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PeerSpot user
Lead Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 10
Seamless collaboration, excellent technical support, and provides a single source of truth
Pros and Cons
  • "ARIS provides the basic foundation for any digital transformation an organization decides to take."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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. 

What is most valuable?

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

What needs improvement?

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.

Buyer's Guide
ARIS BPA
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about ARIS BPA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for 12+ years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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.

How are customer service and support?

They offer excellent support and customer service. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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.

How was the initial setup?

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.

What about the implementation team?

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

What was our ROI?

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. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

What other advice do I have?

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.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are the SI partner of Software AG and work across geographies to deliver ARIS sol together for our clients.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Interprise Architect/Chief Architect/Project, Portfolie manager at KLH-Consulting
Real User
Quickly gives us a picture of what business processes are being used across the entire organization, and which can be reused
Pros and Cons
  • "you want to do modeling with the old notation form, ours was EPC, you can use the same object in the BPMN because the database is built in a way that you can use both things. So you only have to define it once, and if the notation form is BPMN and those kind of activities, you can use the same EPCs, so there is a connection between them."
  • "From an architectural point of view, when you're looking at the business area, you can find all the information you have to use as an architect."
  • "Also, the UML parts have been improved very much in the last two years. And it's very powerful now to combine the BPMN and UML parts in the product, because you can make a connection between them, so that you have the right interoperability between them. So if you're doing data modeling, you can use your class diagram and bind that to the BPMN part."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use for the solution is as an enterprise architect tool, but in the start it was about processing; modeling all kind of business processes. And that was before I even mention BPMN. Today, we have switched to using BPMN to do all the different kinds of business process modeling.

This product is supporting it very well.

How has it helped my organization?

I'm now working as an independent consultant, but in the past, when I was using it we could really quickly get a picture of what kind of business processes were being used across the entire organization, and which could be reused, and be sure that no one else is doing it another way. 

For example, the HR part, in that organization there were about 20,000 people working there. From an HR point of view, they had to do everything the same way, when they were hiring people, or when they were paying money, etc. There, we had a strong opportunity to define, describe, so that everybody could go in and see, "Okay, that's the way you have to do it. We have to follow these rules."

We could also create a good connection between the description of what we were doing the application. In this part, it was primarily SAP - and ARIS was coming from the SAP world in 1992, I think it was around then. They started as an independent firm, so they could do these things. That's why it's a very strong part, from when it started, but it has been developed now as an enterprise architect too.

What is most valuable?

The good thing about using this tool is the repository that gives us the opportunity: If you want to do modeling with the old notation form, ours was EPC, you can use the same object in the BPMN because the database is built in a way that you can use both things. So you only have to define it once, and if the notation form is BPMN and those kind of activities, you can use the same EPCs, so there is a connection between them. That is why it's a very flexible tool.

Furthermore, you can use this tool as an enterprise architect tool. So from an architectural point of view, when you're looking at the business area, you can find all the information you have to use as an architect.

The most important part of it, from my point of view - the way I work with it - is from an architect point of view. What I'm using it to handle, from the top-level management part, is where we talk about the strategy, then down to the business part, down to the information part, down to the application part, and to the technology part. So I use everything in the tool.

But, if you have to see it from a BPMN prospect, it will be the BPMN part of it. 

Also, the UML parts have been improved very much in the last two years. And it's very powerful now to combine the BPMN and UML parts in the product, because you can make a connection between them, so that you have the right interoperability between them. So if you're doing data modeling, you can use your class diagram and bind that to the BPMN part. That's a very strong part of it too. Had now implementet the Danish public ad on "Plusprofil" to the UML packed.

What needs improvement?

I have been talking with developers for many years, and it was before using your UML class diagram and those things for defining data. 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. By using the UML part, you would use that instead of the old fashioned way of an entity and relationships diagram. But there they have a still point where they could improve.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable product. In all these years, I think once or twice in the beginning it gave me trouble, but never with stability. It's a very stable product. There are a very few bugs. When you find a bug, just give them a call or write to them and they will fix it. Today they are coming out with two major releases every year. They are really fast to go in and say, "Here is the update for that." So the stability is very good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's also very good at scalability. If you follow what they are saying, how many users you should put on, etc., no problem.

