OpCon Reviews

We love OpCon. I have been working with this credit union for five years, and we had it before I started working here. It is a great product. We are not yet using it fully. We are not taking advantage of everything because it is huge. It has a lot of different things that we can do with it. I am very happy with it.

OpCon gives us a single point of control for orchestrating workflows and file movements. This single point of control is very important because we can see all the jobs we have. We have 600 jobs, and we can view all of them within this single platform or a single dashboard. We have a lot of control over them.

OpCon enables us to manage complex schedules that span disparate systems. We have jobs where at least three to four servers are involved or at least two or three parties are involved. We have jobs where different departments need notifications and we have to wait for those departments to take some actions before another action takes place. There are different subjobs or dependencies. With the last job that we automated, there were so many things that we needed to do, such as decryption, waiting for other employees to do their part, notifying them, and then taking action. There were a lot of things. I did not think it was possible, but they could automate that. The tool can do it. That is why we have SMA Technologies because they have the experience in doing it. It would have probably taken us days to figure it out ourselves, but eventually, we would have got it done.

They free us from creating jobs or even monitoring them because they monitor the jobs. This gives us time to focus on other projects and gather information from other departments on what they are doing manually. We can then bring that to SMA Technologies and ask if they can help us with this manual process to automate it. Right now, we have a number of tickets open with them that are helping us to automate different manual jobs that other departments are doing. This is not just an IT product the way I see it. It is more of a company product that helps other departments to automate their jobs as well.

We have over 600 jobs. Our core financial system is a legacy system. It is a Linux system, but the way I see it, it is a legacy system. We have the majority of the jobs touching that system. We have our card processing system as well, and we have our data content management system. Every time our front lines scan receipts, checks, or documents, they automatically get sent over to a content management system that we have. OpCon automates a lot of the jobs, puts them in the right bucket or folder, and indexes everything in there. It tells the system where everything needs to go and indexes everything. That helps us as well from the point of doing it ourselves. We do not have to manually tell the system and index all this. It notifies the employees when the documents are already indexed and ready for them to view. We have at least three to four legacy systems that OpCon helps us with. The rest of them are more modern applications.

Per week, it probably saves us 30 to 40 hours. Per month, it saves 100 to 200 hours for my employees. The time saved can vary because there are months when we have to do more. At month's end, there is a lot of stuff to do and a lot more jobs to run. These jobs are run at different hours. Usually, they are run after hours, which helps my team and the company in saving money. We are not paying anyone overtime. Jobs are running automatically.

OpCon has helped to reduce errors when running complex processes. We do have some complex jobs that require talking to different services and external vendors. OpCon does help us with all of that.

Where I see it working best is when we are trying to automate jobs. For example, about a month ago, we had been running a job manually that had six or seven different steps. The steps included gathering the file, moving the file to a different location, and decrypting the file because it was encrypted. After the file was decrypted, it was moved to another server and a notification was sent to multiple people and multiple departments when the file was ready, waiting for those employees to do what they needed to do with the file. After the file was modified, we picked up the file again and SFTP it to another third party. So, there were a lot of different steps that we were doing manually. It used to take us at least an hour and a half to do a lot of this work because we were waiting for other people. We were sending the file. We were decrypting it. Sometimes we had issues with the decryption. We created or SMA Technologies helped us to create this job that automates all of this, and we do not have to do this work anymore. It is all automated, so it is saving my team a lot of time. The problem was that this had to be done between 4:45 PM to 6:30 AM. It was after hours, so we were paying our employees overtime. OpCon helped to save us a lot of money just in this particular job.

I needed some time, and it took me probably about a year to learn everything about it. Once I learned it, it was very easy to configure it. The reason why we had SMA Technologies do it for us is because of timing. I do not have the time to do it, but it is very easy to do it ourselves. I just do not have the time or resources. They are more knowledgeable in creating the job. They have done it for other clients. It takes them minutes to create a job, whereas it would probably take me an hour or two to create a job, but it is very easy to learn it. It is user-friendly. It gives you a lot of control over different things that you are doing. I find it very easy to create jobs, but I just do not have the time for it. However, we understand how things work. When a job fails, it could be a power outage or the server could have gone offline. We understand where to go and how to resume that job. It is very easy to understand and troubleshoot as well.

