ARIS BPA Reviews

ARIS was used to capture current business processes in ARIS EPC through a series of workshops. Level 1-3 VACD, Level 4 EPC (Event-driven Process Chain) and FAD (Function Allocation Diagram), Activities, Roles, Metrics, Risk and Control, RACI, etc.

It was used to operationalize new business processes and also in preparation for a case management system migration to Salesforce. The management, team leader, and staff were trained to read the EPC process model and taught how to navigate ARIS in the production environment. 

The selection criteria for ARIS as the preferred BPM was questionable in my opinion.

The main reason it was chosen is that it was on the government "approved" product list.

The solution was too complex/advanced for the organization's requirements and a big team was hired to manage the administration of ARIS and maintain it.

The choice to model the business process in EPC instead of BPMN was made by the organization and no fault of ARIS; ARIS is most certainly capable of modeling in BPMN. There's a lot of time and effort spent to help staff get their head around how to read an EPC in ARIS.

The EPC modeling is very detailed, the semantic check is helpful, and auto-layout simplifies the formatting.

The process interface is valuable for identifying the upstream and downstream processes.

The approval process for the ARIS EPC from the design, staging, and production environment is pretty good. You can obtain feedback on the process model; however, this functionality seems a bit limited by today's standard as some other BPM allows you to comment on the objects within the process model, which makes gathering feedback and making changes easier.

ARIS EPC & FAD features and functionality does not feel like they are not designed for business users. Instead, it feels like they are geared for Process Modelers and Technology users who are focused on System Interface, User Interface, Risk and Control, etc.

Trying to read an EPC in a screen Top-Down while dragging the screen is next to impossible. 

The model graphics can be exported in PDF, but the model is too small to read.

In my experience, once the organization creates the process model in ARIS EPC, it will take approximately two years before most organizations ditch any effort to update it. It takes more effort to maintain it than the value that an organization gets out of it.

The requirements for events after the rules, whilst accurate, simply take up too much space and makes the process model difficult to read.

Connecting the upstream and downstream process interface is a pain.

The auto-layout is a great feature but does not work as expected all of the time, as lines appear to overlap and can be confusing to read unless you click on the line to highlight it.

We have been using ARIS BPM for two years.

It's pretty stable, at 95% in my experience. There was the odd occasion when the system was down and it took 48 hours to resolve the issue.

More licenses can be added as the demand grows, it just costs more.

Visio was used initially prior to ARIS. Visio lacked the BPM functionality.

It was implemented through an ARIS vendor and the level of expertise was good.

I would suggest trying at least three vendors and obtain written quotes.

The setup cost and pricing depend on the license (Modeler, Viewer, Administrator).

ARIS was the only government "approved" software that the organization was "allowed" to purchase. This was a questionable decision.

My advice is to try different BPM providers and download the demo for 30/90 days to see if it meets your organization's needs. A basic tool means that you will outgrow it quickly, whereas top-end solutions may be too costly and difficult to implement.

ARIS BPA was underutilized because they used the ARIS modeling paradigm, including value-added chains, EPCs, and functional allocation diagrams.

ARIS BPA is coming up with a centralized repository of local business processes that could be referenced for design work and operations.

The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are the centralized repository and the automatic rendering of diagrams.

ARIS BPA’s usability could be improved.

I have been using ARIS BPA for almost three years.

I rate ARIS BPA a nine out of ten for stability.

ARIS BPA’s initial setup was straightforward.

ARIS BPA is too costly from a licensing perspective. It is also too costly to maintain, configure, and integrate.

I am using the latest version of ARIS BPA. Do your due diligence to ensure that this is the product you need from a feature and cost perspective.

Overall, I rate ARIS BPA a seven out of ten.

Our customers have generators on their facilities, and we manage those generators to provide services to the grid and reduce their costs. It involves peak shaving and that sort of stuff. We use ARIS BPM to essentially automate the communication to the grid and the generator and then update all of the account information regarding those transactions.

The ease of use is the most valuable. I have tried a number of BPMN packages, and I find the user interface of ARIS BPM easier and more intuitive than others. If your team is knowledgeable on BPMN, it is really pretty easy to figure out on your own because it adheres to the standards extremely well. I have tried Bizagi, BizFlow, and a variety of such solutions, and I just liked ARIS BPM better.

