be on the line." We scheduled some time with them, but we never really used them.

We installed the Interactive Agents once. There was an odd case where we were trying to automate a Microsoft Access script or something, which required the Interactive Agent to be installed. This took awhile because of permissions and things like that. Once it was working, it just worked like any other JAMS job. The only hassle was setting it up. We were a bit confused by the documentation. This was at least six months back, but it had something to do with the instructions not being entirely clear as to what types of authentication we had to set up. We reached out to JAMS support, and they said, "Do this." Once we did that, it worked. That was really our only exposure to the Interactive Agents.

We did it all ourselves.

It has been a while since we installed it, but we might have had someone on the line. They actually said, "If you want, we can be on the line." We might have used that, but I don't think we really needed them because it was just click, click, click, and follow the instructions.

We have an infrastructure group, but deployment for JAMS usually defaults to a single person, since he was the one who installed it in the first place. So, he has the most "knowledge" for upgrading patches.

We haven't had the requirement to go beyond our number of licenses. The way that the license is set up, we are allowed a certain number of jobs a day. That is the license that we have, which is more than enough. 

It was $10,000 for the first year. Then, there is a maintenance cost for licensing every year that we get billed $5,000 for every year.

The way that the license is set up = it will allow you to 350 jobs a day. You can install the agent on as many machines as you want, but you can only run 350 jobs a day. Then, if you want more, you pay for more.

I looked at VisualCron. The reason why I picked JAMS over VisualCron was that JAMS got back to me very quickly. VisualCron took two days. They are a much smaller company and took a couple of days before they got back to me. Because the main thing is really the type of support that I could get, JAMS won out over VisualCron, even though VisualCron ironically looks prettier. 

The JAMS client is ugly, but I got support. With VisualCron, which I think is based in Sweden, the time difference would have been difficult, whereas JAMS is somewhere within the U.S.A. In hindsight, it is probably a lot easier to use JAMS because we are the government, so it probably looked better than if I was dealing with someone from overseas. 

Before they were bought over by HelpSystems, they were just JAMS. I spent time on quite a few phone calls with their sales rep, who won me over with their level of support. 

Biggest lesson learnt: It is critical having a scheduling tool that will show you where all the jobs are and what their dependencies have been when you are doing batch jobs. In the past, SQL Server Agent jobs allowed you to do it, but you really needed the ability to look at interdependencies between jobs. That is what JAMS gives you.

The reason why I am giving it a seven is because of the UI. If they fix the UI, I would give a higher grade than seven.

We use Fortra's JAMS for scheduled tasks. We have over 100 virtual servers, and JAMS allows us to manage scheduled tasks from a single location. This means that we can create jobs and run them on any of those 100 servers. For example, we can create one job to reboot a specific server at a specific time, or we can create a job to reboot multiple servers at the same time. Once the reboot is complete, we can create chain jobs to kick off other steps, such as running a script or sending an email notification.

We have not had many problems with Fortra's JAMS. I think most of the issues have been due to trial and error. A lot of it depends on us, the users, to make sure our code is correct when we create commands. We need to make sure that all of the information is accurate. We have to double- and triple-check our code to ensure there are no issues that will prevent jobs from running.

Fortra's JAMS helps make our lives easier by allowing us to automate tasks.

Fortra's JAMS helps us centralize the management of all our platforms and applications. This is important because it allows us to manage all of our systems from a single location. Previously, we had over 100 virtual servers, each with its own set of scheduled tasks. This meant that we had to log in to each server individually to view and manage the tasks. With JAMS, we can simply open the client and view all of our jobs in one place. This saves us a lot of time and effort.

JAMS' code-driven automation is highly effective in handling more complex scheduling environments.

JAMS saves us an hour of time when troubleshooting stalled jobs. 

JAMS helps to free up our IT staff's time.

Being able to create a series of chained jobs, which are basically linked jobs is valuable. This means that we can schedule a server restart at 2 a.m. Once the restart is complete, we can have the job trigger another job that will send us an email notification. Then, we can have that job trigger another job that runs some SQL statements or Power BI queries. We can continue to chain jobs together in this way.

As an admin, I would like to have a web-based GUI instead of a client application that we have to install on our PCs. Many applications are moving to web-based GUIs, so it would be convenient if we could use JAMS without having to install a client on our machines. We could simply go to our local servers or website and manage everything from there.

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

We have not had any problems with JAMS. It has never crashed for us. If we have any issues, it is because of some of our PowerShell code or another error.

JAMS is highly scalable and could be used for a lot more than what we are currently using it for. We just haven't had the time to invest in it to actually use it properly.

The technical support has been excellent. They have always responded promptly and in a timely manner. We have never had to wait for answers.

Positive

We previously used the built-in Windows task scheduler before migrating the jobs into JAMS.

The initial setup was really straightforward and easy. I didn't run into any problems from a setup point of view. 

One person was required for the deployment.

We completed the implementation ourselves in-house with some clarification about some settings from JAMS.

We have seen a return on investment with Fortra's JAMS.

The pricing of JAMS has not been an issue for us, as it has allowed us to save time. This makes it a cost-effective product.

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

Five people are using JAMS in our organization.

Fortra's JAMS is a great cost-effective solution for automating daily tasks, such as rebooting a server, running PowerShell commands, executing SQL queries, and generating SQL statements. It can do virtually anything.