The biggest challenge today is that people will not pay to have the right technology installation. For example, is there enough room for you at the network level to work with this product? In the new version where we can switch between the heavy one or the light one, the browser, there is no problem. It works. No problem.

How are customer service and technical support?

The level of technical support is very high. Very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No, I didn't use a previous solution. If you ask me, if I have to choose between different kinds of solutions, I would prefer to use this. It is the most flexible and most user friendly product you can get. I would not switch. But, of course, when you are consulting, you also have to use other tools. Now, today, I'm also working with one of other tools, like HOPEX from MEGA. It's also one of the biggest tools that you can use. If I have to choose, I will choose ARIS instead of MEGA.

Of course, there are different things they can do, but I would still prefer to use ARIS. For the moment.

How was the initial setup?

Every tool, like these - with so many different things you can do with these tools - you need, of course, education about the tools, and you have to make choices. What part of it will you use? It is always like that. When you work with it during one or two days' education, I think you will be very capable of using it in the area that you would like to work in.

For example, if you are using it in BPMN, one day of education and you will already be one of the best people to model BPMN with this tool. Still, BPMN is a big area to go into. Start small but think big.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You will never get a fixed price for this product because they will go in and ask you what kind of environment would you like to set up? How many people will you work with? How big is your organization? 

Today, they have a fixed price to say, "Okay, just to start the business area, buy two licenses for modeling and eight people that can look into the product." They have this kind of fixed price. It's 50,000 Danish Krone. If you divided that by about six, then you get the pricing in dollars.

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. 

Still, when you are going out, negotiate and find the right price. You will never get a fixed price: "It costs this and, if you take ten of these, seven of these and eight of these, and then it costs this." No, you negotiate every time.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

At that time, in 2002, it had to be connected to the SAP environment. The ARIS tool set at that time was one of the biggest in this area, and that's why we were choosing it. There was something else, but it was not as good. Not stable for the SAP environment. I think it was because of the SAP environment that we choose this product, not others.

Today, I would say, from an architectural point of view, it was a good choice. You will see that in the EU, they also use it in the customer area for defining BPMN processes and data. So, they are using this in the EU now as the main product for these areas.

What other advice do I have?

It is not a challenge to implement the product, not even from a technical point of view, because if you have rights to do things, it takes less than two hours to implement the whole package. Download the product and then just run it.

You have to go to the top-level people and talk to them and say, "Okay, what is your strategy to get a good view of your business?" If they say, "We would like to have something help us to manage, what kind of strategy that we have, what kind of rules, principles that we have to follow, that can give us a picture from the top-level and then traceability down to business areas." 

For example, here in Europe, we have a new law called GDPR, data protection. That's coming in here in May, in the EU. This product can help you to be sure that you will not get in trouble when they come and ask you, "Have you completely made all these different kinds of process descriptions that show us where you are using, how you are using the data, etc?" Here you have a product that can support that.

If you want to have the full picture, also from an architectural point of view, then you should buy a product like this or something similar to this. You have to go up and find the best. ARIS is among the top in industry reviews, and I would recommend it. But I am also using one of the others up there as well.

Again: Where do you need it? That's a very important question to ask. Where do you want to put in? If it's in the BPMN area, use ARIS. It's a very easy way to use it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
ARIS BPA
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about ARIS BPA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Vikas Mheoe - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, ERP Deployment at Johnson Controls, Inc.
Real User
Top 20
A stable and easy-to-deploy solution that provides an excellent user experience
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool has good navigation."
  • "The tool must provide more documents."

What is most valuable?

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

What needs improvement?

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

For how long have I used the solution?

I am learning the solution currently.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool is stable.

How are customer service and support?

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

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

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

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is a bit pricey.

What other advice do I have?

