SAP Signavio Process Manager vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

SAP and Sparx Systems are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. SAP is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.6, while Sparx Systems is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.3. SAP holds a 8.9% mindshare in BPD, compared to Sparx Systems’s 11.6% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of SAP users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Sparx Systems users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and SAP Signavio Process Manager are competitors in the process and architecture management space. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect has an edge in cost-effectiveness and broad support for various frameworks, while SAP Signavio Process Manager is preferred for its features and integration capabilities.

Features: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect supports extensive modeling languages and frameworks like UML, Archimate, and TOGAF. It facilitates project documentation and architectural management, offers reverse engineering, and supports teamwork through a centralized RDBMS. SAP Signavio Process Manager emphasizes intuitive collaboration tools and accessible process modeling. It provides integration with various ecosystems, appealing to business stakeholders with user-friendly interfaces.

Room for Improvement: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect could become more user-friendly by enhancing its UI and collaboration features. Its steep learning curve is a challenge for some users. SAP Signavio Process Manager could benefit from better integration with other systems and advanced analytics, along with more flexible license models.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is mainly an on-premises solution, whereas SAP Signavio Process Manager offers both on-premises and robust cloud deployments. Sparx Systems provides satisfactory customer support, but technical assistance could improve. Signavio is noted for responsive service and strong cloud deployment options but could enhance detailed support.

Pricing and ROI: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is praised for its affordable licensing model, offering substantial ROI through comprehensive features at a low cost. SAP Signavio Process Manager is seen as more expensive, justified by its enhanced collaboration and industry-integrated features, bringing significant value and effective ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Signavio Process Manager vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

IBM Blueworks Live

Mindshare comparison

As of December 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 SAP Signavio Process Manager is 8.9%, up from 8.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 11.6%, down from 12.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur

Global Innovation Director at Ernst & Young

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.

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Cirvesh-Daga

Director at T-Systems International GmbH

Good visual representation for modelling and business process mapping but room for improvement in reporting functionalities

There is room for improvement in analytics. People don't realize it, but the world has changed in the last six to eight months. Customers want to see AI like ChatGPT and ML capabilities in all aspects of business processes and reporting. That would be my recommendation for any OEM in this value chain. Reporting could definitely be improved. I would like to see new features in analytics. I like that they analyze the process and give it to me visually, but I'd like the option to use DPMM instead of just DPC. I'd also like the option to have the process map laid out top to bottom instead of horizontally. Especially a choice between DPMN and EPC as a format. Because there are some people who are very comfortable with the EPC notation. The process is very clearly event-driven. There's an event, there's an action. It's very simple to understand. BPMN, which is the most popular business process notation, generally tends to have multiple frames. Actually, in multiple swimlanes rather. And those frames could each represent a particular kind of entity. Maybe it's an action, maybe it's an actor, maybe it's an event. So there are two different ways of notation. I just like Signavio to give us the ability to choose that notation. Because some companies use BPMN and some use the EPC. And then, if the minute you make that change, I'd like them to give us the flexibility of having an already plotted or vertically plotted option. Moreover, I would like to see improvement in the visual part. It's the piece that needs improvement. Currently, you can plot the diagram horizontally or vertically. However, I'd like the option to change the way the diagram is created, like switching between different notations.

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Milan Sterba

Senior Enterprise Architect at Deepview S.r.o.

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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Collaboration is most valuable. You can collaborate online with many people. People can comment, and you can comment back. It is just like a social network, and that, for me, is very good."

"For me the most valuable feature is that it's one depository for our bank. So it's not like everybody has their critical processes on SharePoint or on their desktops. Everything is centrally located. It's very intuitive, easy to use. The support that I get from IBM is always great."

"It is a stable solution since there has not been any downtime. Everything loads fast."

"It has a built-in capability to capture process owners and managers against processes along with other process governance roles."

"In terms of the collaboration features, from the point of discovery, it was useful to go to load up the policies and the rule sets that the client had. And in terms of exploring options and being able to model a variety of different processes, that was incredibly useful as well."

"This solution is good at utilizing standards rules for connectivity."

