ARIS BPA Reviews

The whole ARIS BPM solution is a bit special, because from the very beginning it was targeted more to Business users and the Management. Its core focus was to, at the end provide a neat tool for the Management to use as get a grasp about their Business Processes, more easily determine their strategy and also sometimes do analysis and parametrization of the processes. This is all possible, as ARIS, unlike Visio for example utilizes a database system, where it's possible to model all kinds of relations with different metadata and information. If used with clear strategy, it can provide a really powerful tool to analyze the whole Enterprise, from IT, Processes and Organization.

It has improved the organization where I work currently, in a way that the processes are more transparent, then before when they were present only in documents.
Advanced modeling, structuring and visualization capabilities of ARIS made this possible.

The main "drawback" of ARIS is that it is not targeted towards the real implementation and running of certain business processes.
It does not have a real workflow engine beneath that can make things actually run. This is also due to it's different focus from the beginning. And also, this comment might be a bit subjective, as I'm more interested in this technical aspect of a BPM system.
Some improvements have been done, after Software AG acquired ARIS, but I don't believe it's still integrated with the other tool WebMethods in a perfect way.
Also, ARIS can be very hard and costly to integrate with other tools, as there is no programming API or web services exposed, except from the integrated report API which is targeted to be used for creating reports from the ARIS database. It's not targeted towards integration.

I've used the solution for more than 6-7 years, in different scenarios. Starting as a consultant implementing the solution and modeling the processes, but also as a Business & IT analyst barely using it as a common user to facilitate my work.

No. The standard system is usually very straight forward to deploy.

ARIS Business Server and the modeling tools are pretty stable in general. Some issues and challenges can occur when using it in an extremely large environment when the Business Publisher needs to serve more than 5,000 users. Then the load balancing comes in to play, and it needs some improvement in the Publisher tool.

It's probably one of the most scalable solutions in the market currently.

The effort in changing the whole architecture in versions 9 and 10 to enable this is tremendous.

The technical support is very good, and has extremely improved over the years.

ARIS is a very simple tool to set up if you are using just the basic platform: Business Server and the Designer tools. In case you are going for a more advanced approach, with additional modules, the solution can be quite expensive to set up. As the vendor consultants are not very cheap, :)

Basically, the main point is to be very clear about your expectations and why do you want to use the tool. If your focus is primarily on the business users, and making company wide business process mapping and improvement initiatives, that's pretty much where ARIS is really good. But, if your focus is the implementation of the business processes, integration with other systems, you should probably evaluate other tools, like Webmethods, IBM BPM, Bonita, Bizagi, Pega,etc.

EPC is by far the best notation to process modelling form. The idea of the corporate repository with all business information connected has no competition!

The ARIS Connect Collaborative Portal is a good idea, too!

• Thousands of AS-IS models documented
• Analysis and re-design
• Go to TO-BE models with semantic checks

Scripting has room for improvement and the documentation is a "must".

Model-to-execution methodology must be improved, too, IMHO.

I have used it for seven years.

We have encountered deployment issues. All the products have issues, but really, the quality of ARIS is spectacular, at a level that strikes excellence. Unusual in proprietary software.

I have not really encountered any stability issues.

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

Well, the Software AG helpdesk is not the best in the world, but the Software AG salespeople are very willing to help and push to accelerate the solution.

I rate technical support higher than usual.

The principal reason we switched was EPC Notation. This notation, IMHO, is the best option to design the whole organization, it is Software AG property, and the other tools can´t use it.

You can start from scratch in a very easy way and after that, increase the complexity. The tool supports it.

An in-house team with vendor team support implemented it.

• 2.000 designers design ARIS models and don´t create large Word documents.
• Thousands of models to publish to the citizens, hot documentation and short time-to-market.
• Reduces the misunderstanding with countries and users.
• Removes bottlenecks and barriers.

The pricing is not my business but they have a large catalog of license models. It isn´t possible that they don´t have a specific license for you.

• MEGA
• Casewise
• SAP

ARIS with Alfabet is the best EA/BPM solution in the world; no competitors. Somebody might say to you that the x tool is the best or that the y tool is the most stable tool in the market, but believe me, it will be bull. ARIS is unbeatable!!!

We use it for enhancing systems. 

The solution is user-friendly and easy to use. 

They should make improvements as per customer requirements. 

I have been working with Aris BPA for three years.

It is a highly stable solution. 

It is a scalable solution. One hundred users are using the solution. 

The initial setup is straightforward. It does not require much maintenance. 

Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

The process modeling capabilities are what we use this for primarily.  

ARIS is probably the most mature product I know of in terms of modeling an enterprise architecture so that it has context. When you need to make changes to processes, there is a view where you can actually see what other processes within different use cases or different functional areas use the same process and what those changes can affect. Workflows can be used across different business areas and that gives a really good, holistic view of what modifications end up affecting.  

Some of the interactions with different versions of browsers caused a little bit of angst because there are certain corporate SOEs (Standard Operating Environments), which do not lend themselves well to representation in the latest version of ARIS. The product is sort of one version behind with current trends, typically.  

I have definitely seen better UIs, but the crux of why we use the ARIS process modeler is because we have everything all one suite. When you talk about enterprise architecture, application architecture, process architecture, or whatever else you want to model and monitor, these processes are all in the same place. You can make cross-references or create links between processes, you can link part of a model to an application, you can link to a capability view, et cetera. As an enterprise architecture tool, there is probably very little they can improve on at least compared to other modelers.  

