Why You Should Automate FTP File Transfers?

The File Transfer Protocol has been serving the world since 1970, when its initial specification was designed by Abhay Bhushan. It’s a simple server to client connection making use of the TCP internet protocol.

The simplicity of FTP systems is the reason that they are still being actively used by hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world. The files can safely (at least in case of a SFTP) be stored on a remote server, and can be accessed from the any of the company’s systems, given that it is authorized to do so.

But one of the main problems with FTP comes to fore when the system has to deal with a considerable bulk of files. For any business this situation is inescapable, because the number of digital files that the system has to handle grows exponentially with every new system that is added.

The solution to this problem is to Automate FTP File Transfer. As a holistic task scheduling suite, VisualCron also provides practicable FTP automation options. Following are some of the benefits of achieving FTP automation in general.

Saves time

Uploading to and downloading from an FTP server is a repetitive task. Assigning the responsibilities to an employee is equivalent to wastage of important time. By automating this repetitive task, you can effectively bring about a reduction in the quantity of time that the employee spends on the a task that can be done by a machine.

Saves Money

Since less man-hours are spend working on repetitive tasks, the company practically saves money in the form of saved time. The resources of the previously engaged employee can now be utilized for dealing with more important tasks.

Increases system’s capacity

When the push and pull requests (or upload and download requests) are automated, the tasks take the amount time they’re supposed to take. This means that less time is spent on the decisions that precede execution of these tasks, as in case of a human operator. Since a computer doesn’t discriminate between the value of tasks, and the limit is only the computation power, without scope of exhaustion, with automation you can be rest assured that the FTP system is running on optimal bandwidth and is making. Also, automation helps in reducing human errors, increasing the reliability of the system.

As you can see, going forward with automation can offer tremendous advantage to your business, both in terms of time efficiency and resource allocation. VisualCron provides file transfer automation options, with support for FTP, Secure FTP, and SCP protocols. This allows for easy automation of uploading and downloading tasks and robust selection with “file filters”.

Workflow Management Software

Can an organization or any small business for that matter, function properly without any disciplined form of workflow? Imagine the chaos and the consequent output!

Any business, big or small needs to follow a certain management system to get things done, quickly and efficiently. This helps business thrive & progress in the market.

Workflow Management System has been a subtle part of organizations since 1921 when the word workflow was coined in context with the operations of manufacturing. With more and more business depending on IT tools for their survival, recognition, and growth, there has been a technical evolution in the workflow as well.

What earlier used to be workflow has now developed into a full fledge automation system on which businesses depend to enhance their efficiency. Workflow management system provides a framework for installation, discharge, and supervision of a series of repetitive tasks minimizing error possibility, enhancing efficiency. Workflow management system is based on a mathematical modeling technique, petri.net which helps in enlisting of the number of tasks, steps involved along with the flow of resources. Streamlining and automating business processes doesn’t only help with the smooth running of day-to-day operations, but it’s also beneficial in the long run. It helps in increasing the productivity of the staff, enhancing decision power of the senior authority, eliminating financial depredation. In a workflow management system, every aspect of the business process is kept under a microscope, and the system is designed with utmost precison.

With web forms being it's an integral part, the functionality of a workflow management system varies from providing a disciplined  structure & smooth flow to the process of eliminating conflicts in any part of the process. Workflow management system, a product of research analysis, comprises of several other tools, thereby rendering the task of numerous tools through one system and saving time.

Apart from providing better control & visibility of the processes, here are the reasons as to why workflow management system, when used fittingly proves to be invaluable regarding time and resources.

With tools like VisualCron making use of software such as Workflow Editor and Excel pattern, installation of workflow management system has become a piece of cake.

It reduces the paperwork as the Workflow Management Software takes care of tasks ranging from assigning it to a particular person/ team to marking it done when it’s executed.

When it comes to operating a business, time is of the essence. Workflow management system identifies the duplicate / repetitiveness in the task flow and helps with focusing on the ones requiring urgent attention along with coming up with an action-plan for the desired result. This automation increases productivity and saves a lot of time.

This self-regulating process helps with co-functioning of multiple projects simultaneously.

An effective workflow management system must have cloud-deployment for supreme integration, the ease of installation and mobility without hindering the continuity of processes, an on-premise action, and the ability generate a quick response in situations facing compatibility issues.  