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.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Mansoor Adenwala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - Process and Project Management at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Provides great workflow control with additional data captured providing a holistic view
Pros and Cons
  • "Good at controlling the workflow and relevant key processes."
  • "The reporting and the information query features could do with some improvement."

What is our primary use case?

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

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is reasonable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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. 

How was the initial setup?

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.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Regina Janitsch - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager Organization and Process Management at OeKB
Real User
Replaced complicated ICS process with something much simpler for evaluating risk
Pros and Cons
  • "ARIS BPA provides very good visibility and control of processes because we have a concurrent license system. As a result, every person in our company and group is able to look at the published processes."
  • "Migration to the next release is very tricky. You can't do it without support from ARIS or from a software kit. And it takes a lot of time and a lot of money to migrate. My impression is that a lot of companies do not migrate regularly because of that issue."

What is our primary use case?

We have three main use cases. One is process management and the second is ICS (internal control system). Our third use case is very important for us: to evaluate the operational risk situation of our company, not only of the company itself but of the whole group. It was one of our requirements to find a system that could, on the one hand, evaluate risks for each company in the group, and on the other hand, conglomerate these risk situations for the whole group.

How has it helped my organization?

We use ARIS Risk & Compliance Manager (ARCM) for our ICS. There are different people who have to evaluate the risks and actualize the processes. We have a workflow implemented so that there is a reminder for the people who have to evaluate the risks and the controls, once a year. We also have a workflow for the process owners to assign a process model.

For our ICS, we used to have an Excel- and Word-based solution. It was very complicated and it was not really digital. Now, it's very simple for the people who have to evaluate the risks. They get a reminder from Outlook that a certain risk needs to be evaluated and they can evaluate it and send it to the risk owner. It's a more digital process and has improved things.

With our ICS we didn't have control of the controls, and this is something we are now working on. It is very easy in ARIS to model it and evaluate it. This was something we learned about and a capability we didn't have before.

What is most valuable?

The browser-based modeling tool is very awesome. It's very easy for the people who use it. One of our aims was and is to use ARIS in a decentralized way. That means we want our business departments to be able to publish their processes and to evaluate risk and controls. For that purpose, we have ARIS BPA and ARCM, which are connected. We model the risks and controls on the process diagrams, and the evaluation of risks and controls take place in ARCM.

ARIS BPA provides very good visibility and control of processes because we have a concurrent license system. As a result, every person in our company and group is able to look at the published processes. We have also built a tree from a process map so that people can navigate through different steps to the process model itself. That works quite well.

What needs improvement?

The intuitiveness of ARIS when it comes to business process management and modeling is not quite there. We have invested a lot of time and money in building a very usable system. The modeling part is very intuitive, but there are so many possible elements you can use. We had to invest a lot of time to reduce the elements to those we want people to use. If you take all the elements and all the modeling types that ARIS has, it is not possible to model in an equal way.

Also, we are part of a community that has one or two events per year where we can talk about our experiences with the solution. From these meetings, my impression is that a lot of customers do not use the current release. Migration to the next release is very tricky. You can't do it without support from ARIS or from a software kit. And it takes a lot of time and a lot of money to migrate. My impression is that a lot of companies do not migrate regularly because of that issue. There are always a lot of bugs, especially when you adapt the system to your needs. It's very complicated.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using ARIS BPA since 2020.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been okay. We haven't had any interruptions so far and the concurrent license model works very well. We have enough licenses that people don't have any problem getting into the system.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good because it is a modular system, and that was another factor in our decision to go with ARIS. You can buy additional modules to adapt it to your needs.

The solution enables you to start small and grow its use.

How are customer service and support?

For small problems, their tech support is okay. 

For larger problems, it's more complicated to explain to their tech support what we really need. Our experience has been that it's better to buy two or three consultant-days with the consultant who knows our system, because he developed it together with us. He can identify problems very easily. With the regular tech support it takes a long time to explain what the problem is.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Casewise – EA & BPM was the system we had before. It was a system that wasn't fit for our decentralization goals because it was very complicated. There were a few specialists in our company who could work with Casewise, but it was really a system for specialists and not for business departments.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex. Ours is a complicated environment and we had complex requirements. But we had really good trainers from Software AG. They have a lot of knowledge and they were able to help adapt the solution to our needs. But it was a very long process to get the system to where we wanted it to be. It took about a year for the implementation.

