3 Reasons for IT Teams Using Script Management Tools in 2024

Scripting is the practice of modifying, updating, or deleting files and folders within a program to test and automate processes within an application or website locally or remotely. However, IT teams face challenges in scripting such as wrong or duplicate file transfers, finding and validating errors in the script, and documenting event logs. Script management tools enable IT teams to automate workflows within a scripting environment (e.g. file transfers, data manipulation), detect workflow errors and incompletions, and auto documentations.

In this article we explore what script management is, benefits to IT teams, and which tools to use.

What is script management?

Script management is the practice of using automation tools, such as RPA, workload automation software, and job schedulers, to automate and orchestrate scripting workflows, such as:

• triggering FTP file transfers
• initiating database modifications
• initiating workflows after emails, tweets, or web triggers
• code scraping for errors
• creating event logs for audit

What are the use cases of script management tools?

Script management tools enable users to:

1. Locate script errors

Challenge: Syntax errors (e.g. missing “;”) and logic errors (e.g. “if ($i=1) {…}” is incorrectly entered instead of “if ($i==1) {….},”) are common issues encountered in scripting.

Solution: Script management tools monitor the execution of script workflows and can notify the users of existing errors that cause the incompletion of a task.

2. Manage scripts from a centralized point

Challenge: Scripts could be written by one or multiple users on multiple devices, making it difficult for one user to monitor others’ work.

Solution: Script management tools can be typically integrated with multiple devices and systems, enabling all users to manage and maintain scripts from a centralized point.

3. Trigger workflows

Challenge: Scripting workflows are mostly dependent on human intervention to initiate the workflows. This method is prone to errors, as humans can miss a script or task within a script. It also causes delay as it requires a human in the loop to initiate the next step.

Solution: Script management tools can be programmed to initiate scripting workflows at certain time schedules or triggering events. For example, a job scheduler or a workload automation tools can be used to initiate a script that modifies content of a web application at a certain time of the dat or at a trigger such as if a new product is added to the database.

What are the tools used for script management?

There are different tools to automate script management functions, including:

• RPA: RPA bots are a type of software which leverages screen scraping to monitor and replicate user interactions with GUI elements. RPA bots can be programmed to manage scripting databases, initiate workflows, run error-detection tests within a system, and document event logs.
• Workload automation software and job schedulers: Workload automation (WLA) and job schedulers automate business processes by scheduling, executing, and logging tasks across different business platforms. For script management, WLA and job schedulers can automate data warehouses, run FTPs and ETLs, trigger workflows, and log events.
• Language specific script management tools: There are different scripting languages that users rely on to create scripts, such as PowerShell, Shell Script, Perl, Python, Java, VBSscripts, etc. In turn, there are language-specific script management tools. For example GitHub and Bitbox can be used to manage scripts written in PowerShell.

Next steps

To explore other IT automation use cases, read our in-depth articles:

• RPA Incident Management: 5 IT Metrics RPA Can Improve in ’23
• IT Process Automation (ITPA): What it is & How does it work
• Workload Automation: Comprehensive Guide for Tech Buyers
• The Ultimate Guide to Data Management & How AI Can Help

To choose the right tool for your business, scroll down our data-driven lists of:

• Workload automation tools
• RPA software

And explore our automation hub for a more comprehensive view of the automation ecosystem.

To gain a more comprehensive overview of workload automation, download our whitepaper on the topic:

And we can guide you through the process: