Used for BPMN training and consulting activities on different customers and several industries, such as health care, financial, and automotive.
Director with 1-10 employees
The simulation engine and SAP integration are technically very robust
Pros and Cons
- "The simulation engine and SAP integration are technically very robust."
- "The user experience's usability (in general) should be improved as the tool is updated."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
ARIS has a powerful simulation engine. The modeling features can be hard to master, but once you do it, the tool unleashes great benefits from modeling to execution.
What is most valuable?
The simulation engine and SAP integration are technically very robust when you consider my segments of expertise (health care, financial, and automotive).
What needs improvement?
The user experience's usability (in general) should be improved as the tool is updated.
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ARIS BPA
January 2026
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881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Chief Process Officer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Object oriented modeling allows us to trace what's going on with a specified object
Pros and Cons
- "Object oriented modeling allows us to trace what's going on with the specified object."
- "It needs external API and the ability to navigate back, similar to "Back" in web browser."
How has it helped my organization?
It serves as internal Knowledge Management System where we keep all business processes and related documents in a single repository.
What is most valuable?
Object oriented modeling, so we can trace what's going on with the specified object.
What needs improvement?
It needs external API and the ability to navigate back, similar to "Back" in web browser.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues with scalability.
How is customer service and technical support?
Nine out of 10.
How was the initial setup?
For the standard DBMS, things are quite straightforward. Network security and server security settings can be issued.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If you can afford it, it's the best so far.
What other advice do I have?
I rate it an eight out of 10. It's not a 10 due to the price.
You need a dedicated team to get the benefits.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Buyer's Guide
ARIS BPA
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about ARIS BPA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Project & Process Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is a complete tool, but it is not so user-friendly
Pros and Cons
- "The BPMN notation and the share flow through users. It is nice to see all flows in a common, shared space for all the stakeholders to view the same thing and the same language."
- "The usability. Others tools are easier to manage without same complexity that ARIS has."
What is our primary use case?
My first use case using ARIS was in a Brazilian tax project for a global cosmetic company. All the flows had to be analysed by the global team regarding the core model synergy.
How has it helped my organization?
Creating all the flows related to the "As-Is" process of the organization that must easily see the possible improvements and compare them with the best practices from marketing.
What is most valuable?
The BPMN notation and the share flow through users. It is nice to see all flows in a common, shared space for all the stakeholders to view the same thing and the same language.
What needs improvement?
The usability. Others tools are easier to manage without same complexity that ARIS has.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What other advice do I have?
It is a complete tool, but it is not so user-friendly.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
AnkushJainPrincipal Consultant - DPA at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Top 20Real User
With the latest version of ARIS, I think this has nice user interface and easy to understand. It's more like a drawing tool with features and functionalities with business will appreciate.
Senior BPM Consultant, Managing Director at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Enables customizing and enforcing methodology with filters, semantic checks, and reports
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the solution to fully customize the methodology according to the company's needs, and to enforce that methodology with features like filters, semantic checks, and reports."
- "There is a really powerful reporting API that allows you to create almost any kind of report you want out of your process and document repository."
- "There are some things in the collaboration module that could be improved a little, such as the functionality which dynamically pushes notifications to interested people when a process changes during the Release Cycle Management workflow."
- "While the dashboarding solution for integrating all kinds of process-related information from company sources other than ARIS is getting ever better, my personal wish would be to have a module that is more targeted to an Agile implementation of some modeled processes (model–to-execute)."
- "ARIS has an internal fully customizable workflow system called APG, which is very good, but it’s targeted mostly at creating workflows related to ARIS content, and not general workflows to support other processes inside a company."
What is our primary use case?
Primary use case of the solution is for implementing the digital management system of a company, documenting processes, documents, IT system, roles, and organization, and, of course, their interconnections.
ARIS is really flexible in terms of what you can do to customize your methodology, so it supports various flavors of management system implementations. For example, some companies have a greater focus on Risk and Compliance management, SAP implementations and roll-outs, process improvement and reorganization, etc.
How has it helped my organization?
I can give a good example from one of my last projects, where I worked as an external consultant. At an oil and gas company, ARIS really made a big impact in offering an integrated solution where all of the employees could easily access the relevant information on critical safety processes, thus lowering the risk of accidents and potentially harmful events.
In other projects I’ve worked on, I’ve seen that it really helps people working on SAP template rollout projects, as all project members have more or less common information about which company-wide processes are part of the rollout, and what are the specifics in the local process variants.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the solution to fully customize the methodology according to the company's needs, and to enforce that methodology with features like filters, semantic checks, and reports.
Also, there is a really powerful reporting API that allows you to create almost any kind of report you want out of your process and document repository.
The functionalities for search, query, and social collaboration are getting better with every new release of the tool.
The whole redesign of the content publishing platform, and move from Business Publisher to ARIS Connect portal was a great move.
What needs improvement?
There are some things in the collaboration module that could be improved a little, such as the functionality which dynamically pushes notifications to interested people when a process changes during the Release Cycle Management workflow.
Also, while the dashboarding solution for integrating all kinds of process-related information from company sources other than ARIS is getting ever better, my personal wish would be to have a module that is more targeted to an Agile implementation of some modeled processes (model–to-execute).
ARIS has an internal fully customizable workflow system called APG, which is very good, but it’s targeted mostly at creating workflows related to ARIS content, and not general workflows to support other processes inside a company.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What other advice do I have?