In this credit union, we use OpCon for automation. That is the main use of it. We have over 3,000 jobs and schedules that process certain procedures that we have. These procedures touch our core system and other systems that integrate with it.

The biggest example is for our credit union ACH processing. We use OpCon to make sure that files are moved over automatically. We also use OpCon to connect with the Axway system, which is an application that the Fed uses to make sure that those files get over to them and are processed correctly. If there are any returns, we get those files back from the Fed through Axway, and OpCon helps us with that automation. So, we use OpCon very heavily here. 

We have over 3,000 processes. We do a lot here. We use our OpCon system to help us with our month-end processes. We make sure that our core system process gets automated in terms of a backup taking place, and then our month-end procedures happen. We make sure that there is an end-of-day procedure and postings and so forth to get us over.

We have the Solution Manager, and we use that a lot. It gives us a single point of control for orchestrating workflows and file movements.

Its benefits were immediate, and after some time, we saw even further benefits. Over ten years ago, this team used to manually run every single process. That meant that they were working 24 hours. They were working weekends. They were working through lunch. They were working dinner time, just to make sure that processes were running for the credit union. When OpCon came along and they started automating those processes, the team was able to have a work-life balance. That was a big benefit, and it happened immediately. We continue doing that so much that over 3,000 jobs are happening with OpCon.

OpCon in a way enables us to manage complex schedules that span disparate systems. We have a few other systems in which we have automated a file or process happening at one point in time and then moving on to being ingested by another system. We have processes where our core system may push out a report or something along the way. OpCon helps with the generation of that and also then pushes that report either to another system where that report needs to be generated, mailed, and printed out for someone or to another system where it needs to be held as a documentary repository system.

OpCon has freed up time for our staff to focus on higher-value projects. Using OpCon for ACH processes here at the credit union allows us to not only adhere to NACHA compliance and audit rules but also make sure that our membership is able to move their money and use their money as quickly as possible and as appropriately as possible with minimal impact to them and minimal impact to the organization. In terms of growing business on the vendor SMA side of things, there have been times when we have been asked to meet with other credit unions to share our thoughts and our experience with the product in itself and gain SMA more clients.

Using OpCon, we have automated 3,000 processes that were previously run manually. In terms of time savings, it is hard for me to put a number down, but per year, at a high level, it has probably saved us between 200 to 400 hours.

Using OpCon has helped to reduce errors when running complex processes. When we notice that there has been an issue, we ask questions about the process and find out if it is automated. We solutionize it with OpCon and have more controls and applications around it. It has been beneficial from that standpoint as well. A lot of times, one of the questions for a lot of our projects is whether there is anything that is happening manually that we could handle for them.

I do a lot of administration of the product. I am also in development. I create jobs and maintain roles for end users, so I take care of administration and scheduling.

OpCon provides centralization like most of the schedulers. It has pretty much the same functionality from a centralization point of view.

OpCon enables us to manage complex schedules that span disparate systems. This functionality is native to OpCon.

OpCon has not freed up time for our staff to focus on higher-value projects.

I have used OpCon to manage legacy systems along with modern systems. It works fine with legacy systems and modern systems.

We have automated pretty much every manual task with OpCon. We have very few manual tasks left. The scheduler is there, so we have to do all the work using the scheduler. If we still have to do manual work, there is no point in having a scheduler. In other words, we automate every task that we can with OpCon. We have automated about 80% to 90% of tasks.

OpCon has helped to reduce errors when running complex processes. We use it for Linux, Unix, AIX, and Windows. It is used as a point of entry to every system that we use. It is the central point of automation for every system we use, such as ETL, managing databases, and patching Linux systems. Everything is under the responsibility of the scheduler. That is why it is very important for us to have a scheduler, and that is why we use OpCon as the main product in our production systems.

I use OpCon to automate processes in a financial institution.

OpCon provides a single point of control to orchestrate workflows and file moments which is incredibly important.

With the implementation of OpCon, we require minimal to no staffing on weekends or nights. The automation enabled by OpCon has streamlined our operations, reducing the number of personnel required while simultaneously enhancing our operational capabilities.

