October 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Compuware adds to business requirements app
Compuware plans Tuesday to announce Compuware Optimal Trace 5.0, a new version of the company's business requirements management software intended to make it easier to adopt a business requirements management solution.
Version 5.0 enhances propagation of requirements to all aspects of the application lifecycle, according to Compuware. Organizations can grow into a sophisticated use of structured requirements, Compuware said. With the 5.0 release, customers can propagate "business intent," the company said.
"What we've done is we've just put out Optimal Trace 5.0 and it's kind of important from our perspective because it really offers the ability for customers to completely adopt the tooling for any particular approach," that they may be using in their environments, said Fergal McGovern, Compuware Optimal Trace product manager.
Users who have been using Word documents or Excel spreadsheets to map requirements can import text from these documents or files into the Optimal Trace repository. Managing changes in these types of applications rather than in Optimal Trace is difficult, according to Compuware.
Also featured is structural flexibility for tailoring project and package/group structure to the needs of any project, Compuware said. Custom field definitions can be created on the project, package and requirement levels.
A simplified list style requirement concept enables for customizable requirements capture and management.
Optimal Trace 5.0 is priced at $6,400 per concurrent user or $3,800 per named user.
Posted by Paul Krill on October 5, 2007 04:10 PM
May 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Metastorm announced the release this week of Version 7.5 of the company's Metastorm BPM (business process management) suite.
The suite allows organizations to improve multiple business processes and supports rapid analysis and change across human- and system-based processes, Metastorm said. Version 7.5 boasts "business-user friendly" BPM applications, the company said.
Features include:
* Easier access to external services for process design, for identifying Web service components of value to a process. These services can be tied into new process flows. Business value can be gained from SOA.
* Enhancements to the MetaStorm Insight business process intelligence module, to access process information and business data. A wizard-like interface is featured to assist with configuring custom reports.
* Support for Windows Vista and Windows Workflow Foundation.
* Enhanced backing for MetaStorm BPM within Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and JSR-168 (Java Specification Request) portals.
* The ability to access services via external repositories and business catalogs.
Posted by Paul Krill on May 8, 2007 05:33 AM
February 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: SaaS meets BPM in Lombardi Blueprint
Lombardi Software is looking to help companies reduce complexity and improve communication during BPM mapping with its new Blueprint application -- a Web-hosted modeling tool, now in beta, that allows employees to collaborate on business processes via Web browser.
In addition to easing deployment requirements with an on-demand SaaS model, what I find to set this tool apart is its "everyman," text-based approach to building process frameworks. You simply type your process descriptions into Blueprint's outline formatter, and Blueprint dynamically generates graphical maps ready to be dressed up with supporting detail (business and process ownership definitions, I/O requirements, and so on).
Blueprint's GUI is easy to use. I could drag process elements to reposition them within the outline, and Ajax underpinnings enabled dynamic type-ahead when entering supporting details. One addition I'd like to see: dropdown selection lists that enforce the use of standard terminology. Better to lead managers to accurate keywords than risk their creating their own.
Blueprint is not due until May 1, so the beta still has some rough edges (which is to be expected), and many features are still in the works. Support for complex processes (such as parallel branching) is limited, support for BPMN (although slated) has not yet arrived, and the general lack of advanced modeling features (like simulation) mean Blueprint is currently best suited to generic, high-level mapping and first-sweep data collection. But that's a start.
Also on my wish list are administrative features for defining permissions and rolls, necessary to adequately govern access to process elements. Blueprint's use of Wiki is buzzy, but I wouldn't want to risk opening my projects in that manner without more controls. Auditing features -- not yet available -- will be helpful for revision tracking, but auditing is not a substitute for taking some basic precautions.
Among the beta hitches: I was unable to export my diagrams. Lombardi indicates export will be enabled in the final release, and that diagrams will be exportable in BPDM -- a yet unratified standard looking to usurp XPDL. However, in the early going, you won't be able to import maps from existing tools and you will only be able to sync with Lombardi TeamWorks. A TeamWorks release supporting BPDM is slated to coincide with the release of Blueprint.
A nice feature was the ability to generate a presentation-ready PowerPoint deck of my project with a single click. Further, I could define concrete goals (if not yet actually associate them to specific processes) as well as identify pain points in need of attention. The final version promises to include an analysis engine to improve awareness of workflow problems, as well as a chat facility.
