The JAMS Workflow Execution Method leverages the Windows Workflow Foundation design editor to allow a user to create complex workflows for Jobs, Setups, and other activities in JAMS.  As this Workflow Execution Method gains more and more traction amongst our user base, we are often asked about using these Workflow Jobs to submit Jobs on JAMS Agents other than Windows, such as Linux, Unix, and OpenVMS. 

A Windows Workflow Job in JAMS would be run from the JAMS Primary Engine Windows machine and is not able to have its Agent Node (on the Submit Options tab of the Workflow Job properties) set to an Agent installed on a non-Windows platform.  However, within that Windows Workflow Job Source, users can drag and drop Submit activities to the design editor and specify Job Names for those Submit activities that do execute on an Agent running on a platform other than Windows.  Within the Workflow Submit activity properties, the Agent name can be specified, and the Workflow Job running on the Windows machine will manage the Submission of those Jobs to those JAMS Agents:

Click here to view a Training Video on using Workflow Jobs in JAMS.  Creating and managing complex Job workflows in JAMS has never been easier! 

Don Jones recently presented a webinar on the basic of PowerShell.  Its a great resource for those just getting started with Microsoft's task automation framework.

Don explains how PowerShell came to be, and how you can benefit from understanding some of the basics of PowerShell.

PowerShell: Here is what you need to know

Manageability is the differentiation point for products, and IT pros should strive to use automation to minimize errors and server downtime. It's especially important for addressing scalability issues.

PowerShell makes JAMS manageable and JAMS makes PowerShell easy to automate.

I saw some very cool HTML alerts and recovery instructions from JAMS development this week.

By adding some basic HTML to the JAMS recovery instructions tab, we can fully customize how HTML notification are received.

Using the NotifyHtml.xml (12.21 KB) file attached, here is an example of the alerts generated.

NotifyHtml.xml (12.21 KB)

It was another busy day for the MVP booth at the Quest Northeast conference. We meet with dozens of PeopleSoft and JD Edwards users interested in leveraging JAMS for their enterprise scheduling requirements. Great people, great show.

I always love hearing back from our customers on how the support team is doing.

"I just want to give you an update and let you know how well your support team has been over the last couple of months. Even though we have not been inundating them with questions, they have responded quickly and efficiently to our immediate needs. We are looking forward in utilizing 100% of JAMS once we get our system converted over from AutoSys this year. Thanks again for the great support! "

You can read more comments here.

The best part of SMS text alerts and voice calling alerts from JAMS is the lack modems. Traditionally these alerts required specialized hardware and complex intialization strings. JAMS notification simplifies this by automatically providing the gateway to our customers. No modems needed.

As we continue to expand JAMS into more and more applications and platforms, we realized that we needed an AS400 Agent for JAMS. One too many customers were hanging on to their existing System i scheduling tool simply because we didn’t have a native AS400 Agent. Well, the time has come. JAMS now has an AS400 Agent that will run jobs locally on the AS400. JAMS can also resolve dependencies between AS400 jobs and jobs running on other platforms and JAMS allows you to view the AS400 batch log files from the JAMS GUI client. If you want to check out the new AS400 Agent, grab it now off our site!

Microsoft’s 2011 Scripting Games have begun. The Scripting Games are a great way to have fun learning more about Windows PowerShell. There are even great prizes available to be won. There are 10 events, with a beginner and an advanced category for each event.

To join on the action, visit 2011 Scripting Games

This customer signed on in December and had a pretty tight timeframe to get JAMS running in January.  Based on the following email, it looks like full steam ahead with JAMS!

Gentlemen,
We spent two hours training, setting up, and configuring the JAMS software in our environment. We have successfully performed the following tasks:
1.    JAMS installed on one of our VMware Servers
2.    Setup and configured the JAMS Administrative Client on three of our workstations
3.    Setup email alerts and added a number of our users.
4.    Setup groups and security
5.    Deployed JAMS Agent to our Cognos (ETL) Server
6.    Setup Windows reboot schedule and it ran successfully
7.    Setup and configured jobs with Cognos
This is a very powerful tool and works well.  The JAMS technical support team is fantastic.  They spent time with us on the phone until we felt comfortable and answered all of our questions.  Looks like we made a good choice.