OpCon has enabled us to manage more complex schedules. We have seen a mass reduction in error rates and a lot of time savings in the target business units and operations.

I don't have a dedicated staff. Instead, I collaborate closely with a wide range of individuals. OpCon has enabled us to accomplish more with a smaller team by empowering project management teams to direct the processes. Consequently, we prioritize tasks that they deem valuable.

In the rare instances where we utilize the self-service feature, it empowers our end-users to handle their tasks independently without the need to submit tickets or contact the operations team. They can complete their processes at their convenience, allowing for flexibility in their workflow. This flexibility ensures that they are not required to execute tasks at a specific, predetermined time point.

We use OpCon to manage legacy systems alongside modern systems, which has allowed us to maintain functionality and efficiency. While some legacy software can be cumbersome and we are unable to eliminate all of it, OpCon enables us to make the most of these systems. Integrating OpCon with new components has streamlined our operations, creating a cohesive and user-friendly system.

Our company has implemented OpCon for over a decade, and we currently execute more than 2,000 processes daily. Achieving this level of process automation was not a sudden accomplishment; it has been a steady and gradual growth process. Quantifying the precise impact of OpCon is challenging due to its long-term integration into our policies, procedures, and processes. However, we estimate that OpCon has saved us hundreds of hours per week.

OpCon minimizes errors regardless of the task's complexity or whether it's a repetitive task with a predictable outcome. Therefore, complexity is not the primary factor contributing to errors; repetitiveness is.

The time to value with OpCon is immediate because it instantly frees up one person's workload. That's a win right there. No matter how big or small the automated process, it's one less manual task that someone has to do. While we may not see an immediate return on investment at the corporate level that executives crave, the positive impact on employees is immediate and tangible.

The primary reason behind implementing it was its integration with our new core banking system, serving as the designated task scheduler. Our core system lacked this capability inherently, leading the core vendor to incorporate OpCon to address this gap. Initially introduced as part of the package to fulfill the role of a task scheduler, we subsequently embraced and significantly expanded its usage. It is now an integral component of our operations, seamlessly integrated into our core banking system. Its implementation coincided with our core banking system upgrade, and since then, it has been instrumental in managing a myriad of daily routines and schedules. 

Beyond its role in executing numerous jobs critical to our core operations, we leverage OpCon for broader infrastructure automation. Whether it's handling routine maintenance, conducting audits, or generating reports, the versatility of OpCon enables us to efficiently run thousands of diverse tasks across our organization.

OpCon plays a pivotal role in consolidating control for orchestration workflows and file movements into a centralized point, a critical aspect of our operations. This centralized control is immensely significant. 

When I initially joined the organization, the automation landscape was only a fraction of its current size, and it was scattered across our computing infrastructure. The challenge was identifying the location of actions like report generation or file movements. Now, we have achieved a transformative shift – everything is seamlessly managed through a unified interface, providing a comprehensive view of all automation control. 

It empowers us to handle intricate schedules that span disparate systems, and some of these schedules are exceptionally complex. It has liberated our staff's time, allowing them to concentrate on more high-value projects. It's important to acknowledge that automation involves an initial investment of effort in terms of building, implementing, and maintaining the system. Despite this upfront cost, the efficiency gains achieved after the automation is established are substantial and challenging to quantify. 

The time saved across multiple organizations through the presence of automation is significant. Monthly, across all organizations, it likely saves several hundred hours. The time savings facilitated by OpCon have enabled our Information Services department, despite our relatively modest staff size, to undertake a significantly increased workload. The automation seamlessly handles tasks in the background that would have otherwise required manual intervention. As a result, we've been able to successfully manage a multitude of additional projects on an annual basis. 

It has proven instrumental in managing a mix of legacy systems and modern platforms. As mentioned, we execute thousands of jobs across a diverse range of systems, encompassing both outdated and contemporary technologies. OpCon has transformed numerous manual processes into automated ones, totaling in the hundreds. We've systematically automated virtually every identifiable process, and the initiative is ongoing. 