I use it strictly for developing the business process model. I don't use it for the actual automation. I do that with Vtenext. I have standardized on Vtenext, and I don't use ARIS BPM anymore. The Vtenext UI is just as good, and it is much more tightly coupled to the underlying object model. I can get more done in one session with Vtenext rather than first going to ARIS BPM, then importing, and having to edit it for tight coupling.

I have been using ARIS BPM off and on for six months.

I would not comment on this because we use it primarily just for the business process modeling and not the automation. So, I really can't comment on scaling. We have four users who are using this solution.

We never contacted them. Its user interface is good and pretty intuitive. 

The initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented it through an in-house team.

I would recommend ARIS BPM depending upon the use case. I would generally recommend Vtenext first. I found Vtenext on GitHub as I was looking through and trying out lots of BPMN and BPA stuff. I used their product, and it is a really good product. We've now partnered with them.

I would rate ARIS BPM an eight out of ten.

The process modeling capabilities are what we use this for primarily.  

ARIS is probably the most mature product I know of in terms of modeling an enterprise architecture so that it has context. When you need to make changes to processes, there is a view where you can actually see what other processes within different use cases or different functional areas use the same process and what those changes can affect. Workflows can be used across different business areas and that gives a really good, holistic view of what modifications end up affecting.  

Some of the interactions with different versions of browsers caused a little bit of angst because there are certain corporate SOEs (Standard Operating Environments), which do not lend themselves well to representation in the latest version of ARIS. The product is sort of one version behind with current trends, typically.  

I have definitely seen better UIs, but the crux of why we use the ARIS process modeler is because we have everything all one suite. When you talk about enterprise architecture, application architecture, process architecture, or whatever else you want to model and monitor, these processes are all in the same place. You can make cross-references or create links between processes, you can link part of a model to an application, you can link to a capability view, et cetera. As an enterprise architecture tool, there is probably very little they can improve on at least compared to other modelers.  

Because you keep on working with different versions of a model, the only way to maintain a record is to take a snapshot. Certain things are still in design or still in the conceptualization stage. Other things have already gone into production. At a glance, it is quite hard to work out which processes are at a particular stage. The overview is very flat. Having some form of a hierarchy in terms of approvals or a sort of ranking would be good. This could show whether a process has been deployed or not, or if it is still just a conceptual model. Some sort of formal approval process that defines a released version of your models could be incorporated into the workflow approval process to help visualize what stage a process is in.  

I have probably been using ARIS (Architecture of Integrated Information Systems) BPM (Business Process Management)for about four years now. I used ARIS BPM before coming to this company, but quite a while ago. That was about a year ago, and that was version 10 or 11 or something in that range.  

Stability is very much dependent on the network. If the network is not so good, then you might experience some stability issues. It would be good if you had an offline version or some means of caching development. I am not sure whether that is in the ARIS roadmap. 

All BAs (Business Analyst) use ARIS, especially for process modeling. We have a team of probably 50 people who use ARIS modeler to see the process flows, but there are different roles. I am an architect so I can see everything. BAs can only view or read, they can not contribute to the capability models. The roles help scale out so the right people get the appropriate access without causing development issues.  

We have our own administrators here who maintain the product.  

The initial setup and installation are very straightforward. The administration is a bit clunky because of the way it is set up as a Software-as-a-Service. There was not really a Single Sign-On capability for the tool. You have to maintain your login separately and that is a little archaic.  

Because it was already running, there was not really a deployment to get me going with the product. It was just a matter of adding me as a user.  

I definitely recommend the product to users seeking this kind of solution, especially for the architecture practice. If you want to have a knowledge base or a repository for architects it is very good for an overview of the enterprise architecture. Normally in a new business venture — that being a business case, a new software offering, or a new capability — the new process needs to be introduced to an existing architecture. Companies will already have a mature backend with legacy applications and integrations. It is good to keep a repository of the development to make sure that the history of that evolution stays within the company's knowledge base for later reference.  

On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate the ARIS BPM solution overall as a product as probably an eight-out-of-ten. It is not rated higher because the user interface is not as modern as other modeling tools like Bizagi, which looks nice. With ARIS you are quite limited when it comes to the look and feel.  

That issue with look-and-feel becomes more important when you try to present something to executives. When it looks like your ten-year-old has done something to present in grammar school, it is not the right thing to be showing at a high-level meeting. The content is all there, but it just looks like it is just scraped together rather than properly designed.  

