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ARIS BPA vs IBM Rational System Architect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

ARIS BPA
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (4th), Business Process Management (BPM) (9th)
IBM Rational System Architect
Average Rating
7.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

ARIS BPA and IBM Rational System Architect aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. ARIS BPA is designed for Business Process Design and holds a mindshare of 7.8%, down 9.2% compared to last year.
IBM Rational System Architect, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Architecture Management, holds 1.7% mindshare, down 2.6% since last year.
Business Process Design
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Libor Černý - PeerSpot reviewer
I can usually find an answer to my issue on ARIS Community
From the start, there were some difficulties on how to create outputs since there wasn't a repository tool in version 6. However, in version 7, there has been a tool for creating standards for a company, and that tool has been very intuitive. While I have been using this tool for several years, other people just starting to use it find the learning curve steep. This tool is very robust and accommodates many roles, where people can participate from compliance, IT designers, etc. This can create problems for users who have no experience with similar tools. It took me a year before I felt comfortable with this tool, because when I came from university it was the first or second tool that I worked on. It took me a year to run every feature or use it for every possibility since this tool is very robust. We sometimes have to create the link to the server and the repository twice because it is deleted once for some unknown reason. Though, this is not a big problem. There should be a more intuitive tool when creating reports.
it_user951237 - PeerSpot reviewer
Modeling is useful, but many features need improvement and technical support is lacking
I find that almost every feature related to the models requires improvement. For example, I would like to see more trendy models, the look and feel of the models can be improved. This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards. The impact analysis feature is in need of heavy improvement. The is a standalone product that lacks integration with a business process automation engine. I would like to see the workflow improved, where it integrates seamlessly with the artifacts.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The ease of use is the most valuable. I have tried a number of BPMN packages, and I find the user interface of ARIS BPM easier and more intuitive than others. If your team is knowledgeable on BPMN, it is really pretty easy to figure out on your own because it adheres to the standards extremely well. I have tried Bizagi, BizFlow, and a variety of such solutions, and I just liked ARIS BPM better."
"The EPC modeling is very detailed, the semantic check is helpful, and auto-layout simplifies the formatting."
"There is a really powerful reporting API that allows you to create almost any kind of report you want out of your process and document repository."
"Platform that it supports covers legacy and new. Caters to moving older objects into an integrated DB, relatively popular ones: SQL, Oracle, etc."
"The most valuable feature is the process documentation. For us, ARIS is a lifestyle more than a tool. It helps us learn how to think and how to plan for our system."
"ARIS provides the basic foundation for any digital transformation an organization decides to take."
"In addition to our applications, we have also stored, in ARIS, the footprint of where those applications have been implemented. That means we know in which country a given application has been implemented. With embedded geolocation, we have a very visual world map, where we can see the footprint of each application."
"It has the ability to scale up, as well as integrate with other systems within the organization to get real-time information from dashboards and reports."
"There are a lot of features I find valuable, but I think that the metamodel customization is one of the best features that the solution offers."
"The solution is pretty stable."
"The user interface is good. It's both clear and comprehensible. It's easy to work with."
"We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."
 

Cons

"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."
"One of the issues is, when you are defining databases, the way they use entities and relationship diagrams, the way we can define data, like data models, there is still a part they could improve."
"I find it difficult to access the database as I want with direct querying."
"The solution's processes are huge and it is not easy to get an overview of how things work. It needs to improve the interface. I would like to see the product include a better overview of processes and improve search."
"Making it more customizable and easy to learn would be a benefit."
"The pricing of the solution can be improved and the initial setup should be made easy."
"They should make improvements as per customer requirements."
"There is not enough documentation provided for the tool's support or administration.​"
"The solution needs to better integrate with other products, like Microsoft."
"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."
"There needs to be more information at the outset about how to use the solution and how to deploy it. The deployment process needs improvement."
"The reverse engineering of the database is already there, but in the next release I would like to see some pilot supplied with the solution in order to address any database."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"ARIS has different licensing mechanisms for different modules, but they are perpetual licenses. So you pay once."
"The solution has a fair price for the value it delivers."
"The product is inexpensive."
"Pricing is a bit on the higher side."
"It depends on different parameters."
"From my point of view, no, it is not cheap, but it is not too expensive because you get this big organization behind it, technical support, and all those things. It's not so expensive to use. It's a Rolls Royce in this field, I know that. Even for small organizations, they can get so much effect from using this tool, in a very fast way, so the money will be back in the customer's pocket very fast."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"Pricing for ARIS BPA is average, not cheap or expensive. It's cost-effective and worth the money we pay."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS BPA?
The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS BPA?
Pricing for ARIS BPA is average, not cheap or expensive. It's cost-effective and worth the money we pay.
What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?
I find it difficult to access the database as I want with direct querying. I must write scripts, which requires specific knowledge. Software AG could improve this by making the database more open. ...
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Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM
Rational System Architect
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market, 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.
Wuxi Lake Cloud, Nationwide, ETI, IDS Scheer
Find out what your peers are saying about Camunda, Microsoft, Sparx Systems and others in Business Process Design. Updated: April 2025.
848,253 professionals have used our research since 2012.