workflow, document & business process management

CONSPECTUSJULY 2004 • £15 THE IT REPORT FOR DIRECTORS AND DECISION MAKERS

Workflow, Document & Business Process Management

www.conspectus.com

Business process management(BPM) is the buzzword for whatis otherwise known as workflowand document managementtechnology.

The idea behind BPM is thatmore than a name change, itsuggests organisations areintegrating all of their businessprocesses, instead of just usingworkflow, documentmanagement, records andcontent management systems tomake individual processes moreefficient.

The aim is laudable, but thedifficulties are that much greaterthan if single processes areinvolved.

Against that, our research(page 2) shows that manycompanies are unhappy withtheir current mix of softwareapplications and accept that theirbusiness processes are subject toconstant change. So people areready for BPM systems that canflexibly automate their processesand ‘glue’ their enterpriseapplications together.

Our Management Briefingarticles – written for Conspectusby the likes of EDS, META,Parity and other specialistconsultants – provide insight intohow you can get the best fromBPM and its individualcomponent technologies.

For Conspectus sales enquiries, please contactMeera Butterworth at PMP. Tel: 0870 908 8767.Email: [email protected]: Stan Packham. Editor: Tim Ring. Designer: AdrianTaylor. Production Manager: Jane Davies. Director of Research:Neil Ferguson. Conspectus is published by PMP (UK) Ltd, 15 Chiltern Business Centre, 63/65 Woodside Road, Amersham,Bucks HP6 6AA. Tel: 0870 908 8767. Fax: 0870 134 0931.Email: [email protected]. Typeset by PageSet Limited, 2 WillowWay, High Wycombe, Bucks HP11 1JR. Printed by S&GMagazines, Goat Mill Road, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, MidGlamorgan CF48 3TD. All material is copyright of PMP (UK) Ltd andmay not be reproduced in part or whole without the written consentof the publishers. The publishers are unable to accept, and herebyexpressly disclaim, any liability for the consequences of anyinaccuracies, errors or omissions in the information containedwithin this report, whether occurring during the processing of suchinformation for publication or otherwise. Conspectus offers thefacility to reprint articles. Please contact Jane Davies on0870 908 8767 for details. Conspectus is available onsubscription only. All subscription and editorial enquiriesshould be directed to PMP (UK) Ltd. ISSN 1363-6804

CONSPECTUSMarket Overview & Analysis 2The difficulty of pinpointing the return on investment from workflow andBPM technology makes it hard to cost justify. Pat Sweet reports on ourlatest IT user research.

Expert Opinion 5Mark Allen of Impact Plus explains what BPM offers on top of standardworkflow and document management technology.

View from the Top 10From the Sydney Harbour Bridge to London’s Millennium Bridge, design firmArup has hit the headlines. Group knowledge manager Tony Sheehandescribes how its work is driven by portal-based knowledge and documentmanagement software.

Round Table 12Market experts from Xansa, Cornwell Management Consultantcy, StrategyPartners and David Skyrme Associates predict the key trends in workflowand BPM.

Document & Records Management 18Records and document management systems may not get the pulses racingbut they’re back in fashion, says Malcolm Beach of AMTEC.

Content Management 20Jeffrey Mann of META Group helps you to devise an overarching enterprisecontent management strategy.

Implementation Issues 26Katie Walsh of EDS sets out the key issues to confront when introducingnew workflow technology.

Knowledge & Document Management 28Document management and workflow systems can combine to create anew – less vague and fuzzy – form of knowledge management. StewartMills of Parity reports.

Knowledge Economy 34Everyone accepts ‘knowledge’ is vital, but what does that mean in practicefor different types of organisation? Nigel Oxbrow of TFPL provides ananalysis.

Workflow, Document & Business Process Management Management Briefings

Workflow, Document & Business Process Management Supplier Profiles

www.conspectus.com JULY 2004 CONSPECTUS 1

Conspectus is a publication for directors and decision makers who areinterested in current developments in information technology.

Conspectus is published on the internet at www.conspectus.com,providing online access to both editorial and supplier information from all theprevious year’s issues, with an online search capability. Please register at thiswebsite to receive future copies.

BancTec 6BiT Group 7Captiva Software 8Cimage NovaSoft 9DST International 15eiStream 16FileNet/Oceanus 17FloSuite 22

Intalio 23Metastorm 24Objective 25SDL International 30Singularity 31Triaster 32Vignette 33

Throughout this issue we feature profiles of leading vendors of workflow,document management and BPM software. This information, supplied by thecompanies, has been checked and validated by specialist independentconsultancy Impact Plus.

WORKING FASTER ANDsmarter has become a necessityfor companies in recent years.And technologies such asworkflow and documentmanagement can help cut thecorporate paper mountaindown to size whilst improvingthe efficiency of basicoperations.

Our latest IT user study (seeSurvey Statistics box, page 4)suggests this message is gettingthrough, with organisationsfrom a whole range ofindustries implementing suchsolutions in the hope of raisingservice levels without sendingcosts through the roof.

But this evident enthusiasmfor the individual technologiesmasks the fact that manycompanies are failing to graspthe full potential of whatbusiness process management(BPM) offers.

While point solutions forworkflow or documentmanagement can tackle specificneeds, BPM provides the gluewhich will bind everythingtogether in an enterprise-wideimplementation.

Such an approach can offermuch-needed integration for anorganisation which has seendisparate applications spring upover the years, but now lacksthe cash or methodology tobring it all back together.

Our Expert Opinion articleon page 5 examines the prosand cons of this in more detail.

There is little doubt thatmany companies are seeking tooverhaul their currentapplications. Around half(55%) of our sample reportthat their existing enterprise ITsystems are not sufficientlyflexible, while 44% maintainthat their systems are neitheradaptable enough nor wellintegrated (see Figure 1).

In contrast, only a thirddescribe their systems as very

flexible (32%) or veryresponsive (32%) and only29% feel they are highlyadaptable.

Companies demonstratesimilar worries about thesuitability of their currentbusiness processes. The big

majority (84%) have madechanges in the last two yearsdesigned to make theirprocesses more efficient, while73% have taken steps tointegrate different processesinternally and 57% have beenlooking to make processes more

cost-effective. As a result, three-quarters (75%) have funded ITinvestments in the past twoyears aimed at making systemsmore integrated, while 62%have sought to make them moreresponsive and 59% have triedto improve on the flexibility oradaptability of their systems.

Over the same timeframe,41% of our sample haveimplemented workflow ordocument managementapplications, while 37% haveadded content managementsolutions and a quarter (25%)have opted for a BPM approach(see Figure 2).

Of all these options,document management emergesas the veteran application, with39% reporting they alreadyhave an operational system.More than a third (36%) alsohave a workflow application inoperation and 34% have acontent management system.

In contrast, take-up of BPMis slower, with only 12% of thesample already running anoperational system. Andalthough 14% are currentlyimplementing BPM, just 5%have a pilot project in hand,which suggests there is unlikelyto be a dramatic increase in thenumber of BPMimplementations in the nextyear or two.

Instead, companies seem tobe more inclined to continuespending on documentmanagement and workflow.

The already high proportionof companies using documentmanagement software looks setto increase, since 14% arecurrently implementingapplications in this area and20% are running pilots.

Similarly, 9% of our sampleare putting in workflowsoftware at the moment, and16% are giving it a trial.

The two most commondrivers for workflow andassociated technologies arecustomer service and/orcomplaint handling procedures,which are cited by 34% of ourrespondents, and the processingof online applications andinquiries (32%).

Market Overview & Analysis Workflow, Document & Business Process Management

2 CONSPECTUS JULY 2004 www.conspectus.com

Companies are strugglingto pinpoint the return oninvestment from businessprocess managementsystems, says Pat Sweet.

Very responsive

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

29%

44%

43%

44%

32%

55%

Highly adaptable

Not adaptable enough

Well integrated

Not well integrated

32%

35%

FIGURE 1: Nature of existing enterprise IT systems

Very flexible

Not flexible enough

Not responsive enough

Percentage of respondentsNote: respondents could choose all that apply Source: PMP Research

Content management

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

41%

41%

37%

25%

16%

FIGURE 2: Preferred technologies

Document management

Workflow

Business processmanagement

Records management

Source: PMP Research Percentage of respondents

Which of the following technologies has your company invested induring the last two years?

Unhappyreturns?

Organisations are also usingthese applications in areas suchas sales and order fulfilmentmanagement (29%) and avariety of ad hoc processesincluding expense claimhandling, membershipadministration, referrals andother claims handling.

Interestingly, some paper-intensive activities have yet toreceive much in the way ofsupport – product development(14%), product technicalsupport (9%) and marketing(4%) all come well down thelist of areas where workflow orBPM is widely deployed.

AppealThe key attraction of suchtechnologies lies in their abilityto help companies improvetheir existing working practices.

We asked our sample to ratetheir reasons for usingworkflow, documentmanagement or BPM softwareon a scale of 1 to 5, where 1represents ‘not important’ and 5stands for ‘very important’.

The aggregated results(Figure 3) show that thenumber one priority forcompanies is to introducegreater efficiencies and/orimprove productivity (4.33),coupled with the push toimprove service (4.18). At thesame time, organisations arelooking to reduce operationalcosts (3.80).

Ambitions such as improvingcorporate agility (3.32), orimproving the visibility ofprocesses (3.24) come someway down the list. And tworequirements which might havebeen expected to make animpact in this area barelyregister with our respondents.Neither the need to meet newcompliance regulations (2.88)or the desire to deal withintegration issues around legacysystems (2.57) score highly.

Part of the reason may lie inthe two biggest problemscompanies face in usingworkflow technologies andsoftware. These are thedifficulty of integrating withother enterprise applications,

cited by 52%, and the challengeof producing a clear ROI orcost/benefit justification, alsomentioned by 52%.

User acceptance (45%) isanother issue which comes highon the list of worries, with onerespondent drawing attentionto the difficulties of“overcoming user familiaritywith paper”.

On the other hand, only athird (34%) feel that the needfor a change managementprogramme is one reason whyworkflow is hard to introduce.

And while some respondentssay the complexity of manysolutions is a key problem,overall our survey findings

suggest vendors should givethemselves a pat on the back.

Only a quarter (27%) ofcompanies feel that the softwareis not flexible enough tosupport their desired way ofworking, while just 20% voicefears that user expectations willnot be met. And a mere 11%have concerns about poorscalability or other performanceissues.

Yet there is enoughuncertainty about how to makethe most of workflow,document management andBPM technology for companiesto seek outside help. Almosthalf (45%) have used systemsintegrators or external

consultants on a project toimplement such technology.

The most common requestfor help is with solution design(34%) – which suggests usersare finding it hard to navigatethrough the maze of differenttechnologies – along withsystems integration (21%).

There is widespreadrecognition that these are notapplications which can be justinstalled fresh out-of-the-box.

Interestingly, companies seemmore confident about handlingsome of the preparatory workfor a workflow implementation,with external help needed inareas such as defining processes(16%), project management(9%) and changing behaviours(2%).

For those companies whofind the idea of a full-blownworkflow, documentmanagement or BPM systemtoo daunting, there arealternatives.

Getting on for half (45%) ofour sample use or have beenusing messaging products suchas Lotus Notes or MicrosoftExchange as the baseinfrastructure for workflowtechnologies.

Their reasons for doing socentre on the simplicity of suchan approach. For 43%, userfamiliarity is a key advantage,along with ease of use (30%),cost-effectiveness (29%) andbetter integration ofinformation sources (25%).

There is also widespreadrecognition that portals canplay a role in reducingcomplexity and improving theuser interface in workflow andrelated applications. Althoughonly 18% currently use or planto use portal technology, half(50%) will be considering thisoption and only 15% haveruled it out completely. Theremaining 17% are undecided(see Figure 4).

The big advantage of aportal, of course, is that it offersa gateway into multipleapplications without the userhaving to learn the intricacies ofeach individual system.

Two-thirds (66%) of our



To reduce operational costs

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00

3.24

2.88

2.57

4.33

4.18

To improve visibility of processes

To meet regulatory requirements/legal compliance issues

To deal with integration issuesaround legacy systems

3.80

3.32

FIGURE 3: Key reasons for using workflow/DM/BPM

To introduce greater efficiencies/improved productivity

To improve service

To improve organisational agility

On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 = ‘not important’ and 5 = ‘very important’Source: PMP Research

Yes, alreadydo so or plan

to do so

Don’t know/notfamiliar with

this technology

No

Will beconsideringthis option

Source: PMP Research

FIGURE 4: Use of portals

Do you use or are you considering using portal technology as thestandard user interface to workflow/DM/BPM applications?

18% 50%

15%

17%

respondents acknowledge thathaving a single user interface isthe key advantage of portaltechnology, along with its easeof use, which is cited by half(50%).

Looking to the future, manycompanies regard a webinterface to workflow,document management andBPM products as essential. Half(50%) would not even considera product lacking thiscapability, while a quarter(25%) feel it is required forcertain applications.

Internet or web-basedapplications offer astraightforward way to link intoother applications, such asthose used by suppliers orsupply chain partners.However, only about a third(36%) plan to integrate any oftheir workflow processes withthose of external partners.

In contrast, 21% have noplans to take this course ofaction, and 27% have not givenit any consideration, with 16%unsure.

It is a similar story when itcomes to combining workflowswith those of others, perhaps asa result of a merger oracquisition. Only 14% havedefinite ambitions in this area,compared to the 30% who haveruled it out, the 32% for whomit is not yet even up fordiscussion and the 24% who do

not know their intentions.But while progress may have

been slow, companies are layingdown the foundations for suchrequirements in the future.

Three-quarters (75%)identify web services as either‘extremely important’ (27%) or‘important’ (48%) to theirdevelopments in the workflowarena (see Figure 5). This islargely because such technologyoffers a way to link togetherlegacy and externalapplications, a reasonnominated by 48%, combinedwith flexibility of deployment(46%).

Companies also recognise theimportance of industrystandards in this area, althoughsupport for options such as

BPML or eXML is more muted.Just over half believe suchstandards are either ‘extremelyimportant’ (26%) or‘important’ (29%), though aquarter (27%) do not have aview on this issue.

Overall, the biggest stumblingblock is the difficulty companiesface in calculating the return oninvestment from workflow,document management or BPMtechnology.

As Figure 6 shows, none ofour sample describes thisexercise as ‘easy’ and three-quarters (78%) rate it as either‘fairly hard’ (42%) or ‘veryhard’ (36%). Just 13% claimworking out the ROI is ‘fairlyeasy’, while 9% do not have aview on this.

But without some cast-ironinformation on the impact theseexpensive and sometimesdisruptive new applications willhave on the bottom line, manyorganisations remain reluctantto go forward in this area.

Indeed, only a third of oursample (35%) claim theirimplementations have deliveredthe expected benefits, while onein five (20%) deny this is thecase and 37% simply do notknow.

Some companies may havefailed to develop a convincingcase for ROI because they haveoverlooked a key area whereBPM software can make a realdifference – solving long-standing application integrationissues.

Yet only the brave wouldembark on an ambitious BPMproject without some hope ofachieving a decent pay-back.

The challenge over the nextfew years is for companies tofind a way out of this viciouscircle by developing detailedplans to use workflow,document management andBPM technologies to theirfullest extent.

● Pat Sweet is the researchanalyst on Conspectus. If youare interested in this study,please contact Neil Ferguson atPMP Research. Email:[email protected].




FIGURE 5: Importance of web services in workflow/DM/BPM

Extremelyimportant

Not particularlyimportantUnimportant

2%

Important

Don’t know

27% 48%

9%

14%

Fairlyeasy

Fairly hard

Very hard


FIGURE 6: Return on investment

How easy is it for your organisation to calculate the ROI on anyworkflow/DM/BPM technologies?

13%

42%

36%9%Easy 0%

Don’t know

For this survey we spoke to a broad cross-section of companiesfrom sectors as varied as education (6%), energy and utilities (6%),leisure and tourism (4%), transport (2%) and aerospace (2%).

We particularly sought the views of organisations in areas suchas manufacturing (18%), the financial services (16%) and thepublic sector (11%). They have traditionally had to find ways ofdealing with large volumes of paperwork and also often face thekinds of regulatory challenges which can be a key driver in theadoption of workflow and document management technologies.

The companies varied in size from the bottom end of the range– with 5% reporting a turnover of under £5 million and 4% fallinginto the £5 million to £10 million bracket – up to the very largest. Athird of our sample (30%) have a turnover of between £150 millionand £1 billion, while 7% have turnovers ranging from £1 billion to£5 billion, and 5% top the £5 billion mark.

SURVEY STATISTICS



Whilst workflow has been a component ofdocument management for many years,business process management hasrecently emerged as a ‘new technology’offering significant improvementscompared with traditional workflow.

But isn’t BPM just workflow by anothername? What improvements does it offer,and what are the drivers for BPM at thepresent time?

To some extent BPM is just a newname for workflow. Traditional workflowproducts support the automation ofbusiness processes via the definition ofprocess steps and the exchange of databetween steps – which is something thatBPM also provides.

But in one key respect BPM is different.BPM is typically used as a means ofintegrating existing applications andservices and the business processes thatoperate on these, rather thanimplementing a single discrete businessprocess. Workflow processes tend to beprescriptive step-by-step definitions,whereas BPM process definitions typicallyencompass the higher-level businessfunctions involved in a process and theoutputs from these functions.

This extrapolation within BPM from thedetailed data flows and its ability to viewbusiness processes across applications isreferred to as ‘process orchestration’ –contrasting with the ‘process automation’offered by traditional workflow products.

BPM does not therefore offer acomplete departure from traditionalworkflow, but rather an importantevolution of workflow technology,introducing a more rounded interpretationof real-life business processes andreducing the need for the rigid coding ofevery process step.