Because you keep on working with different versions of a model, the only way to maintain a record is to take a snapshot. Certain things are still in design or still in the conceptualization stage. Other things have already gone into production. At a glance, it is quite hard to work out which processes are at a particular stage. The overview is very flat. Having some form of a hierarchy in terms of approvals or a sort of ranking would be good. This could show whether a process has been deployed or not, or if it is still just a conceptual model. Some sort of formal approval process that defines a released version of your models could be incorporated into the workflow approval process to help visualize what stage a process is in.  

I have probably been using ARIS (Architecture of Integrated Information Systems) BPM (Business Process Management)for about four years now. I used ARIS BPM before coming to this company, but quite a while ago. That was about a year ago, and that was version 10 or 11 or something in that range.  

Stability is very much dependent on the network. If the network is not so good, then you might experience some stability issues. It would be good if you had an offline version or some means of caching development. I am not sure whether that is in the ARIS roadmap. 

All BAs (Business Analyst) use ARIS, especially for process modeling. We have a team of probably 50 people who use ARIS modeler to see the process flows, but there are different roles. I am an architect so I can see everything. BAs can only view or read, they can not contribute to the capability models. The roles help scale out so the right people get the appropriate access without causing development issues.  

We have our own administrators here who maintain the product.  

The initial setup and installation are very straightforward. The administration is a bit clunky because of the way it is set up as a Software-as-a-Service. There was not really a Single Sign-On capability for the tool. You have to maintain your login separately and that is a little archaic.  

Because it was already running, there was not really a deployment to get me going with the product. It was just a matter of adding me as a user.  

I definitely recommend the product to users seeking this kind of solution, especially for the architecture practice. If you want to have a knowledge base or a repository for architects it is very good for an overview of the enterprise architecture. Normally in a new business venture — that being a business case, a new software offering, or a new capability — the new process needs to be introduced to an existing architecture. Companies will already have a mature backend with legacy applications and integrations. It is good to keep a repository of the development to make sure that the history of that evolution stays within the company's knowledge base for later reference.  

On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate the ARIS BPM solution overall as a product as probably an eight-out-of-ten. It is not rated higher because the user interface is not as modern as other modeling tools like Bizagi, which looks nice. With ARIS you are quite limited when it comes to the look and feel.  

That issue with look-and-feel becomes more important when you try to present something to executives. When it looks like your ten-year-old has done something to present in grammar school, it is not the right thing to be showing at a high-level meeting. The content is all there, but it just looks like it is just scraped together rather than properly designed.  

I used to work for the company who set this solution up for customers. However, I am now an end-user, and perform the role of system architect.

The most valuable features are business process modeling and reporting. They show all of the business and operational processes, which are banking processes. It also allows for managing and reporting on them. The entire bank can follow and manage their own processes.

I would like to see a simpler process for integrating with other tools. When we tried to integrate ARIS with other external tools, it was not easy.

I would like to see the reporting aspects improved.

We have had some problems in terms of stability, although technical support has always helped. Overall, I can say that it's stable.

My impression is that this solution is really scalable.

On the configuration side, we have six users. One architect and the others are designers. We also have people that publish in the company library, and all of the employees follow the processes from there. We have approximately two thousand end users.

We are very satisfied with this solution's technical support. They answer quickly and try to solve all of the problems. They are the best.

My understanding is that the initial setup was easy.

In terms of pricing, it would be nice if it were more affordable.

I would recommend this product because it is really easy to use.

This is a good solution, but it needs better integration with external tools and it is expensive.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

ARIS BPA was underutilized because they used the ARIS modeling paradigm, including value-added chains, EPCs, and functional allocation diagrams.

ARIS BPA is coming up with a centralized repository of local business processes that could be referenced for design work and operations.

The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are the centralized repository and the automatic rendering of diagrams.

ARIS BPA’s usability could be improved.

I have been using ARIS BPA for almost three years.

I rate ARIS BPA a nine out of ten for stability.

ARIS BPA’s initial setup was straightforward.

ARIS BPA is too costly from a licensing perspective. It is also too costly to maintain, configure, and integrate.

I am using the latest version of ARIS BPA. Do your due diligence to ensure that this is the product you need from a feature and cost perspective.

Overall, I rate ARIS BPA a seven out of ten.

1. With a tool like ARIS, it helps to maintain a single source of truth regarding the processes followed within an organization. This creates a more efficient organization with just one single view of the processes across the organization and eliminates any ambiguity. 
2. The analysis and reporting capabilities make ARIS the best tool for process modeling. In addition, the flexibility and versatility of the tool can be gauged by the sheer number of model types it supports which is close to approximately 200.

Any organization big or small should have the capability of capturing the process details of an entire organization using this tool.

Process modeling and process analysis. Due the meta model of the tool, it forces a particular way for the processes to be modeled in the tool, which in turn helps to carry out the analysis and generate reports for business and senior management. This helps the business make an informed decision.

Needs flexibility in automation of the modeling processes and real-time analysis of data, not just a static view.

Since ARIS 9.X was released, the product has not been as robust and responsive as the previous versions.

None.

I would rate it as a seven out of 10. There is not enough documentation provided for the tool's support or administration.

No previous solution was used.

The setup was a bit complex compared to the previous version of the tool.

It is on the higher side.

No.

Excellent product if process modeling/documentation is its primary purpose, not automation of processes.

It is used primarily as a process documentation and repository platform. It's also used to organise desktop procedures.

• It has allowed us to promote the awareness of process management across our enterprise.
• It has allowed us to model our enterprise process architecture.

• The reports capability
• Object relationships
• Architectural definitions
• Multiple model types
• Semantic check capabilities

• ARIS Connect capability: Ability to switch from a vertical step view to a horizontal.
• Displaying role allocation matrix models in ARIS Connect.