How To Schedule An Enterprise

One of the things I really like to tout is our implementation services. Why? Well, our consultants are the best in the business and they can make a huge difference when it comes to any product implementation or automation project, large or small.

For example, last summer, Yvonne Schumacher, one of our top Technical Training Consultants, spent much of her time working on-site with a large customer to help them take the next step. They wanted to move their job scheduling and operations from a server-specific orientation to a cross-platform mix of Windows, UNIX, Linux, and System i servers by implementing Robot/SCHEDULE Enterprise. Not a small feat, when you consider the number of jobs across their different servers, the expertise of the various audiences involved, and the short amount of time they had to set everything up.

But, I should really let Yvonne tell the rest of the story…

When I arrived at the site, I didn’t know what to expect. What I found out quickly was that this was going to be a big task. Basically, they handed me a large list of jobs and explained that they wanted to automate all their processing, across their various servers, and make it event-dependent. So, I needed to determine which jobs should run when, what their dependencies were, and how to make cross-platform, event-dependent processing not only a reality, but also a smooth reality.

The Robot/SCHEDULE Enterprise implementation was part of a larger project and there were other consultants and contractors everywhere, writing programs and running tests. Since some of the consultants were from other countries, not everyone spoke English perfectly. There was a big need for all of us to strive for clarity and to understand each team’s responsibilities. I was also challenged with a great opportunity when they asked me to create training materials and train people on their new Enterprise tool. Most of the trainees had never had System i exposure, coming from Linux and AIX backgrounds.

I was very fortunate to work with the only other “Robot person” on the project. He worked tirelessly with me to handle agent job requests. And, when he went on a well-deserved vacation, I gladly filled in for him to keep the project moving. Of course, the project due date was quickly approaching—just another “typical” implementation.

At this point you’re probably wondering how Yvonne and the team did? Well, stay tuned—she’ll give you the details next week.