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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Fortra’s Automate

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AFortra's Automate (formerly HelpSystems Automate) is a robotic process automation platform for desktop applications. According to the vendor, it offers the ability to automate almost any business process, and no technical expertise is required—IT and business users alike can understand the drag-and-drop interface.N/A

    VisualCron

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AVisualCron is an automation, Integration and Task Scheduler tool. VisualCron combines many features into one product. VisualCron was founded in 2004. Through scheduling users can set Jobs to run on a specific time or event with the help of Triggers. The Tasks in each Job automate scripts to eliminate human errors. Through various Tasks users can integrate different systems through file transfer, encryption, compression and…N/A
    Pricing
    Fortra’s AutomateVisualCron
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Fortra’s AutomateVisualCron
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptional$1,499 per Server
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    Fortra’s AutomateVisualCron
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Fortra’s Automate and VisualCron
    Feature
    Fortra’s Automate
    -
    Ratings
    VisualCron
    3.5
    1 Ratings
    70% below category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings4.01 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings3.01 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Fortra’s Automate and VisualCron
    Feature
    Fortra’s Automate
    -
    Ratings
    VisualCron
    7.7
    1 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Process Engine
    Comparison of Process Engine features of Fortra’s Automate and VisualCron
    Feature
    Fortra’s Automate
    -
    Ratings
    VisualCron
    4.2
    1 Ratings
    54% below category average
    Process designer00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Process simulation00 Ratings3.01 Ratings
    Business rules engine00 Ratings2.01 Ratings
    Process player00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Form builder00 Ratings4.01 Ratings
    Model execution00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
    Business Process Automation
    Comparison of Business Process Automation features of Fortra’s Automate and VisualCron
    Feature
    Fortra’s Automate
    -
    Ratings
    VisualCron
    4.3
    1 Ratings
    46% below category average
    Business Process Modeling00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
    Decision Modeling00 Ratings3.01 Ratings
    Code-Based Automation00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    No-Code Automation00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Fortra’s AutomateVisualCron
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Bizagi
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Robotic Process Automation
    Score8.4 out of 10
    IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    UiPath Automation Platform
    Score8.5 out of 10
    IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Fortra’s AutomateVisualCron
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Fortra’s AutomateVisualCron
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Fortra
    It's great for repetitive or regularly scheduled activities like reports or file transfers. However, it's not so good for on-demand activities. It doesn't support task shortcuts to run specific tasks. If it did it would be perfect.
    Incentivized
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    NetCart DBA VisualCron
    VisualCron does accommodate continuous file processing. Like packing and unpacking compressed files, splitting or merging files, sending E-mail's and executing queries on databases. VisualCron in less suitable for performing very complex operations on files like, arithmetic with numbers, dates or amounts. Very complex job scripts become cluttered. Debugging Job scripts is not easy.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Fortra
    • Very detailed task builder. Easy to read step by step a task's operation even if you don't have much programming knowledge.
    • Scheduling for automation jobs is very flexible. Allows us to create all kinds of job schedules as needed.
    • Organization of jobs, tasks, conditions is done well. Allows us to easily manage our items.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    NetCart DBA VisualCron
    • VisualCron can pack and unpack files from many types of packing methods.
    • Clear job scripts with complex constructions can be written in VisualCron
    • VisualCron provides a clear graphical overview of the situation of all jobs.
    • VisualCron clearly indicates when a job has run into an error.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Fortra
    • A reporting capability on tasks: enabled, disabled, by folder, by trigger, etc. Currently there is none.
    • An "OR" in their conditional statements - currently there is only "AND".
    • Some kind of temporary backup when changing a task - separate from the current back up/restore functionality (which works well).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    NetCart DBA VisualCron
    • VisualCron should more specifically indicate the root cause of an error.
    • If copying a file goes wrong, VisualCron reports 'can't copy file'. I expect 'no read permissions from original' or 'no write permissions from destination'.
    • VisualCron offers no way to execute a Job script line by line
    • In VisualCron, nested loops cannot be created.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Fortra
    It's just very easy to use, extremely versatile, and very reliable. It's hard to find use cases where it won't work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    NetCart DBA VisualCron
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Fortra
    Support is very helpful and responsive, although using the tool is very user-friendly, so I hardly use the service.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    NetCart DBA VisualCron
    Questions and problems can be addressed to VisualCron 's support department via E-mail. I usually get a good answer from them fairly quickly. There is also a VisualCron forum where you can ask questions that will be answered by other VisualCron users.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Fortra
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    NetCart DBA VisualCron
    For simple processes, VisualCron is easier to use and maintain. For complicated processes, Quadient Inspire offers more options. The graphical representations of waiting, running or completed jobs is adequate for both products. The logging of job actions is better in Quadient Inpire as in VisualCron.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Fortra
    • It's been a net positive as AutoMate requires less eyes on specific tasks so that people can focus attention elsewhere and do more analysis.
    • Less manual work also decreases the chances of mistakes and/or missed jobs. Since Automate can schedule everything, send email notifications, etc., there is less time wasted.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    NetCart DBA VisualCron
    • With VisualCron, I need 3 times less time to get file processing right.
    • If a VisualCron job goes wrong I need twice as much time to find the problem.
    • Visualcron does not run on Linux but on Windows which can make an upgrade and reboot take up to 6 times as long.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Fortra’s Automate Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshot

    VisualCron Screenshots

    Screenshot of Job - CPU usageScreenshot of Job - execution timeScreenshot of Job - ROI resultScreenshot of Main windowScreenshot of Main window - right clickScreenshot of Output - as table