This ability to provide processgovernance at the organisation-wide levelgives BPM a role in application integration– a key driver for its success. Indeed,BPM is often presented as the solution tomany of the long-standing architectureproblems associated with the proliferationof legacy systems.

Yet such integration can typically onlybe achieved with the development ofapplication programming interface (API)

‘glue’ to facilitate the exchange of databetween the application and the BPMsystem. Any claim that BPM can integratediverse applications ‘out-of-the-box’ isunlikely to be justified.

Another key driver for BPM is that itoffers a basis for improved productivity –for example, by integrating manual andautomatic workflows and thus reducinghand-offs and process lag.

BPM can co-ordinate processes acrossdepartments and business functions,potentially reducing duplication of effortand inefficiency. In this sense, it offers ameans of implementing the ‘holy grail’ ofoperational efficiency – straight throughprocessing.

In order to achieve improvedproductivity, however, some level of

rationalisation ofbusinessprocesses islikely to beneeded.Implementing astraight copy oflegacyprocesseswithin the BPMsystem isunlikely togeneratebenefits.

Manyorganisations aspire to operating modelflexibility in an effort to respond to rapidlychanging markets and consumerdemands. The ability to redesign and re-deploy operational processes andsystems is therefore critical.

BPM can assist here because of thelevel of abstraction it offers over thedetailed implementation of workflow. Theuse of flexible process components,which can be re-used within differentorganisation-wide process definitions,enables companies to rapidly design anddeploy different operating models.

Thus, for example, if a decision is takento outsource a particular processcomponent, a BPM system can be rapidlyupdated to reflect these changes.

This is possible because the likelihoodis that the process components will stay

the same: what will change is the overallorchestration of these components andthe routing of the process.

By providing clarification of end-to-endenterprise processes, BPM enablesorganisations to take a more coherentview of corporate function. With the entirebusiness process exposed to the BPM‘engine’, it becomes possible to collatemanagement information across theprocess and present this in acomprehensive way to answer strategicbusiness questions.

In this way, BPM becomes amechanism for gaining greatermanagement visibility and control.

Greater visibility across the businessprocess can allow for greater staffaccountability. Because a BPM processdefinition spans manual and system-driven processes, there are potentially noprocess ‘blind spots’ where an individualor team’s performance cannot bemeasured.

But if BPM provides more than thelimited process automation offered bytraditional workflow engines, there is littleevidence that the market is exploiting itspotential. This may be because of thelevel of investment required to implementa full BPM system, in terms of process re-engineering, or because of scepticismregarding the benefits.

In any event, implementation willbecome easier in the future with theincreasing use of standard processcomponents which may be invoked byany process execution engine, utilisingstandards such as BPEL and XML.

The increasing use of web services inthis area will also open up the possibilitiesfor orchestration.

But to achieve this there is aninvestment cost, not least in terms of theeffort to stitch together what havetraditionally been departmental processdefinitions into true enterprise-widerepresentations. In reality, ‘pure’ end-to-end BPM process implementations areprobably still a year or two off.

● Mark Allen is a principal consultant withImpact Plus. Tel: 020 8977 4655. Email: [email protected].

EXPERT OPINION: MARK ALLEN of Impact Plus debates whether BPM is just a new type of workflow.

Why is BPM so special?

Mark Allen: role inapplication integration

Banc

Tec



BancTec

dashboard to help managersidentify emerging problems.● Process Intelligence – abusiness intelligence toolproviding configurable web-based management informationreports for statistical analysis ofoperational performance.● Process Decision – a businessrules engine to help businessusers document standardprocess logic and enableautomatic ‘straight-through

processing’ of work items.● Process Integrator – a broadarray of pre-built adaptors andinterfaces to connect processesto legacy and packagedapplications.

BancTec supplies end-to-endsolutions to a wide range ofindustry sectors by integratingeFIRST process with clients’legacy systems, as well as otherproducts in the eFIRSTportfolio such as eFIRSTcapture and eFIRST archive.

eFIRST capture provides asingle front-end captureplatform to automatically scanand process high volumes ofdocuments of any format,including forms, invoices andgeneral correspondence.Electronic documents such asemails, faxes and web formscan also be imported.

The product searches forkeywords and other documentidentifiers to classify eachdocument. It then automaticallyextracts and processes allrelevant text and otherdocument-based information topopulate document and contentmanagement applications,legacy systems or to distributethe document to the correctcontacts via email.

BancTec and Plexuscustomers include Barclays,Ford Motor Credit, BT, InlandRevenue, UK Police, South WestWater, Cisco Systems and USJoint Chiefs of Staff.

BancTec is a worldwide systemsintegration, business processoutsourcing and servicescompany. It has over 3,000 staffand more than 5,000 customersacross multiple industries in 50countries.

BancTec is one of the world’slargest electronic documentmanagement vendors – itssystems process over 50 milliondocuments daily.

When delivering workflowand BPM solutions, BancTecturns to Plexus. Founded morethan 15 years ago, Plexus, aBancTec-owned company, isrecognised as a pioneer inworkflow and BPM software.The Plexus network of partners, resellers and OEMshas delivered solutions to arange of industries in over 35countries.

eFIRST process is a suite oftools for the development anddeployment of scalableenterprise process management

solutions. Plexus says it isparticularly suited to large,high-transaction businessenvironments.

eFIRST process consists ofseven integrated modules:● Process Engine – scalable tosupport large configurations ofusers and networks, this hasbeen specifically engineered forintense, high-volumetransaction-based processes.● Process Builder – anenvironment that modelsbusiness information and relatesit to processes and processsteps. It enables companies todevelop user interfaces, formsand data objects managedwithin the solution application.● Process Analyzer – a processmodelling, analysis andsimulation tool enabling thebusiness to model and optimiseits processes.● Process Monitor – a real-timebusiness activity monitoringsolution providing a visual

Name and AddressBancTec Ltd, Jarman House, MathisenWay, Poyle Road, Colnbrook, BerkshireSL3 0HF

Telephone01753 778888

Fax01753 778707

Contact nameIan Painter

Email [email protected]

Website addresswww.banctec.co.uk

User Group Contact/Contact PointN/A

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)

Profit Before Tax (UK)

Profit Before Tax (W)

Number of Employees (UK)

Number of Employees (W)

Software Marketed (UK)

End User Support by

End User Training by

Key: D Direct, I Indirect N/A Not available/notapplicable, N/P Not provided,AOR Available on request

£31m

$379m

£4.5m

$18m

300

3,100

D/I

D/I

D/I

COMPANY

Name

First installed (year)

No. of UK sites/new sites last 12 months

No. of World sites/new sites last 12 months

Key markets

Current version – date of release

Operating systems supported

Software functionality offered:

Workflow

Document management

Business process management

Knowledge management

Content management

Web content management

Electronic records management

Imaging

Electronic forms processing

Other

Standards supported

Web server standards supported to provideintegration capabilities

Does product have its own businessintelligence/analytical tools?

Does product support third-party businessintelligence/analytical software?

Special application integration offered/integration tools supported

eFIRST process (formerly FloWare)

2003 (1992 – FloWare)

AOR

AOR

v2.0 – June 04

MS Windows, Linux, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

N/A

XML, J2EE, SOAP + BPMI/WfMC member

JSP, Struts, XML, XSLT

Yes

Yes – Hyperion, Business Objects, Cognos

Web services support + API for COM andJava + enterprise apps. integration inc.SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Siebel, etc

eFIRST capture

2002

AOR

AOR

v3.4.1 – May 04

Windows 2000, 2003, XP

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Document recognition, content analysis

XML

Provided by eFIRST process

Yes

Supports all major third-party analyticalapplications

Provided by eFIRST process

PRODUCTS

Banking & finance, government, utilities, telcos, retail, postal services + mailroomprocessing applications (eFIRST capture)

The BiT Group offers a suite ofbusiness tools designed toanalyse, manage and improvethe performance oforganisations. Its first productwas launched in 1992.

In addition to developing,marketing and selling products,BiT offers a range of servicesincluding training, skillstransfer, project managementand implementation support.

BiT’s suite of tools is basedon a framework approach andincorporates the ability toanalyse an organisation from anumber of integratedperspectives, and communicatethese perspectives using variousdiagrammatic approaches. Thetoolset includes a businessprocess modelling capabilityand a multi-dimensionalmathematical engine.

The specific productsupporting BPM is EnterpriseModeller, a framework tool

lie and impact analysis fordecisions, such as processchange, system implementationand outsourcing.

Using the multi-dimensionalmathematical engine, costanalysis can be provided to anylevel of detail, the mostcommon being products,services and business units.● For process improvement,multiple processes can bemodelled and analysed from anumber of integratedperspectives including whichrole performs each part of theprocess, which systems areused, how long the processtakes, how much it costs andthe process capacity.

Each of these process viewscan be multi-dimensional,providing additional insights.For example, for a financialservices company the cost of aprocess may vary depending onthe product and channel tomarket.● For the implementation of ITsystems Enterprise Modellerprovides an analysis of how theinvestment in such systemscould deliver improvementfrom the business perspective.● Process improvement withina single organisation can offersignificant benefits, but a multi-organisation view is oftenrequired to produce significantimprovement to the end-to-endprocess. Enterprise Modellerprovides the ability to analyseand improve processes acrossmultiple organisations.

Each of these views iscommunicated visually,providing a colour-codedoverlay for each process. Forexample, one view can showhow each product or service isprocessed and another the rolesinvolved in the processing.

In addition to the integratedviews described above,Enterprise Modeller canintegrate a number of otheruser-defined views, such asrisks, competencies andorganisation assumptions.

Enterprise Modeller alsointegrates with workflowproducts using XML. Havinganalysed and designedimproved processes, it transfersselected information to theworkflow developmentenvironment – providing astarting position for thedevelopment of the workflowsystem.

In addition to softwareproducts, BiT offers a suite ofsupporting services toorganisations using EnterpriseModeller:● Training – from introductorycourses through to specialistworkshops.● Skills transfer – ‘one to one’working to impart specialistskills.● Implementation support –practical support to help deliverbusiness modelling projects.● Project management – toplan, manage and implementbusiness modelling projects.

BiT Group


BiT

Grou

pproviding the capability tomodel, analyse, link andcommunicate a range ofintegrated business and processinformation.

Enterprise Modeller is used toanalyse an organisation and itsbusiness processes from anumber of linked perspectives,including cost, times, processefficiency, IT system support,risks and inter-organisationinterfaces.

BiT says the flexibility of theproduct means it can be used ina number of ways. The productis configured to meet therequirements of an organisationor programme.

Among the common uses ofthe product:● Cost management isapproached by combining theorganisation’s view of costswith the process view. Thiscombination provides a pictureof where an organisation’s costs


Name and AddressBiT Group, The Granary, Pury HillFarm, Alderton, Towcester NN12 7LS


Fax01327 811133

Contact nameElizabeth Redfern


Website addresswww.enterprisemodeller.com

User Group Contact/Contact PointAlistair Heslop/0870 220 0710

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

10

10

D

D

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Enterprise Modeller

1992

189 – 9

198 – 1

Business process modelling, continuousimprovement, risk analysis, centralgovernment, banking & finance

v4.2c – Nov 03

Windows 98, 2000, NT, XP

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

Business process modelling

XML

None

Yes

None directly

User-defined interfaces to third-partytools can be built via separated text filesand XML

PRODUCT

Founded in 1989, CaptivaSoftware Corporation is aleading provider of inputmanagement solutions.

Its award-winning productsare used to manage business-critical information held onpaper and in faxed and scannedforms and documents into theenterprise.

Captiva recognises that keyinformation must be atimmediate disposal. Clients’needs must be served,unimpeded by the delays andthe high costs associated withan ongoing ‘paper chase’.

Its products automate theprocessing of billions of formsand documents annually,converting their contents intoinformation that is usable indatabase, document, contentand other informationmanagement systems.

The software is used bythousands of users in insurance,

financial services, government,business process outsourcing,direct marketing and othermarkets.

Based on the time spententering and validating data,the high downstream cost ofincoming errors and demandsfor instant responsiveness,Captiva’s software is designedto provide the missing linkrequired for greater efficiencyand competitive advantage.

Even the most moderninformation systems are notdesigned with informationinput in mind.

Captiva claims that itssolutions help organisations to:● Lower operational costs byreducing dependence on manualprocesses, within the mailroomand throughout the enterprise.● Increase efficiency in overallworkflows by automaticallyprioritising and routing keyinformation.

standard, enterprise-levelscanning interface ISIS.● FormWare. Captivarecognises that forms are thedominant way of doingbusiness: over 80% of allbusiness documents are forms,with more than $360 billionspent processing forms annually.

Despite these costs, manybusinesses still rely on a manualprocess to gather informationfrom forms.

FormWare is a formsprocessing and data extractionplatform that automaticallyidentifies and processes bothpaper and electronic forms,regardless of their design orpoint of origin.● Digital Mailroom.Information rarely if everarrives ‘shrink-wrapped’ for theinternal workplace: it is usuallya mixed bag, with informationarriving in numerous formatsand from multiple sources.

Captiva’s Digital Mailroomsolution is designed to automatethe information process,creating a virtual ‘front door’ toenterprise information systems,and providing a single point ofentry for all input – incomingpaper mail, faxes, email andonline communications streams.

Digital Mailroom canautomatically recognise androute these documents to theappropriate department orperson, and run reporting andauditing capabilities.

Captiva Software

Capt

iva S

oftw

are


● Improve accuracy ininformation flows, and improvethe accountability ofinformation systems byinitiating high-level reportingand auditing functionalities.● Enhance back-end systems byspeeding up and improving theflow of information into themthrough system-specific exportswhich ease integration costs.● Increase security by capturinghard-copy documents in asingle location, and deliveringthem electronically throughoutthe organisation.

Products● InputAccel is an enterprise-level information capturesolution that providesbusinesses with a method of co-ordinating, validating andassimilating incomingdocuments.

It is designed to offer high-speed functionality in datacapture, processing andintegration and to improve theintegrity of business-criticaldata by removing opportunitiesfor error.

InputAccel is used byhundreds of companiesworldwide to collect andintegrate external informationinto their systems. It turnsexternal data into usable,business-ready content,regardless of its format or pointof origin.

It is offered as an enterprise-level solution by Captiva, whichalso created the industry-


Name and AddressCaptiva Software Corporation,Hanover House, Cross Lanes,Guildford GU1 1UG


Fax01483 460600

Contact nameBeverly Fitzgibbon


Website addresswww.captivasoftware.co.uk

User Group Chairman/Contact PointN/A

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

$57m

N/P

$3.5m

20

300

D/I

D/I

D/I

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Input Management Solutions

1989

300 plus – AOR

2,000 plus – 162

Insurance, banking, government,business process outsourcing,manufacturing

v5.1 – Jan 04

Windows NT, XP, 2000, 2003

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Input management, document/datacapture, forms processing, classification

XML, ISIS

None

No

N/A

Embedded VBA

PRODUCT

For more than a decade,Cimage NovaSoft has beenproviding enterprise contentmanagement (ECM) solutionsthat allow organisations tocomply with regulatoryrequirements.

The company believes thatmeeting these requirementsrequires a solution that spansthe content managementlifecycle, from initial creationthrough to archival anddisposal. Its solution combinesbusiness process management,collaboration and contentmanagement.

Cimage NovaSoft recognisesthat rapid business benefitrequires more than justtechnology. As a single-source

A web services toolkit wasreleased at this time, supporting.NET and J2EE webenvironments. The companyclaims Fusion ReferenceLibrary, released in Q2 2004,has generated interest fromcustomers and prospects due toits innovative design.

ProductsFusion is a framework fordelivering enterprise contentmanagement solutions forregulated industries. CimageNovaSoft says the adage “onesize fits all” no longer applies asECM evolves to become moreof an enterprise infrastructurerather than a focused businesssolution with proven benefits.

Fusion combines both models,providing solutions tuned to thebusiness requirements of specificregulated industries whilst ableto replace or utilise existingECM investments.

It combines document andcontent management,workflow, collaboration,knowledge and recordsmanagement into a singleintegrated web framework.

A web services interfacesupports web-based integrationwith popular web applicationservers and portalenvironments. A range of webapplications are provided,designed to meet therequirements of differentregulatory environments andbusiness processes. Fusiontherefore offers a range of

solutions and user interfacesgeared around the user’s specificbusiness environment.

Cimage NovaSoft has over700 installations in over 30countries.

Its customers includeaaiPharma Inc, Altana Pharma,AMEC Offshore Services,Ametek Aerospace Products,Applied Materials, BART, BFGoodrich Aerospace, BNFL,BOBST SA, British EnergyGeneration, BT, BWXTechnologies, Cambrex BioScience Walkersville Inc,Central Arizona Project,ChevronTexaco, CorningCostar, Eli Lilly and Company,Entergy, Enterprise EnergyIreland, Ford, Fujitsu SoftwareTechnology, GE Capital RailServices, Genentech, Gen-Probe, Georgia Gulf, Gillette,Honeywell Aerospace Yeovil,Husky Oil, HydrocarbonResources, I/N Tek, JohnCrane, LEONI Wiring SystemsUK, Lifescan, Lockheed Martin,London Underground, MagnoxElectric, Marathon OilCompany, Mobil North Sea,Northrop Grummon, NortonCompany, Phillips MedicalSystems, Powergen UK,Raytheon Aircraft Company,Rockwell Automation, SaltRiver Project, Sempra Energy,Sumitomo, Suncor Energy,Sunoco, Syntroleum, TalismanEnergy (UK), TXU Electric andWyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Cimage NovaSoft


Cim

age

Nova

Softprovider to specific regulated

industries, it offers a solutionthat combines domainknowledge and best practicewith software capabilities.

Its solutions are optimised tothe requirements of specificindustries through verticalmetadata models, businessprocess maps and standardintegration tools.