I give it an eight out of 10, but I’m really happy with the product in regards to the primary use case.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Information Security Consultant
It is a well-featured, functional product
Pros and Cons
- "It is a well-featured, functional product."
- "It has helped me get some ideas across more clearly to my colleagues."
- "I could use more icons and other graphical elements."
What is our primary use case?
I use ARIS Express mainly for additional presentational graphics. It gets my ideas across more clearly to my colleagues. I use it on my laptop and run it on Windows OS.
How has it helped my organization?
It has helped me get some ideas across more clearly to my colleagues. For example, how to conduct access management/administration rights distribution during a new implementation.
What is most valuable?
It is a well-featured, functional product. This is its biggest feature.
What needs improvement?
I could use more icons and other graphical elements.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
ARIS Express is free.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Consultant
Caters to moving older objects into an integrated DB
Pros and Cons
- "Platform that it supports covers legacy and new. Caters to moving older objects into an integrated DB, relatively popular ones: SQL, Oracle, etc."
- "End-to-end visibility and real-time are areas that will need greater attention."
What is most valuable?
Platform that it supports covers legacy and new. Caters to moving older objects into an integrated DB, relatively popular ones: SQL, Oracle, etc.
What needs improvement?
No product is complete. As technologies evolve, so must the tools to support them. End-to-end visibility and real-time are areas that will need greater attention.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues with scalability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I do not believe that there is a site in this country that has exceeded the scalability limitation.
How are customer service and technical support?
Judging from my perspective, all the forums appear to have topical discussions. Also, requested a latest GA version date and received a response.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Staunch user of Visio, ArchiMate. A requirement for a client, decided to explore deeper. Alfabet.
How was the initial setup?
The Aris version that I have is straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
Although digital business transformation (e.g. IoT, Blockchain) is top of mind for many IT professionals, many companies are facing legacy systems consuming operating budgets and have limited visibility into their enterprise architecture. It is increasingly difficult to meet RFC (requests for change) deadlines and digital business transformation demands. Therefore, a simple and easy to use enterprise architecture is important for implementing an effective digital business transformation program.
However, enterprise architecture (EA) and the frequently used methodology TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) have an image problem. Business and IT leaders are frequently bypassing the enterprise architect because they have the following issues:
- The enterprise architecture and TOGAF are not practical to complete and are difficult to explain.
- The EA terminology is difficult to understand and not aligned with operational departments.
- The EA governance methodology and EA models are difficult to understand and to maintain.
- Too much focus of project delivery and IT architecture
Because of these issues the enterprise architect, and business and IT leaders, are not always aligned and do not fully cooperate to resolve the EA issues at hand. Most of the design decisions are made by business and IT leaders who are not always in line with the vision of the enterprise architect. This has an impact on the quality of the EA. In order to improve the cooperation, the enterprise architecture should be presented in a more practical and simple way.
Needs to be driven from the top, must standardise and simplify centric environments. Architectural principals - governance a must.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Lead Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
It helps to maintain a single source of truth regarding the processes followed within an organization
Pros and Cons
- "It helps the business make an informed decision."
- "It helps to maintain a single source of truth regarding the processes followed within an organization."
- "Needs flexibility in automation of the modeling processes and real-time analysis of data, not just a static view."
- "There is not enough documentation provided for the tool's support or administration."
- "Since ARIS 9.X was released, the product has not been as robust and responsive as the previous versions."
How has it helped my organization?
- With a tool like ARIS, it helps to maintain a single source of truth regarding the processes followed within an organization. This creates a more efficient organization with just one single view of the processes across the organization and eliminates any ambiguity.
- The analysis and reporting capabilities make ARIS the best tool for process modeling. In addition, the flexibility and versatility of the tool can be gauged by the sheer number of model types it supports which is close to approximately 200.
Any organization big or small should have the capability of capturing the process details of an entire organization using this tool.
What is most valuable?
Process modeling and process analysis. Due the meta model of the tool, it forces a particular way for the processes to be modeled in the tool, which in turn helps to carry out the analysis and generate reports for business and senior management. This helps the business make an informed decision.
What needs improvement?
Needs flexibility in automation of the modeling processes and real-time analysis of data, not just a static view.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Since ARIS 9.X was released, the product has not been as robust and responsive as the previous versions.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
None.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would rate it as a seven out of 10. There is not enough documentation provided for the tool's support or administration.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
No previous solution was used.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was a bit complex compared to the previous version of the tool.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is on the higher side.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
No.
What other advice do I have?
Excellent product if process modeling/documentation is its primary purpose, not automation of processes.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Alliance partners.
AnkushJainPrincipal Consultant - DPA at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Top 20Real User
+1
The matrix model makes building relations easier. The integration between ARIS, webMethods, and project versions needs improvement.
Pros and Cons
- "The matrix model makes building relations easier."
- "Objects can be reused across different BPMNs and processes, so we can design new processes quicker and easier."
- "The integration between ARIS, webMethods, and project versions needs improvement."
What is our primary use case?
I am modeling BPMN in ARIS to be ready to execute on webMethods and describing business requirements in relationship to BPMN’s tasks to technical and business references.
How has it helped my organization?
Objects can be reused across different BPMNs and processes, so we can design new processes quicker and easier.
What is most valuable?
The matrix model makes building relations easier.
What needs improvement?
The integration between ARIS, webMethods, and project versions needs improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: January 2026
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Absolutely true.