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ARIS BPA vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

No sentiment score available
IBM Blueworks Live support is praised for responsiveness and effectiveness, with many users satisfied and rarely needing assistance.
Sentiment score
2.0
ARIS BPA customer service is responsive and effective, but inconsistencies and communication issues affect overall satisfaction and improvement needs.
Sentiment score
7.0
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect's customer service is praised for stability, quick email support, and useful community resources, despite some local concerns.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.6
IBM Blueworks Live lacks key features like improved import/export functions, better ERP integration, and enhanced reporting and analytics tools.
Sentiment score
4.6
ARIS BPA requires improved workflow, integration, and usability, with a focus on automation, data analysis, and third-party compatibility.
Sentiment score
4.2
Enterprise Architect needs improved usability, expanded resources, better performance, enhanced features, and simplified learning for non-technical users.
It's a powerful product with plenty of features, it's not easy for even experienced users to find their way without guidance.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
IBM Blueworks Live is scalable for large organizations, accommodating many users with flexibility and a straightforward learning curve.
Sentiment score
8.3
ARIS BPA is scalable and adaptable, though cost and complexity may pose challenges for expanding organizational use.
Sentiment score
6.2
Enterprise Architect offers strong scalability for various team sizes, integrating well with tools, despite some performance issues.
We typically work with models that involve up to 50 modelers and as many as 10,000 elements and 20,000 relationships without significant difficulties.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
IBM Blueworks Live provides scalable, cost-effective enterprise solutions with flexible pricing and minimal setup fees, including free subscription options.
Sentiment score
5.5
ARIS BPA offers customizable licensing models but is considered expensive, with price negotiation recommended for enterprises utilizing its comprehensive suite.
No sentiment score available
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect offers affordable, feature-rich modeling tools with flexible licensing, making it appealing for enterprises.
One of the reasons many public sector institutions in the Czech Republic use it is that it provides a very good price-performance ratio.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
9.3
IBM Blueworks Live is praised for stability, high availability, and autosave, with minor concerns about cloud informational privacy.
Sentiment score
7.4
ARIS BPA is now stable and reliable, with improved updates, minor connectivity issues, and enhanced cloud hosting robustness.
Sentiment score
7.7
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is stable, reliable, and performs well, with minor issues mostly resolved in recent updates.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.3
IBM Blueworks Live offers intuitive real-time modeling, collaboration, BPMN 2.0 support, and cloud-based process management for efficient documentation.
Sentiment score
7.9
ARIS BPA offers flexible, comprehensive process modeling, integration, and analysis with strong reporting and usability features for diverse sectors.
Sentiment score
8.2
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect supports UML 2, enhances collaboration, and offers flexible, affordable, customizable modeling and documentation tools.
We then define the structure of the repository and organize it in a reasonable way.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Blueworks Live
Sponsored
Ranking in Business Process Design
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ARIS BPA
Ranking in Business Process Design
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (4th)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.5%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ARIS BPA is 8.8%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 11.8%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
An easily scalable and affordable solution that enables users to document and digitize processes with ease
IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts. There is only one kind of BPMN 2.0 diagram. It is a process diagram. It doesn't have the concept of separate tools, which other products offer. If I had to do a hardcore BPMN 2.0 modeling, the product would have its own reservations. There were features we could not explore from a BPMN 2.0 perspective. Most of the time, people who are shifting from Microsoft Office tools to a digitized way of working still want the reporting capabilities to be strong. Some tools, like ARIS or Signavio, offer customized solutions from the reporting perspective. If I have documented my whole finance process and want to fetch out a complete SOP report in a very customized manner, IBM Blueworks cannot provide it. We have to rely on some other services. So that's one area in which we always struggled, how to really customize the reporting aspects. I understand that we need to keep the tool a little more asset-light. It's very difficult to keep adding many options, but at least a few BPMN 2.0 options were needed. We have been suggesting to IBM that we should have some way of customizing the reporting. At least we should get a custom way of reporting it into different formats like Excel or putting up a logo for one of the clients so that their SAP can be printed that way.
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.
Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient documentation generation through organized model structure with a good price-performance ratio
Whenever I begin a new project with Sparx, I have to spend time training people on how to use it since it is not straightforward. Although it's a powerful product with plenty of features, it's not easy for even experienced users to find their way without guidance. This is not the most user-friendly solution.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Business Process Design solutions are best for your needs.
816,660 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Educational Organization
16%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put an...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.
What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?
Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use...
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?
Improvement should be made as per customer requirements.
What do you like most about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
The pricing is reasonable, with the ultimate version costing around 290 Euros for renewal and the initial purchase ar...
What needs improvement with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
The product could be improved in terms of its ease of use and documentation. While it offers a lot of functionality, ...
 

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint
ARIS, ARIS BPM
No data available
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
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.
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about ARIS BPA vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,660 professionals have used our research since 2012.