These off-the-shelf templatesenable enterprises to roll out anestablished solution to keybusiness processes with lesscustomisation.

In Q3 2003, CimageNovaSoft launched its Fusionproduct suite, a web-basedplatform for ECM solutions tothe regulated industries.


Name and AddressCimage NovaSoft Ltd, CentennialCourt, Easthampstead Road,Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 1JZ


Fax01344 767701

Contact nameMichelle Patch


Website addresswww.cimagenovasoft.com

User Group Chairman/Contact PointAOR

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



£5m

£10m

£0.5m

£0.5m

55

100

D/I

D/I

D/I

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Cimage NovaSoft

1990

100 – 10

700 – 50

Government – capital projects andinfrastructure (ie, rail), medicalmanufacturing, oil & gas upstreamoperations, pharmaceuticalmanufacturing (packaging, labelling,quality control), power generation andtransmission

e3 v5.11 – April 04

Client – Windows NT, 2000, XP, webbrowser. Server – Windows NT, 2003,Solaris, HP-UX, AIX

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

N/A

XML, web services, SOAP, UDDI, SQL

.NET, J2EE

No

No

Web services, Windows API Toolkit,database integration, CimageFramework Link, Office, Outlook,Maximo, Intools, SAP, Explorer, AutoCad,Microstation, Lotus Notes

PRODUCT

to be improved. We wentthrough an extensiveconsultation exercise and Iwrote a report to the boardaround the end of 2000. Theysaid ‘right go do it’, andobviously that was when thefun started.

We identified a wealth ofthings to improve which meantwe needed to run a number ofglobal projects.

From the start, we recognisedthat technology was both thecause of our problems and alsothe potential solution. Ourinformation overload was allabout our intranet and the wayit was designed. We wanted tochange the way knowledge wasretrieved, and we understoodthat by addressing ourinformation infrastructure wecould achieve other goals, suchas reducing the stress people

were operating under.It was really a big juggling

exercise, there were 40 or 50things that needed to be done interms of improving knowledgeand three years on, we havedone them all – and more. Butwe’ve done it in a low-key way,exploiting opportunities to getthings done on the back ofother initiatives and refocusingsome activities to support theknowledge managementinitiatives.

We always retained a smallcentral knowledge managementteam of two or three peoplewith the projects delivered byother teams.

Q: HOW DID YOU CHOOSE AN ITSOLUTION?A: After we got clearance fromthe board we began looking atintranet technology. In a way all

hell let loose at this point,partly because through theconsultation exercise we hadraised expectations and alsopartly because there wassuddenly an opportunity forpeople to make a difference andthey wanted to be involved.

There were loads of productsout there with loads offunctionality, not all of whichwe wanted. In six to eightmonths we matured in terms ofunderstanding what we wantedand also the market matured interms of the products available.

Our key criterion was that wewanted a portal that was simpleto use and access and that couldaccess all our existing corporateinformation which was on morethan 20 databases, includingOracle, Exchange andproprietary databases.

We did detailed trials on anumber of products and foundthat Autonomy could do thejob.

Q: HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK IN

PRACTICE?A: In a nutshell, having a portalonto our sources of informationallows us to find the rightcontent, the right people (whichis very valuable) and to create‘on the fly’ links to the contentwe’re looking at.

That last bit may soundtrivial but what we do is whenthe portal presents informationto someone, we get Autonomyto suggest related content.

For example, post 9/11 itwould be very easy for astructural engineer to think of atall building just as a building interms of design and materials.But these days the engineermust also communicate to theclient an understanding of risk,fire, ease of escape and so on.

Design now is less aboutindividual disciplines. We have


Q: WHAT BUSINESS DRIVERS LED ARUP TO

DEVELOP ITS PORTAL SYSTEM?A: We are a large engineeringorganisation with about 6,000to 7,000 people, seeking todifferentiate on innovation andcreativity – we design projectslike the Sydney Opera Houseand also the ‘wobbly’ bridge inLondon.

To make that creativityhappen, you need good peoplewith information andknowledge at their fingertips.Knowledge is all we sell, it’sfundamental to our business.

Round about 2000, werealised that people in theorganisation were gettingoverloaded with informationand we wanted to address that.

We also realised that the waywe work has changed, in termsof the immediacy involved.Now, if an email comes in,people have to respond to itimmediately – and we have tomake sure that people don’t justrevert to what they knowalready, that they pause andrefer to the best knowledgeavailable in real time.

Q: WHAT DID YOU DO TO ADDRESS THIS

PROBLEM?A: For us, it wasn’t a matter of‘great, let’s get a technologysolution’ – we spent six monthslooking at what was right andwhat was wrong in thebusiness.

I was given free rein by theboard to explore what needed

View from the topCompany: Arup Group.

Interviewee: Tony Sheehan.

Job Title: Group Knowledge Manager.

The Subject: Engineering firm Arup has improved its business performance through

portal-based knowledge and information management.

PROFILE


Established in 1946 by Ove Arup, Arup is a firm of consultingengineers working on projects including automobiles,infrastructure, structural engineering, communicationsconsultancy, financial and socially led engineering.

It has 72 offices in 32 countries, and around 7,000 membersof staff. Its turnover in 2001/02 was £403 million.

Arup is one of the world’s leading firms of designers, havingworked on projects such as London’s Millennium Bridge. It alsoworked on the structural design of the iconic Sydney OperaHouse in the 1960s and the development of the route for theChannel Tunnel Rail Link in the 1990s.

In 2000-2002, the firm undertook a comprehensive review ofits knowledge assets and as a result developed the ArupGlobal Intranet Project (AGIP).

COMPANY FILE

a community of structuralengineers in Arup but if anengineer is looking up buildingdesign, Autonomy will copy thepage into the search box andwith it present the top five linksto that page in real time. Itsuggests links – which mightpick up on that there’ssomething new been producedto do with risks.

People find they get muchbroader links which encouragesnetworking between thedifferent disciplines.

Q: HAVE YOU EVALUATED THE SUCCESS OF

THE PORTAL?A: The main benefit has beeneasy access to content,improved speed to findanswers. The portal has givenus a new user-friendly interfaceto our legacy systems, whichmeans people are finding theright content while reducing theinformation overload. It’ssimple but it gives people agood feeling.

For example, just after wehad introduced it, someoneemailed me to say they hadwanted to bid for a project buttheir PA had spent four daysfailing to get the right supportinformation for the bid.

They decided to give thissystem a go, got theinformation they needed fromAutonomy in half a day – andwe won the bid.

As an organisation we are notstrong on ROI partly becauseit’s so difficult to quantify. If thefeedback is positive from users,then the payback is there. Wehad a lot of very tangibleexamples that to turn into ROIwould be meaningless. It justworked.

Q: WERE THERE ANY PROBLEMS GETTING

THE PORTAL TO INTERFACE WITH YOUR

EXISTING DATABASES, SO IT COULD DRAW

OUT THE INFORMATION?A: During the first six monthsof testing we almost mappedthe business – we realised thatthe portal was a good idea butthen had to look at how itwould work in practice, thenitty gritty of how the differentsystems would interact.

We integrated various legacysystems and, for eachintegration, we have had tothink about how it works. Forexample, we had acomprehensive projectsdatabase, Ovabase, whichcaptured previous projectexperience. This was gettingpoor feedback – it wasn’t badbut it was a hard system to getinto.

We created a better interfacebut also we needed to integratea few things alongside it to givepeople a kind of ‘one stop shop’of information. If someone ispreparing a bid, they want tolook at past projects inOvabase, but they will alsowant information from thefinancial system – did we makea profit or loss in the past? –they might want some datafrom the image base or sometimesheet data.

We had to make those linkshappen, and for each databasethe way we presented andretrieved data had to be thoughtthrough.

Q: HOW DID THE USERS REACT TO THE

NEW SYSTEM, AND WHAT WERE THE

TRAINING REQUIREMENTS?A: A lot of the system wasintuitive, deliberately so.

within each brand whose role isto check the content.

Q: HAVE THERE BEEN ANY PROBLEMS WITH

THE SOFTWARE?A: Honestly not for us. Wealways tested it first. We hadpeople customising it for ourneeds before we introduced it,and it hasn’t fallen over.

Q: HAS THE SYSTEM BEEN DEVELOPED

SINCE YOU FIRST INTRODUCED IT?A: We continue to customise it.People are still busy, they arestill overloaded and there’s aconstant need to update thesystem. We are always saying toAutonomy ‘we want to do thisor that, what blend of yourproducts can help us?’.

At the moment we’re lookingfundamentally at the bestpractice information that wemake available. In the past, theHarvard Business Review wasthe source of business bestpractice but now there are lotsof other sources.

We’re going through a kindof navel gazing exercise definingwhat best practice means in thisday and age. For us, it’s aprocess of continuousevolution.

Another area we are lookingat is how to get people toabsorb content. The first phasehas been to look at the waypeople work and the knowledgethey need, and pulling togetherthat content.

But there’s no point inmaking content available ifpeople don’t use it. The wayahead is to look at how thiscontent can have an impact onpeople, there’s got to be someinterest or curiosity and thatmight involve some work withe-learning systems.

Q: WHAT KEY LESSONS HAS ARUP LEARNT

FROM THIS IMPLEMENTATION?A: You have to think throughyour business first – think aboutyour people and processes –and then the technology. Theacid test of technology in thisarea is how well it can becustomised to support yourpeople and processes, to deliverwhat you want.



Having consulted with varioususer groups about what theyneeded, our brief was always tomake it very simple.

We didn’t go strong ontraining. There were lots of helppages available and weembedded some things intoexisting training courses, but wekept it deliberately low key.

Q: DOES THE SYSTEM SUPPORT YOUR

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT, AS WELL AS

KNOWLEDGE AND CONTENT MANAGEMENT?A: We have a number ofdifferent documentmanagement systems andAutonomy decides whichdocuments should be sharedfrom each particular system.

All documents or content arebranded with one of five‘brands’, depending on whetherthey relate to ‘people’,‘projects’, ‘best practice’,‘corporate rules’ or ‘networks’(communities of people in thesame role).

By categorising a documentin one of these areas, people canfind the type of informationthey are looking for grouped byAutonomy.

They will also know that theycan use the document withconfidence because it has beenvalidated by one of our experts

NAME: Tony Sheehan.BACKGROUND: As GroupKnowledge Manager andAssociate Director of Arup,Tony is responsible for thedevelopment andimplementation of thecompany’s globalknowledge managementstrategy. He specialises incultural change, processmanagement and KMtechnology.

Beyond Arup, he is involved in KM research projects at anumber of universities and business schools and has beenappointed as an advisor to the Department of Trade andIndustry on selecting suitable construction research andinnovation projects in the KM field.

Prior to his current job, Tony worked for 12 years as a seniormember of the Arup materials and construction team,providing consultancy to clients on the use of materials inbuilding and civil engineering.

PERSONAL FILE

WORKFLOW AND documentmanagement software has beenaround for some time, butbusiness process management isa relatively new concept. Andwhile all these technologiesdeliver substantial benefits,working out just how toimplement any or all of them isa challenging task.

To look more closely at theissues involved, Conspectusinvited four industry experts togive their views on currenttrends in this market and toidentify where and how suchtechnology can best be used.

We spoke to David Skyrme,director of his own specialistconsultancy David SkyrmeAssociates; Michael Anniss,principal solutions architectwith computer services groupXansa; David Scott-Jones,principal consultant withindependent firm CornwellManagement Consultancy; andRory Staunton, managingdirector of the businessconsultancy Strategy Partners.

Our panel began byconsidering the relationshipbetween the more establishedspecialist software and thenewer, all-embracing concept ofBPM. While applications suchas workflow are usuallyimplemented in particulardepartments within a company,BPM is often seen as a moreholistic approach whichtranscends traditionalorganisational boundaries.

However, our experts sounda note of caution about howthis will work in practice.

Michael Anniss emphasisesthat it is wise to consider widerbusiness and systems issues,even if the initial intent is toimplement a point solution, butalso stresses that introducingBPM is not a simple task.

“Many organisations willcurrently have point solutionsin place providing some of theelements of the overall BPMsolution,” he said. “However,the move to a complete BPMapproach requires change andinvestment orders of magnitudegreater than is needed for theimplementation of one part of

the whole picture, so therequirement for point solutionswill probably remain. The focusneeds to be on using theappropriate level oftechnology.”

This view is echoed by DavidSkyrme, who believes that “thename of the game is evolutionand interoperability within awell-defined but flexiblearchitecture and vision. Eventhen, most of the innovativeand task-specific products comefrom niche vendors. And oftenindividual departmentinitiatives demand local andadaptive solutions that can beimplemented quickly. Thereforewell-designed and user-friendlyniche products will always havea place.”

Anniss reckons that, in thelonger term, users may come torealise that BPM offers a way tomake the whole more than thesum of its separate parts.

“We are seeing a growingtrend towards a collaborativeapproach in exploiting the

strengths of the existingtechnologies. This in turn maypersuade companies to adoptan holistic approach. Wheresuch an approach has beendiscussed, the integration ofworkflow components is criticalto realise the overall benefitsand the management vision,”he said.

But David Scott-Jones isfirmly of the opinion that fewusers will be rushing to scraptheir legacy systems for an‘holistic’ BPM solution just yet– although he agrees thisapproach has importantpotential benefits.

“A strength of BPM solutionsis crossing existing systemboundaries to extract real-timedata from other applications tomanage the business process.With appropriate standards andprocess-building tools simpleenough for non-IT specialists touse, a good BPM solution putscontrol in the hands of thebusiness user and takes theoverstretched IT department

out of the loop. So thereabsolutely is a place forpoint solutions, althoughno doubt vendors wouldlike to sell fullyintegrated solutions,”Scott-Jones said.

Rory Stauntonelaborates on this view,but sounds a note ofcaution about whatexactly is involved. “Wehave never encountered auser who regards thescope of BPM as a termto cover more than

workflow, process managementand application integration. Theother components are neededfor real-world solutions, asBPM on its own is worthless,”he said.

The issue here is howintegration is to be achievedsuccessfully. Staunton says theburden for ensuring thishappens should fall squarely onthe supplier, rather than thebuyer.

“The challenge for users is toresist buying standalone best ofbreed BPM componentsbecause the BPM vendor shouldcover the cost and risk ofintegration. This should be amajor qualifier in newpurchases. Users need toexamine offers carefully andidentify vendors pushingcomponents and beingeconomical with the actualité,”Staunton said.

Skyrme is another whoquestions just how close somesuppliers are to the nirvana ofthe fully integrated BPMsolution.

In his experience, the overallfunctionality on offer in somepackages is the result ofcompanies acquiring othervendors and products. In thesecircumstances, it can takeseveral years for the vendor toachieve seamless integration(although the growing use ofopen standards such as J2EEcan speed up the process).

The resulting difficulty ofdistinguishing between promiseand reality is another reason tostick with tried-and-testedsingle applications.

“Several factors mitigateagainst taking an holistic view.First, companies may havemany different legacy systemswhose data and applicationsneed to be migrated to the newenvironment. Secondly, thereare concerns about a ‘big bang’all-embracing project that mightdisrupt current systems andhave a high propensity to fail.Perhaps most importantly, thediversity of users’ needs oftenmitigates against a ‘one size fitsall’ solution,” Skyrme said.

Often, there are also major



Four workflow and BPM experts debate how companiescan get the most from this technology. Pat Sweet reports.

Workflowworkout

Michael Anniss: appropriate technology

costs associated with opting forthe holistic BPM approach.“The work required tosystematise documents, records,knowledge and workflow isenormous – and expensive. Norwill all the users need all themodules. However, it is fair tosay that there are other benefitsof an integrated toolset from asingle vendor, and these areincreasingly being recognised,”Scott-Jones said.

Certainly, many vendors havestarted down this path, eventhough they may be havingtrouble persuading users tofollow them immediately. As aresult, there has been anupsurge of mergers andacquisitions amongst suppliersin the workflow, documentmanagement and BPM arena.

Skyrme sums this up as “theinevitable consequence ofDarwinian evolution andmarket forces in product spaceswhose boundaries areconstantly changing”.

The positive impact of thisshould be that only the bestsurvive, but the downside isusers may be left with systemsthat have become obsolete andunsupported – a concern voicedby several on our panel.

“There are several impacts oncustomers: will their preferredvendor still be around in three,five or ten years? Will they betaken over by one of the bigboys such as Microsoft or IBM?While that might guaranteecontinuity, will companies findthemselves at the mercy of theirdevelopment and pricingstrategies, and other restrictivepractices?” asks Scott-Jones.

Staunton is less exercised bythis, as he believes thisdevelopment is overall “largelypositive for users, because it iscreating a smaller number oflarger players that are safer tobuy from, rather than smaller,niche vendors fuelled bydotcom money that are unsafeto buy from”.

Anniss concedes that theimpact for existing users may bedisruptive, but suggests there isa lot for future users to gainfrom this trend because there

will be morecommonality of purposewithin the BPM market.

“For BPM to becomesuccessful, agreedstandards must be usedfor modelling,implementing businessprocess flows andintegration withorganisational resources.In addition, for the pointtechnologies to play aneffective role in the moreintegrated world ofBPM, they need toprovide additionalcapabilities and well-definedinterfaces with othertechnologies. The fewer vendorsthere are, the greater the chanceof investment in the re-positioning of products, theirintegration capabilities and realconsolidation aroundstandards,” Anniss maintained.

Skyrme reckons it is thisprocess which will be ofgreatest benefit to end users asthey weigh up potentialpurchases. “The primaryrequirement is to think lessabout the long-term viability of

the vendor, and more abouthow easy it is to extract andmigrate the logic, templates anddata from the chosen solution.Again, adoption of industrystandards such as XML willhelp future-proofing,” he said.