We have done two migrations since we deployed the solution. One migration was during the implementation phase, and the second is being done now. As I said, the migrations are very complicated.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Signavio, in addition to Casewise, among the solutions we looked at in an intensive way.

Signavio was okay, but it didn't fit our needs when it came to risk management, and their licensing system also didn't fit our requirements.

What other advice do I have?

We deployed the solution on-premises because our IT security team is very strict. We don't have any cloud solutions so far. This was one of the topics that influenced our decision to go with ARIS. Other solutions prefer the cloud or develop cloud products in a more efficient way. Our aim was to have a product that works on-premises.

We do not have a lot of experience because we implemented process management, as a strategy, in 2019. Before that, processes were not really the focus of the business departments. IT had processes in mind, of course, but they only used drawing tools that were not management tools. There is now more awareness of process management in our company, not only in IT but in the business departments as well. Still, at the moment, people see it as additional work, but I hope that will get better.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Nikola Dlaka - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior BPM Consultant/Solution architect at DNA Consulting
Real User
Top 5
Provides good reporting and is used for documenting and analyzing processes
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting."
  • "ARIS BPA is not really a platform that offers you the opportunity to execute processes that you model."

What is our primary use case?

Most of the use cases I worked with were for documenting processes and trying to do some visual analysis with the stakeholders involved in those processes. It was a very convenient way because the solution has a repository. It's an integrated database where you can see a lot of interconnected views of your whole enterprise, including applications, roles, processes, documents, risks, and controls.

You can model everything about your enterprise in an interconnected repository, which you cannot easily do with other document-based tools like Visio. An object you place in a document doesn't really have any connection to the same object with the same name that you place in another model.

The solution's flexibility, reporting, and ability to customize your set of models, connections, objects, and attributes was really a positive thing. That's why many customers use ARIS BPA, and we recommend it for those scenarios.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting. You can use the solution to customize the whole set of objects and models. If you know a bit of programming, you can easily pull out or get data in ARIS BPA. You can even integrate the solution with other systems. The solution now has a REST API, which provides a lot of possibilities as the reporting does, but it's not quite there yet. We still depend a bit on the reports to integrate with other systems or fetch data from ARIS BPA very easily.

It's really a unified repository, and it's quite easy to configure and set up. Compared to other tools, the solution has good modeling, analysis, and visualization of processes. Currently, it has a really good process portal with a lot of nice functionalities. With the solution's search functionality, people can easily find processes relevant to them or where they are involved as someone executing some parts of the process or interfacing with another process.

A gas and oil company with oil rigs concluded that in the past, they had procedures always documented in some Word or PDF documents. It was really hard for people working on those rigs to follow these processes. They often disregarded or couldn't find relevant documentation. ARIS BPA improved their situation. People found it much easier to go to the portal, find their process, and link in more condensed documents. We can link some checklists to that activity. They find it much easier and user-friendly to follow and comply with the processes.

With the solution's process portal, you can present the whole content, and the users in the company can see how the process looks and what their roles are in the process. One company could even see screens of the applications that they need to use for that particular step in the process. It increases the documentation and serves as a knowledge base for the company employees on how to execute their processes.

ARIS BPA is a good solution for documenting and analyzing processes. We are really happy with the solution's reporting and documentation capabilities.

What needs improvement?

I always miss an execution module that is better than the current one. The current one is called ARIS Process Governance, and it's mostly focused on setting up internal workloads for ARIS and the process content. If you want to do some release cycle management processes, you would use the ARIS Process Governance module to create a workflow that sends tasks and emails to the users of ARIS.

ARIS BPA is not really a platform that offers you the opportunity to execute processes that you model. So, the model for execution is something that is missing. Typically, I wouldn't recommend ARIS as a process execution platform.

The solution is not built for automating and running workflows.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using ARIS BPA for 15 years.