There's a long road ahead for making BPM accessible to the masses. It is good to see vendors like Lombardi taking the first steps toward easing that journey. I'll be watching eagerly to report back on how Lombardi Blueprint develops.
Lombardi Blueprint
Availability: Now in beta; GA due May 1, 2007
Price: $500 per month per 10 users
Verdict: Blueprint is one of the easiest to use higher-level process mapping tools I have seen, and its SaaS availability streamlines rollout. The early beta does not support complex mapping scenarios, but it's not entirely indicative of the full feature set to be released in the final product. Lombardi will continue to add capabilities for the May release.
Posted by James Borck on February 22, 2007 08:56 AM
January 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Automation Centre this week announced Tracker Suite 7.2, a business process management suite for Lotus Notes and Domino that features a more refined user interface.
With the new version, the user interface requires fewer clicks to navigate. Also included in release 7.2 are drag-and-drop collaboration folders, business dashboards and upgrades intended to streamline business operations, the company said.
Tracker Suite 7.2 provides access to project plans, resource schedules and work authorizations. A workflow engine featured in the product has been redesigned to incorporate "smart" routing so that if someone is out of the office, work is automatically rerouted.
Timesheets, project files and other documents can be organized with a drag-and-drop capability.
Project Tracker, the IT and project management application within the suite, now offers improved service-level agreement-tracking through a ticket dashboard that follows trouble tickets.
Also, users can send email invitations to meetings and track who has accepted. Users also can log action topics from the meeting and send out action items.
Online meetings can be scheduled with Project Tracker as well via email.
Version 7.2 of Tracker Suite is set to ship on February 14. The product was announced at the Lotusphere 2007 conference in Orlando, Fla., this week.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 26, 2007 03:55 PM
January 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Maxager 7.3 analysis system
Most analytic software is designed to address the palette of business challenges operations and finance must collaborate on. These products' have a broad direction, trying to address as many issues as possible. Maxager Technology's Maxager 7.3 analysis system, however, targets a specific range of challenging problems head-on with a sharp focus and an original point of view aimed at squeezing an extra 3 to 5 percent of profit out of the production capacity.
The software sops up back-end data, normally from an ERP system, to deliver return on assets (ROA) results, a single metric that's the result of Maxager founder and CEO (and well-known economist) Michael Rothschild's epiphany. His uncommon twist is this: rather than measure net margin by product, the right way to attack the measure is to calculate the margin per minute that your assets are capable of generating for each of the different products you might build with them.
For example, instead of a more standard analysis' conclusion that a higher margin-per-unit product is the optimal choice to run through a manufacturing line, one might discover that a slightly lower-margin deliverable can run at two or three times the production rate, making the lower-margin product the bigger margin generator. Thus, Maxager's system has the potential to resolve a natural conflict between operational production, marketing, and finance by combining each of their treasured measures and synthesizing their world views.
The Maxager 7.3 client has graphical displays for quick feedback, such as the topographic map (pictured above) that shows profitability and volume in an overarching, strategic view.
For the tactical view, an adjacent tab (pictured at right) shows key indicators for the product offerings so decision-makers can keep up with performance in near real-time. And while analysis of individual products is in itself a useful ability, you can use the same toolset to evaluate the ROA of various customers.
A what-if predictive analytics console (see below) projects and interacts with an analyst to propose and examine various product mixes aimed at increasing ROA, with a variety of key indicators to deliver shaded results that provide a complex perspective.
Rothschild brewed up the idea for Maxager based on the “Theory of Constraints,” an emerging power in management most usefully and readably described in the various postings at Frank Patrick’s Focused Performance Business Blog. Based on what I've seen, Maxager's uncommon take on business performance management stands to provide a persistent competitive advantage to the organizations that master it.
Maxager 7.3
Cost: Browser-based subscription service; “Fast Track” program starts at $20,000
Verdict: So far unique in its deliverables, Maxager 7.3 embodies a new way of looking at organizational throughput. By helping analysts devise ways to squeeze out more net margin per minute, it aims to deliver better return on assets. Every multi-product organization looking to find more net will find the approach well worth examining.
Posted by Jeff Angus on January 18, 2007 10:08 PM