venerdì 18 febbraio 2011

Lou DiToro su Appian 6.5

Da BPMInstitute.org un bell'articolo di presentazione di Appian 6.5

Potete scaricarlo qui.

mercoledì 16 febbraio 2011

Un pensiero del CEO di OpenText

"With mobile computing, we see workflow/BPM being the glue that will allow people using their iPads or smarpthones to be able to access corporate data on the road."

John Shackleton CEO OpenText

Un commento sull'acquisizone di Metastorm

Relativamente all'acquisizione da parte di OpenText di Metastorm, qui potete leggere un commento di Anne Stuart

martedì 15 febbraio 2011

BPM & Cloud


Dedicato alle aziende che debbano avviare nuove implementazioni di sistemi BPM, o sistemi collaterali (CRM, Business Intelligence, etc): l’offerta Cloud propone soluzioni veramente interessanti. Premessa doverosa è che quanto segue vale solo per i fornitori che hanno veramente una consistente e reale offerta Cloud. Vera, non millantata.

Provate ad esempio Appian BPM Cloud. (maggiori informazioni qui)

Quando si deve avviare una nuova applicazione BPM lo scenario di nuova implementazione passa, tipicamente, per una prima fase di prototipizzazione, sempre caratterizzata, con l’approccio tradizionale, dalle forniture ed installazioni dei vari sistemi necessari per.

Passaggi talvolta non privi di ostacoli e di lungaggini. Bene, scordatevelo! Oggi Appian Cloud consente di accedere a detti sistemi BPM , creando le condizioni per poter fare tutto quanto necessario all’avviamento ed alla prototipizzazione/parametrizzazione del sistema proprio sull’ambito Cloud.

Poi, una volta realizzato e testato il tutto, prendere quanto fatto e trasportarlo dalla nuvoletta ai sistemi (Appian garantisce completa portabilità), a qual punto disponibili in azienda. Banale ? Scontato ? Irrilevante ? Non direi proprio. Chiunque abbia avuto esperienze di avviamento progetti attraverso prototipi iniziali conosce bene i mal di pancia del “ferro che non arriva”, della configurazione sbagliata, della instabilità dell’architettura…e via di questo passo.

Potere evitare tutto questo, per iniziare a lavorare, attaccandosi dal giorno 1 alla nuvoletta, può veramente portare a significativi risparmi di tempo e di costi. Meditate, meditate…

lunedì 14 febbraio 2011

BPMN: alcune definizioni (versione 1.2)

BPMN Definitions (1.2)


What is BPMN?
Business Process Modeling Notation was developed by the Business Process Management Institute to provide a modeling notation that is understood by all process modelers, users, analysts, etc.

What is a Business Process Diagram (BPD)?
A Business Process Diagram is a simple diagram made up of a set of graphical elements that depicts a business process. There are four primary elements of BPD:
- Flow Objects
- Connecting Objects
- Swimlanes
- Artifacts

What is a Business Process Model (BPM)?
BPMN defines a Business Process Model as a network of graphical objects, which are activities, and the flow controls that define their order of performance.

What are Flow Objects?
Flow Objects are shapes that represent the core elements of the Business Process Diagram (BPD), including:
- Events
- Activities
- Gateways

What are Events?
Events are anything that "happens" during the course of a business process. Events can have a cause, referred to as a Trigger, and/or an impact, referred to as a Result. An Event is represented by a circle in a Business Process Model. There are three types of Events based on when they occur in the flow of a process:
- Start
- Intermediate
- Emd

What are Activities?
An activity is any work that is being performed in a process. An Activity is represented by a rounded-corner rectangle in a Business Process Model. There are two types of Activities:
- Tasks
- Sub-processes

What is a Gateway?
A Gateway is used to control the flow of a process. Gateways handle the forking, merging and joining of paths within a process. Gateways are represented by a diamond shape in a Business Process Model.

What are Connecting Objects?
Flow Objects are connected together using Connecting Objects. There are three types of Connecting Objects:
- Sequence Flow
- Message Flow
- Association

What is Sequence Flow?
Sequence Flow is used to show the order in which activities of a process will be performed. A Sequence Flow connection is represented with a solid line and a solid arrowhead in a Business Process Model.

What is Message Flow?
Message Flow is used to show the flow of messages between process participants during a process. A Message Flow connection is represented with a dashed line and an open arrowhead in a Business Process Model.