When choosing an automation, integration and task scheduling tool, any business must take into account, the aforementioned technical advancements in the software system. VisualCron is one such tool, consistently working towards reinforcing latest techniques sans coding.

How Task Triggers in VisualCron make it the most powerful scheduler out there

Triggers are the most important things in a job or task schedule. They define the event, or time when a particular task is to be executed, or a program to be run, or even stop.

In this article, we talk about how you can benefit from the variety of triggers that are offered by VisualCron.

The task triggers in VisualCron are divided into two categories, Time Triggers, and Event Triggers.

Time triggers are simple; they execute the task at the scheduled time. You can either choose the task to be executed once, at a particular time, by specifying the Day, Date, Hours, Minutes, and Seconds. This can be done with the “Custom time Trigger.” For tasks that you want to occur automatically at particular intervals, you can use the “Interval time Trigger.”

Event triggers, as the name makes clear, are the triggers that prompt a task when a particular, system or application based, an event occurs.

There’s a file trigger, that responds to changes in the file system. It is useful for associating tasks to particular files, like initiating a backup, every time a file is downloaded.

Then there’s the “Event log trigger”. It works by continuously monitoring the Windows system log and prompting the scheduler with an affirmative message, whenever a particular log is registered. That can be utilized for reporting the personnel, via email, whenever a system or application error is logged.

There’s also the “Registry trigger,” that monitors changes in the Windows Registry. That is useful for mapping tasks to system changes such as new software install, or settings configuration.

Other than these, VisualCron has a whole array of triggers that monitor everything from performance changes to WMI events, and even the RSS feed. You can know more about them here.

On top of all the other triggers, the VisualCron Scheduler enables powerful abstractions. It registers internal events like the starting or finishing off the job. That helps you in building a high-order structure of tasks based on time and event triggers.

Event triggers like the “SQL Trigger,” “Process Trigger,” “Service Trigger,” “Printer Trigger” can be particularly helpful when you want to streamline and automate the workflow of a company profile.

With VisualCron serving as a workflow management software, you can rest assured that your company’s workflow is streamlined and functions efficiently.

Things you can automate with Visual Cron

In addition to being a powerful Windows task scheduler, VisualCron is a capable automation tool, helpful in performing a wide range of automation tasks. In this article, we take a look at some of the automation features. 
File transfer automation
Almost every company that implements a network of computers, needs to transfer files, many files, many times a day. If done manually this can be an arduous task. VisualCron makes it easier by providing automation of file transfers over FTP, SFTP, and SCP protocols.

Batch automation
The archaic but still useful batch scripting in windows enables you to execute a series of programs, which operate on a set of arguments. This can be helpful in automating a lot of tasks like image pre-processing, document conversion, or system backup. VisualCron provides robust tools that enable automation without the need to know batch scripting.

PowerShell automation
Windows’ Powershell capabilities are the reason why a league of users swears by it. It implements the .NET framework, enabling more control on the system’s design. VisualCron helps you store and edit PowerShell commands, and also provides an inbuilt library of variables that you use to feed the commands.

Cloud automation
Going for a cloud-based storage solution, you can make your company future ready, taking into account, your businesses’ growing storage needs. Cloud storage thus becomes essential for any modern business. VisualCron provides automation for scheduled uploads and downloads, synchronization, and automated backups to major cloud service providers.

Encryption automation
Since businesses are becoming dependent on more and more data, making sure that the data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is really important. Automation of encryption tasks makes the data more secure by reducing the risks introduced due to human error. VisualCron supports the OpenPGP standard for encryption and makes available seven encryption algorithms, including AES128, AES256, and CAST5.

SQL / database automation
Automating database requests help in reducing the time dedicated to tasks that occur regularly, even several times per hour. This makes it possible for the database manager to be able to accommodate a larger number of requests. VisualCron allows for connecting to the databases using ODBC, OLEDB, or direct mode (only for relational databases). It also makes automation a breeze by storing the connection credentials centrally.

Web macro recorder automation
VisualCron enables automation of tasks such as web scraping or crawling. Its list of the feature includes support for the latest Google Chrome updates, post scraping encryption, dynamic download with variables, injection of javascript code blocks, and works with iFrame.

As you can see from the above-listed features how VisualCron is a powerful automation suite that helps in achieving automation of anything. Right from simple tasks, such as File transfer, to complex tasks, such as Web macro recorder, the software umbrellas all the above factors to give you a comprehensive solution when it comes to automation.

