Workload Automation Vs. Job Scheduling

In the era of automation and digitization, almost everything is automated today and so is workload and job scheduling. A lot of people keep comparing these two aspects with one another. Therefore, in this blog we will discuss about the contrasting features and functions of workload automation and job scheduling. To begin with let us first talk about the definitions of both.

What is Workload automation?

The process that functions by automating a particular series of business processes and functions is termed as workload automation. Some back office systems and other background processes are taken care of by the same. The purpose of introduction of a workload automation system is to support different types of business applications that include in themself cross-system dependencies.

What is Job scheduling?

While on the contrary, a job scheduling software functions by scheduling jobs and related processes for the individuals. The main purpose of making use of job scheduling software is to automate different IT related processes which at most instances is done on a basis of platform-by-platform. Job schedulers are one of the most widely used automated tools.

Workload Automation: Broader and better automation

Both job scheduling as well as workload automation function by streamlining business processes, they differ in just one aspect and that is the scope of both. Workload automation is often regarded as the more advanced version or the successor of job scheduling tools. This is due to the approach of workload automation which is to automate the entire system within the business that may or may not include some heterogeneous server environments.

Workload automation came into play after the increasing demand for better and more complex business processes. Apart from that a lot of automated tool users have been looking for a more diverse server, device platform and web services and applications that are able to support a larger cross section of users. Workload automation in addition to the core benefits of job scheduling, functions by making use of automation and therefore, save time by assigning tasks to machine operators instead of human operators. All of this in turn leads to a better compatibility with the operating systems and applications of the third party.

Traditional problems ruled out by Workload automation

Some of the traditional practises use to lead the businesses in issues and problems. By making use of workload automation some of those problems will be ruled out: –

  • A major issue is that most conventional processes have a limited ability to evaluate run times by making use of service level management.
  • Synchronization is yet another aspect and some of the job schedulers have very poor or negligible synchronization among them.
  • Sometimes, either managed or integrated or both file transfer capabilities are missing from the scheduler.
  • Moving and replacing jobs across different platform is yet another issue which is ruled out by workload automation.

In a nutshell, when compared job scheduling with workload automation, the latter one is regarded as better and is more preferred over others. Although, there isn’t much difference between the two but businesses choose in between both depending upon their requirements and needs.