Bizagi
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Analyst Coverage: Simon Holloway
Bizagi—which is short for business agility—was established in 1989 to support the continuous improvement of business processes and to provide a powerful, yet simple, business collaboration platform that brought business and IT together. InA ugust 2014, Bizagi announced that it was moving its UK headquarters o ntearer London and that it was opening a US hedquartes in San Fransisco.
Bizagi’s founders met whilst studying engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Columbia, over 25 years ago. Their experience with BPM started when developing ERP solutions for Apple in the 1980s. After delivering a successful project they found that their clients often asked for changes which were difficult and time-consuming to realise. This led them to the understanding that off-the-shelf solutions, whilst providing a means for standardising business process to best of breed, did not allow for either the agility needed in business today or the need to differentiate one business from its rivals in the market.
Gustavo Gomez, Bizagi’s CEO and founder stated recently,”We felt that BPM market was tarnished with a negative perception a few years ago—too complex and difficult to implement. We wanted to show the business community that it doesn’t have to be this way, so we offered Process Modeler for free to create a community of users who can reap the benefits of BPM with ease and in a fraction of time.”
During 2014, the company has expereinced 60% growth fuelled by the growing demand by businesses to deliver business agility in response to fast-changing markets
Engine
Last Updated: 14th August 2014
Engine is the only paid for part of the entire Bizagi Suite. It executes processes defined using Studio, and delivers them to the desktops and mobiles of business user. Engine offers support for native JEE or .NET platforms ensuring seamless and effective integration with an organisation’s existing IT investments. When a user signs on they are presented with a Work Portal, where they can create new cases and have access to the ones they have been allocated, to carry out the Activities according to what has been designed. Its access requires a browser (intranet or internet) and a registered account. The Work Portal enables participants in the Process to see their pending Activities, or Inbox, as well as real-time information relating to Processes performance.
Engine supports process execution in a .NET or JEE platform. On both platforms, Engine supports a high availability architecture or a standard architecture. The former architecture is there to support business that require 24 by 7 support and consists of:
- A database cluster, in order to rely on failover capabilities at the database server.
- A BPM cluster, in order to support load balancing capabilities.
- A load balancer, in order to provide load balancing for the BPM server cluster.
The standard architecture consists of:
- A single database node, where no fail-over capabilities are included.
- A single BPM server node, where no load balancing capabilities are included
The appropriate Engine installer is available to download from the Bizagi web site. Engine install needs to be performed on the server designated as the BPM server to host Bizagi Work Portal.
Bizagi has its headquarters in the UK, although development is still carried out in South America.
They have recently announced the setting up of a US headquarters in San Francisco. The main channel to market is through the downloads of Process Modeller and Studio. Therefore their customer base is worldwide.
The core customers of Bizagi are relatively large, conservative finance institutions. Customers include:
- Anida, part of BBVA
- Protección y Seguridad (PROSE-CHILE)
- Generali PPF Holding B.V
- adidas Group
- National Health Service (NHS) Buckinghamshire
- Mars Canada
- Lipigas
- Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO)
Pricing for Engine may vary from one region to another and it is subject to change. The license is based on a per user format. Two options are offered:
- A perpetual licence costing around £570/user with a further £100 for maintenance; or
- 1 year subscription costing around £200/user where maintenance is included.
Bizagi also offer a Starter Plan that consists of a 50% discount off the perpetual licenses/subscription price. This one-time discount only applies for the initial purchase and for a maximum of 50 user licenses. Additional purchases of licenses or renewals pay the regular price.
Bizagi also offer to schools, colleges, or universities an Academic license, which is free.
Bizagi offers several types of support to help you with process modelling and documentation. These are located on the Help tab and include:
- Video tutorials: these are short explanatory videos that explain how to use different facilities.
- Online training and support: Bizagi offer self-paced training courses which are online and free of charge.
- Support forums: Bizagi provide, for free, a set of support forms where questions are answered, as well as opinions and ideas being shared with their user community.
- Free Process Central: This is a collection of templates containing the best practices of many common processes used within organisations. These templates are ready to use and are executable.
- Online help: This contains the knowledge needed to diagram, document and produce processes. The user guide can also be downloaded, for offline use, by selecting the Download Help option which saves the file as a PDF document.
Bizagi has its own set of consultants to assist an organisation where necessary.
Process Modeler
Last Updated: 12th August 2014
Process Modeler uses a ribbon style interface. Modeling functionalities are available in the main tab, while import/export (also documentation) can be found on the 'Export & Import' tab. The graphical editor uses a drag and drop approach. The 'pie menu' makes it possible to model the process flow almost without using object palette—after selecting an object, a radial menu with objects (task, gateway, events) appears, allowing the user to insert a new object that will be connected with a previous one.
