it_user676545 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It is easy to use and most of the add-on features are available.

What is most valuable?

The entire suite of Control-M is valuable.

How has it helped my organization?

It is easy to use and most of the add-on features are available.

What needs improvement?

In a big environment, there is the need is to have easy access to the client.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Control-M for many years.

Buyer's Guide
Control-M
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Control-M. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

I have no particular issue to report.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have no particular issue to report.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have no particular issue to report.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service:

Customer service is excellent.

Technical Support:

Technical support is excellent.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using a different solution. We switched for less cost and for more benefits.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to set up and has clear information and support.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was done by an internal team.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It isn't related to my function and I do not have any specific details.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated other options, but now we are consolidating all environments to only use Control-M.

What other advice do I have?

From my experience with the last version, you are able to manage everything. The conversion tool can offer an easy way to migrate jobs from another tool.


Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user515760 - PeerSpot reviewer
Control-M Developer at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
Cross-platform support means your batch is managed by a single tool, allowing you to monitor your entire flow.

What is most valuable?

Control-M has a huge number of features and utilities that assist users in monitoring their schedules, and developers to build schedules that interface with many technologies. Here are some that stand out:

  • Cross-platform support. A Linux job can be dependent on a Windows job, which can be dependent on many other flavours of hardware/software. Your batch is therefore managed by a single tool, allowing you to monitor your entire flow.
  • Great GUI. Easy to navigate. Customisable. Status at a glance.
  • BIM (Batch Impact Manager). Proactively monitors a batch flow, against a pre-defined OLA/SLA and alerts as soon as an exception occurs that might threaten the target.
  • Automated error handling. Depending on the exit status of a process, automated actions can be defined that might circumvent the need to callout.
  • Forecast utility. Particularly useful after making changes to a batch flow, to see what impact those changes will have.
  • Reporting utility. Generate reports for the business to track batch performance, usage, and so on.
  • Mobile App. Business users can track the progress of their own batch flow, on the go.
  • Control Modules. These allow you to define jobs that interface with databases, SFTP, SAP, and so on, directly, via secure connection profiles.
  • Too many great features to list!

How has it helped my organization?

Previous scheduling solutions were platform specific, so when the overnight batch processes crossed between technologies, manual intervention was required. This was time costly and meant that it was not possible to get an overall picture of the flow/progress.

What needs improvement?

The ability to work offline would be an improvement. It is sometimes inconvenient that you cannot load and work on a schedule – unless you are connected to a Control-M Server. For example, when you are away from the office or on a train…

When you launch the application, the first thing that you need to do is 'log in' to a valid Control-M server. It would be nice if there was an 'offline' mode that would enable you to launch the application and then work on a batch schedule that can be 'checked in' to the appropriate server when you are next connected. This would enable users to be productive in environments where there is not a reliable network connection.


For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Control-M for 20 years, using many versions; three years with version 8.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not encountered any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is sufficient. BMC have a group of specialists in Tel Aviv who will advise on the best solution to any issue. It can be a little painful, trying to send huge log files to the vendor, but they are very helpful.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have had limited experience with Windows Task Scheduler, Cron and Autosys. These are very basic scheduling tools that do not offer anywhere near the functionality of Control-M.

How was the initial setup?

Out of the box, most clients will be fine installing Control-M with all default options. You have a choice of the packaged PostgreSQL database solution, or you can opt to use MS SQL It is therefore a relatively simple setup.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Control-M is expensive, but you get what you pay for. Talk to your account manager and discuss licensing options.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing this product, I did not evaluate other options.

What other advice do I have?

Do it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Chuck Seeley - PeerSpot reviewer
Chuck SeeleyBatch Tools Analyst at a tech services company
Real User

Solid review Mr. Dean Tuson and great to see it was you as the reviewer. Hope all is well in life.

I believe BMC could provide greater analytical tools for the User and their organization, specifically in the area of "historical" analytics. The existing toolsets they offer are great for predicting the impact of proposed changes to the jobstream flow and their ability to predict expected endtimes of SLAs (real-time, using BIM), yet I always thought they missed the boat on analyzing Batch after completion (i.e. last night's Batch, the past week, month, year).

I want to go back and find out why Ive missed my SLA so often in the past, find out what the bottlenecks actually we're, what was in the "critical path" that contributed to the breach of SLA (i.e. longest running jobs in the critical path, repeat job failures in the path, delays due to Priority and/or Quant Resources....

Very powerful to know AND act upon such analysis to bring enhancement to those problematic areas of the path, that result in completing stated SLAs earlier to the Business Users.

Aside from that, I believe BMC could improve in use of Web based GUI and move away from the existing solution and use of supporting applications like Citrix to deliver the GUI to larger User bases...

And that's a wrap !

