ARIS BPA Reviews

We have used the platform to describe purchases and the organizational structure in the company.

I personally use it at home as well as in the company. I received a key for the application, which I won based on a competition when version 7 of ARIS was being tested. I sent in some test cases where I had several failures during that test.

My organization's market is only in the Czech Republic. We don't have any experience using the solution globally.

I like working with ARIS because I have some experience with it. I understand what is on the forums. I know how the user interface works, how to create a repository, and stand up this tool.

I am an advanced user. ARIS BPM is intuitive for me because I know the UML, BPMN, and EPC methodologies implemented in this tool. It is very easy to create processes for restructuring a company with some descriptions. 

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.

We were using this solution until last year.

Our company had 400 people when we started with ARIS. Now, we have 800 and everything is twice as complicated. It is very hard to see relationships between objects.

I use ARIS Community. When I have some problems, I first go to www.ariscommunity.com. I have an account and can usually find an answer to my problems. I haven't used it for two years, because usually the problems that need to be solved in version 7 of ARIS were during the installation for some servers and linking to other applications. We haven't only used ARIS Architect and Designer as a tool for some information inputs to the repository, but we also have used ARIS Business Publisher to publish the information. When links between the ARIS applications are created, there usually isn't a problem to use ARIS. However, when you install it once every five years, that could be a problem since nobody can figure out how to do it.

This is the best tool. I am from the Czech Republic. When our company bought this tool, there were only two of these tools on the market that had Czech language methodology. Other tools are enterprise architects with only English language. These two tools translated the Czech language not only on user interface, but on the repository. Although other tools now support several languages, ARIS was first almost 14 years ago.

The installation and deployment of this solution were handled by our IT department.

As an insurance company, there are some laws and requirements that we have to follow. We use a third-party integrator to give us some advice on the models to use.

We did see ROI with ARIS version 6. I don't know about version 7.

When a process is created, it can be reused to save time.

10 years ago, we bought two or three licenses for the tools that we wanted with a year of support. After that, version 7 has been working without cost. I don't know the current price of the solution.

Usually, our company buys technical support from the Software AG site. We bought the technical support for the first year of usage for ARIS version 6 and 7. So, when we migrated to ARIS version 7, we bought support only for the first year. Then, we didn't use it the next year. Our experience was that we use it only one to three times during the first year. Therefore, there wasn't much value for us to buy this service because we have no problem with using ARIS after the first year. Usually, we need to buy or use this service only when we install it on our servers. First, we go to ARIS Community, then we go to the support of Software AG. After a year, we find that there is no added value. If we really need it, then it is better to buy it piece by piece, not over a time period.

Because of some organizational changes, our company is discussing changing our platform. There are several new people who have experience with other platforms. 

We use ARIS BPM as a modeling tool and also ARIS Business Publisher. This tool publishes models inside the organization. New employees within the organization have recommended a new platform that doesn't have a tool for publishing process models. We are now discussing the added value of changing the platform. Or, if it would be better for new employees to learn how to work with ARIS. 

Microsoft Visio is a tool without a repository. If you create objects from a different point of view, then you have to create it five times with different names or descriptions. Therefore, people imagine there are five different objects, when in reality, there is one. I can't even imagine the time that we saved using this tool over the past 10 years. 

ARIS is the best tool for business from my perspective. If you buy ARIS, you can do every model for arrays, organizational structure, processes, knowledge, etc. With different tools, the best edition is mainly for IT guys. If you want to use those other tools for business, then you need to buy a special edition for business. ARIS goes from business to technical stuff and other tools go from technical stuff to business. This is the main difference from other solutions that I know are on the market.

I am on the business side, so ARIS is better for me than other tools because we buy IT services for our business models. Our company has no IT department, so we have a partner company that offers us IT services instead. 

We create our process models in both the Czech and English languages. We have a repository in Czech and another in English for some objects. Using both, one model is created. We haven't used translation automation because in the insurance market we use special technical terms and don't believe that automatic translation can translate the way that we can.

A potential user will need to explain to management the added value of this tool. Our management didn't understand the value of this tool. We had problems with the implementation because not all departments wanted to participate in the creation of the solution's models. With only half the company buying into the solution, you will not see the other half of the company. So, the decision needs to be made at the management and company levels to use these tools because there is no added value if only one department wants to use it.