Collaborating with various organizations within the credit union, we're methodically determining the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that can be automated for each. While we've already automated thousands of jobs, the process of identification and automation is ongoing and requires time.

We use OpCon to automate daily operational jobs.

We implemented OpCon to remove risks associated with manual processes and improve efficiencies to reduce the time for those operational jobs to complete.

OpCon provides a single point of control which is extremely important to our organization.

The benefits of OpCon were seen immediately. It took a little bit of time to set up all of the automation, But once it was created, we began seeing benefits immediately.

OpCon enables us to manage complex schedule steps and multiple systems.

Between 25 and 40 percent of our staff's time has been saved to focus on higher-value projects.

We've rolled out self-service buttons to the business units, empowering them to handle their requests without involving our department. This has been highly beneficial.

We have used OpCon to manage legacy systems along with modern ones for file transfers.

We have approximately 300 processes that were all manual before using OpCon to automate them.

OpCon has helped save between 15 to 25 hours per week.

Errors have been reduced when running more complex processes, resulting in a positive effect on our organization.

We initially used it for core job scheduling, but our focus shifted to managing file movements with vendors through FTP as tasks were outsourced. It now functions as a comprehensive server monitoring tool, overseeing file transfers, scheduling jobs based on received files and managing dependencies. OpCon facilitates efficient updating of our internal database with vendor files and plays a vital role in failure notifications, job holds during issues, and alerts via email or text. Currently, we handle around twelve hundred unique jobs, resulting in sixty to seventy thousand job runs monthly.

The primary advantage lies in labor savings and the capability to monitor and respond to task outcomes effectively. OpCon facilitates not only scheduling but also provides continuous communication through email or text notifications. This ensures real-time updates on the status of critical processes, whether they have run successfully, encountered failures, or require attention. 

The notification feature enhances control and allows prompt responses to operational events. 

OpCon has empowered us to handle more intricate schedules that span diverse systems, especially during our transition to a new platform. Some schedules are quite complex, involving sub-schedules within them. For instance, a single job for the data warehouse comprises around two hundred and fifty unique tasks. This flexibility allows us to break down jobs individually, making it easier to address failures at a granular level, simplifies troubleshooting, and facilitates more efficient processing by releasing the next job once an issue is resolved. 

It has freed up our staff's time, enabling them to engage in higher-value projects. While we still encounter occasional failures, their frequency has significantly reduced. Instead of the manual check-off sheet approach, where someone would meticulously oversee processes, we now have the freedom to work on diverse projects. 

We've successfully automated numerous processes that were previously carried out manually. While I can't provide an exact count, the estimate falls within the range of hundreds, potentially around a hundred and fifty to two hundred unique items. 

Quantifying the time saved by OpCon is challenging, but to justify its purchase and ongoing maintenance, I would estimate it frees up the equivalent of at least two full-time positions. 

The cost savings are significant, considering the annual hours and salaries involved. While the platform requires ongoing maintenance and updates, it has effectively replaced the need for two full-time staff members engaged in manual processes. 

Implementing OpCon has significantly reduced errors in executing complex processes. Previously, relying on manual checklists left room for typos, sequencing issues, or overlooked details. OpCon addresses this by allowing a one-time setup and comprehensive review, minimizing possible errors. 

The platform supports various actions, including job submissions, file copies, and native execution of PowerShell scripts, eliminating the need for manual intervention. As a result, failures are now less frequent, with most issues attributed to file-related issues or occasional user errors, rather than OpCon-based job errors. 

We observed benefits right from day one, especially in terms of scheduling automation. Upon going live, the advantages were significant due to the automated calendars and frequencies. 

The most impactful feature was the ability to handle dependencies. In cases where one element failed, others could proceed, minimizing disruptions.

We use OpCon to automate tasks like moving files around, starting jobs on our mainframe, alerts, etc. 

OpCon's biggest benefit is cutting down on the workload. It reduces human interaction and the risk of human error. It has freed up employee time by automating some repetitive jobs. We save about 20 hours a week or roughly the equivalent of half a full-time employee. 

We use OpCon to automate stuff across the board, including some legacy solutions that vendors haven't quite been able to upgrade. We're currently running thousands of jobs.