About the scheduler

Essentially, the scheduler is a tool for users to submit their jobs, independently of the underlying implementation. The most important aspect, then, was developing a functional user interface for the users that would allow migration to different architectures.

The success of this project is measured by two factors:

• How many users actually use the product in their everyday work and whether they like it
• The ability to change implementation in the future

While for the second time will tell, we can already say that the project was extremely well received. To prove it, we have the statistics generated by the scheduler, showing a growing number of users that do come back to use the product again and again. The number of jobs and the number of scheduler executions is growing also.

We have been working very closely to our user base to achieve this success, providing documentation, examples and support, in the form of an hypernews forum. Also, internal logs helps us assist users with minimal effort on their part. 

The success of our effort is also made clear by what our users say about the product itself:

"As an early adopter of the scheduler back in September [2002] I was very impressed by it and I have seen it develop into a great tool. I wouldn't run my jobs any other way and now take every opportunity to encourage others to use it." -Lee Barnby

"I am a first time user of the scheduler and I am already happy to see that it takes care of all the stuff that I used to do myself, but now in a nicer way w/ xml-based jobs descriptions." -Frank Geurts

"Simple and reliable. Two thumbs up!" -Jim Thomas

"A must use tool." -Frank Laue