I would rate this solution as nine out of 10. 

We use the platform for document automation and capture all the processes.

ARIS BPA has valuable reporting capabilities.

ARIS BPA's scripting language takes work to understand. Even a JavaScript developer has to learn the language to write the script. This particular area needs to be easier to understand.

The user interface could be more intuitive and better designed. There is a lot of unused space in the interface, which could be utilized. Additionally, the color needs to be changed to make it more user-friendly.

We have been using ARIS BPA for five to six months overall.

The product crashes sometimes. They could provide clearer documentation detailing the right GDPR releases for installation on laptops or desktops. This documentation should not just state a generic version like "JDK 11" but provide specific details, such as recommending a certified or tested JDK version like "GE 11.0.19. Given the frequent updates in JDK releases—such as those from Oracle and Java, occurring nearly every week—it becomes essential to specify the precise compatible version and any performance implications between 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. Additionally, aligning the development environment (potentially using JDK 17) with the executable's certification (such as JDK 11.0.19) is crucial for consistency and stability when users download and use the solution.

We have 20 ARIS BPA licenses in our organization. It is a nice software. I rate its scalability a nine out of ten.

We are also using an open-source VPN solution.

The initial setup is easy. We have deployed it on-premise and in the cloud. We are a large organization requiring an IT team to manage the installation. I rate the process a nine out of ten.

The product is inexpensive.

ARIS BPA's facilitate the visualization of change management during the development phase. We can extract the factory report directly. It is quite encouraging for the users. It has been in the best leadership position in Gartner since 2023.

I rate it a nine out of ten.

We use ARIS BPA for process modeling and the repository of our processes.

ARIS BPA has the kind of database structure to report from across all the models, roles, and systems. The solution provides integrations to ServiceNow and other systems, flexibility of connectivity, and reporting.

Sometimes, ARIS BPA breaks down, and its stability can be improved.

We had ARIS BPA in our organization for ten years, but it was never really leveraged. We have been using it more heavily for a year now.

Around 500 users are using ARIS BPA in our organization.

The solution’s initial setup seems to be a bit difficult.

I would recommend ARIS BPA to other users.

Overall, I rate ARIS BPA an eight out of ten.

My experience with the product was great. The tool has good navigation.

The tool must provide more documents. If someone gets stuck while using the product, the documents will help them to deal with issues.

I am learning the solution currently.

The tool is stable.

The support team resolved my issues. I rate the support a seven and a half or eight out of ten.

Neutral

The initial setup was straightforward. The solution is deployed on the cloud. It took us a few days to deploy it.

The product is a bit pricey.

ARIS BPA is my first BPA solution. I heard about it and thought to start working with it. I saw some YouTube videos and gathered some knowledge about it. It was a great experience. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Over the years I have used ARIS in many ways depending on the project, and I have experience with many different versions of it. I've used versions seven, eight, and now ten. About ten years ago, I worked on developing ARIS and its standardization for six months.
When I first started using it, I used to build a center of excellence for a global project. We used it to document the expansion process of our company to the global market. There were a lot of Visio files and it was quite disorganized since anyone could edit the files however they would like. We tried to turn the Visio files into something more formal. For a year, we used a low-end tool to document the process. With ARIS, we documented around 2,000 processes. We used it to organize and create a publishment where people could find what they're looking for.

I like everything about ARIS BPA. I've used it for a long time and I think it's a fantastic tool. There is a list of things ARIS has that other solutions do not have.

The solution does not have an efficient way to track employees' work. It shows who worked on something last, but that overwrites the history of changes in a way. It is supposed to provide information on team activity, but it does not do that. The creators of the solution elaborated in great detail on quality control and thought about every possibility, but they didn't make that useful and simple to use. The overhead maintenance is good.

I have been using ARIS BPA since 2010. 

The solution is very scalable. A ten out of ten. There is nothing even remotely close to it on the market. 

ARIS BPA is an extremely stable solution.

ARIS' technical support team is great.

Positive

Many years ago, we used BusinessOptix at our company. 