To know how VisualCron can benefit your business with comprehensive automation, get in touch with us today!

The Key Considerations Before Buying A Business Process Management Software

Investing in Business Process Management software can be pivotal if it is reliable and authentic enough to process your daily business operations. When it comes to buying a software to accommodate your business endeavors, you need to have all necessary information. This will further benefit you in getting a business process software that is durable, scalable and user-friendly. We at Visualcron follow a consistent pursuit towards creating an irreplaceable and impeccable Business Process Software to satisfy all your business operational needs.

Furthermore, you will get enormous software options that will be viable in order to implement your business process, but choosing the ideal one demands a comprehensive analysis and comparison amongst them. If you are wondering where to start? Then here are some key considerations that will be helpful in selecting the desired Business Process Management Software:

1. Analyse both software price and value
The first and foremost concern of a business owner should be price and software value when he/she has decided to buy a business process management. Analysing the software value is ensures that you are going to own a software that is prolonged, bug-free and reliable. However, analyzing both the price and software value before buying will make the investment worth it.


2. Understand the implementation process
You should know all the terms and conditions of implementing a business process management software. Once you start consulting a software company, it will offer you monthly agreement and its limitation and end duration. You also need to know what happens if you end the contract in the middle. Is there any penalty for that? Also, before finalizing the deal, ensure that the software company is confident enough about its software’s successful implementation.


3. Confirm whether software company can fix bugs or not
If the software consists of bugs or is prone to some, you need to know about them. It is also necessary to ask your software company about the current bugs in software. Furthermore, you also need to know how a software company deals with bugs that are unique to your company’s use of software and what are the procedures it applies when to tackle dysfunction of the software.


4. Know the maintenance schedule
When you consult different software companies, you will get to know that most of them have a routine schedule for maintenance updates. Once you have purchased the business process software, you need to be aware at what intervals will you get the maintenance service - if on a monthly basis or once in two months, etc. Knowing about the software maintenance service is critical in order to stay updated and let the software provider troubleshoot these issues.


5. Availability
At last, it is a human-made software, so errors and queries will occur. You also need to know that a software company is giving considerable support service whenever you need.


To Sum It Up
When you are selecting a software, you need to make sure that it consists of all the essential aspects that your company will need. This was a brief tip to ensure you what you need to focus on buying a business process management software. To know more, here are a few ways you can get in touch with us today.

How Small Businesses Can Benefit From Crystal Reports Scheduler

Crystal Reports Scheduler is one of the tools of business intelligence that is currently used by small business. The tool is used to design and generate reports from multiple data sources. As business intelligence keeps on expanding, crystal reports scheduler has recently emerged into the market. It collects information from different data sources and puts them together to make a dynamic report. To save time and effort, a crystal reports scheduler provides you automated reports. Also, this software allows you to distribute the report to a person or a group.

Having a crystal reports scheduler will benefit you in enormous ways. Right from managing the reports to providing correct and authentic reports. It is the best for on-time distribution to the concerned recipients. Associating with Visualcron, you will get a reliable and durable Crystal Reports Scheduler to ensure the authenticity of reports from complex data.

Here are some of the benefits of Crystal Reports Scheduler.

1. Reports in Various Formats
Crystal reports scheduler has got the ability to send the report in various formats. Also, you get the ability to assess the reports automatically and simply send them out. You can send and share reports in numerous standard formats such as Word, Excel, and PDF through multiple methods. Further, these reports can also be formatted in print, fax, save to the folder, SMS, FTP, Dropbox, Sharepoint, and email.


2. Easy to use
Another benefit you get is ease of use. You only need to click on the scheduler, select the format and recipient and you are done with the process of sending the reports. This process takes hardly a couple of minutes. A crystal reports scheduler from Visualcron is even more effective and efficient to the task done.


3. Run on events
You can export and distribute reports using crystal reports scheduler at set dates and time. This also can be used to send reports that are based on events. Crystal reports scheduler also has the option of setting the reports event-based. What you all need to do is add a real-time monitoring to your reports distributing process and it will be ready to run on events.


4. Thorough assessment
Using crystal reports scheduler, you get the leverage to assess and evaluate the reports at every step. It allows you to check the reports thoroughly and then send them to the recipients.