"It enables decisions based upon processes that we do model, and ultimately move forward with."

"Business users understand it really well, which means we can then help them automate their business processes."

More IBM Blueworks Live pros

"The drag-and-drop functionality in Signavio is impressive and user-friendly, allowing easy connection to other elements without the need for excessive back-and-forth."

"It's way of handling is really an advantage. It's quite easy to use, without too much training . That's the main point for me."

"SAP Signavio Process Manager is very responsive."

"As a business transformation suite, Signavio offers a number of integrated helpful tools. The Process Modeler helps with the conceptual work, but is directly integrated with the components of the Workflow Accelerator (Automation) and the Process Intelligence (Mining). This makes Signavio an indispensable service package."

"The most valuable feature is that you can customize it completely with all of the attributes that you need."

"The features I find most valuable are ease of use and the Collaboration Hub."

"The feature that I like the most is the collaboration hub, where every user or every employee can see the process in the overview."

"The most valuable feature for me is the collaboration point of view, where everybody has a single view, or source of truth, and everybody sees the same thing. Everyone can comment, contribute, and discuss the processes itself, which makes it easier to funnel down the most value adding comments and make the relevant changes to the processes. This leads to the next best iteration or version of your process."

More SAP Signavio Process Manager pros

"Modeling is a part of my work, and it has a lot of standard modeling languages. It is quite wide, and a lot is possible in it. We are not programming it ourselves, but if you are into programming and developing software yourself, you can go further and do a lot with Sparx. You can work from the framework and go into the details. With this solution, you get a lot of value at a low cost. It is also quite intuitive in terms of use. I like the use of it."

"I like Sparx's BPM features and the way it lets you create the diagram."

"The Business Process Modeling or BPM part is the most valuable. Its ability to simulate scenarios is also very useful. It can also create descriptions of the workflows. It has a feature in which if you create some BPMN process, a workflow diagram, and the description inside, you can actually simulate the whole scenario, and you get the description. That's very handy."

"The TOGAF ADM model is most valuable. It is also very cheap as compared to other options in the market."

"The company has become more efficient and reduced its budget."

"For the most part, we find that it is remarkable how inexpensive it is."

"The platform is stable and reliable."

"Automated document generation is a real time saver, no more cut and paste, no more keeping track of which diagrams are in which reports, no more last minute update panics. Just click a mouse and you've got an up to date report."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pros

Cons

"The ability to create a very structured rule. With the capability that we have right now, Blueworks Live is more process focused. We should be able to enhance it to include a lot more of decisions as well."

"The user interface is quite easy at first but process analysts soon run into roadblocks of limited functionality, which is disappointing."

"The objects that the solution creates are not unique."

"The solution is a very basic discovery product so it doesn't have that much modeling capability. This can be improved."

"In the Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."

"The font size is really, really small and it's really not useful to print out process models because you cannot read what's written in different boxes. This makes it necessary for people to have access to the tool. We view licenses to see how the printing or output is. It's not very good."

"I wish Blueworks Live had simulations built in, but it doesn't. It also lacks a feature of reporting; ad hoc, drag and drop reporting. A lot of senior people are always asking for reports, and there's no reporting feature within IBM Blueworks."

"The initial setup is neither straightforward nor complex however you do need to know what you are doing."

More IBM Blueworks Live cons

"The product's pricing could be improved."

"I would like to be able to link a single word within a textual description directly to the glossary."

"For us, it would help a lot if this solution had floating licenses."

"I think the intuitive handling is an issue which they should be more focused on, especially as we have issues with the glossary. If you want to implement Signavio within procedures in contact with other software, it's quite difficult to integrate and you will have several points where you have to double and triple the work, because you cannot maintain the data centrally. With other solutions, we can integrate it and have only one data transfer, to import and export with other solutions. A glossary is still limiting us."

"SAP Signavio Process Manager needs better automatic rendering of data."

"Two executives cannot work on one modeling process simultaneously."

"We sometimes experience downtime or a dropped connection, so I think that the stability can be improved for the SaaS solution."

"The workflow automation of the solution is an area of concern where improvements are required."

