We mobilize the enterprise Scott T. Toborg, Ph.D. Strata8 Networks 26 March 2008

 Levels of Business Process Modeling  Business Process Modeling Tools  Types of Business Process Systems  Analysts Rating of BPM Suites  Comparison of Leading Suites  BPM and SOA  References

There are different levels of process modeling: Process Maps – simple flow charts of the activities Process Descriptions – flow charts extended with additional information, but not enough to fully define actual performance Process Models – flow charts extended with enough information so that the process can be analyzed, simulated, and/or executed (From Introduction to BPMN by Stephen A. White, IBM)

TypeStrengthsStandardsIntegrationCost MS Visio Process Documentation Drawingnone Bundled with Office IPT Visio Plug-in ValidateBPMNnone$700 Blueprint Web based ExportBPMNTeamworks$50/m/user Savvion XP only version of full product SimulateBPMNBM 7.0Free Intalio Open Source EclipseJava toolsFree jBPM JBOSS communityBPELJava toolsFree Others to consider: ProcessMaker, Casewise

Process Modeling Process Simulation Interaction Emphasis Optimized Processes StandardsIDECost BEA XXS-S,H-SXBPMNweblogic50-200K Lombadi XXH-H, H-SXBPMN, PBDM, BPEL eclipse K+ PegaSystems XXH-S, H-HX50K+ Savvion XXH-S, H-HXBPMNeclipse50-200K Others: Appian (H-H), TIBCO (S-S)

Free download of Blueprint Business Process Modeler Portal Manage and Optimize

Savvion Process Modeler – an easy-to-use modeling tool which helps translate business process improvement ideas into an easy to understand online format. Savvion Process Asset Manager – a version-controlled repository helps people share and socialize the ideas they've designed with Savvion Process Modeler. BPM Studio – an enterprise-class development environment for technical business analysts and IT professionals. BPM Server – a versatile set of Java-based engines that manage running process applications. BPM Portal – BusinessManager's online task management system. It includes many reporting, analysis, and exception intervention options for managers, as well as intuitive task management interfaces for day to day activities. Savvion Business Expert – This add-on module to the BusinessManager suite enables practical business improvement for the real-world. Free download of Process Modeler 6.8 (XP only)

 XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) is an interchange format created by the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC). XPDL is today supported by over 70 vendors and is considered the most mature interchange format available.  Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), created by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), is a Web-service orchestration language. It does not support human activities as an explicit process activity, nor does it support the full BPMN specification (that is, some BPMN objects are not preserved if stored in BPEL). Nevertheless, with some extensions it can be used for most types of process models. BPEL applies better to integration-centric process types. For system-centric use cases, BPEL is considered mature and dominant, but is rarely used for human-centric process types.  Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM) is a newly released process definition standard that provides full support for all BPMN objects, and will be incorporated into the BPMN standard as its default interchange format. From: BEA White Paper: State of the BPM Market 2008

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