However, while our panelbroadly agree with Scott-Jones’assertion that standardisation is“A Good Thing” for bothvendors and users, they alsomaintain it would be a bigmistake to assume that all BPMtechnology can be bought off-the-shelf and plugged straightinto the enterprise.

“Companies will need to dolots of implementation work.Today most organisations aredeficient in their adherence tostandards, the consistency oftheir corporate businessclassification scheme andmetadata, and the discipline oftheir knowledge workers’working practices,” is howScott-Jones outlines theproblems.

Skyrme is another scepticabout how easily BPM can beintroduced.

“It’s certainly not ‘plug andperform’. Many of thesestandards are at the very basiclevels of message exchange andinteroperability. Companiesneed common schemas andhigher-level standards forresource definitions for systemsto recognise – for example, thatone company’s ‘customer’ isanother’s ‘client’. Furthermoreit will be collaborativecommunities or participants insupply chains where theemphasis on customisation willcome. No company is anisland,” he warned.

Staunton points out that mostBPM products at the momentsit at the component level, aresold to IT project managers,and require very significantconfiguration and extensivecustomisation. In his view, ‘plugand play’ is a valid vision,rather than an operationalreality, although this maychange over the next two years.

In any case, not everycompany is going to welcomethe emergence of standardproducts. “Commercialorganisations need tocontinually build competitivedifferentiation into theiroffering to their customer. Thewider effects of standardisedsystems and business processesmay impact on this commercialimperative,” Anniss said.

He believes the morecomplex problem is creatingstandards for the informationthat is exchanged betweenproducts, and for the elementsof the business processes thatthey manage.

The emergence of standards



We asked our four experts to consider the following questions:● Most vendors now offer BPM systems which integrateseparate technologies like workflow, knowledge management,document management and content management. But howmany users adopt a similarly holistic approach? Is there still aplace for the point solutions?● There has recently been a lot of merger and takeover activityamong vendors in the workflow, document management andBPM area. What is the impact of this, both positive andnegative, for users?● Is the growth in corporate regulation and compliancerequirements – such as the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxleyand the impending Freedom of Information legislation in the UK– encouraging greater use of BPM technology such asdocument management?● With the launch of integrated product lines, plus the use ofstandards such as XML and web services, BPM technology isincreasingly billed as a ‘plug and play’ choice. Is this correct?How much work do companies need to do to customise theirimplementations?● Companies are usually advised to implement technologiessuch as workflow, document management, KM and BPM insmall stages or via pilot projects, in order to reduce risk. Butdoes this limit the chances of an organisation achieving theexpected benefits of enterprise-wide BPM? What kind ofstrategy is appropriate?

KEY ISSUES

David Scott-Jones: standards gaps

such as BPEL, and thestandardisation of businessprocess modelling tools toproduce BPEL-compliantdefinitions, provides part of thesolution here.

“Each organisation has todefine its own internal businessprocesses and the environmentin which to manage them. Theywill often have to create theenvironment to interact withother organisations. In bothcases there will be specificcustomisable elements that needto be addressed. The morestandard the business process,the less the need to customisethe application components forthat process,” Anniss said.

In some areas, the move toBPM technology has beenprompted by the need forcompanies to meet additionalregulatory requirements, suchas the Sarbanes-Oxleylegislation in the US or newFreedom of Information laws inthe UK.

Skyrme is in no doubt thatcompliance requirements aredriving greater adoption –especially in the public sectorwhich has not perhaps been asadvanced as the commercialworld in implementingelectronic document andrecords management systems.However, they are notnecessarily a critical driver.

“Even without suchrequirements, manyorganisations alreadyunderstood the business benefitsand have well-developedsystems with intranet or portalaccess,” Skyrme said.

But for Staunton,regulations andcompliance represent thefastest growing segmentof the BPM and contentmanagement markets inEurope today, which iswhy software andservices in these sectorsare still growing, whilstother componenttechnologies such as ERPand CRM are not.

This is likely tocontinue being the case,if Scott-Jones is right.

“Few organisations are utilisingthe full capabilities of thetechnology at the moment –often because their topmanagement has yet toappreciate the potential impactof the new regulations.Document management is onlya small subset of what will berequired by Sarbanes-Oxley andFreedom of Informationlegislation, and manyorganisations are implementingit in a way that will fall short ofwhat is required,” he said.

In particular, Anniss said,while the greater use ofdocument managementtechnology solves someproblems going forward, it doesnot address the historical orongoing underlying issue ofidentifying and using base-levelbusiness data in the first place.

“A focus on technologycomponents will simply movethe wrong data round thebusiness more effectively andnot get to the root of thebusiness problem, or indeedopen up the opportunity whicha greater understanding of thecompany’s lifeblood couldprovide. By getting the data anddata management processesright within a compliancecontext, businesses can thenlook to exploit the knock-onCRM benefits this provides,”Anniss said.

The final topic our paneldebated is the thorny issue ofhow best to implement BPMtechnologies. While a pilotproject reduces risk, it mightalso fail to deliver the benefitsthat only wholesale, enterprise-

level BPM can bring. Yetexperts like Skyrme dismisssuch fears.

“If proper knowledgemanagement and learningapproaches are adopted,companies can learn a lot frompilot projects that will standthem in good stead for a majorrollout. But once they havelearnt what works best in whatsituations, they may need to beambitious in the speed and scaleof the rollout to maximisebenefits. However, they don’tnecessarily have to go for 100%coverage. There will always bea tail of diminishing returns,where investments may bebetter applied to piloting thenext innovative solution,”Skyrme said.

Scott-Jones is anotherenthusiast for this approach,arguing that pilot projects areextremely valuable as a way oftesting the ‘fit’ of the productand assessing the organisation’sability to implement and use it.

“The pilot project shouldvalidate estimates of the timeand effort required, testprocedures and trainingprovision, and provide ademonstrator platform formanagement and other staff notdirectly involved in theprogramme. And by reducingthe probability of the projectfailing it should enhance thechances of realising theexpected benefits,” he said.

In addition, a successful pilotgives senior management theconfidence to use the systemorganisation-wide. This iscritical, because some projectsfail because of poor take-up rather than poortechnology, making ahigh-level mandateimportant foracceptance.

A quickimplementation in smallpieces, rather than a ‘bigbang’ requiring years ofwork will also keepinterest levels high –although there may beobstacles to doing this,as Scott-Jonesacknowledges.

“For example, you candeliver workflows sequentiallyrather than re-engineering manyprocesses at once.Unfortunately other aspects ofBPM don’t lend themselves tothis – you can’t deliver half anelectronic records managementsystem, and even a pilot systemrequires as much preparation asa complete rollout,” heconceded.

And as Anniss points out,moving to ‘full-strength’ BPMwill force many organisations tochange the way theyunderstand, define, run andmanage their businessprocesses. As a result, many willface dilemmas about the level ofdifferentiation, cost, complexityand ROI involved.

“Companies need to positiontheir business and technologychange clearly in terms of theirbusiness performanceimplications and ensure thatany technology used is veryclearly justified and provides aclear contribution to thebusiness performance,” Annisssaid.

Staunton agrees that anystrategy to realise ROI in BPMdepends on identifying theoperational metrics that definesuccess before the project starts,rather than concentrating ontechnical measures like thenumber or speed of processes.

But for those organisationswho understand theimplications of BPM and theway in which the market isdeveloping, there are substantialprizes to be gained by thosewho take the initiative.



Rory Staunton: operational metrics

David Skyrme: pro pilot projects

DST International (DSTi)provides a range of investmentmanagement and workmanagement software solutionsand related services to 600clients in 55 countries.

DSTi has 16 offices and over1,300 professionals and is partof DST Systems, a NYSE-listedcompany with revenues of morethan $2.4 billion and a recordof continuous profitability sinceit was established in 1969.

DSTi’s HiBPM businessprocess management solutionenables businesses to define,automate, integrate andmonitor business processes.

It is designed to transform theway business operates, offeringbenefits in productivity,efficiency, cost control andcompliance.

HiBPM is a suite ofestablished, scalable solutionsand tools encompassingworkflow, object repository,

availability profiling, andbusiness process monitoringtools.

AWD offers a data-drivendesign enabling the business,not technicians, to makecontinuous improvements. Thesoftware is open and modular,and uses its own middleware orothers to integrate with existingbusiness applications, officeproducts, groupware, etc.

AWD encompasses processautomation in a variety ofareas, including:● Content management.Companies use the integratedAWD capture suite to capturepaper, fax, email, text, data andother information types, inorder to build a repository ofinformation for subsequentdelivery and retrieval throughthe process managementmodule.● Process management. Frominitial capture, AWD guidesbusiness users through therules-based process, accordingto task priority and the skillsand availability of the user.● Task management. AWDprovides GUI tools to simplifythe definition of business rules,allowing best practice/compliance elements to becomeentrenched in the businessprocess and enabling users toembed and demonstrate processtransparency.● Contact management. AWDincludes a module forworkflow-enabled customercontact centres, providing a

single view of the customerfrom initial contact tocompleted work.● Process monitoring. Thebusiness intelligencefunctionality, which includes aquality subsystem, helpsmanagers understand the stateof the business and gives themtools to implement change.● Process automation. This isachieved through straight-through processors that canautomate activity, withouthuman interaction, to offerproductivity improvements,particularly as a servicefulfilment engine. Automationcan cover a complete process; itcan also take on routinepreparation or follow-up tasks,to remove repetitive activitiesfrom knowledge workers.

Market focusDSTi has supplied BPMsolutions to over 300organisations with over100,000 users worldwide.

UK clients include LloydsTSB, Friends Provident, Legal& General, Aegon, C&G,Scottish Widows, IFDS,Standard Life, Kent RelianceBS, Abbey National, ScottishLife and Unisys InsuranceServices. Many of theseimplementations involvecomplex processes overmultiple sites, and AWD isfundamental to DST’s own BPOservice centres worldwide.

DST International


DST

Inte

rnat

iona

ldocument management,straight-through automation,compliance and othercomponents that integrate withan organisation’s existingsystems.

DSTi uses these solutions inits own core business, and saysthat robustness in productionand costs of ownership aretherefore critical for the successof HiBPM.

The company provides itsown consultancy resources tooffer integrated products andservices, with over 90 EMEA-based staff working in HiBPMimplementation and support. Italso markets HiBPM throughstrategic partners and sellsHiBPM on a licence or service-based model.

HiBPM combines integralcapture services and workflowfacilities with the scalable AWDsolution, providing graphicalworkflow tools, user skills and


Name and AddressDST International, DST House, St Marks Hill, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 4QD

Telephone020 8390 5000

Fax020 8390 7000

Contact nameRobin Nathan


Website addresswww.dstinternational.com


CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



AOR

AOR

AOR

AOR

650

1,300+

D/I

D/I

D/I

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





HiBPM

1989

70 plus – N/A

300 plus – N/A

Financial services, legal, utilities,government, telcos

v3.1 – 2003

Windows NT, 2000, XP, IBM OS/400, SunSolaris, Linux

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

N/A

XML, WfMC, BMPI

.NET, J2EE

Yes

Yes – Business Objects

Integration toolkit/expertise provided;standard thick/browser desktops orcustom-built using Developer’s Toolkit

PRODUCT

eiStream is a global leader inproviding business processmanagement technology.

Its imaging and workflowproducts and services are usedby more than 4,000 customersites in 134 countries.

eiStream offers scalable,enterprise-wide workmanagement solutions. Itpioneered workflow andimaging solutions more than adecade ago and aims tocontinue this innovativeapproach.

eiStream is a privately ownedcompany and has beenconsistently profitable since itwas founded, with 20% ofrevenues reinvested in researchand development.

More than 1 million eiStreamlicences are in use worldwide.

Companies use eiStream tostreamline the flow andmanagement of information,

with the aim of reducingprocess cycle times andenhancing quality andaccountability. eiStream’sscalable production workflowand document managementsystems, coupled with its systemintegration and distributedcomputing capabilities, enableorganisations to automateprocesses in their entirety.

eiStream offers a customisedservice portfolio, the InvestmentProtection Programme (IPP).

IPP takes a proactive supportstance to ensuring that systems– and the companies using them– remain productive.

Customers have direct accessto eiStream through a dedicatedteam, including technicalspecialists. This is designed toprovide predictable, proactivemaintenance and accessibleexpert assistance, supportingcustomers in establishing

eiStream says the productscales rapidly and cost-effectively through its multi-platform service-orientedarchitecture.

It can also be integrated withother enterprise systems usingstandards-based internettechnologies and a variety ofother alternatives for systemintegration.

Enterprise 9’s deploymentmethodology completes theoffering, with a roadmap forimplementation and long-termcontinuous improvement.

It helps users to transformtheir processes and deploy newprocesses without businessinterruption.

Enterprise 9’s componentsconsist of:● Domain services – managethe back-end infrastructure thatdelivers Enterprise 9’scapabilities.● System interfaces – used todevelop custom clientapplications and integrate withother application servers andenterprise systems.● Administration tools –configure the domain servicesand provide system utilities formanaging live environments.● Design tools – used toconfigure and design businessprocess maps.● Business process maps –composed of process definitionsthat manage how work isrouted throughout anenterprise.

eiStream

eiSt

ream


efficient production andoffering insight into ongoingcosts.

eiStream Enterprise 9provides a combination ofproduct capabilities andarchitecture, augmented with adeployment methodology forcontinuous improvement.

It offers three major productfeatures, specifically developedfor business processmanagement:● Start to end processing – thisenables the software to interactand integrate with a company’speople, processes, systems andinformation.

With Start to End Processing,eiStream Enterprise 9 canmanage the lifecycle of businessprocesses, spanning enterpriseboundaries if necessary.● Goal management – enablesusers to define and embedbusiness goal objectives in theiroperational processes andmanage service levelcommitments.● Business activity monitoring– enables managers to monitorprocess performance and spotemerging trends andimprovement opportunitiesbased on the process feedback.

Working in concert witheiStream Enterprise 9’s productcapabilities is its architecture.eiStream Enterprise 9 supportsa diverse combination oftechnologies and platforms,allowing users to developbroad, distributed enterprisesolutions.


Name and AddresseiStream Inc, Dukes Court, HeadstoneDrive, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 4TY


Fax020 8424 4961

Contact nameJay Sayed


Website addresswww.eistream.com

User Group Chairwoman/Contact PointMs Judith Smith/AOR

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

$80m+

N/P

N/P

15

400

D/I

D/I

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





eiStream Enterprise 9

1990

67 – 6

5,000 – 25

Financial services (banking &insurance), government, cross-industry(healthcare, retail, legal, utilities, etc)

eiStream Enterprise 9 – 2004

J2EE, .NET, Windows

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

N/A

N/A

.NET, J2EE

Yes

Can be integrated with range of third-party BI products

Can be integrated with key applications(PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel, Oracle) andsystems (IBM MQSeries, MSMQ, webservices, LDAP, SMTP/Mail)

PRODUCT

management and monitoring ofinteractions (letters, emails,faxes, SMS text, etc) betweenthe people and/or systemsinvolved in business processes,whatever the location, methodor channel of communication.

Through a ‘configuration-not-programming’ deploymentmodel, Oceanus EIM solutionshelp companies deploy systemsmore rapidly, with adaptabilityand control placed in the handsof business users.

The solutions are scalableand can be deployed as pointsolutions or span multiplebusiness areas to create a linkedenvironment. They offer the‘big picture’ of work visibilityand control with real-timeanalysis, reporting and workdirection.

There are three technologiesrequired to support thisenhanced business operatingmodel: case management,enterprise content management(ECM) and business processmanagement (BPM).

FileNet’s ECM solutionsenable organisations andgovernment agencies tostreamline and automate theirprocesses, connect theirbusiness systems, and accessand manage all forms ofcontent.

They offer a range ofcapabilities that integrate withexisting information systems.

FileNet’s solutions includeBusiness Process Manager,Records Manager, Web Content

Manager, Forms Manager,Image Manager,Content/Document Managerand Team Collaboration.

They are used by more than4,000 organisations worldwide.

Oceanus’ environmentmanagement products andservices help to ensure thatorganisations’ FileNet-basedenvironments are managedefficiently.

Its main services are:● Monitor – unburdening localFileNet system administrators.● Assistance – reducing theneed for local FileNet systemadministrators.● Manager – removing theneed for local FileNet systemadministrators.● Starter – ensuring newsystems are set up correctly.

Oceanus’ latest EM activemonitoring and reportingproduct helps organisationsreduce the amount of effortrequired to manage andmaintain FileNet-basedenvironments whilst improvingsystem knowledge, uptime andcapacity planning.

Established in 1986, Oceanusis a FileNet-certified partnerwith a customer base includingAlliance & Leicester, MellonBank, Standard Bank,Vodafone, O2 and CumberlandBuilding Society.

FileNet/Oceanus


File

Net/O

cean

us


Every day organisations need tomake business-critical decisions:claims need to be paid,mortgage applicationsprocessed, regulatorycompliance terms met, contractssigned and tasks completed.

Key decisions affect thequality of service anorganisation provides. Theydetermine the efficiency ofoperations and the speed withwhich new businessopportunities can be addressed,as well as driving profitability.

FileNet and Oceanus helporganisations improve decision-making by enabling them tomeet their organisational goalsthrough the management of thework and content that drivestheir businesses.

Oceanus provides solutionsand services that are designed tooffer a quick and low-riskmethod of accessing FileNetbusiness process and enterprisecontent managementtechnology.

Oceanus offers this capabilitythrough two main areas:● Enterprise interactionmanagement (EIM), aconfigurable case andinteraction managementsolution that can be applied to anumber of different businessareas. With standard software,pre-built business solutionconfigurations, userconfigurability and 8-12 weekimplementations, Oceanusstates that its EIM solutionsstart delivering benefit in rapidtimescales and adapt tochanging business requirements.● Environment management(EM). This range of productsand services offers the proactiveand reactive management ofEIM and FileNet environments.