We use the product for modeling business scenarios and processes. It helps in designing BPMN and functions.

ARIS BPA is customizable as per specific business requirements. It is flexible to structure and arrange essential components in business models.

The platform’s most valuable feature is object reusability. It has occurrence copies, which help us reuse any object in any model.

The product is difficult to use for someone without prior knowledge of working with it. It requires a certain level of administration training.

We have been using ARIS BPA for three years.

It is a stable product and quick to use.

We have 30 to 40 ARIS BPA users in our organization. It was highly scalable the last time I checked it with the technical advisor.

We have deployed the product on the cloud.

I rate ARIS BPA an eight out of ten. I advise others to appoint an executive with specific knowledge about the product.

The tool defines the processes. It's the documentation of everything. 

The solution's processes are huge and it is not easy to get an overview of how things work. It needs to improve the interface. I would like to see the product include a better overview of processes and improve search. 

I have been working with the product for three years. 

The product is stable. 

The tool is scalable. 

I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. I would recommend the product to only enterprise companies because of the pricing. 

Most of my projects are in business process management and digital transformation. I'm using this tool for authentication.

We're heavy users. We're using it to manage the marketing use cases, for example, requirements management, subscription planning, project management, and other tools to be deployed in our projects. 

The tool to be used in all our projects so internally we're using it for requirements management, project management, and for example, to maintain our ISO certificate.

The most valuable feature is the process documentation. For us, ARIS is a lifestyle more than a tool. It helps us learn how to think and how to plan for our system.

I don't know why Software AG is saying that it's for business process management. It's an enterprise management system that connects all the documentation and business processes. 

It's not only documenting. It's about executing and developing business processes, performance management, strategic planning, and project management. Limited use cases can be used for documentation and for generating analytics to identify gaps in the organization.

There is a lot of room for improvement. They need to increase the performance of the system flow. They need to support it more. ARIS Process Governance is still quite basic, and they are using an old BPM and process automation module.

They have a problem with the form. It's good but has limitations when integrating with other systems. This means that ARIS Process Governance or process automation is limited to the ARIS framework.

Integration with other systems is available with the ARIS API but isn't usable in APG. There isn't a proper workflow, and they need to merge their API module with the APG module. This will increase the capability of the form builder. Customization of ARIS will also be simpler and more user-friendly. They have tried to do that for more than ten years, but I don't know what they are doing now.

The installer could be improved to avoid multiple installations. For example, you have to run a script in the database site to complete the installer. So all those should be in one single point for installation. Enter all this data in the installer, and the installer will go and create the system database in the database. The price could also be better.

I have been using ARIS BPM since 2001. I might be one of the first ARIS users in the Middle East region. 

It's not a stable solution. Although you're able to import and export between other systems like Camunda and Juniper, it's not able to exchange the BPM location between ARIS and Mendix. This is not possible, and it will not be possible.

Technical support could be better. On a scale from one to five, I'd give them a two. Their response times are slow. They never commit to a time to respond to our queries.

Positive

The initial setup is still very subjective. But the installation is easy. It'll take about five to six hours to get it up and running.

We're an integrator, and we use the API module to enable full integration.

The price could be better.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give ARIS BPM an eight.

I am using this solution for a school project. I am using it in my laboratory back in Uni for research.

Aris BPA has a lot of tools that are more professional than Bizagi.

I didn't like working with this solution. The design and functions are lacking and they are better in Bizagi. 

The interface could be improved.

The solution is difficult and not very exciting to learn. It was a bit complicated to understand. Aris BPA is very complex and very difficult to start learning and onboarding.

When you compare it with Bizagi, Bizagi is better. The interface is nicer, the onboarding process is easier, and they have a manual for you to start with. It is better because I could understand how to start with it.

I used it for a short time only. It was for a quick project that I had in college.

My experience is with Bizagi and Aris.

I have only been using Bizagi for two days. I don't have a lot of experience with it.

The only issues that I have with Bizagi are that it is resource-heavy, causing it to be slow and laggy, and there are too many visible features. It could be better organized and some of the features could be hidden which would make it better.

Aris BPA is difficult to set up and get started with.

I would rate Bizagi a nine out of ten and Aris BPA, a seven out of ten.