Buyer's Guide
Control-M
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Control-M. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Pre-Sales Engineer, Solution Architect, Technical Area Coordinator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Real User
Very easy implementation, good integration capabilities, and very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution has the power to reduce resources, which is good for business. It is constantly updated to remain compatible with new technologies such as Amazon, Azure, and Google Cloud. It's very easy to take advantage of the compatibilities."
  • "The infrastructure could be improved."
  • "Right now, Control-M is the leader in EMA analysis, which is similar to Gartner. However, clients want to invest in a strong technology, and therefore this product needs to keep up with the high expectations set for it."

What is our primary use case?

We have a lot of projects with many companies, mostly in México.

There are two main companies in the retail sector. The clients use this solution for their process orchestration.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has the power to reduce resources, which is good for business. It is constantly updated to remain compatible with new technologies such as Amazon, Azure, and Google Cloud. It's very easy to take advantage of the compatibilities.

What is most valuable?

  • The dependencies between multi-platform processes are very good.
  • The capabilities of the solution are great.
  • It offers very good reporting.
  • The product offers very good integration with other solutions.
  • The implementation and adoption are easy.

What needs improvement?

Some companies have found Control-M a very cost solution, and they thing it’s not worth the investment.

My recommendation is that they can evaluate some points like Control-M is a leader in EMA Analysis (similar to Gartner Studio), and see the potential of Control-M and the immediate benefits that it can have to the Business.

It’s my understanding that BMC will be releasing Control-M Saas, which will have a new commercial schema, more accesible than the On-Premise schema.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution within the last 12 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable. It's a reliable product. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales well. If a company needs to expand it, they can do so rather easily.

Typically, our clients are large-scale enterprises.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support on offer is very good. It's from BMC. The customers can
open a ticket and be sure that they will have excellent technical support. We're
satisfied with the level of service provided.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup isn't too difficult. It's quite straightforward. We haven't had issues with the implementations that We have done with our clients. The implementation is pretty fast. It depends on the size of the infrastructure, however, it could be implemented between one to three months. It happens very fast if you compare it to other solutions.

What about the implementation team?

A certified software consultant will help with the implementation process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution offers good value for money.

What other advice do I have?

We're BMC partners. We have a business relationship with the solution. While we typically handle on-premises deployments, we also deal with the cloud.

I would recommend the solution. My recommendation is based on the stability, the constant evolution, and the capabilities of the integration with other software. The implementation is easy. It's easy to use and easy to implement then it's worth the expenditure.

Overall, I would rate the solution ten out of ten. We've been very happy with it.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: MSR Consulting - We're partner form BMC
PeerSpot user
Software Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Easy to scale, easy to use, and perfect support
Pros and Cons
  • "It is very easy to use. The HA feature is also very good."
  • "Its installation can be better. Currently, we have to install it manually. The file transfer feature can also be improved. It is not very easy to transfer a file from business to business. In terms of new features, they can include new technologies. It can have API integration."

What is our primary use case?

We are a reseller. Our clients are from banks, retail, and pharmacy industries. We deploy versions 6, 7, 9, and 10 of this solution.

What is most valuable?

It is very easy to use. The HA feature is also very good.

What needs improvement?

Its installation can be better. Currently, we have to install it manually. The file transfer feature can also be improved. It is not very easy to transfer a file from business to business. 

In terms of new features, they can include new technologies. It can have API integration.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for 11 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable. There are no glitches. It has been working well from the start.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is good. It is easy to scale. Our clients are medium and big enterprises.

How are customer service and technical support?

They are perfect. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy. The deployment took two weeks.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. I would rate Control-M a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
it_user896988 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT Procurement at a renewables & environment company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
We are able to let users access the system and manage jobs: self-service
Pros and Cons
  • "You can let users access the system and manage jobs: self-service."

    What is our primary use case?

    Primary use case is automation, and it has performed fine.

    How has it helped my organization?

    I don't think it has actually maybe improved anything. It's a generic product. It just has some nice features. We could use a normal scheduler, like DOS, for the type of work we are doing but that would prevent self-service from users in the business, so that's why we are using BMC.

    What is most valuable?

    You can let users access the system and manage jobs: self-service.

    What needs improvement?

    I don't think that we're actually looking for new features. I think we are more looking for a better cost/license/performance model because BMC, while we could say it's the best, is also the most expensive.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's just like anything else in that league. It's very stable. We are not experiencing instability or crashes. These are mature products.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is excellent.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is excellent. We called them two times in a year and there was a reply within 30 minutes, so that's good.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The only thing we would object to are the license costs. That is what we are probably most annoyed with. We are paying something like €1,000,000 over three years for having 4,000 jobs running. That's expensive.

    What other advice do I have?

    If you can afford it, it's good. If you do have an unlimited budget, or budget is not the main concern, and you want stability then I would say go for this. It's easy to use, it's easy to install, it's easy to run, it's easy to operate. I have a student assistant who had six hours of e-learning and she can run the system. That's good. Yes, you need the right student assistant but she doesn't have any IT background. It's very easy to use but also an expensive product.

    In terms of criteria when selecting a vendor, if I am to decide the vendor, it would be the biggest bang for the buck and then it would be quality, stability, and support. That is my job as manager of the IT department and therefore I have to ensure that we are getting the most value for the money.