Oceanus EIM is a work andcontent management layer thatenhances organisations’ coresystems by linking them withcase, process and contentmanagement.

It offers the delivery,

Name and AddressFileNet: 1st Floor, Waterside House,Cowley Business Park, Uxbridge UB8 2FNOceanus: 47 George Street,Birmingham B3 1QA

Telephone01895 207300/0121 212 3554

Fax01895 207365/0121 212 3554

Contact nameJane Empson/Martin Hagger

Email [email protected]@oceanus.co.uk

Website addresswww.filenet.com/www.oceanus.co.uk

User Group Chairman/Contact PointChris Stevens, Willis/Doug Forbes –N/A

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

$365m

N/P

N/P

65

1,700

D/I

D/I

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





FileNet BPM/Oceanus EIM

1984/2000

98/12 – N/A

2,600 – N/A

Finance, insurance, government,manufacturing, utilities

v2/v2.9 – Dec 03

Microsoft Windows 2000, Sun Solaris

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Case management

XML, J2EE

.NET, J2EE

Yes

Yes – Cognos, Business Objects,Microsoft

EAI connector

PRODUCT

THE MODERNISINGGovernment initiative – whosedeadline of 2005 is fastapproaching – has forced publicsector organisations to addresstheir management of electronicrecords, and many have electedto include both document andrecords managementfunctionality in the scope oftheir projects.

But mention electronicdocument and recordsmanagement (EDRM) to manycommercial companies and youwill get either a blank look or ayawn.

As with many innovations,the hype and promises ofEDRM have not been matchedby reality and experience.

The paperless office has notmaterialised and organisationsare still struggling with theirpaper management. Seldom hasEDRM been regarded as thedocument and recordsmanagement silver bullet.

But can the private sector justignore EDRM? Is it going tofollow the fate of CASE(computer aided softwareengineering) which promisedmuch, had wide publicity andtake-up, and ended up asshelfware in manyorganisations? Or is EDRMsomething that organisationsstill need to seriously consider?

In first analysing whatEDRM encompasses, Figure 1highlights the key areasinvolved in managing electronicinformation effectively.

Clearly, records managementand document management aretwo distinct areas. They can beaddressed in isolation and manyorganisations have done so,implementing solutions for oneor the other. However, there isoften value in tackling the twotogether or as part of a widerprogramme of work that mayinclude workflow, content

management and knowledgemanagement.

As with most electronicallyenabled change, EDRM is notjust about implementingtechnology but about changingways of working (policies,processes and culture),supported by technologies toimprove the management of anorganisation’s documents andrecords.

EDRM encompasses thecapture, storage and retrieval ofdocuments and records,potentially both paper andelectronic, including workflow,content and knowledgemanagement.

Reasons to investThe case for continuing toaddress EDRM is stronger thanthe reasons for ignoring it, forthe following key reasons:● Growth in electronicdocuments and records.

No-one needs to bepersuaded that the volume ofelectronic documents andrecords, especially emails, isgrowing rapidly.

Most information generatedby an organisation appearselectronically. Most informationreceived by organisations iselectronic or is obtainable inelectronic format. Emailsystems are overloaded withmessages, not all of which arespam or irrelevant.

It is estimated that 90% of anorganisation’s informationexists in unstructured form,with only 10% being managedwithin application systems.

Information is being kept inelectronic format rather thanpaper and to maximise thebenefit, organisations must havesystems and processes tomanage this information.

EDRM can help a companyensure it does not drown underthe volume of this data by

organising information intological groupings, providingpowerful search capabilities tofind relevant information, andensuring that information isdeleted once its business needhas past.● Ongoing access toinformation.

Paper is widely used as amedium for long-term storage.Provided the physical paper iskept in good conditions, it isreadable for many years. Take atrip to The National Archives inKew and you can view theoriginal Domesday books,which are over 900 years old.

However, without carefulplanning and processes, it isvery easy to store electronicinformation and then be unableto retrieve it. Sixteen years afterit was created, the £2.5 millionBBC Domesday Projectachieved the unexpected andunwelcome status of beingunreadable. Much effort wasinvolved in finally making theinformation accessible.

How many organisationshave electronic records storedon magnetic tapes, created bysystems that were replaced anumber of years ago? Part of anEDRM project involvesassessing and planning forcontinued access to electronicrecords.

Without this planning theinformation becomesunavailable, and thereforeworthless.● Compliance with legislationand regulations.

All organisations workwithin regulations and legalrequirements. Some of these aresector specific – such asfinancial, pharmaceutical orpublic – others tend to span allsectors, such as the requirementto keep financial records for atleast seven years.

Many of these rules and



AMTEC’s Malcolm Beachsays electronic documentand records management is more than a passing fad. Here to stay

regulations relate toinformation. Some legislationspecifically addresses therequirement to effectivelymanage electronic information,such as the National Archivestarget for governmentorganisations to implement anEDRMS by 2004. The privatesector is also facing compliancerequirements with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act being prominent inthe past year. Basel II is anotherrequirement that focuses onfinancial sector organisations.

With much content beingheld in electronic format, it isimperative that organisationsare able to manage theirinformation in a manner thatcomplies with requirements.

The implications fororganisations that do notcomply with regulations andlegislation can be enormous. In2002, British AmericanTobacco (BAT) destroyeddocuments that were relevant toa court case. Because of this thejudge threw out BAT’s defence.As a result, BAT share pricesdropped 5%.● Business benefits.

EDRM not only allows

organisations to mitigate risksand comply with externalrequirements, it also providesdirect benefits including:

– easier and better sharing ofinformation across theorganisation.

– more effective retention ofcorporate memory.

– easier control of versions ofdocuments.

– sound and comprehensiveaudit trails.

The fact that organisationsaddressing EDRM must alsoconsider cultural and businessdimensions, encouragescompanies to review andimprove the policies andprocesses that support effectiveinformation sharing andmanagement.

Even if an organisationdecides not to implement fulltechnology-driven EDRMS, byupgrading its policies, processesand overarching systems it willgain tangible benefits in termsof access, effective managementand reducing the costsassociated with informationmanagement.● Basis for other functions.

As Figure 1 shows, EDRM is

part of a wider set of functionsthat affect the effectiveness ofan organisation’s informationmanagement.

Probably the most closelyrelated are workflow, contentmanagement and knowledgemanagement, which whilebuilding on a largelybehavioural foundation, have astrong dependency oninformation being effectivelymanaged and easily retrievable.

When an organisationconsiders EDRM, it should alsoassess the interfaces with otherareas and whether these carryvalue or are likely to have anadverse effect.

EDRM can underpin andsupport many other areas, suchas providing a controlledrepository of information forknowledge managementproducts to interrogate.

As an example, whilstworking with one client itbecame obvious that extendingthe scope of the solutionbeyond strict EDRM wouldhelp them respond to queries.

A simple workflow solutioncombined with scanningincoming mail reduced the

amount of paper flow downfrom 20 copies to a single paperoriginal, cutting the amount ofpaper stored and helping speedup the process of responding toqueries.

ConclusionHas EDRM had its day? Quitethe opposite.

The reality of business life isthat electronic documents andrecords are here to stay, at leastfor the foreseeable future. Everyemail is a record, every file asource of information thatcarries a cost. Organisations shyaway from the challenge, butthey must accept the need toeffectively manage theirelectronic documents.

Some continue to print andfile in hard copy. Others usestandard network storage andothers implement EDRMsystems.

Whatever the approach, thebusiness driver is still the same– to control and manage theinformation in a cost-effectiveway. This means that EDRMwill not disappear off thehorizon of organisationalprojects.

Even when the ModernisingGovernment timescales pass,government organisations willstill need to manage theirelectronic records, both forbusiness efficiency and to meetlegislative requirements (such asthe Freedom of InformationAct).

Private sector organisationsalso face compliancerequirements that will forcethem to demonstrate effectivemanagement of their electronicinformation (such as Sarbanes-Oxley).

There will always be pressureto manage information moreeffectively, and with increasingvolumes and dependency onelectronic documents andrecords, EDRM is with us forthe long run.

● Malcolm Beach is a seniorconsultant specialising inEDRM at AMTEC Consulting.Tel: 01252 737866. Email:[email protected].



FIGURE 1: Key areas in managing electronic information

Workflow Knowledge management

Content management

Search & retrieval

Document management

Paper files

Records management

Records

Scanning/OCR

MS Office

Faxes

Email

Data vault

Documents

Data in +

Metadata +

Quality check

MOST LARGE organisationshave been investing in variousdisconnected contentmanagement technologiesduring the past few years.

Efforts to improve webcontent management have beenespecially noticeable over thelast 18-24 months, asorganisations try to tame thechaos behind their publicinternet and internal intranetsites.

More recently, regulatoryconcerns have reawakenedinterest in records management,archiving and documentmanagement.

In addition, organisationsseeking to increase innovationand overall employee efficiencyhave initiated projects toimprove collaborativecapabilities.

However, most organisationshave just begun – if they havebegun at all – to combine thesedifferent efforts into an overallenterprise content management(ECM) approach.

Organisations have tended toapproach such initiatives as aseries of separate projects ratherthan part of a consolidatedECM strategy. Consequently,each project often ends up usinga separate technological base.

The projects generally includea phase of choosing a productthat supports the users’requirements – with littlethought given to whether anexisting product could meet theneeds.

The base technologies havenot been acquired or designedwith an eye toward using themto support multiple projects. Sorather than layering capabilitieson an existing infrastructure,each project creates a new self-contained island offunctionality, data andtechnology.

This began to change – at

least in terms of organisationalthinking, if not actualimplementations – in 2003.

New approachShifting from a project focus toa content infrastructureapproach is one of the keychallenges IT organisations willface through to 2006.

Making this change is not assimple as it might sound. Itinvolves more than justmandating that new projectsbuild on products alreadypurchased, rather than buyingnew ones for each project.Indeed, such heavy-handedsimplistic pronouncements arerarely effective and are doomedto ultimate failure.

An infrastructure approachrequires major changes in howcontent capabilities are scoped,designed, built, managed andretired.

The steps involved inimplementing an ECMstructure are:● Scoping. End users have tounderstand that efforts to meettheir specific requirements mustfit into an overall plan – ratherthan being tied to a specificproject aimed only at theirneeds. Any resulting delays andpossible concessions made ontheir requirements should beoffset by increased speed ofdelivery in other areas andgeneral cost savings.● Budgeting. In this context,‘infrastructure’ refers toproducts or technologies thatsupport several differentapplications or projects.However, many line of business(LOB) managers will interpretan infrastructure approach asmeaning that more of thetechnology they need will beprovided from the central ITdepartment, and will not bepaid for out of their LOB orproject budgets.

However, few organisationshave the extra money toprovide such infrastructureservices for free. More usually,LOBs will have to pay for thetechnology either by shiftingsome of their operationalbudget to central IT or byincreasing chargeback fees.● Content consolidation. Mostlarger organisations haveimplemented severaloverlapping contentmanagement initiatives. Ratherthan not enough technology,they face the problem of toomany systems, none of whichfully meets the organisation’sneeds.

Some degree of contentconsolidation will be requiredfor any movement towardcontent infrastructure andreducing organisational risk.Although it might seem to be anobvious requirement,consolidation is rarely popularsince managers see theirfavourite systems in danger ofbeing consolidated away.● Technology discipline. As endusers become more familiar andcomfortable with technology,they naturally try to exert moreinfluence over IT decisions.Software vendors have alsorecognised this development.

Increasingly, salespeople godirectly to LOB managers to selltheir wares, bypassing ITdepartments and theirarchitectural vetting processes.Discipline and a process formaking technology choicesmust be defined and sharedwith LOB managers.● Content architecture. Themain requirement for adoptingan infrastructure approach is todevelop an overall contentarchitecture, which ideallyshould map onto an overallenterprise architecture.

This architecture should chartthe kinds of content in the

organisation, how these contenttypes are used, and thetechnologies used now and inthe future to manage thedifferent parts of the contentlifecycle.

Market movesMETA research suggests thatcontent managementimplementations and products –document management, webcontent management, outputmanagement, digital assetmanagement and imaging – arequickly multiplying.

Organisations can improvetheir costs and efficiency bycutting the number of softwareproducts used to managecontent and the places wherecontent is stored. This can alsoreduce their legal risk, whileimproving the value they realisefrom their content.

In a recent European METAGroup study, almost 60% ofrespondents reported that theyhad initiated a specific contentconsolidation project.

Content consolidators needto build and develop end userand business manager supportfor their consolidation effortsand set priorities for the systemsto be targeted for consolidation,since this cannot all be done atonce.

The METAspectrum InDepth report shows that theenterprise content managementtools market will reach $2.3 billion in software and $7 billion in services by 2007,representing a compoundannual growth rate of 15%.

ECM systems are generallytactical and non-discretionaryexpenditures, but they areincreasingly viewed as strategiccore investments asorganisations deal withaccelerating business velocities,consolidation of redundantcontent management systems,



Organisations have not yettaken content managementto the next ‘enterprise’level, says Jeffrey Mann ofMETA Group.

Challenge still

exponential growth of content,and compliance issues(mandated or perceived).

Moreover, these systems arebecoming more infrastructurethan application like.

The enterprise contentmanagement market comprisesvendors supplying software thatenables organisations tocreate/capture, manage/secure,store/retain/destroy,publish/distribute, search,personalise andpresent/view/print any digitalcontent (eg, pictures/images,text, reports, video, audio,transactional data, catalogues,code).

These systems focus primarilyon the capture, storage,retrieval and dissemination ofdigital files for enterprise useand their lifecycle management.

ForecastMore vendors are likely toadopt the mantle of ‘enterprisecontent management’ duringthe next 12 months (the processis already happening). This willleave a smaller group ofvertically oriented or traditionalimage/COLD/workflowvendors, or those selling specificcomponents of that functionalset.

But while the market isgrowing, vendors will continueto consolidate through to nextyear, due to continuedacquisitions.

We estimate that by 2006,approximately 60% of the topglobal 2000 organisations willstandardise on a strategic ECMframework, though many willmaintain existing investments intactical or line of businesscontent deployments.

These web services-basedcontent services will beconsolidated around a discreteset of trusted vendors, and willbe used by a network of

knowledge workers supportedby an infrastructure thatfeatures different composite-based applications sitting ontop of a service orientedarchitecture.

There will also be increasingoverlap with relational databaseand enterprise storage.

Vendor landscapeTechnology is still a keyselection driver. However, gapsbetween the different vendors’products are beginning tonarrow, and acquisitionsdesigned to help achievetechnology parity areincreasing.

Vendors now regard supportfor previously ‘non-traditional’content types – such as email,digital assets and records – asintegral to ECM. Equally,centralised administration,integrated management anddelivery interfaces, and ascalable product architecturehave become as important aspricing and vendor viability.

Organisations are seekingmore strategic enterprisecontent solutions and striving tostandardise on as few strategicvendors as possible. Therefore,the ability of ECM software tofully manage all enterprisecontent – and avoid costs byconsistently applying propercompliance and legal riskpolicies/procedures – isemerging as critical.

As a result, many vendorshave tried by acquisition to addthe functional componentspreviously lacking in theirofferings – specifically, recordsmanagement, web content andworkflow.

Even though not everyorganisation will require allcontent functionality in theirECM portfolio, this trend willcontinue.

Within the ECM market,there are three levels of vendors:● Leaders possess globalpresence, significant installedbases, full technologycomponents, deep integration

capabilities, robustchannels/partners and theability to support high-volume,strategic and enterprisedeployments. Long-term vendorviability is playing anincreasingly important role.● Challengers often exhibit astrong focus on a specifictechnology or vertical expertise.This segment contains bothtraditional documentmanagement vendors andvendors evolving to ECM fromstatic archival, web content andimaging/workflow.● Followers generally trail dueto limitations in terms oftechnology components orlower overall market presence.Typically, these vendors have astronger focus on core legacycapabilities and view ECM assecondary to their core targetmarket.

In summary, adopting acontent infrastructure approachwill not radically change thefunctionality available tocontent creators and managersor the content that usersconsume. However, it will makethe process of providing thatmanagement and the contentitself more effective, with lessorganisational risk.

Therefore, organisations cansave money and increaseefficiency by shifting from aproject-driven approach todesigning and building acomprehensive contentinfrastructure.

● Jeffrey Mann is a vicepresident of IT research andconsulting firm META Group,specialising in content/knowledge management andportals. More informationabout the METAspectrum InDepth report is available fromwww.metagroup.com/metaspectrum. Tel: 01252819494.



Jeffrey Mann: gaps between the products are narrowing

to be conquered

applications.● Programmable API – tocreate custom applications thatcan utilise base workflowengine capabilities.● Portal compatible – thesoftware aggregates andaccesses process actions andapplication data using leadingportal products such asInterwoven Worksite andMicrosoft Sharepoint.

FloSuite claims the benefits ofthe package include:● Cost reduction –organisations can cut staff costsby moving back-office tasks tothe front office.● Risk management – users canevaluate and decide actions inreal time based on current data.● Best-practice decisions – userspre-define process flows tocapture and apply the expertiseof qualified professionals.● Legal compliance – FloSuiteensures that processes complywith legal requirements.

FloSuite’s principal marketshave historically beenprofessional and financialservices, but it is increasinglybeing used in areas such as HR,marketing, design management,order processing and logistics,across a range of industrysectors. FloSuite BPM solutionsare suited to any sector that hasdefined processes and/or a caseor process-centric workloadwhich needs to interact withmultiple systems andorganisations.

FloSuite

FloS

uite


and automation.Its framework capabilities

include:● Data modelling – describespeople, organisations, businessobjects (requisitions, invoices,applications) and processes.● Process automation –automates data retrieval, datavalue monitoring, riskassessments, decisions and taskallocation, and reportgeneration.● ‘Virtual’ database design –builds data entities whichinclude properties from multiplesystems and link to externaldata sources live and in place,with no duplication.● Data and process accesssecurity – automatically restrictsuser access/abilities to view dataor participate in processexecution, depending on auser’s profile.● Process reporting –automatically records processdata and actions for reportgeneration and audit purposes.