5. To Sum It Up
Using crystal reports scheduler enables you to process the complex reports in a subtle and easy manner that ultimately saves your time and money and lets you focus on your other priorities. Visualcron constant pursuit is toward providing you the comfort and efficiency while you are operating business task and this crystal reports software is an extension to it. For more details, contact us now.

What Are The Common Business Tasks That Can Be Automated

While the technology has been benefitting almost every sector, the corporate sector is one that is getting the most of it. Regardless the size of the business, it adds the utmost convenience. Right from the management to the production area, it has been consistently saving the time, money and human effort towards persistent goals and innovations. In addition, many business owners have continuously been stating that how they conveniently and smoothly have been successful in chasing and achieving their perspective goals.

The principle of a business is to stay ahead of the competition and stay informed of the latest developments. An automation technology is a great help for businesses that do not want any obstacle in achieving their goals. An automation technology is helpful in conducting multiple business operations. Visualcron has always been curious to provide you the innovative technology for a long-lasting existing in this competitive market.

Here are some of the business operation that can be possible by automation.

1. System and browser maintenance
Computer back-ups are extremely important and give you the stored and secured information. Just like that, the background activities such as drive defragmentation and clearing of the cookie are extremely important to regulate. This helps in securing the data and ensuring the smooth performance of the system. Automation securely helps to maintain the system and browser simultaneously.

2. Easy communication with clients
Email is termed as a great data collector and ensures the retained clients. This can be continued by automating your system. Reminding yourself to write email follow-ups, it is better to use the autoresponder services that will enable you to frontload any email communication that you have scheduled to deliver automatically.

3. Computer back-ups
Computer backups are another option to safely store the data. This is because of you do not want to forget or miss the important information and also this excessive information should not disturb you while working. An automation technology helps in storing the data by using cloud-based services.

4. Reporting
Using automation will definitely serve the effectiveness and efficiency while operating the task. One of the major tasks is reporting and this reporting can be related to sales, inventory or leads. These also can be done smoothly and quickly by using automation.

5. Online form filling
Filling forms has been made easy. With automation, you can fill forms such as taxation and any other forms. In such scenarios, automation is a great help that only takes a few minutes of your precious time to fill the form. This will only require your name, address, billing information and so on. Also, the data is absolutely secured on your system and can be used whenever needed.

When it comes to operating multiple tasks, an automation technology is a perfect option to ease the task. If you want more information about latest technology, contact us now.

What Are The Problems A Business Process Automation Can Solve

Every emergence and innovation takes place to simplify workload and time in an organization wherein, a business process automation is another achievement that is taking the lead. More importantly, it signifies an effective task delivery that enhances the quality of quantitative productivity. Furthermore, BPA provides enormous benefits to businesses such as less cost consumption, authenticity in managing business processes and using resources carefully. Dealing with us at Visualcron means a retained association with quality and trust.

For instance, business process automation is an extension to process the workload more on systems rather than using human effort. To add furthermore, many business owners have recently stated that buying a business process automation has brought lot more positive changes in their business in terms of completing tasks in a more effective way. Also, business process automation provides a business multiple approaches to process the task more effectively.

However, a working organization faces lot more problems in day-to-day operations. Here are some of the problems that have been simplified by using business process automation.

  • Less-synchronized applications

The constant growth of a business brings lot more complexes and challenges to deal with. Similarly, your business is catching the growth pace means you are adopting more applications to simplify the work process wherein a comprehensive synchronization is extremely important to bring out all the application under one umbrella. This simply eases the process and tasks and gives you more stress-free hours to deal with other priorities.

  • Manual errors and time consumption

In order to keep your business running smoothly and creating the business decision for future operations require a huge volume of data. This clearly means employees need to put more hours on spreadsheets to make reports. This is an indication of the possibility of human errors. Well, this can smartly be accommodated by business process automation. As an, it can automatically write reports in various useful formats.

  • Time taking file transfers

File transfer is such complex process that every organization wants to simplify. Also, there are large-sized businesses that need to transfer thousands of file in a day. Well, that cannot be possible with human effort. This simply needs a tool that is efficient and error-free. That's what the quality, you will notice in a business process automation. Everything right from generating reports to transferring file, all can be done without the indulgence of huge human effort.

A growing business requires multiple aspects to run it effectively and ensure its retainers. Having a business process automation can even be more comforting for an organization. To know more, contact us now.