What other advice do I have?

The awareness about business processes typically becomes much higher with the solution. Some organizations use Word documents, Excel, and PowerPoint to sketch up some business processes. This is typically done as a one-off exercise. Later, this gets forgotten, or someone leaves the company. Someone new comes, and then they may use a completely new methodology or way of modeling or working.

The positive thing about ARIS BPA is that you can easily set up and configure your methodology once. Then, everyone using it uses the same way of modeling processes, depicting different relationships between objects, models, roles, applications, etc.

You can establish a new unified methodology that can be expanded later on as you grow, or you want to model some other artifacts within your enterprise. It does help you establish a common methodology and a common repository to build your business process management and business process analysis suite.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight or nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Andi Frei - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Process and Data Leader Fabrics Division at W.L. Gore & Associates
Real User
Top 10
The solution can be used for process modeling and the repository of processes
Pros and Cons
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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

For how long have I used the solution?

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.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Around 500 users are using ARIS BPA in our organization.

How was the initial setup?

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

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend ARIS BPA to other users.

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

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1731534 - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Process and Control Improvement at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It offers more possibilities than some competitors, but it's also a more complex and costly solution
Pros and Cons
  • "The shared repository allows for cross-functional cooperation instead of doing things in a silo. You can operate cross-functionally and really work end-to-end, instead of dividing everything up on a functional basis."
  • "The standard out-of-the-box solutions for modeling are not so good. You have to do some configuration to make it easier and more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

I work at a beverage manufacturer. We use ARIS BPA to design and publish our core processes.

How has it helped my organization?

ARIS BPM has helped us speed up our business process transformation by centralizing everything instead of everyone working within a silo. I can't say precisely, but if I had to take a wild guess, I would say that it has sped up our transformation by about 10 to 15 percent. At the moment, it hasn't saved us much time. It has the potential to save us time in the future by giving us a firmer basis to work from. However, we're not saving time on analysis at this stage. ARIS provided a solid basis for our company to manage its assets and by that, I mean its processes. It also helps our customers to have a Single Source of Truth for processes and related information.

What is most valuable?

The two most valuable aspects of ARIS BPA are the shared common repository and the whole governance cycle. The shared repository allows for cross-functional cooperation instead of doing things in a silo. You can operate cross-functionally and really work end-to-end, instead of dividing everything up on a functional basis. The governance element is important because functions can be managed in a controlled manner. There is a stacked database, and we can move things in a controlled manner from the development environment to the publication environment.

What needs improvement?

The standard out-of-the-box solutions for modeling are not so good. You have to do some configuration to make it easier and more user-friendly. There are a lot of options, so that can get confusing, but if you filter some things out, then it's easier to use. After you customize it, the end-user has an easy toolset to work from. Another feature I would like to see is the complete visualization of the connect portal.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it since around 2018, but I think my company has been using it longer.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

ARIS is scalable but costly. You can start small and grow the solution over time, but you have to demonstrate the benefits to the leadership before scaling up. Otherwise, it's a one-off, and we aren't looking for a one-off. We're looking for sustainable solutions. Therefore, it's important for us to start small, show the benefits, and then expand.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate Software AG's support six out of 10. It depends on who is providing the support. If you are dealing with support engineers in the Netherlands, it's okay. However, if they refer you to a shared service center, they usually don't know enough to give you proper support. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

We purchased the license for ARIS a long time ago, but the central team was dismantled. We revived it back in 2018. Deployment wasn't too easy. We didn't have a maturity roadmap in place, so we were building it step by step. I wasn't able to see the end state or the steps we needed to go through to grow more mature. I'm not blaming Software AG for that. That's just how it went. The deployment process wasn't intuitive or transparent in terms of the next steps we should take. It was also complicated by the fact that our needs as a customer changed from month to month and year to year.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

ARIS is quite expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I've previously used QPR. I would say the advantage of ARIS is that it offers more possibilities, but it's also a more complex and costly solution. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate ARIS BPM six out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free ARIS BPA Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free ARIS BPA Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.