Objects contain some basic attributes (e.g. for activity these are: name, description, and info about performers) available in pop up windows (element properties). It is possible to add extended attributes of the objects.
Additional functionalities:
- Expanding/collapsing sub processes
- Attaching files to objects
- Diagram validation
All processes are saved with a .bpm file extension. Each file is referred to as a model and may contain one or more diagrams. A model can refer to a whole organisation, a department or a specific process depending on your needs. Multiple diagrams are positioned as individual sheets (tabs) within your model. You are able to navigate between diagrams in your model by selecting the associated sheet tab located at the bottom of the model.
Process Modeler has had over 2.5 million downloads. Their users are in more than 180 countries. There are more than 400 universities who use the product.
At the WfMC BPM Awards in October 2013, Bizagi customers were well represented with both Adidas (who implemented nine projects to date and delivered automation across various departments) and Colpensiones (who automated more than 118 business processes that all went live in a record time of 9 months) winning gold. Two others Bizagi customers, Anida (part of BBVA) and Prince Sultan Military Medical City (PSMMC) were shortlisted as finalists. This is an impressive achievement, considering WfMC selected from a total of 50 projects considered!
Other customers include:
- Air France
- Audi Japan
- Santander Bank
- National Health Service (NHS)
Process Modeler is a standalone Windows software. It stores models in files (*.bpm), which are then stored in a relational database (either Oracle RDBMS or Microsoft SQL Server).
It requires the Microsoft .NET framework, which can be downloaded from the Bizagi site. The download package is 17.3 MB (program setup) in size.
The current version added the capability of simulation through a partnership with Lanner that incorporates the latter’s WITNESS products with Modeler.
Import and export options include XPDL and VSD (Visio). Models can be published as Word documents or PDF files. It is also possible to save model graphics as JPG, PNG or BMP files. Bizagi allows you to save your process in their own format or you can export the diagram as an image, Visio file, XPDL, or an XML file of attributes. You can also publish it as a Word document, PDF, HTML file or send it to a SharePoint or Mediawiki server.
Process Modeler offers several types of support to help you with process modeling and documentation. These are located on the Help tab and include:
- Video Tutorials: these are short explanatory videos that explain how to use different facilities.
- Online training and support: Bizagi offer self-paced training courses which are online and free of charge.
- Support Forums: Bizagi provide for free a set of support forms where questions are answered, as well as opinions and ideas being shared with their user community.
- Free Process Central: This is a collection of templates containing the best practices of many common processes used within organisations. These templates are ready to use and are executable.
- Online help: This contains the knowledge needed to diagram, document and produce processes. The user guide can also be downloaded, for offline use, by selecting the Download Help option which saves the file as a PDF document.
Bizagi has its own set of consultants to assist organisation where necessary.
Studio
Last Updated: 13th August 2014
Bizagi is entirely model driven. The underlying approach is that the core engine interprets a model structure rather than executing a generated program executable.
One of Bizagi’s core design objectives is to allow process owners to remain in control of process automation and modification. One way this is addressed is through the modelling environment, built to enable non-technical personnel to make direct definitions and changes to process models with as little dependence on IT personnel as possible. Another notion is scope of modelling capacity or the breadth of business and operational context, which is expressed through the design environment.
Once the process is defined, you define an entity that is all of the data that is going to be used by the process and, for each data item that is going to be created or referenced in the process, you say from which entity (table) it is going to come from.
The next step is to define the forms that you need. You select a process step for which you want to define a form. The forms editor is then brought up. The editor has a set of control capabilities, like table, as well as allowing you to select data items from the entities you have defined.
Bizagi’s Workflow Engine orchestrates the process of managing other components' interaction and the flow of information. Work queues can be processed according to different algorithms including FIFO, LIFO, SPT, LPT, SRPT, LRPT and EDD. The activity’s resource assignment rules can include any of the implementation defined (therefore extensible) organisational properties. Bizagi supports pull and push mechanisms for work queue processing.
With its data-driven approach and use of meta-models, Bizagi does not present any compilation requirements for the process models and definitions. Performance and scalability are managed by cache components that store not only process information but also process data. These cache components are designed to keep data consistence in clustered and load-balanced environments.
In the past, Studio has been a natural progression for Process Modeler users to download and, as for the latter, Studio is a free download. The company is now looking to push Studio without a user coming through Process Modeler first.
In te first 6 monts of 2014, the European opeations have grown five-fold.
The core customers of Bizagi are relatively large, conservative finance institutions. Customers include:
- Anida, part of BBVA
- Protección y Seguridad (PROSE-CHILE)
- Generali PPF Holding B.V
- adidas Group
- National Health Service (NHS) Buckinghamshire
- Mars Canada
- Lipigas
- Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO)
Bizagi’s global customer base has dramatically expanded with the addition of many household brands, including GE Capital, Oxy, BAE and Old Mutual among others.