The initial setup of ARIS BPA is simple. When we first started using it, it was deployed on-premises. The latest version was deployed on cloud and it only takes a few days. It promises to teach you how to do that, but that is not very helpful since your company's team and organization need to be suitable for this kind of complexity. It's web-based, but there are technical limits to what you can do with it. In a way, it encourages you to purchase more and more if you want to maximize its usability. It does not teach you how to use it and it's very formal. Although ARIS is a fantastic tool, it would be better if it was focused on the customer's success. It requires a lot of maintenance.

ARIS BPA is extremely expensive and the training time for it is extensive.

I had a hard time with ARIS' access and licensing policy. It requires you to pay for each step you want to take forward with the solution. To get the documentation, you need to be an administrator. If you want the license to read the documentation of the process, you need to be some kind of administrator/support account, but you will need to pay for the support. Even if I'm qualified they will not provide me with the documentation. Instead, they will ask you to print it out and send the request to them. I had to wait two months to get the account and six months to get the contract. All of that is extremely time-consuming.

I have seen how MEGA works and it is definitely more user-friendly than ARIS.

The requirements are extremely high and it takes a skilled professional to use it properly. Whether it's a big or a small company, it has to be used by someone who is familiar with its complexity. You should be aware before purchasing the solution that it is not simple to use and it takes time to learn. ARIS' free tool is much easier to use. I work in Germany, but I think they made ARIS less complex in other countries.

When it comes to ARIS BPA as a tool, I would rate it a solid ten out of ten. It's a fantastic tool, but it is not easy to achieve results with it. The chances of producing what is promised by the vendor are zero.

ARIS has many modules starting right from strategy to dashboarding. However, the primary focus of using ARIS is for Business Process Modeling/Analysis - although it is not just limited to process but can cover the entire enterprise architecture for an organization.

We have used ARIS for multiple projects with different objectives, including E2E process modeling, managing IT application landscape, support for eTOM frameworks, managing risk/compliance, rules modeling, et cetera. 

We have leveraged it for multiple client engagements with different objectives of the program, including digital transformation journeys, IT landscape rationalization, process transformation, process improvement, process automation, S4/HANA Migration, process rationalization, legacy modernization, and much more.

ARIS provides the basic foundation for any digital transformation an organization decides to take. 

Firstly, it helps to create the business blueprint for any organization. With clear and complete documentation of the processes, different departments and people involved can build a common understanding of processes. It helps in reducing duplication since there is only one single source of truth across the organization. 

It greatly reduces the modeling effort of the processes since it is based on a relational DB which supports the concept of library objects. For example, you can create a central repository of applications, risks, data, products, capabilities, services, interfaces, technical infrastructure et cetera. You can create them once and reuse them multiple times as required along with your processes. This helps the multiple dimensional analysis of your processes. 

ARIS provides many functionalities and capabilities, including:

1. E2E visibility of the processes which are typically cross-functional

2. Multiple hierarchies of the process provides a different level of abstraction

3. Multi-dimensional view of the process can be created to further support analysis from the system, data, capability, product, interface, infrastructure et cetera.

4. Provides a single source of truth for a process consumed by different departments/functions

6. Strong governance and release cycle management with a built-in workflow

7. Process simulation capabilities to perform what-if analysis

8. Seamless collaboration using built-in mini workflows 

9. Out-of-the-box connectivity with SAP

Although ARIS is already a leading tool in the BPA space for years, in my opinion, there are a few areas that can be made even better, For example:

1. The reporting capabilities and the ability to create custom reports need to be simplified and made easy so that people even with a good functional understanding of the tool can leverage it to create their own custom report. Since, at the end of such BPA/BPM implementations, higher management typically wants to see the value coming out of ARIS and all the modeling effort and this would make it more adaptable for our customers as they would see the value coming out of the tool.

2. As the world is going the way of low code/no code, they should also think of modernizing the report creation in a similar fashion.

3. The integration capabilities with other COTS products should be better. Since every organization uses many applications/systems for day-to-day operations, the easy integration with such systems like SNOW, SFDC, et cetera, will make the adoption easy for the client rather than seeing ARIS as a standalone system with separate license and maintenance costs.

I've used the solution for 12+ years.

The ARIS SaaS offerings are very stable and secure since they are hosted on Azure and AWS platforms which provide state-of-the-art hosting. 

With the SaaS offering, organizations can start exploring the basic functionalities with a subscription-based license. The license can be upgraded and the adoption of the tool can be increased within the organization as needed.

They offer excellent support and customer service. 

