Item: JAMS
Rating: 8
Author: Paul Lee

Overall Satisfaction with JAMS

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use JAMS as our primary scheduler. All of our ssis package are scheduled via JAMS. Our daily reporting is schedule via JAMS. Most recently working with JAMS support have been able to leverage powershell integration with an sftp solution. Support was able to provide me with a very quick response to an issue that i was having and now i'm writing a best practices document for the entire company to leverage JAMS with a standard approach to SFTP jobs.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Run powershell scripts
Execute SQL Agent Jobs
Excellent all-around scheduling tool

Cons

I think the user interface could be a bit more intuitive.
When something goes wrong it sometimes just provides a generic error message

Return on Investment

As an organization, standardizing on JAMS has provided solutions to many different schedulers. Windows Task scheduler is not an ideal solution for instance.
Unlimited scheduling options
Increased reliability and alerting

Scalability

I think its a well architected solution. The ability to spread workload across multiple agents really helps manage any number of jobs. Being able to concurrently run multiple from different agents is key.

Support Rating

I email support with a question, twice, and both times I received very quick reply with answers to my questions.

Alternatives Considered

IDERA SQL Enterprise Job Manager, MS SharePoint / SQL and Microsoft SQL Server

Mainly i've been using SQL Agent jobs in my career. JAMS takes scheduling a bit further. For instance, i would rather not have SQL Server run a job that is performing an SFTP step. Waste of resources and a job like that is well suited for JAMS

Key Insights

Do you think JAMS delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with JAMS's feature set?

Yes

Did JAMS live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of JAMS go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy JAMS again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Visual Studio Code, OneNote, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

Likelihood to Recommend

As mentioned previously, I use JAMS for a variety of tasks. Automate executing powershell scripts, sql queries, sql agent jobs, reporting etc. There seems to be no limitation in the variety of jobs JAMS can handle.

JAMS Feature Ratings

Using JAMS

Users and Roles

15 - Reporting, Infrastructure and Database & Architecture.

Support Headcount Required

5 - We have system adminstrators, application developers, database administrators and powershell developers that utilize our JAMS implementation.

Business Processes Supported

Scheduling
Powershell integration
SSIS integration

Innovative Uses

powershell scripts have been the most impactful integration
sftp
sequencing jobs

Future Planned Uses

Reporting on sequencing
success failure reporting
timing of the jobs reporting

Likelihood to Renew

We have built JAMS into our scheduling process. Its a great scheduling tool. I'm not 100% on the execution side as we have had issues with what i'll refer to as compatibility issues with ssis variables, but it executes sql agent jobs perfectly, so when i have an issue i create a sql agent job and have JAMS execute the sql agent job on the schedule from JAMS

Evaluating JAMS and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - SQL Agent. I would use the sql agent to schedule jobs, but we've standardized on JAMS instead which i believe is more flexible than the sql agent.

Key Differentiators

Scalability
Ease of Use

I believe scalability is important and ease of use as well. Now ease of use takes a bit of time to get used to the interface and capabilities, but a year in and i think it is pretty easy to use. Just takes a bit of time to get used to it.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I don't think I would change it.

JAMS Implementation

Implementation Rating

I'm a tough rater, but the implementation went smoothly.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

Yes - DEV, TEST, PROD

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a small part of the implementation and was well-handled

Implementation Issues

I dont think any issues

JAMS Training

Training Types Used

No Training

In-Person Training

Online Training

Ease of JAMS Training

i would not, but it depends on the technical level of the team

Configuring JAMS

Product Configurability

I am not the one that configured it however it seems pretty straight forward with its agents etc

Configuration Lessons

none, its pretty straight forward

UI Customization

Some - we have done small customizations to the interface - some, but its not as intuitive as i would like, there are things you can do but you they are not readily available or visible.

Extensibility and Customization

Yes - we have added extensive custom code - a bunch or powershell scripts

Additional Customization Considerations

not at the moment

JAMS Support

JAMS Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed	None

Premium Support

Honestly, i'm not sure what support package we purchased. But i raise a request for support and have been very pleased with the support i've gotten and have been impressed with the response time for all of my requests thus far.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of JAMS Support

I was attempting to retrieve a password from the credential manager but it turned out i was referencing the wrong account. Support was helpful identifying the issue quickly.

Using JAMS

Usability

At first its not 100% obvious what each item is meant for. When you look at the list for the first time there are a lot of objects, its taken some time to figure out what each one does. Once you figure out what each one does it makes more sense.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Technical support not required	Difficult to use

Easy Tasks

the Monitor
Submit jobs
Resources

Difficult Tasks

Definitions but that is on us

JAMS Reliability

Reliability and Availability

JAMS has proven to be reliable

Performance

JAMS has been performing quite well

Integrating JAMS

Ease of Integration

Systems Integrated With

sql server

Future Integration Plans

not at this time

Types of Integration

File import/export
ETL tools

Integration Lessons Learned

nothing at the moment

Upgrading JAMS

Upgrade Process

Yes - no, we had several issues with our jams upgrade, however i was on vacation and i'm not aware of the specific issues we encountered however i do know there were several issues.