FloSuite’s user interfaceincludes:● Web browser interface –eliminating the need for thickclient software.● User-defined forms – userscan create targeted user-friendlyforms using drag-and-drop andform filling techniques.● Document production – userscan automatically create printedforms and documents usingprocess and application data.● Visio Process Modeller – tographically design processes and


FloSuite is a Microsoft .NET-based business processmanagement application thathas been co-developed withleading professional andfinancial services organisations.

It utilises .NET, XML andother emerging standards toprovide business analysts (ie,not software developers) withan extensible framework –allowing them to model andorchestrate the interactionsbetween the users, teams,computer applications anddocuments involved in thedelivery of enterprise businessprocesses.

FloSuite is a ‘process-centric’system designed to support theautomation of both thecomplex interactions typified byknowledge-based professionalservices work and simpleadministrative workflows.

It helps organisations developand deploy a range of casemanagement, risk management,

workflow and electronic servicedelivery applications with lowlevels of external programming.

FloSuite is packaged as a setof graphical and dialogue-basedsoftware tools that support thecreation of web forms, reports,process workflows, decisioncriteria, data structures andsystems integrations.

It also includes a documentedprogrammable API, enablingend users to embed it withinexisting applications whererequired.

Standard data integrationsinclude Oracle, SQL Server,DB2, Excel and Access.

Standard application andweb services interfaces are alsoavailable for leading accounts,HR, CRM, documentmanagement and email systems.

FloSuite’s feature set isdesigned to offer an easy-to-usedevelopment environment forBPM solutions, providing web-based collaboration, integration

Name and AddressFloSuite Ltd, 5 Holyrood Avenue,Glenrothes KY6 3PF


Fax01592 610534

Contact nameRussell Wood

Email addressN/P

Website addresswww.flosuite.com


CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



£2m

£2.5m

N/P

N/P

45+

45+

D/I

D/I

D/I

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





FloSuite

2002

50 – 30

60 – 40

Legal, financial, government,manufacturing, retail

v4.4 – Feb 04

Windows 2003

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

N/A

XML, SOAP, XForms

.NET

Yes

N/A

Integration tools included for best ofbreed applications, databases andoperating systems

PRODUCT

Intalio provides a businessprocess management system forenterprise-class organisations.Its Intalio|n3 technology offers aplatform for modelling,deploying, executing andmanaging business processeswhile re-using existing softwareassets such as legacyapplications, workflow, priorprocess models and middlewareinvestments.

Intalio is based on advancedPi-Calculus techniques formobile processes. It can managecomplex and dynamicprocesses, and has beenarchitected to provide enterprisescalability.

Founded in July 1999 byentrepreneurs and innovatorsworking in enterprise softwaredevelopment, Intalio is aprivately held, venture-backedcompany located in San Mateo,California. It has offices in the

and chief strategy officer, is co-chair of the BPMI organisationthat has produced standardssuch as BPML and BPMN (forwhich Intalio was the referencetemplate).

Intalio says it is committed toa standards-based approach toBPM through its involvement ina range of standards bodies andvia continuing adoption of thesestandards within its products.

Intalio|n3 is a BPM systemwhich enables businessprocesses to be extended intoexecutable and manageableprocesses that can be deployedonto existing IT assets anddirected by business users.

Intalio says the platform wasbuilt to help the IT organisationachieve key strategic corporategoals while gaining quicktactical returns on investment.

Intalio|n3 is architectedaround the process lifecycle,providing a platform to design,deploy, execute, control,monitor, analyse and optimisebusiness processes.

It offers a path for connectingexisting as well as newapplications and technologyassets using a single, integratedgraphical developmentenvironment that supports thecollaboration of businessanalysts and IT professionals.

Key aspects of the productinclude:● Leverages corporate assets(processes, people, systems).● Supports complexity – eg,distributed transactions.

● Covers the process lifecycle.● 100% process design codecoverage (no coding used).● Scalable to support hightransaction throughput.● Handles complex end-userworkflows.● Works with existing J2EEapplication servers.● Deploys on top of existingmessage brokers.● Supports BPML, BPMN andBPEL.

Market focusIntalio specialises in BPM. Itscustomers come from a broadrange of industry sectors suchas telecoms, government,finance, utilities andmanufacturing.

Clients include BAE Systems,Dutch Animal Health,TeliaSonera, US Navy CriminalInvestigative Service, iUniverse,LexisNexis, Broadlane and theNational Geospatial IntelligenceAgency.

Some Intalio partners haveadapted the software to addressspecific vertical marketchallenges – for example, nameportability within the telecomsmarket.

Common uses of thetechnology include managingapplication extension for ERPor CRM systems; applicationconsolidation of a large numberof packages and/or legacysystems; and dealing withdynamic processes that maychange during execution.

Intalio


Inta

lioUS, UK and central Europe,plus distributors supportingadditional markets.

The company has raised over$34 million in funding andinvestors include 3i, WoodsideFund, XMLFund, SAP Venturesand Cargill Ventures.

Intalio partners with leadingprofessional service providers todeliver a range of businesssolutions. Its key globalalliances include CSC,Northrop Grumman and EDS.

These relationships aresupplemented by localproviders with specialisedknowledge and experience. InEurope, Intalio partners withorganisations including Alexsys,Corviz, Dreamsoft, Glue, Inex,Valtech and Perfect Connection.

From its formation, Intaliohas been involved in developingBPM standards. IsmaelGhalimi, the company’s founder


Name and AddressIntalio, 7200 The Quorum, OxfordBusiness Park North, Oxford OX4 2JZ


Fax01865 481482

Contact nameMatthew Wright


Website addresswww.intalio.com


CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

52

D/I

D/I

D/I

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Intalio n3

2001

AOR

AOR

Horizontal business processmanagement system

v2.6 – May 04

Any Java-compatible environment.Certified platforms include Win 2000, XP,Server 2003, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

Business activity monitoring

Entirely standards-based includingBPML, BPMN, BPEL, XML, WSCI

All web services standards including.NET, J2EE

Yes

All standards-based BI tools supportedvia web services

Process integration offered via IntalioConnector technology

PRODUCT

|

Metastorm recognises that thesoftware application market hasfocused its efforts on addressinga broadly generic set of businessprocesses – processes which,while often very important, arenot necessarily core to anybusiness and could possibly bebetter executed as anoutsourced service.

Metastorm focuses on thebusiness processes that are notgeneric – those ‘core’ processesthat make an organisationunique in its marketplace andprovide competitive edge.

Metastorm’s sole focus withits BPM software is in helpingboth public and private sectororganisations improve thosecore processes in order toachieve a higher level of

business performance andcompetitive advantage – orwhat Metastorm calls‘Enterprise Process Advantage’.

Metastorm is a privatecompany with corporateheadquarters in Columbia,Maryland, and internationalheadquarters in London. It isbacked by investors including3i, UBS and DresdnerKleinwort Wasserstein.

It has over 700 customersworldwide, with sales offices inNorth America and Europe,and a worldwide network ofpartners and distributorsserving the broader market.

Named as a ‘leader’ inGartner Group’s BPM MagicQuadrant, Metastorm offers a‘people are integral to

money laundering/terroristlegislation; Freedom ofInformation Act compliance;hazardous processes andprocess auditing.● Process efficiencyimprovements. Examples arecross-functional ororganisational processimprovements; debt/cashcollection; documentprocessing; sales/tradingsettlement; client interaction;supply chain and internaloperations.● Process and business agility –making sure that the businesscan react quickly to changes inmarket dynamics, thatorganisations and systems canbe integrated or merged quickly,and new products and servicesare brought to market faster.

Examples include resourcereallocation; frequent legislativechanges (eg, tax laws) and newproduct development.

Companies using e-Work inthese areas include LondonUnderground, Deutsche Post,Fiat, MSB International,Harrow Council, StirlingCouncil, Morse, University ofNottingham and TaysideContracts in Europe.

In North America theyinclude Tetra, Cooper Tire,Morrison Foerster, Blue Rhino,Clarks, US TreasuryCommunity DevelopmentFinancial Institutions Fund(CDFI), and Gaston MemorialHospital.

Metastorm

Met

asto

rm


processes’ approach, along withits award-winning software.

Metastorm’s e-Work softwareprovides a platform fordeploying and customisingBPM solutions, designed tomeet the individual andcomplex process needs of anyorganisation.

As an enterprise BPMplatform, e-Work includes fivekey elements – process designertools; runtime execution engine;agility facilities; monitoring andmanagement functions; andprocess analytics.

The solution is particularlysuited to unique, people-basedprocesses.

Metastorm has over 700global clients in manufacturing,financial services, businessservices and government.

They use the software inareas such as customer service,supply chain operations, riskmanagement and internaloperations.

Together with its partnernetwork, Metastorm aims tohelp companies improve theircore ‘human-centric’ processesin three key areas:● Process management andcontrol – ensuring processes areadhered to according to rules,exceptions managed andreported, procedures followed,legislation adhered to, etc. Thiscan be described as process ‘riskmitigation’.

Examples include Basel IIadherence; corporategovernance processes; anti-


Name and AddressMetastorm Ltd, Central House, 1 Alwyne Road, London SW19 7AB


Fax020 8971 1501

Contact nameMichelle Gunter


Website addresswww.metastorm.com


CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

60

115

D/I

D/I

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





e-Work

1996

350 plus – 150 plus


Government, business services (eg,legal and accountancy firms), financialservices, retail, manufacturing &distribution, construction

v6.2 – March 04

Windows 2000, Server 2003, XPProfessional, 2000 Professional

Yes

No*

Yes

No*

No*

No*

No* (*integrates with all key DM, KM,CM and ERM products)

No

Yes

Process activity monitoring

Metastorm utilises those standardsappropriate to BPM systems which aregenerally adopted, inc. XML

.NET, J2EE, web services (SOAP, WSDL)

Yes

Any BI software that can access SQLdata

Integrates to other XML applicatons.Supports MS BizTalk, Outlook, Exchange& SharePoint Portal Server, LDAPDirectories, Novell GroupWise, SMTPmail + Jscript and VB Script

PRODUCT

automation/workflow, webcontent lifecycle management,team collaboration, enterpriseknowledge discovery andreporting.

Objective WorkflowObjective extends traditionalelectronic documentmanagement (EDM) andrecords management (RM) tooffer process management tothe organisational desktop.Objective Workflow is designedto streamline businessprocesses, improve back-officeproductivity and provide keybusiness knowledge to staff andmanagement.

It is a process automationproduct that works within anorganisation’s knowledgemanagement framework,allowing it to control andextend business processes whilereducing the security risks andlogistical costs associated withpaperbound, manual processes.

As with any enterprisecontent management solution,the greatest challenge anorganisation will face will begetting everyone to use it.Objective suggests users willmake more use of process andtask-based computing if it isincorporated seamlessly into theeveryday environment in whichthey work.

Objective sees the key toworkflow as being an object-

centric view of process andknowledge management.

The object-centric perspectivereplaces the purely process-oriented approaches which seekto put the task list at the centreof the user experience andrelegate objects to a peripheralrole.

In the object-centric model,familiar and traditionally staticobjects such as documents,folders and files take on a newdynamic dimension. Instead ofbeing related to workflowprocesses and tasks asreferenced objects, these entitiesare seen as owning theprocesses to which they belong.

This method also allowsworkflow complexity to bereduced, says Objective.

Traditionally, the majority ofworkflow design effort wasoften spent creating specialroutes through processes forexceptional cases, rather thanfocusing on the main flow ofcontrol.

Objective Workflow providesthe ability to move a case objectacross a workflow map evenbetween tasks and in ways thatthe workflow designer had notthought of at design time.

Objective says the aim is tomake workflow fit the way thatpeople work with everydayobjects that they use andmanage, rather than forcingusers to fit the mould of a rigidprocess design.

Objective


Obje

ctive


Objective Corporation developsenterprise content management(ECM) solutions that helporganisations utilise knowledgein all its forms.

The solutions address a rangeof business challenges byenabling organisations to re-usecorporate memory, reduceprocessing costs, take decisionsbased on more completeinformation and ensureregulatory compliance.

Objective’s solutions are usedin a range of businessapplications: eGovernment;electronic records management;case file management; electronicdocument management; contentmanagement; processmanagement; and enterpriseknowledge management.

Objective has a worldwidecustomer base, including theUK. They include majorgovernment bodies as well aslarge corporates. Objective saysits solutions offer business

benefits to both smallerorganisations and thoseinvolving tens of thousands ofusers.

The company’s professionalservice team, which has years ofexperience in implementingObjective solutions, helpsensure the technology, thesolution design and the humanfactors line up to deliver theanticipated business outcome.

The Objective Product Suitehas been engineered to meet therequirements of governmentorganisations and largecorporations with large volumesof unstructured information,often complex businessrequirements and diversedeployment characteristics.

Objective is an integratedsuite of ECM modules,designed to address the broadrequirements of documentlifecycle management, electronicand physical recordsmanagement, process

Name and AddressObjective Corporation UK Ltd, TectonicPlace, Holyport Road, Maidenhead,Berkshire SL6 2YE


Fax01628 640461

Contact nameNoel O’Connell


Website addresswww.objective.com


CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



AOR*

AOR*

AOR*

AOR* (*at www.objective.com)

70

170

D

D

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Objective

1998

60 plus – 30 plus


Government, finance, utilities,eGovernment, enterprise contentmanagement

Objective 6i – 2003

MS Windows, Solaris

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Case management

XML

J2EE

No

Built-in integration with Crystal Reports

C++, VB, Java APIs

PRODUCT

WITH BUSINESS MODELSconstantly changing andorganisations moving tooutsourced solutions, the drivetowards improving businessprocesses has never beengreater.

Organisations expectoutsourcing to streamlinebusiness processes efficientlyand effectively if they are toachieve rapid payback andreturn on investment (ROI).

This is where workflow cansupport the inhouse andoutsourced business processimprovements that help CEOsgain the business benefits theyseek in order to remaincompetitive.

BackgroundHistorically, workflow in itsbasic form routed documents toend users, centred on scanningand basic data capture.

Ideally, workflow offers anend-to-end process thatprovides the user with therequired information,instructions and tools toperform a business task, basedon the information thatinitiated the process and theuser’s skills profile.

Nowadays workflow isbecoming increasinglysophisticated. It can supportcomplex business processes andoffer the ability to integratewith other systems, updatedatabases, automatically startprocesses without userparticipation and makeintelligent decisions based oninformation captured –allowing users to focus on workthat is more important.

Workflow is still used in itstraditional role of routingimages and managing the flowof documents. However,

sophisticated rules-basedsolutions can make decisionswithout users being involvedand provide an efficient andconsistent workingenvironment, as this enablestasks to be automatically co-ordinated.

For example, an applicationform will be received and theuser will process the sectionsthat they are qualified to do; therules engine will then determinewhere the application formshould be routed to next.

In this instance, workflowcan provide an important linkbetween front-line operationsand the back-office processes.This is especially useful incontact centre environments, asa phone call can initiate aprocess that requiresadministrators to processpaperwork.

Like all IT projects, workflowimplementations can go wrong.The most common mistakes liein not involving users in theproject, taking the big bangapproach on go-live, providinginadequate training or stickingwith poorly defined businessprocesses.

The human factor inworkflow is one of the mainchallenges – it is essential to getbuy-in from end users as earlyas possible. This means usersmust be encouraged toparticipate in the analysis,design and, most importantly,acceptance testing.

It is impractical to involve theentire workforce; for thisreason, key users from eachdepartment affected by theproposed change should beused as a vehicle to voice users’concerns – and in return theyshould communicate the aims,objectives and progress of the

project to their colleagues.It can be beneficial to set up a

user consultation group thatmeets with project and technicalmanagers on a regular basis –for example, once a month ormore frequently during testing –to discuss the progress of theproject, and any business andtechnical issues that are criticalto its success.

There is always going to beresistance to new systems. Butwhile this can never beeliminated, it can be reduced bymaking users feel their opinionis valued.

If users feel undervalued,resistance can grow andrumours develop. A systemwith a bad reputation is asystem no-one wants, even if ithas full management support.

Training should be dynamicand should simulate the realworking environment inclassrooms, so users can relateto how the system operates on adaily basis by undertakingtypical work scenarios. This isimportant, as go-live is not thetime to address training needs.

Business processes should bestreamlined during the analysisand design stages of the project,so inefficiencies are removed.

However, many organisationsautomate manual processesregardless of how good or badthey are. This is poor practiceand introduces bottlenecks andinefficiencies into the newsystem.

System go-live can go wrong,

especially if a big bangapproach is taken – where thefailure is high profile because itis visible to all users.

Often these types of rolloutsare under-resourced and usersdo not get the support ortraining they need to use thesystem. It is highlyrecommended that smaller,more manageable rollouts areundertaken, as these can besupported more easily – andany failure can be contained.

Smaller rollouts are also moresuccessful because the result iseasier to achieve. In addition,users talk to one another; if thefirst team of users to receive thenew system is satisfied, they willtell others and the level ofresistance amongst other teamsis likely to lower.

Business benefitsWorkflow is suitable to avariety of commercial andoperational service-relatedindustries, such as the publicsector, financial services,insurance, utilities andtelecoms.

Organisations that performrepetitive administration tasks,support collaborative workingenvironments or are customerservice-centric will benefit themost from this technology.

Workflow, if correctlyimplemented, can provide thefollowing benefits:● Real-time businessperformance monitoring andmanagement information.



New routesKatie Walsh of EDS (right) looks at how processes can beimproved through workflow and document management.

