Item: JAMS
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We started using JAMS in 2012 to supplement a scheduling ability that was missing in our Order Management system at that time. In 2020, we left that platform for a new OMS that had an internal scheduler. We use JAMS to pick up and transfer files when they become available - File Watches. We use JAMS to run Power Shell scripts to scrub Data, concatenate and de-dupe data files for Sales. We also use JAMS to sequence files that go to our OMS that need to be completed before feeding the next file - combination of File Watches and Network copy commands.

Pros and Cons

Watching for files
Running Power shell scripts
JOB notifications of failures to teams
Being able to interface / run other programs as either dos window, Power shell window, Python window through configurable execution methods
Purging JAMS history by Parameters, like dates and # of copies to keep of a job
Being able to configure a hot backup to take over in the event a Primary JAMS Server goes down, the backup automatically kicks in after 3 minutes. - High Availability mode
Being able to set up variables that can be used in JOBs / Sequences to hold login information (encrypted), date ranges or other Job Parameter values. And be able to programmatically updated by Power shell scripts to track progress between runs of the same job: count of orders processed, API Skip values when retrieving orders, when the API call only returns X amount per call and you need to get all available orders with multiple calls
JOB logs can be put anywhere on network for other users to access - IT allowing of course. With the high availability option, this is Great, since you don't have to check each of the JAMS Servers for a log when a fail over occures

GUI Color selections - we use colors to determine environment - DEV, TEST, PROD. Some of the color combinations are difficult to read.
With the upgrade from 6 to 7, We lost the ability to view all jobs, or all Sequences (workflows) across the system, now we have to go subfolder to subfolder when looking for a job.

Return on Investment

Increased reliability with emailed notifications to Email Groups or Phones when a process fails, catching it early before it impacts sales.
Resource Optimization - JAMS orchestrates integrations between multiple systems as files show up, or on a schedule.

Scalability

By installing Agents on servers throughout the organizations, you can run a DB Script on a DB Server, move files around the network and kick off jobs on servers in different parts of the organization: JAMS Runs on its own server, isolated from others. Through an agent on a Processing Server (work Server) files can be picked up, processed and moved to a destination server to be processed into another application on another server. You don't need an agent if you are just moving files around, you need an agent if you want to run a process or API Call on the destination server.

Support Rating

From go live in 2012 to current, issues submitted, even if low priority, and could wait, are usually responded to in a few hours, most have been resolved the same day, or over a few days with interactive help from them (low priority question like how do I do this). Example questions have been what order to restart services. What ports are used by JAMS for our IT Group to open up the firewall for. The few Production issues we had are always responded to in a timely manner, usually within 15 minutes or sooner, even overnight issues.

Alternatives Considered

I had evaluated 2 others in 2010/2011, but I do not remember their names. This was the easier one to work with and had a better looking, sometimes more professional looking UI than what I was evaluating. JAMS was more scaleable and had the ability to make custom interfaces to more systems through Execution Methods that could be tailored.

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?

Yes

Did implementation of JAMS go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy JAMS again?

Yes

Other Software Used

MFT Gateway

Likelihood to Recommend

Being able to create your own execution methods for running SQL Scripts against a DB. Set up a method to run an API call to another program and pass in parameters, like interfacing to Go Anywhere / MFT to call a project to run with or without parameters. Interfacing to an AS400 / IBMi for remote submitting jobs after sending the files to be processed to the AS400. Running API calls to outside systems for picking up orders and processing them into another API call to internal systems using Powershell on an automated schedule starting at 3:00 AM until 11:00 PM at 1/2 hour intervals.

Using JAMS for the Past 12 years

Overall Satisfaction with JAMS