Positive

We have used many tools, including Signavio, Bizagi, Visio, Nimbus, Mega, et cetera.

I personally found the modeling very easy to start and adopt even for a beginer as ARIS provides a very clean and simple interface to work with. 

The kind of versatility and flexibility that ARIS provides is unmatched by any other tool in the market.

The initial setup is quite straightforward since the Software AG teams take care of the provisioning and intial setup of the SaaS instance based on the requirements. 

Organizations do not need to get involved and invest time and energy in figuring out the infrastructure, security, and access-related issues.

The SaaS offering was handled by the Software AG team itself.

Although not quoting a number, ARIS brings huge value for Organizations that have implemented it. For example, it's bringing E2E transparency of how the business process works in a department/unit since they are typlical cross functional in nature.

Different stakeholders can talk and understand the same language since ARIS provides a single source of truth for processes across the organization. 

Although the largest customer base for ARIS is in large enterprises, the SaaS offering from Software AG starts right from free trial to basic, advanced, and Enterprise versions. Organizations can start small and rapidly scale as required.

We looked at many tools, including Signavio, Bizagi, Visio, Nimbus, MEGA, et cetera.

Since there is a free 30-day trial, I certainly urge anyone looking to invest in process modeling or analysis tools to try out ARIS.

We are modeling different processes and documenting all of them using the solution.

It's a really nice and user-friendly tool, and we can extract different reports from it. We have had different processes modeling and everything done with the solution. With the solution, we were using it for documenting, and then now we are updating all of these. So it's been great software for everyone.

We would have appreciated it if the company who has sold the software could show us how we can create our own reports, apart from showing us how to extract different SOPs and run our own scripts. So that would have been helpful for us.

An area where it lacks and can be considered for improvement in the future is if we can somehow automate or learn how we can automate different processes. So, it's like The processes in which we initiate a request, and we can follow where the request is and how the workflow management is being done in different software. So if you can somehow learn how we can do it, it will be great.

I have been using ARIS BPA for two years. I am a user of the solution. I don't remember the version.

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten.

My designers are very few in number, but there are a lot of users. Also, we have a lot of viewers. We have around 10 designers and more than 2,000 viewers. We frequently use the solution in our company.

The support for the solution is good. I rate the support a ten out of ten.

Positive

Previously, I used Microsoft Visio for process mapping.

The solution is easy to install. It wasn't hours but maybe days to do the deployment, but it was done swiftly. It wasn't an issue.

I don't remember how many days it took to deploy. But currently, we have multiple designer licenses. So now the deployment doesn't take long. We can use it. Also, I wasn't involved in the installation process.

If we get stuck with the installation part, we request the provider company to let us know how to proceed.

I can't speak about pricing because I was not involved during the installation days.

It's a great system for viewing, modeling, and everything, extracting different kinds of reports. So the only thing is that the users must understand how different reports can be extracted. What are the different attributes or the fields, what is their purpose, and learn how analysis can be done. So we need to do the aforementioned things, and overall it is great software.

On a scale from one to ten, one is worse, and ten is the best, I rate the overall solution a ten.

We use BPA for modeling and documenting in a central repository. We are customers of ARIS and I'm a process professional. 

I value the reporting as well as the information query features, they are both very useful. It gives us a common language and a common repository, and we're able to control the workflow and relevant key processes. We're also able to utilize all the additional data that we capture and provide a holistic view of how our processes impact other areas of the organization.

Although the reporting and the information query features are good, they could do with some improvement. I'd also like to see better control over the library assets. It takes a lot of effort to maintain all the different types of central libraries. I'd like to see a simplification of the automation in the next update, it's currently quite a complex process. 

I've been using this solution for three years. 

The stability of the system is good. We've had some minor issues when they're running maintenance activities but other than that, the solution is stable. 

The technical support is reasonable.

I've also used Bizagi quite a lot but I like ARIS because we're able to extract a lot more information. Bizagi has the ability to start executing processes via the platform, which is a definite advantage over ARIS. Once we model a process in Bizagi, we can configure it and create an executable web service out of it. 

The solution is deployed across the entire company, almost everyone uses it.
We currently have around 600 users, but we're planning to scale up to approximately 2,500 soon. We have around 30 people maintaining the data.

I rate this solution eight out of 10.