Things You Can Do By Getting Your Windows Task Automated

The world today is automated in every sense and therefore, getting your windows tasks automated is yet another amazing option. For those of you, who do not have much of clarity on the same, here are the best benefits of getting the windows task automated are mentioned below.

1. Get monthly backups on the cloud
There is always a huge amount of data stored on your windows system, losing which is not even an option for you. It might be a collection of your favourite music, or it can even be something as critical as a novel on which you’ve been working on for years. Information and data as critical as this is absolutely important and nobody wishes to lose that. When you automate windows tasks, you can easily get a backup of your important information without much of a hassle.

2. Delete All Files In A Folder
Is there a folder you have to clear out every now and then? Like the temp files or the downloads? While these might contain bulk or non bulk files, clearing them out is a task you have to undertake every now and then. With windows task automated, you can clear out the required folder in a periodic manner so even if you forget about it, the clearing out is done by your windows task automated.


3. Send Automated Emails With Attachments
We all have to send out super important emails and some of us have to do this task on a daily or weekly basis. This could be an email to your boss or to your customers with something very significant that you need to attach. With the windows task automated you can shoot emails as and when you like it and yes, with the requisite attachment as well.

4. Launching Programs When You Log On
When you log on to your system, we all have a certain routine that has been set in place as per our work. We log on, we go to certain programs we work on and have to launch them. This could be anything from a particular web browser, to your email and a client chat you need to keep a check on for info updates. With windows task automation you can automate the launch of these programs. It’s a simple process as you have to set up your task for the same. To automate a launch of any certain program when you log in you could set the task from your trigger screen and select When I log in. Proceed by clicking next and select Start a program from the Action screen. Upon clicking the Start a program, you get to Browse and choose which programs you wish to launch upon a login. Click Finish to get done and you are all set.

Getting your windows task automated is a great option in the longer run as it only has plentiful benefits and not even a single type of disadvantage associated with it. Some of the major things that you can do using the same are mentioned in the above section of the blog. Also, referring to visualcron will only enhance your knowledge on the same.

4 Advantages Of Using A Job Scheduling Software

In today’s fast paced and technologically advanced world, where almost every business has come to accept the fact that they need to start automating some of their manual business processes. And why shouldn’t they? Automating any process reduces the chances of errors and can help any business in attaining high levels of availability, reliability and productivity. And that’s what matters! While there are automation softwares for almost anything you can think of, we’ll be focusing on the advantages of job scheduling softwares such as Microsoft’s DTS Job Scheduling Software, Visualcron and more.

Job Scheduling Software, SSIS Scheduling software, Task Scheduling Software, Project Management Software - While these names may sound different, they all do the same thing and that is scheduling specific tasks for a person working in an organisation, it’s departments or the organisation as a whole. There are many different job or task scheduling softwares available online but each one is slightly different than the other. For example, a DTS Job Scheduling Software requires it’s user to have some coding knowledge to perform automation tasks while there are other scheduling softwares out there that require no coding knowledge at all. The distinct features of a job scheduling software sets each of them apart but they all strive to provide the same key benefits to a business if used optimally, which are -

1. Makes tracking tasks easier
Tracking all of the tasks performed is a cumbersome task and almost impossible if one sets out to do it manually. A job scheduling software works as a collaboration tool for employees, teams and managers alike as it helps automate otherwise time taking tasks.

2. Saves resources
Manually assigning tasks, checking performance and gathering feedback from employees costs a lot of time and money to a business which is cut down to almost zero by using a job scheduling software as everything is handled by the software itself. The only cost you’ll incur is the cost of purchasing the job scheduling software.

3. Increases productivity
With a job scheduling software, you can create and assign new tasks to employees with the click of a button. This helps eliminate the lag times when compared to doing it manually. Also, when tasks are assigned and completed by employees or teams without unnecessary delay, the overall production of an organisation increases marginally.

4. Ensures Transparency
Once a task is assigned to an employee with a job scheduler, the employee is solely accountable for the completion or failure of the task assigned to him. Also, as mentioned in the first benefit, the tasks assigned to a person are totally transparent and anyone in the organisation can have a look at it using the job scheduling software, which makes the system reliable and easy to monitor as well.

So these were a few advantages you can count on when planning to go for a Job scheduling software. Apart from helping you save on a lot of resources, this software also helps you keep a track of the ongoing tasks. Applying a SSIS scheduling software at workplaces has helped boost reliability, enhance productivity and keep a sync at work.

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