More SAP Signavio Process Manager cons

"Their technical support is not good in India. I wrote to them because I had a question, but I never got an answer. So, I just left it behind."

"Insufficient control of metadata and standards."

"The reporting needs improvement."

"It took me a while to figure out how to use the report generation features effectively. So, it would be really nice if they had a way to make that a little bit more interactive and a little bit more straightforward."

"The elements of the modeling sets can have better customization and visual representation. It would be great to have a mobile version."

"The fact that you can do a lot yourself is a plus point, but it also becomes a challenge because you need an understanding of the programming languages to get things to work. It becomes challenging for those who are not very good at programming. You have standard reports, but if you want to make your own reports, you have to program it. Similarly, if you want validations rules, you have to take care of them yourself."

"The Business Process Modeling or BPM feature can be improved to make it more interactive and user friendly because it is a tool for technical people. My current use is only for business process modeling notation and putting in the icons etc. You need to take them in as a class, which makes things very complex. Because of this complexity, it is not an easy-to-handle solution. Enterprise Architect is not very good for mockups. We cannot create user screens and other similar kinds of stuff, which is bad. For these things, we prefer to use Axure RP and other similar solutions. They should either remove this feature from this product or provide some kind of connectivity with Axure RP so that people can do better mockups of screens and import them. They need to augment and strengthen the BPM feature, which is the main feature. They need to put in some elements like artificial intelligence and augmented reality. They should look into such features because these things are coming up."

"I think that collaboration can be better."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."

"The solution is very, very cost-effective."

"The solution is not very expensive."

"Making it less expensive would be good."

"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."

"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."

"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."

"Based on the licenses purchased, from a footprint perspective, you can have as many people as you want. You have multiple different categories of licenses to keep the cost low."

"It is expensive. The license is monthly."

"I think we're spending about $150,000 a year on licensing costs."

"The customer Journey Modeler is more than twice the price of Process Manager, which is a lot."

"Although Signavio is a feature-rich solution, it is expensive for companies who haven’t reached a certain maturity level in their process management initiatives."

"SAP is always more expensive. The per-user cost is hard to calculate and forecast for a big company."

"My client purchased one editor license and the collaboration hub, which covers up to a hundred people."

"We are using the free trial version."

"We are only able to use the free academic licenses because we have a financial constraint. We are not able to pay for commercial licenses to use this kind of tool."

More SAP Signavio Process Manager pricing and cost advice

"The pricing for ultimate version is steeply high."

"We paid 1200 euros as a once-off cost. All add ons and integrations come at an additional cost."

"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."

"We have an annual license, and it's very affordable."

"Pricing and licensing are suitable even for small companies."

"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."

"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."

"It's affordable. The only additional cost that we haven't yet figured out is the floating license. If you buy a floating license, you have to have a license management server, which comes at an additional cost that's not discussed. So, we haven't yet used the floating license. That’s because I haven't had a chance to figure that out."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Energy/Utilities Company

Educational Organization

17%

Government

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?

The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.

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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...

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Which is better - Signavio Process Manager or Celonis?

SAP Signavio Process Manager is a very robust industrial-grade business process modeling tool. It is easy to use and ...

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What do you like most about Signavio Process Manager?

The visual representation is extremely powerful and easy to use in process modeling and analysis. I can show it to ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Signavio Process Manager?

Due to its SaaS nature, it is slightly challenging as a BPM tool. The pricing could be reduced further. I don't have ...

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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.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

One of the reasons many public sector institutions in the Czech Republic use it is that it provides a very good price...

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What needs improvement with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

Whenever I begin a new project with Sparx, I have to spend time training people on how to use it since it is not stra...