    The only reason I am rating it eight out of 10 is simply the cost. From a technical point of view, we could actually make the same jobs run from the DOS prompt, with the same stability. I think that we are paying a lot for having self-service, for having nice monitoring. I think we're paying a lot for that.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Chuck Seeley - PeerSpot reviewer
    Chuck SeeleyBatch Tools Analyst at a tech services company
    Real User

    Hello.
    I've read through your article and have a potential suggestion. If you haven't looked closely at your contract with BMC for Control-M, you should, and find out exactly what contributes to the licensing cost.

    If you don't have that contract and/or don't fully understand the language within, reach out to your BMC Account Manager and ask for details as to how that costs are calculated.

    Also, as Head of IT Procurement, you may or may not understand the language of Control-M and its implications as stated by the contract.

    Suggestion here would be to collaborate with your Control-M experts internal to your company (perhaps even along with BMC), to reach a better understanding.

    Once everyone has a complete understanding, your Control-M experts may have some ideas as to better managing the Control-M environment to help mitigate some of those seemingly high licensing costs.

    That said, my feeling is Control-M (and BMC's add-on solutions to Control-M) is an outstanding product and has many capabilities, so make sure you're also getting everything out of it you can.

    Good luck !

    it_user514314 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Assistant Director at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    We execute more than 30k jobs through a single window.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It provides a single point of control for the entire organization’s batch processing, helping to shorten the batch processing window and achieve a “manage by exception” operation environment. At my current organization, our batch processing requirement is too technically diversified and has to be supported 24/7. With Control-M, we are able to handle the customer demand and execute 30k-plus jobs through a single window.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for 10 years, including earlier versions.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have encountered very few stability issues; it’s highly stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is good.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I find technical support to be knowledgeable and willing to provide assistance for any and all queries.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I did not previously use a different solution at my current organization. However, I have experience working CA Autosys.

    How was the initial setup?

    The installation is panel-driven and can be used by a relatively inexperienced technician to install it successfully.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    It’s well suited for anywhere and anyone, but it comes with a cost; it is quite pricey.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before choosing this product, I did not evaluate other options.

    What other advice do I have?

    Control-M is very stable. It is rare to have any issues with the application. Nonetheless, the bigger the workload, the more a tool like Control-M is needed or else it’s too pricey.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user326337 - PeerSpot reviewer
    it_user326337Customer Success Manager at PeerSpot
    Consultant

    Can you identify features in the software that make its high cost worth the expense?

    PeerSpot user
    Senior Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Vendor
    The user interface is very easy to navigate. The batch team is now able to run an average of 1,500 jobs per day .

    What is most valuable?

    The user interface is very easy to navigate.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The batch team is now able to run an average of 1,500 jobs per day with incidents automatically created and routed to the correct team if a job fails or has an error.

    What needs improvement?

    The process to apply patches and upgrades is cumbersome. It feels like there could be a simpler or more streamlined way to apply patches.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using Control-M for almost a year.

    What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

    The deployment went smoothly.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We are having issues with failover working correctly but we are working with BMC Support.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Customer Service:

    Customer service tries to be helpful. They tend to shy away from many tasks that BMC feels falls into "Customizations". Anything that differs from the OOB is hard to get help with.

    Technical Support:

    Most of the technicians seem to be highly capable.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    The previous solution was no longer supported.

    What about the implementation team?

    We used BMC for the implementation.

    What was our ROI?

    ROI is unclear at this time as the software has been in use less than a year.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Business Service Management Architect at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Consultant
    Offers high availability through software, supported by an Oracle RAC with ASM.

    What is most valuable?

    High availability through software, supported by an Oracle RAC with ASM, is a valuable feature. In operation, it is fantastic.

    How has it helped my organization?

    My clients are happy; the comment that gets repeated is, "Control-M is a very stable tool".

    What needs improvement?

    The web console consumes resources to my "high" point of view. Thinking about a totally web management environment is an opportunity for improvement.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    • Operator = 2 years
    • Scheduling = 3 years
    • Administrator = 3 years

    What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

    Implementation was easy and quick.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We have not encountered any stability issues. BMC Control-M is very stable in any version.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    BMC Control-M is an easy-to-run, scalable, robust platform or architecture tool.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Customer Service:

    Customer service is the best.

    Technical Support:

    Technical support is the best.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    Previously, I had version 8, and I migrated to version 9 because of its high availability functionality.

    How was the initial setup?

    You cannot be an airplane pilot without education; with the right education and training, the solution does what it has to do and makes it fantastic.

    What about the implementation team?

    Providers implemented it; they were excellent.

    What was our ROI?

    I cannot mention ROI.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    A good product always has a cost. I think the cost supports the efficiency of the product.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before choosing this product, we did not evaluate other options.

    What other advice do I have?

    Is a very good option for the WLA tasks within a company. There is a lot of information on the internet for it. Analyze the costs vs the benefits and if you have the option to invest in a solution that gives you automation of almost everything in IT, acquire it. You will not regret it.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Control-M Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: May 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Control-M Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.