At the WfMC BPM Awards in October 2013, Bizagi customers were well represented with both Adidas (who implemented nine projects to date and delivered automation across various departments) and Colpensiones (who automated more than 118 business processes that all went live in a record time of 9 month) winning gold. Two other Bizagi customers, Anida (part of BBVA) and Prince Sultan Military Medical City (PSMMC) were shortlisted as finalists. This is an impressive achievement, considering WfMC selected from a total of 50 projects considered!
In April 2014, Bizagi were awarded the European 2014 Red Herring Top 100 Award; the citation hailed te company as one of the most disruptive and innovative software businesses in Europe.
Studio, currently at version 10.5, is designed to run on an application server in conjunction with a web server, and all clients are web browser based, with support for standards such as XML, WSDL, SOAP, UDDI, HTML, JScript, SQL, SMTP, Active Directory and LDAP. Although server functions can be spread over a number of processors, there is no option for geographically distributed processors. There are two versions, J2EE and Microsoft .NET, using Oracle or SQL Server databases. Bizagi supports SOA (service oriented architecture) by both consuming and exposing web services, and data is stored and exchanged in XML format. Bizagi runs on top of a relational database server and executes the process as a schema or meta-model.
Bizagi’s scalable component architecture is based on the use of EJBs for the J2EE platform and on Microsoft Enterprise Services on the .NET platform. Bizagi relies on specificised components in the Application Server to orchestrate and automate enterprise processes.
One of the keys in release 10.5 is the emphasis on Intgraton, that is not say that support was not there before, just that ithas ben enhanced an brought outinto the open.
For Sharepoint, Bizagi have introduced Web Parts for Sharepoint. To connect the 2 products, the user drags and drops the pre-defined Web Parts into their workplace without programming and start customizing the look and feel of the Bizagi's style sheet. Bizagi acts as the process orchestration layer where all process related activities are securely managed and executed, but are instantly accessible in SharePoint.
For SAP, Bizagi supports various ways of connecting with SAP using SOA (web services) and its own connectivity methods:
- Broker-based integration: The broker (SAP NetWeaver) acts as an integration hub that houses message routing and data transformation logic. It serves as a middleware between SAP and Bizagi BPMS. The integration hub could be deployed on a SOA infrastructure containing an ESB (Enterprise Service Bus), to which the routing and look up functions of the SAP web services could be delegated.
- Adapter-based integration: Integration is based on Bizagi Component Library, where there is no broker but the component library acts as a "wrapper" of all functions offered by the adapter to ensure seamless data connection.
- Broker and adapter-based integration: Integration offered via Bizagi Component Library and SAP NetWeaver. Here the Component library acts as a wrapper for an adapter and SAP NetWeaver acts as a broker. This option is recommended when there is a need to connect via secured services (certified) and based on WFC. By using an adapter, there is no need to have extensive knowledge of BAPI implementation. The BPMS and SAP systems are decoupled, allowing changes to be carried out on the broker while leaving the core systems untouched.
Bizagi BPMS uses the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) 1.0 standard to connect to Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems. The standard defines the generic set of Web Services that expose the ECM capabilities and handle the metadata. This way Bizagi processes can seamlessly access documents in all ECMs supporting CMIS 1.0 including: Alfresco, Documentum, FileNet an of course SharePoint. This integration means that a document an be uploaded with a single click and in addition there is support for check-in, check-out or undo the document check-out.
Other enhancments in Version 10.5 are:
Improved Mobility supprt: User credentials are validated at each login and access to sensitive project data is controlled on the go. Bizagi comes with a complete palette of interface Widgets available for any device, including multi-page grids and data tables. Bizagi’s Widget Xchange offers a wide collection of complex UI building blocks to help users speed up their development.
A simple drag-and-drop Association Control allows for easy management of complex relationships, allowing for faster re-grouping and allocations.
Improved Library Rules in Expressions
BAM and Analytics Reports availability on Android devices;
IIS Express support; and
Encryption of data model attributes for maximum project security.
Bizagi offers several types of support to help you with process modelling and documentation. These are located on the Help tab and include:
- Video tutorials: these are short and explanatory videos that explain how to use different facilities.
- Online training and support: Bizagi offer self-paced training courses which are online and free of charge.
- Support forums: Bizagi provide, for free, a set of support forms where questions are answered, as well opinions and ideas being shared with their user community.
- Free Process Central: This is a collection of templates containing the best practices of many common processes used within organisations. These templates are ready to use and are executable.
- Online help: This contains the knowledge needed to diagram, document and produce processes. The user guide can also be downloaded, for offline use, by selecting the Download Help option which saves the file as a PDF document.
Bizagi has its own set of consultants to assist an organisation where necessary.
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