● Enhanced performance byidentifying and reducingbottlenecks.● Improved consistency andaccuracy of information byreducing errors and loss of data.● Help in achieving compliancethroughout the process lifecycle.● Support for real-time changesby automatically routinginformation to individualsand/or groups responsible forperforming tasks associatedwith the change.

Organisations that fullyintegrate workflow with othertechnologies – such asmailroom automation software,

image, web portals, CRM andline of business applications –also achieve real businessbenefits.

Only when processes are fullyjoined up can organisationsbegin to achieve next-generation efficiencies bystraight-through processing andby better harnessing customerdata.

It can also be beneficial tointegrate workflow with activemanagement software. Thisenables organisations to controlresources more strictly, byensuring the resources availableare used to undertake the work

that is the most important tothe business and the customer.

Workflow is typicallyimplemented in clericallyintensive business processes inorder to streamline them andbring greater efficiencies,consistency and improvementsto customer service.

Benefits – whether reducedservice time for the customer,single-point customer resolutionor cheaper processing costs –will only be realised if the newsystems and processes aresmoothly introduced andaccepted by users.

The key to success here is

managing the inevitable culturechange.

Workflow highlightsinformation about operationalprocesses that would notpreviously have been visible,making it easier for managers tomake comparisons and improveindividual and teamproductivity.

This alone is enough to makeusers wary; it’s therefore vital toinvest time in gaining buy-inand making users feel part ofthe implementation project.

Table 1 sums up the keyfactors to consider if theimplementation of workflow isgoing to be successful.However, this is not a definitivelist and each project will haveunique factors which must bemanaged.

Clearly, there are manyfactors to consider, and businessbenefits can only be embraced ifthe project is correctly managedfrom its conception.

ConclusionIn summary, both outsourcedand inhouse business processescan be improved using goodworkflow solutions.

With organisations facingconstant challenges, andbusiness models having tobecome increasingly fluid,workflow can have a majorpositive impact.

Workflow is capable ofmanaging a variety of diverseprocesses within equally diverseindustries. But the key tosuccess is to take intoconsideration the factorsoutlined in Table 1.

Organisations should lookbeyond current businesslimitations and revenues andstart to work towards aligningprocesses with the businessstrategy, which in turn will helpdeliver that strategy.

● Katie Walsh is aninformation analyst with EDS.For more information on imageand workflow, please contactJane Scott, EDS UK CMSDelivery Lead. Email:[email protected]. Website: www.eds.com.



TABLE 1: Key factors when implementing workflow

Factor

Technology

Resources

Experience

PerformanceMeasures

Need

ManagedProcesses

Communication

Commitment

Scope

Description

Confirm that current and future business demands can be supported by the technology selectedand investigate a variety of solutions. Ask product vendors to provide site references andarrange visits as this will give an idea of what can be achieved, even if it is not industry related.Cost can appear prohibitive but the right investment can deliver long-term business benefitsand savings, so it may well pay to spend the money on the correct technical solution. Do yourcost benefit analysis carefully.

Assign the correct resources and do not under-resource the project. Ensure users take time outfrom operational work to assist in requirements definition – a balance between blue-skythinking from consultants and real practical insight from users is ideal for solution optimisation.Don’t skimp on training or go-live user support.

Choose systems vendors and integrators with an established record and experience indelivering workflow solutions. Staff must be trained and time must be invested. Training mustnot be ignored or rushed, as no matter how well staff understand the current processes andtechnologies used, the new solution is still an unknown and must be treated like one. No matterhow streamlined a process, it can still allow for human error and only training can reduce thisrisk.

Establish performance measures for both staff and processes at the earliest opportunity; do notwait until the project has been delivered. Workflow can provide this information, but it needs tobe used effectively to assess and improve the overall business process and provide theinformation sought for ROI. Stress/volume testing is a must as it indicates how well the systemwill perform in the live environment.

Assess that there is an actual need for workflow on a per department basis, as no businessbenefits can be realised if there is not a problem to address.

Current business processes should be reviewed and streamlined where possible so that theinefficiencies are removed. Never simply automate existing processes. Once live, continuouslyassess processes to make sure that they are still delivering reduced processing time and thatdelays are minimal. This is an ongoing process and is vital if the organisation is to remaincompetitive.

Stakeholder communication must be extensive. Communication must remain constant duringthe project lifecycle so that expectations and requirements are met.

Full support from management is vital from start-up to conclusion. Resources assigned to theproject from the customer must be able to offer full commitment to the project. This is alsoapplicable to vendor and system integrator resources.

The project scope must be defined and managed from the start and communicated to allstakeholders so that expectations can be managed and the aims and objectives of the projectare clear. Manage expectations, make sure people understand what they are getting and do notmake promises that cannot be met.

DOCUMENT management orEDMS – electronic documentmanagement systems – havelong been pushed aside bymany IT professionals.

Traditionally, systemsdesigners like to hold allcorporate data electronicallyand to capture that data atsource. The internet allowscustomers to operate in self-service mode – and you can’tget nearer to ‘data capture atsource’ than that.

So why do we still needdocument managementsystems?

In the real world, manypeople are not sitting atworkstations but are out andabout where paper is still, andalways will be, the mostconvenient way to holdinformation.

For many who work fororganisations like the utilitiesindustry, digging holes in theground, paper is the mostsensible arrangement.

Research papers containinformation held on one ormore databases. Minutes ofmeetings hold information thatmay subsequently prove to bevitally important. Companiestherefore recognise that whileall data should be heldelectronically, usefulinformation often sits indocuments, which cannot.

The challenge is how toretrieve data to make best useof the information. And thisexplains why documentmanagement is at last beingtaken seriously, and whyworkflow solutions areproviding the productivity

improvements that many earlierautomated systems failed toachieve.

Of course there are a numberof caveats that must beconsidered if organisations areto succeed.

For example, a workflowsolution should connect all thepeople in different functionalareas who undertake theactivities that make up aprocess. On the technical side,companies also need to ensurethat electronic documents canbe migrated to newenvironments when atechnology infrastructureupgrade takes place.

Too many system architectsfocus on how to automateactivities where data retrieval iseasy – such as sales datacaptured online and held in arelational database.

By using workflow anddocument managementpackages, organisations cannow streamline a wholeprocess.

Every company still wants toget rid of labour-intensive

activities such as photocopyingand distributing paperdocuments. If paper has to beused, due to the physical natureof the business operation, thenan electronic document shouldbe sent and printed locally.

Of course good system designremains important and for anEDMS, using templates and/ordocument samples that otherscan easily access or make use ofimproves the system. Also, themore that people are involvedin the detailed design, the morelikely they are to use the newprocess/system.

As Lao Tzu, the Chinesephilosopher, once said: “Tell meand I’ll forget. Show me and Imay remember, but involve meand I will understand.”

Designing processesWorkflow and documentmanagement software packagesenable organisations to re-engineer business processes andachieve substantial returns onthe investment in IT.

BPR (business process re-engineering) has acquired a bad

reputation as ‘big peoplereduction’, so it’s not surprisingthat many staff are stillsuspicious when organisationstalk about re-engineering aprocess.

However, when people cometo appreciate that they canaccess information held indocuments quickly and easilyand share this information withothers, the attitude tends tochange.

When people see they willbenefit from a change, they arewilling to go along with it.

Productivity improvement isachieved by having everybodyundertake the process activitiesin a consistent manner, and thisis facilitated by the workflowpackage. This is qualitymanagement in action or‘getting it right first time, everytime’.

One of the advantages ofworkflow and documentmanagement systems is that thesystem keeps track of events asthey occur, so there is an audittrail as well as an easilyunderstood and operated set ofcontrols.

Both of these features areimportant for security, sincepeople only see informationwhen it is appropriate and arereminded to undertake the nextactivity in a process.

However, using a softwarepackage does not meanignoring good documentationdesign principles, such as:● Version control, includingdocument date.● Retention times, so as to notclog up the system with out-of-date information.● Categorisation on adocument – eg, meeting minutesor research papers.● Author and other contactdetails.● Audience, objective and/orkey word summary, which will



Stewart Mills: involve people and they will understand

Cinderella systems?The true worth of documentmanagement systems isfinally being recognised,says Stewart Mills of Parity.

be of use to individuals seekinginformation.

Data can also be capturedusing a variety of hardware andsoftware-based techniques suchas:● Numbered forms.● Barcodes pre-printed onforms.● Mark sensing – ie, crosses indesignated boxes on a form.● Optical character readers(OCR).

KnowledgemanagementI believe workflow anddocument management systemsare now key components of awhole new way of working.

What sort of picture do thewords ‘knowledgemanagement’ conjure up in themind?

To some, knowledgemanagement is all about thatfuzzy term ‘networking’, wherepeople get together in virtual‘knowledge’ groups and shareexperiences and information.The problem with thisdescription is that there is too

much reliance on individuals’personal knowledge.

On the other hand, softwarevendors believe that knowledgemanagement is all about searchengines and how best tostructure and hold information.In this type of scenario, namingstandards are a key feature;otherwise the ability to finduseful information is impaired.

Actually, neither of theseapproaches addresses the waythat people actually workwhich is the sequence ofactivities that people undertakein following a process. This iswhere workflow comes into itsown.

I once heard knowledgemanagement guru Karl Sveibysay that: “Knowledge is thecapacity to act, not somethingstored in a database.”

In my view, withoutworkflow present to structurebusiness activity, knowledgeworkers are operating in anenvironment where there isreduced productivity.

Given that the whole point ofusing technology is to improve

productivity, this is a hugewasted opportunity that iscosting businesses money.

As a consultant, I have helpedclients to improve their businessprocesses, and on occasions thishas involved changing thewhole work environment.

Nowadays the type ofsoftware tools that are availablecan offer vastly more than justworkflow and documentmanagement. Figure 1 providesan outline of what could go in atoolkit.

For reference, explicitknowledge can be recorded andaccessed by others; tacitknowledge is what anindividual knows instinctivelyfrom experience and/or gut feel,plus the application of commonsense.

The diagram shows all thesubject areas that come underthe heading of knowledgemanagement. For example:● Document management isimportant, as much of anorganisation’s informationactually sits in documents.● Collaboration and project

management is a facility thatenables people working inteams to share information indynamic (real-time) mode, andkeep track of events within aproject team.

The original Lotus Notessoftware was an early version ofthis facility.● Where there is a standardprocess for dealing with asituation, then an organisationcan build this into a workflowmodule so that a consistentapproach is used.● This feature can be takenfurther – an organisation canset up the software so thatwhen a certain type of ‘event’has occurred, an email will begenerated and sent to anindividual to alert them to thesituation.

Maybe there is a toolsetalready out there that providesthis functionality, but if not, itwill not be long before one isintroduced.

As can be seen from the listof headings, workflow anddocument management areintegral components within aknowledge managementsolution.

ConclusionSo where does all of this takeus?

Although IT impacts on allaspects of life, organisationshave accepted that someinformation will always need tobe held in documents or staypaper-based.

This means documentmanagement is going to remainan important tool in the ITarsenal for some time to come.Likewise all routine processescan now be better managed in aquality environment throughthe use of workflow softwarewith measurable gains inproductivity.

I think this is the year whenthe ‘Cinderella of IT’ finallygets to go to the ball.

● Stewart Mills is a principalconsultant with Parityspecialising in businessperformance improvement.Email: [email protected].



FIGURE 1: Knowledge management tool functionality


Information management● Categorisation● Search & reporting● Information retrieval – eg, web crawler

Content management

Document management

Records management

Collaboration & project management

Workflow & forms – eg, PDF & other renditions

Event notification by email

Skills database

Directory services – eg, remote cachemanagement of replicated information

Open architecture – ie, XML, enablinglinks to other systems (ERP packages,imaging systems, etc)

Tacit knowledge

Explicit knowledge

Founded in 1992, SDLInternational is a world leaderin the provision of translationservices and technologysolutions. It is headquartered inthe UK and has over 40 officesworldwide.

Since its flotation in 1999 onthe London Stock Exchange,SDL’s revenues have grownfrom £13 million to over £64 million.

The company providesoutsourced localisation,translation products andlocalisation services, and hasachieved market share growthin all these sectors.

WorkflowSDL recognises that increasingcontent volumes, more frequentupdates, more languages anddistributed resources accessingcentralised translation assets alladd to the complexity ofmanaging the creation and

maintenance of multilingualcontent.

SDL believes the key tooptimising this process is theclear definition of process, thetimely execution of thatprocess, the efficient sharing oftranslation assets and trackingeach step in the process.

SDLWorkFlow manages theend-to-end localisation process,including integration withexisting systems and theapplication of translationtechnology components.

Its web-based architectureand role-based security providesaccess to everyone who needs it,wherever they are located.

The software establishes atask-based workflow, consistingof human and system tasks, foreach content type and for eachtarget language. Individualresources in the workflow arenotified via email when theyneed to work on a given task,

content in 10 languages across24 websites, resulting inthousands of pages that need tobe kept synchronised with theEnglish source content.

Although the company’s webcontent was already managedand published using InterwovenTeamSite, this central controldid not extend across thedistributed team of authors,translators and reviewers.

Before it implementedSDLWorkFlow, PeopleSoft’smanual process for preparingcontent files for translation andre-integrating the files back intoTeamSite involved 36 manualsteps. This process has nowbeen cut to six steps.

The implementation ofSDLWorkFlow for translationmanagement has providedcentral control and visibility ofall translation costs, whileoffering the managementmetrics needed to optimise theoverall translation process.

Market focusSDL sells to consumer, SMEand enterprise organisations inthe major vertical markets,including IT, electronics,automotive, financial services,pharmaceuticals andmanufacturing.

Customers include Adobe,Bayer, Bosch, Canon, DAF,DaimlerChrysler, Kodak,Microsoft, Morgan Stanley,Oracle, PeopleSoft, Reuters,Siebel, SAP and Sun.

SDL International

SDL

Inte

rnat

iona

l


and can also view a web-basedsummary of all outstandingtasks assigned to them.

Once a process has beendefined, SDLWorkFlowmonitors the source content forchange. When a change isdetected, it automates much ofthe work, including extractingthe text to be translated,applying translation memory,costing and invoicing, and allaspects of managing the contentthrough the translation process.The re-integration of translatedcontent into the target systemcan also be automated.

SDLWorkFlow managestranslation memories in acentralised repository. Offlineand online translation resourceshave access to these assets tooptimise the use of translationmemories.

SDLWorkFlow providesstandard reports coveringdifferent metrics, such astranslation memory usage,translation costs and savings,productivity of linguisticresources and job status.

Users can also define customreports and output into third-party tools, to further analysethe data. Reports can bescheduled and a circulation listdefined to ensure appropriatestaff are kept informed of keyproject metrics on a regularbasis.

Case studyOne SDLWorkFlow customer,PeopleSoft, generates web


Name and AddressSDL International, Globe House,Clivemont Road, Maidenhead SL6 7DY


Fax01628 410150

Contact nameTerry Lawlor


Website addresswww.sdl.com


CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

£64.4m

N/P

£4.1m

350+

1,300+

D/I

D/I

D/I

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





SDLWorkFlow 2004

1999

20 – 10

60 – 25

IT, electronics, automotive, hospitality &leisure, information services

SDLWorkFlow 2004 – May 04

Windows 2000 Server, IE 6+ andNetscape 7+ browsers

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

N/A

XML, Unicode, TMX

.NET

No

Interfaces to all reporting tools

Integrates with single language contentmanagement systems to providemultilingual content management

PRODUCT

Founded in 1994, Singularity isa leading provider of process-centric solutions, offering theaward-winning SingularityProcess Platform and a range ofprofessional services.

The product has been ratedas “visionary” by Gartner and a“potent and effective BPMproduct that distinguishes itselffrom the competition” by ButlerGroup. It won a 2003 GlobalExcellence Award given by theWorkflow ManagementCoalition.

Singularity is a privately heldcompany, operating globallyfrom its HQ in Ireland andoffices in London, New York,Singapore and Hyderabad.

It has customers throughoutEurope, North and SouthAmerica and South East Asia,including JPMorgan (global),British Telecom (UK) andDatamail (New Zealand).

The Singularity Process

management, and processmonitoring and continuousimprovement.

It acts as co-ordinator andorchestrator, configuring theoptimal combination of peopleand technologies to achievebusiness goals and tyingtogether existing systems withnew ways of doing business.

The Platform has an openand component-based serviceoriented architecture (SOA)designed to permit rapiddevelopment, integration,deployment and revision ofbusiness processes. ThePlatform enables business andIT staff to collaborate in thecontrol and improvement of acompany’s processes.

ServicesSingularity packages its services,aiming to provide predictableoutcomes, early visualisation ofresult, best practice, project riskmanagement and knowledgetransfer.

Its pre-packaged servicesinclude:● ROI Discovery – highlightsthe areas that constrain acompany’s businessperformance and prioritisesareas with good potential forprofit through better process.● Proof of Concept –demonstrates how ROI can beachieved through better processmanagement.● Phased Implementation – adisciplined approach toimplementing new or improved

processes which helps usersmanage risk and progressmethodically to achieve forecastresults.● Knowledge TransferProgrammes – help customersbecome self-sufficient in processmanagement.

Singularity also offerseducation in the form of five,three and one-day courses.24x7 customer care viatelephone and email is alsooffered.

Market focusThe Singularity ProcessPlatform is targetedhorizontally at buyers of BPMand workflow solutions, andvertically at the financialservices, telecoms, governmentand healthcare markets.

Singularity’s move to moretargeted solutions is illustratedby the development of asecurities trading managementsolution for financial servicescompanies.

It has establishedpartnerships with OEMpartners as part of its strategyto serve customers in targetedvertical sectors – for example,Northgate and Capita currentlyembed the Platform in productssold in the government sector.

Singularity’s partnership withAscential Software providesaccess to enterprise dataintegration capabilities whichcomplement the company’sprocess-centric solutions.