What is an Association?
An Association is used to show relationships between data, text and other Artifacts and flow objects in a process. An Association is represented by a dotted line with a lined arrowhead in a Business Process Model.

What are Swimlanes?
Swimlanes serve as a mechanism to organize activities and responsibilities on a process diagram. There are two objects used in this organization, Pools and Lanes.

What are Pools?
A Pool represents a participant in a process. Pools are used when a process has multiple participants or business entities. The activities in a Pool are a self-contained process. Sequence Flow cannot cross Pool lines.

What are Lanes?
A Lane is a sub-partition within a Pool. Sequence Flow can cross the lines of a Lane. However, it is not accepted to have Message Flow crossing between objects in Lanes of the same pool.

What are Artifacts?
Artifacts allow process designers to extend the basic BPMN notation to include additional information about the process in the process diagram. There are three types of Artifacts:
- Data Object
- Group
- Annotation

What is a Data Object?
Data Objects are used to show how data is required or produced by activities in a process. Data Objects are represented by a picture of a piece of paper folded at the corner in a Business Process Model.

What is a Group?
A Group is used to document the grouping of any type of process objects. Groupings can cross lanes as needed. Groupings are represented by a rounded rectangle with a dashed line in a Business Process Model.

What are Annotations?
Annotations can be used to add textual comments within a process diagram.

giovedì 10 febbraio 2011

APPIAN annuncia grosse novità su mobile e social BPM


Oggi Appian annuncia il rilascio della nuova versione (6,5) della loro suite BPM che contiene, e sono i primi al mondo a farlo, funzioni per utilizzo di device mobili (iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, etc) in applicazioni BPM e di integrazioni con applicazioni BPM per social network.
La nuova funzionalità si chiamano Appian Mobile e Appian Tempo e fanno fare ad Appian un grande salto in avanti nei confronti delle altre piattaforme BPM.

Qui il link a "Appian Tempo"

lunedì 7 febbraio 2011

Presto una nuova acquisizione nel mondo BPM

Nei giorni scorsi Open Text ha manifestato la volontà di acquisire Metastorm.

"Metastorm will add complementary technology and expertise that enhances our ECM solutions portfolio,” ha detto John Shackleton, President and Chief Executive Officer di OpenText

sabato 5 febbraio 2011

I blogger più influenti sul BPM


  • Bruce Silver: Bruce is the daddy of BPMN, has been in the business for years and knows BPMN like the back of his hand (he should do - he helped write it)
  • Jim Sinur: He's been with Global360 and Gartner and he is the industry analyst for the BPM sector. His writing is often formal and rigid, but that doesn't take away from the value of his contents.
  • Adam Deane: Witty, sometimes caustic, but always on the money. Posts quite regularly. Always worth a read, especially his weekly roundup of the best BPM Quotes.
  • Sandy Kemsley: One of three women on the list. She attends and presents a lot at BPM conferences around the world and always has some useful insight into the latest movements in the BPM market. Her blog is 'Column 2'
  • The Process Ninja: He's Australian based and blogs about real-life applications of process. I look forward to his posts.
  • Connie Moore: The Forrester analyst for BPM and the other woman on the list. Finger on the pulse, covers the industry and the general BPM environment.
  • Thomas Olbrich. A German who blogs in English and German and who wrote my favourite BPM blog entry ever.
  • Keith Swenson's blog is a must-read: he writes thoughtful and informative posts on BPM and ACM (adaptive case management) that often inspire long conversations in the comments, and manages to do so without pushing his own company's products.
  • Elise Olding : Blogs with Gartner (alongside Jim Sinur). Also active in the Twitter community.
  • Max Pucher. I find his opinions and attitudes very contrary to popular thought. But that doesn't mean he's wrong. A contrary opinion is always useful for provoking discussion.
  • martedì 1 febbraio 2011

    Nuovo stile del blog

    Come avete potuto notare dopo anni ho deciso da dare una svecchiata allo stile del blog.
    Spero piaccia e sia aumentata la leggibilità.

    buona lettura dall'autore

    Disclaimer

    Questo blog non è una testata editoriale perciò non viola gli obblighi previsti dall'articolo 5 della legge n.47 del 1948 in quanto diffonde informazioni con periodicità occasionale. Il presente blog risulta conforme alla vigente normativa sulla editoria (legge n. 62 del 7 marzo 2001) non trattandosi di pubblicazione avente carattere di periodicità.