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Comparisons

Visio vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 37% of the time

Lucidchart vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 15% of the time

ARIS Cloud vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 9% of the time

Camunda vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 8% of the time

Bizagi vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM Blueworks Live Competitors

Celonis vs SAP Signavio Process Manager

Compared 22% of the time

ARIS BPA vs SAP Signavio Process Manager

Compared 15% of the time

Camunda vs SAP Signavio Process Manager

Compared 8% of the time

ADONIS vs SAP Signavio Process Manager

Compared 5% of the time

Bizagi vs SAP Signavio Process Manager

Compared 3% of the time

More SAP Signavio Process Manager Competitors

Visual Paradigm vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 17% of the time

Visio vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 12% of the time

No Magic MagicDraw vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 10% of the time

Lucidchart vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 9% of the time

LeanIX vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 8% of the time

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Blueworks Live

December 2024

Download IBM Blueworks Live product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Signavio Process Manager

November 2024

Download SAP Signavio Process Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

November 2024

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect report

Download Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect product report

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint

Signavio Process Editor

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IBM

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SAP

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Sparx Systems

Overview

IBM Blueworks Live is a cloud-based business process modeling tool that helps you discover, map and document your processes. It is easy to use, allowing you to learn and perform business process modeling in minutes.

With Blueworks Live you can:

Simplify business process modeling
Quickly build business processes in a straightforward, cloud-based interface designed for both IT and business users.

Improve process efficiency and accuracy
A central process repository eliminates version control and consistency issues by providing users real-time access to process workflows.

Enhance cross-team collaboration
A shared team workspace engages all business process owners, encouraging cross-team participation and continuous process improvement.

The Signavio portfolio of web-based business transformation solutions helps companies to understand and optimize all of their business processes quickly and at scale, providing instant insights for informed decision-making. Signavio’s intuitive analysis, change management and execution solutions around process excellence include use cases like digital transformation, operational excellence and customer-centricity, placing them at the heart of global organizations.

Over 1 million users in more than 1,500 organizations worldwide rely on Signavio products to make processes part of their company’s DNA. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Signavio was founded in 2009 to address the need for a collaborative approach to process management.

Signavio was acquired by SAP in the first quarter of 2021. For more information, visit www.signavio.com

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is an enterprise solution that helps streamline, accelerate, and integrate software, system, and business development. With this intuitive modeling and design solution, enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, enable collaboration, support their teams and colleagues, and manage complex projects. Software architects, business analysts, project managers, developers, support staff, and testers can unite under a single repository. Through numerous view points and potential sub-systems, users are offered a unified view in a complex environment.

With Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, users are also offered a shared model option which can be accessed quickly and securely by in-office and remote team members through the Enterprise Architect’s Pro Cloud Server. Building a coherent, verifiable model can be done by connecting and integrating a variety of behavioral and structural information in visual form. As a result, Enterprise Architect offers high performance, flexibility, and the ability to model, manage, and trace every stage of the business development and modeling process.

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Features

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect assists in creating a unified and accessible vision in business development by offering a flexible platform with a unique set of rich features. These features include:

Test and debug - Streamline software development and visualize software with the simulation process. Users can test and confirm correct behavior, set and oversee test points, and debug and examine software.

Track tasks - Track, prioritize, and assign individual and group tasks to assist in the model’s development. Users can visually monitor their progress through the Gantt chart.

Open standards - Users can visualize and analyze running software with integrated custom tools. They can also run advanced simulations, team-based repositories, testing tools, and version control. In addition, the solution supports enterprise architecture frameworks such as UPDM and TOGAF.

Simulation - Create and debug embedded solutions by simulating behaviors and state models. Users can specify events, triggers, constraints, and more. Users can also specify extensive and complex structural systems and create custom domain-specific solutions.

Reviews from Real Users

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect merges high-end tools, online availability, a dedication to open standards, and accessible pricing so enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, whether remote or in-office. Users particularly like the architectural frameworks and the scalability.

Marc L., a principal architecture enterprise solution adviser at Cronomagic Canada, notes, "The product offers very good support for all mainstream modeling notations and architectural frameworks."

An enterprise architect at a manufacturing company writes, "Scalable solution for modeling, project sharing, and collaboration. Support for it is good."

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council

DHL, Coca Cola EP, Prudential, Zalando, T-Systems, Jabil, Endress+Hauser, Rakuten

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Buyer's Guide

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

December 2024

Free Report: SAP Signavio Process Manager vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Signavio Process Manager vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.

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