Which BPMS Is Right For You?

Bruce Silver Principal, BPMS Watch

bruce@brsilver.com BPMS Watch: www.brsilver.com/wordpress

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

Topics
The selection problem The BPMS Report series The Ratings report and tool

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

What is a BPMS?
An integrated platform to

Model, automate, monitor, optimize processes

~30+ available today, all sound the same

BAM
Performance Data SOA Middleware ERP Legacy

Rule Framework

Process Engine Modeling Design

Human Task Framework

Integration Framework

External Services

Rules

Business

IT

User

User

User

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

Selecting a BPMS
1. Self-assessment

What type of process?

Point solution or platform for diverse processes?

Who will build and maintain the solution? Business/IT interaction style

Requirements handoff or iterative/collaborative

2. Short list

Match BPMS capabilities to your key requirements

Leverage available research like BPMS Report series

Proof of concept Due diligence Cost Vendor factors

3. Final selection

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

The BPMS Report Series

FREE on BPMInstitute site

www.bpminstitute.org/bpmsreport.html Latest round (July 2007 - March 2008)

Reports on 11 leading products

Appian, BEA, Cordys, EMC, FlowCentric, Global360, Lombardi, Oracle, SoftwareAG, TIBCO

will be adding more Q3 2008 Each report 30-40 pages, lots of diagrams and screenshots

Common outline for all products

Overview, architecture and environment, modeling and design, human workflow, integration, business rules, events and exceptions, BAM/performance management, solutions and services

Research based on documentation, briefings/demos, dialog with the vendor Objective reporting, without commentary
Bruce Silver Associates 2008
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The Ratings Report

Evaluate each BPMS in 3 process types
11 Capabilities, roughly map to sections of the report Each capability score based on 5-8 feature scores

Capability score independent of process type Capability weightings dependent on process type

Overall rating based on weighted capability scores

Ratings Report - available free on BPMInstitute.org

http://www.bpminstitute.org/research/research/article/bpms-watch-ratings-q2-2008.html

Based on first round of reports (7/07 - 3/08) Interactive tool, not a downloadable report
http://www.brsilver.com/wordpress

Also, user-selected weightings available on BPMS Watch site

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

Human-Centric vs Integration-Centric Processes

Human-centric focused on optimizing work

Assigning and performing human tasks Measuring human work performance Emphasis on business-empowered implementation Ratings Report distinguishes production workflow from case management BPM layered on SOA Handling events and exceptions

Integration-centric focused on optimizing business integration

BPMS vendors do not self-identify as human-centric or integrationcentric

but offerings better in one than the other

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

Process Type: Production Workflow

Structured process, high volume, shared work queues Goals: optimize cycle time, labor cost, productivity, customer satisfaction Differentiators
Dynamic rule-based task assignment Business-empowered implementation Emphasis on worklist, task UI, and performance visibility Scalable to high instance volumes

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

Process Type: Case Management

Unstructured process, low volume/high value, shared access to common case folder Goals: optimize quality, compliance Differentiators

Shared case folder with data, documents, tasks

Ad hoc add tasks/processes at runtime

Case status progresses by milestones, not structured diagram Team collaboration support Documents and folders

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

Process Type: Integration-Centric

Structured process, high-volume, run the business, integrating backend systems and apps Goals: business integration, agility, meet SLAs Differentiators
Asynchronous integration infrastructure Explicit SOA support (ESB, registry, repository) Data transformation Event and exception handling

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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Capability Weightings by Process Type

Production Case IntegrationWorkflow Management Centric Architecture and standards 4 2 8 Process modeling 20 3 3 Executable design 7 3 7 Human task design 25 10 3 User experience 15 15 3 Integration 5 3 50 Business rules 5 3 5 Content, team collaboration, and case management 6 50 2 Performance management 5 5 8 Events and exceptions 5 3 8 Packaged solutions 3 3 3 100 100 100

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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Ratings: Human-Centric vs Integration-Centric

HC rating averages Production Workflow and Case Management
5.0
Human-Centric Processes

BPMS Watch Rating

4.5 4.0
G360 Lombardi Appian EMC BEA Oracle webMethods TIBCO Cordys

3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 2.0

Singularity FlowCentric

3.0

4.0

5.0

Integration-Centric Processes

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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Ratings: Production Workflow vs Case Management

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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Ratings Details
Interactive database tool on BPMS Watch site

www.brsilver.com/wordpress

Aggregated scores by process type Feature score details Define your own feature weightings Define your own capability weightings

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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Ratings Details
Interactive tool on BPMS Watch site

www.brsilver.com/wordpress

Aggregated scores by process type Feature score details Define your own feature weightings Define your own capability weightings

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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Ratings Details
Interactive tool on BPMS Watch site

www.brsilver.com/wordpress

Aggregated scores by process type Feature score details Define your own feature weightings Define your own capability weightings

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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Using the Ratings and Reports

BPMS Report series intended to give a feel for the product
Capabilities emphasized or de-emphasized What is out of the box vs custom Skills required to build and maintain General look and feel

Caveats on the ratings

Ratings are based on the BPMS Reports Score reflects my preferences

E.g. Unified model/design leveraging BPMN

Your capability and feature weightings may be different

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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In Summary
To pick the right BPMS for your organization

Understand your own BPMS needs

Process type Skills to build and maintain Business-IT interaction style

Use the BPMS Reports, Ratings Report and tool to help create the short list
Identify leaders from the Ratings Get a feel for the products from the BPMS Report series Fine tune your requirements with the interactive tool

Engage directly with shortlist vendors to do final selection Contact bruce@brsilver.com (831) 685-8803

Consulting help is available

Bruce Silver Associates 2008

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