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This Buyer's Guide features job scheduling software for Windows 2000 and Windows NT systems. Job scheduling software lets you organize, automate, and manage recurring computer tasks to reduce the cost of operations. The NT AT command scheduler lets you schedule a command or script to run on the local computer only at a certain time, but high-end job scheduling software can manage workloads across OSs (e.g., Win2K, NT, UNIX, OS/400, OS390). Job dependencies let you determine which job to run next based on the existence or availability of a file, the successful completion of other jobs, or the result of the previous step in the current job. You can schedule jobs to run at a specific time of day or in response to system events. You can create job calendars to schedule daily, weekly, monthly, and annual work in advance. You can review scheduled workloads before they execute to make last-minute adjustments. At the end of the day, you can review the success or failure of all scheduled jobs.
With job scheduling software, many scheduling possibilities make your job easier. You can create recovery jobs that automatically run when certain error conditions occur, predict workload time and make adjustments beforehand, and run a report or database extract without reminders. Using job scheduling software lets you spend more time focusing on other tasks.
The listings in this Buyer's Guide span quite a range. Included are inexpensive NT-only products that let you define streams of related jobs; job dependencies; and schedules, events, and resources that can determine when to run a job. At the other end of the spectrum, crossplatform job management systems let you centrally manage workloads on a variety of OSs.
