Job scheduling software has taken the IT sector to the new level of optimization. The concept of scheduling is not new in the IT processes but the enterprise-wide automated job scheduling is so advanced and effective that IT operations took time to understand and implement it. The concept of monitoring the entire enterprise-wide tasks operating across networks on different platforms and systems is mind-boggling to the industry which had been doing jobs in small clusters and then later try and integrate them all. Be it Linux Job Scheduling or windows job scheduling, the integration is seamless.

For the IT manager, the primary benefit is being able to monitor and schedule tasks across the network.  The main factors that have made automated job scheduling so popular are:

Production jobs being centrally controlled

The advantage of having a central monitoring facility to monitor all the jobs across the network is immensely helpful. Being able to view and access the output of every single task and assess the outcome enables the manager to have updated thorough knowledge of the environment.

This can be used to project the trends and improve forecasts. It can be used to explain decisions taken for production. At the micro-level, the automation scheduler facilitates easy management of the data center on a daily basis. It also enables easy management of production job streams.

Schedules driven by cross-system events

Here the scheduling is more for the people working across different platforms rather than computers. The scheduling is done in such a way that a particular event, for example, on Windows platform triggers off only on completion of a specific task on the UNIX platform. The overall scheduling is streamlined. The benefit being elimination of ‘safety’ periods built into the schedules earlier.

Environments, jobs and commands are reusable.

Job Scheduling software is able to store the set the commands, jobs, and environments at a central location. These environments, commands, and jobs can be reused on multiple systems. They need to be defined only once thus saving a lot of time. The programmers benefit immensely by this.

Job schedule is secured

Three crucial elements that secure a job schedule are minimized authority, single sign-on, and auditing.

It is possible to create role-based security option with the automated scheduler which minimizes access based on roles defined for the people working in the environment such as administrator, operator, and user as the case may be.

Single sign-on is easily possible from the central console and information can be easily retrieved from multiple systems be it Windows, Linux or Mac.

Job history logs are very important to the auditing process as they supply the audit trail. This helps in meeting the relevant regulatory requirements.

Conclusion

The benefits in terms of streamlining processes, reducing the overall time schedule, reduction in personnel required for the production makes job scheduling software most sought-after tool for IT companies.  Apart from these benefits, they are re-usable for multiple systems and are secure at the same time. This has helped businesses to become more cost-effective and deliver optimal results.