Singularity


Sing

ular

ityPlatform, the company’sfoundational offering, is abusiness process managementand workflow solution thathelps organisations managebusiness processes throughouttheir lifecycle. It offers thefollowing components:● The Builder is a graphicaltool that business and IT staffuse to design, simulate, test anddeploy effective processes.● The Driver is the engine thatorchestrates efficient executionof these processes.● The Monitor provides insightinto process and businessperformance.● The Optimizer closes theloop by triggering andsupporting continuousimprovement of processes.

The Platform combinesworkflow, enterpriseapplication integration (EAI),document management, processautomation, rules and forms


Name and AddressSingularity, 100 Patrick Street, Derry,N Ireland BT48 7EL


Fax028 7126 8085

Contact nameDermot McCauley


Website addresswww.singularity.co.uk


CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

105

D/I

D

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Singularity Process Platform

1999

81 – 54

126 – 74

BPM, workflow, financial services,government, healthcare

v2.9 – March 04

Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

N/A

XML, COM, SOAP

.NET

Yes

Yes – any that supports industry-standard interfaces

Integrates with COM, Script, .NET, webservices + other integration toolscommunicated with via these standards(eg, MQSeries, SNA Server, etc)

PRODUCT

Triaster is a leading UKbusiness process improvementspecialist, providing a range ofContinual Process Improvementsolutions. The company has aconsultancy background,combining an understanding oforganisational culture and thechallenges involved in processimprovement together withtechnical expertise.

Triaster is based inOxfordshire and wasestablished in 1994. It hasstrong links with Microsoft andBSi. Its solutions are designed toprovide faster core processes sothat users can, for example,deliver new and improvedproducts to market faster thanbefore.

The solutions support moreefficient support processes,reduced waste and improvedmorale. They enableorganisations to review andassess process fit against

strategic objectives, so thatprocess improvement cancontinue and scale.

The Continual ProcessImprovement solutions placeownership and responsibilityfor process improvement in thehands of the staff who executethe process. However, Triasterrecognises that enterprise-wideprocess mapping andimprovement is a majorundertaking, and supports userswith the process mapping, theanalysis of the data captured,and the implementation of animprovement road map.

This support is tailored tospecific requirements andincludes all or some of thefollowing: Process Navigator,customisation, training,consultancy, improvementworkshops, middleware andsoftware/hardwareimplementation.

Triaster’s flagship product,

wrapper on the Microsoft Visio2003 object model, in a logicalstructure for business processes.Triaster says any developerfamiliar with object orientedprogramming models can buildapplications on top of ProcessObjects.

Triaster says its ContinualProcess Improvement solutionscan help any organisationimprove its processes.Accordingly, the company hascustomers across a number ofvertical markets.

Triaster also has majormarket share in the publicsector, telecoms, IT, financialservices, manufacturing,engineering and professions.

Within the public sector,London Borough of Hillingdon(LBH) is a customer. Bystreamlining its processes andhaving all legacy documentationat employees’ fingertips, LBHbelieves it will save £470,000on its generic processes,extrapolating from the first sixdocumented processes.

Currently, only LBH’s 2,000Civic Centre employees havethe process intranet available tothem, but even with the 56processes presentlydocumented, LBH believes that£250,000 savings areachievable.

More details on this andother Triaster customers areavailable fromwww.triaster.co.uk.

Triaster

Tria

ster


Process Navigator, is core to itsContinual Process Improvementsolutions. Process Navigatorcomes in two parts: MappingEdition and Analyst Edition.

Mapping Edition enablesnon-process specialists tocapture the processes theyperform on a daily basis, in agraphical format. It is designedto be easy to use and imposes auniform process frameworkacross the organisation.

Analyst Edition identifies theend-to-end business processesand where the improvementsshould start. It is wizard driven,and builds the enterprise mapand publishes it to HTML soeveryone has access to theprocess data captured.

Process Navigator is writtenon the .NET platform, utilisingthe Microsoft Visio graphicsengine. It enables users tocapture data enterprise-wide inreal time. Subsequentconsolidation of the data intoan XML-based repositoryenables it to become a re-usableresource – the aim being todeliver the right information atthe time it is wanted, in theformat required.

Process Navigator can beintegrated with the MicrosoftOffice system, in particularMicrosoft Project 2003,SharePoint 2003, OneNote2003 and InfoPath 2003, andother common applicationssuch as Oracle.

It exposes an ActiveX Servercalled Process Objects. This is a


Name and AddressTriaster Ltd, Unit 4 Henderson House,Hithercroft Road, Wallingford OX10 9DG


Fax01491 821808

Contact nameDan Alexander


Website addresswww.triaster.co.uk

User Group Chairman/Contact PointN/A – currently setting up user group

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

N/P

D/I

D

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Process Navigator

2000

300 – 80

400 – 100

Public sector, telecoms, IT, financialservices, manufacturing

v3 – Jan 04

Windows 2000, XP

Enabled

Enabled

Yes

Yes

Enabled

Enabled

No

No

No

N/A

XML

.NET

Yes

Yes – Simul8

Process Navigator v3 uses XML andXSLT to turn data captured in theprocess map to any format, in particularMS Office

PRODUCT

Vignette V7 Platform. VignetteV7 products offer a suite ofservices to create, share, manageand present information tousers anywhere, at any time.

Vignette V7 ApplicationServices are built on industry-standard open technologies andcan be deployed in a modularfashion to assemble businessapplications within theheterogeneous environmentsfound within most enterprises.● Vignette ContentManagement automates theprocesses for creating,managing and publishingcontent for the web.● Vignette Application Portalprovides businesses withenterprise portal managementcapabilities. It helps companiesrealise economies of scale byaggregating and managing

retention was the domain of asmall group of highly trainedrecords managers. Today, witha growing list of legal andregulatory requirements,Vignette recognises thatdocument and recordsmanagement systems must beautomatic, flexible, integrated,secure and intuitive foreveryone to use.

Vignette RDS provides thefollowing features:● Single repository. VignetteRDS integrates documentmanagement capabilities withrecords retention policies. Thishelps to avoid ‘broken records’as information is transferredfrom document management tothe records management systemfor long-term storage andultimate disposition.● Compliance standards.Vignette RDS supportsdocument and web transactionnon-repudiation, with built-inrecording of digital audit trailsdirectly into a secure database.

It helps users meet regulatorymandates such as the GrammLeach Bliley Acts and industrystandards such as SEC17a-3and 17a-4 and DoD5015.2.● Lifecycle solution. Thesoftware reduces paper trails forcasework and establishesstandards for secure public andcorporate records. Scannedimages, collaboration,workflow and publishing ofdocuments are managed, storedand optimised for compliance.

Vignette RDS includes:● Records management. Userscan manage risk across theorganisation through recordcut-off control, expirationreview cycles and workflow,manual authorisation steps, andsecure high-speed XML/SSLtransfer of information betweendepartments and differentstorage media.● Electronic informationcapture. Users can incorporatecaptured documents and imagesfrom streamed computer output(ASCII, XML), fax and paperdocuments and webtransactions.● Imaging and indexing. Userscan access distributed orcentralised scanning andindexing of physical documentsand correspondence records,with support for independent orremote scan workstations.● Email archival. Users cancapture, categorise and archivehigh volumes of internal andexternal email and instantmessages for improved filtering,searching, retrieval, auditingand long-term storage.● Collaborative documentservices. Users can managecomplex documents, createdfrom popular desktopapplications such as MicrosoftOffice with check-in and check-out, versioning, audit trails anddocument review and approvalworkflows.

Vignette


Vign

ettemultiple initiatives on a single

portal network.● Vignette Application Builderputs the capability of portalapplication building in thehands of business users. Thevisual environment enablesusers to create and customiseapplications, helping them torespond more rapidly tochanging business needs.● Vignette Dialog utilises anorganisation’s investment in itswebsites and portals, offering asoftware solution that canautomate personalisedsequences of customerinteractions – or dialogues –with the aim of creating loyal,profitable relationships.

Vignette Records &Document Server (RDS).Traditionally, recordsmanagement capture and


Name and AddressVignette Europe Limited, 99 KingStreet, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1DP


Fax01628 772266

Contact nameEmma Jenkins


Website addresswww.vignette.com

User Group Chairman/Contact PointTom Hogan (President + CEO) 00 1 888 608 9900

CONTACT POINTS

Turnover (UK)

Turnover (W)






End User Support by



AOR

$158m

AOR

($0.03m)

100

950

D/I

D/I

D

COMPANY

Name




Key markets




Workflow

Document management



Content management



Imaging


Other

Standards supported





Vignette V7 Platform

EMEA: 1998

328 – 75 plus

1,600 plus – AOR

Public sector (central + local), financialservices, insurance, healthcare &pharmaceuticals, telecoms

v7 – 2003

Windows, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Portal, collaboration, emailmanagement, case management,integration, web content management

XML, WfMC, J2EE, .NET, JSR168,DoD5015.2, etc

.NET, J2EE

Yes

Yes – Vignette, Cognos, BusinessObjects, Comshare, Hyperion

Vignette Business Integration Studioprovides 70+ standard adaptors forintegration to ERP, CRM, SCM, EAI,database, email systems, etc

PRODUCT

THE KNOWLEDGE economyhas become a reality for manyorganisations and countries.

As Tony Blair said in hiskeynote address to the CBIConference last November:“The success of the economywill be determined byknowledge, skills andeducation.” In other words, thewealth of a nation no longerdepends on its ability to convertraw materials into tangiblegoods, but rather on its abilityto develop and harness theabilities and knowledge of itscitizens.

Equally, the success oforganisations in this economydepends on the ability of theirleaders to create a culture andstyle where knowledge isvalued, nurtured and used.

Many organisations haverealised significant benefitsfrom developing a knowledge-conscious style of managementand from specific knowledgeactions. In others, seniormanagers are still consideringhow the core principles andpractices could deliver businessbenefit for their full range ofstakeholders.

To provide new insights intothe dynamics of knowledge-conscious management – and itspotential for improving businessperformance and profitability –20 leading knowledgepractitioners developed a‘knowledge proposition’ duringthe sixth annual chiefknowledge officers (CKO)summit held in Dublin lastOctober.

This proposition, addressedto chief executives and allbusiness leaders, states that:

Significant additionalstakeholder value andcompetitive advantage will bederived if the expertise,information and ideas ofemployees, partners andcustomers are continuallydeveloped and used in allbusiness and decision-makingprocesses.

Knowledge impactCompanies fully exploiting theirknowledge potential arecharacterised by:● Excellent customerunderstanding.● Innovation and creativity.● Better informed decisions.● Continuous improvement tooperational efficiency andeffectiveness.● Astute risk management.

All of which results inimproved business performanceand profitability.

But because the businesspriorities of senior managementdepend on the type oforganisation and its primaryorientation, differentapproaches to realising thebenefits of the knowledgeproposition are needed toreflect these priorities.

Michael Treacy and FredWiersema in their book TheDiscipline of Market Leaderssuggest that successfulcompanies have a leadingcapability in one of threeprimary dimensions – customerintimacy, product leadership

and operational excellence –though they will also ensurethat they are competitive in thetwo other dimensions.

This model can be used todemonstrate the benefits of theknowledge proposition in thecontext of different priorities(although there are also anumber of core knowledgeactivities that companies findinvaluable to achieving theirbusiness aims irrespective oftheir primary orientation, asshown in Figure 1).

Customer intimacyIn his book Customer Intimacy(Harper Collins, 1997), FredWiersema suggests that: “Thehallmarks of intimacy are trust,collaboration and partnering.”

Organisations with a primaryorientation towards customerintimacy need to be recognisedas trusted advisors for theirmarket. They are looking toextend their market bydeveloping the strength ofreputation and trust. Theirtrading proposition is to existon their reputation and earnmoney through trust.

So the types of organisationwith a primary focus oncustomer intimacy wouldinclude corporate banking, lawfirms, consultancies, wealthmanagement, outsourcingcompanies and all professionaladvisory organisations.

Such customer intimacyorganisations need:● A passion for understandingthe needs, concerns andambitions of their customers.



The knowledgepropositionNigel Oxbrow of TFPLshows why different typesof organisation need to usetheir corporate knowledgein distinctive ways.

● To meet those needs andsolve customer problems.● To ensure that all their staffcan see the whole of therelationship with the client.● To understand how theirinternal capabilities meetcustomers’ needs.● A client-centric approach todeveloping new products andsolutions.

Customer intimateorganisations see their world ina customer centric way,supported by business processesand functions developed from

their knowledge activities.The flow of expertise,

information and ideas is theessence of the relationship withcustomers and should beembedded in all actions andcommunications.

As Wiersema puts it: “Allemployees should collaborateclosely with the customer andbe able to respond in flexibleways. Both individual andorganisational adaptability arenecessary. These requireempowering employees to takedecisions and make changes

and having open, flexible andco-operative internal processesand operations.”

The knowledge valueproposition for organisationswith this orientation is asfollows:

By continuously developingand using expertise,information and ideas, theorganisation can build anunderstanding of the needs,ambitions and concerns of itscustomers, and develop itsinternal capabilities to help itanticipate and respond to these

needs, so becoming closer andmore trusted advisors.

The knowledge actions andinitiatives that will deliver thisvalue proposition include thecore actions and range ofcustomer-focused knowledgeactions shown in Table 1.

Product leadershipThe types of organisations witha primary focus on productleadership would includepharmaceutical R&D, FMCG,telecoms and electronicequipment manufacturers,media and energy-relatedcompanies.

Such organisations need tocontinually enhance theirportfolio by seeking to innovateand invent. Their ability toidentify, understand andrespond to current and futuremarket needs is critical.

Product leadershiporganisations have tounderstand and manage theirproduct lifecycle portfolioacross the three horizons inwhich they operate:● Horizon 1 – Defend andextend current core businesses.● Horizon 2 – Build themomentum of merging newbusinesses.● Horizon 3 – Create optionsfor future businesses.

The focus of their knowledgevalue proposition and deliverywill therefore be determined bythe most important horizon forthe organisation or teamswithin it.

The dynamics of Horizon 1will be similar for those of anorganisation striving foroperational excellence, whereasthose of Horizon 2 will matchthose for organisations strivingfor customer intimacy.

Overall, the knowledge valueproposition for organisationswith an orientation to productleadership is that:

By continuously developingand using expertise,information and ideas, anorganisation can develop betterinsights into market trends, andenable better informed decisionsthat drive portfolio value.

The knowledge actions and



FIGURE 1: Knowledge conscious management – core knowledge actions

Expertise

Directing cross-silocollaborative working

Encouraging learning andinsights

Building external networks

Turning good practice intocommon practice

Ensuring that expertise canbe located

Information

Providing an appropriateinformation architecture

Preventing informationduplication and filling gaps

Mobilising customer, market and competitor intelligence

Developing processes tocapture intellectual capital

Ideas

Encouraging creativecommunities

Supportive environment forsharing and applying ideasand knowledge

Facilitating the identificationof relationships

Providing the time andpermission for reflection

Valuing diversity and fresheyes on problems andprocesses

Connecting people to people and people to content

TABLE 1: Knowledge conscious management – customer intimacy

Information● Core actions.

● Maintaining excellent customerrelationship managementprocesses.

● Making capabilities, informationand insights visible to customers.

● Sharing information with clients.● Capturing repeatable practices.● Presenting information about

solutions from a client issueviewpoint.

● Providing sector and clientinformation that allows staff todeliver the right solutions foreach client.

Ideas● Core actions.

● Organising processes for earlyidea generation and application.

● Identifying and revealing keyrelationships.

● Creating feedback loops.● Conducting ‘after action’ reviews.● Sharing knowledge with

customers and partners.● Developing processes to support

rapid re-use of new solutions forother clients.

Expertise● Core actions.

● Enabling flexible solutions ratherthan off-the-shelf products.

● Creating organisationalcapabilities and structures thatare built around clients’ needs.

● Training and coaching – how toencourage customer feedbackand how to use it.

● Ensuring sales proposals build onprevious successful approaches.

● Developing active listeningthroughout the organisation.

● Identifying and acting on signals.● Ensuring that staff can readily

match customer problems withappropriate services.

initiatives that enable the valueproposition include the coreactions shown in Table 2, and avariety of product-focusedknowledge actions.

Strategies in Horizon 3 willvary depending on whether theorganisation is a ‘shaper’ or a‘challenger’ in the marketsector.

For example, if anorganisation is creating a newmarket (a shaper) it will need tobe much more focused onstimulating creativity andinnovation through thedevelopment and exploitationof ideas, whereas a challengerwill be more focused oncompeting through theapplication of information andexpertise.

Operational excellenceOrganisations with a primaryorientation towards operationalexcellence will be continuallyfocused on methods to improvetheir productivity – throughefficient and effective processesand supply chain management –in order to increase speed tomarket and competitive pricing.

Knowledge processes deliverthe agility such organisationsrequire to excel in a marketwith no product or servicedifferentiation.

The types of organisationswith this type of focus wouldinclude retail, manufacturing,commodity-based industries,retail banks, energy distributorsand government services.

Operational excellenceorganisations need tocontinually improveproductivity by:

● Driving costs out of thesystem.● Developing more efficientprocesses.● Making most effective use ofresources.

● Enhancing productivityacross the input and outputchain.● Increasing speed to market.

The knowledge valueproposition for these

organisations is that:By continuously developing

and using expertise,information and ideas anorganisation can driveimprovement in efficiency,effectiveness and cost reduction.The balance and flow betweenideas, expertise and informationdrives continuous improvement(see Figure 2).

The knowledge initiativesthat will deliver the valueproposition include the coreactions shown in Table 3 and avariety of operational-focusedactions.

In summary, knowledgeconscious management alignsan organisation’s expertise,information and ideas aroundthe critical success factors of theorganisation. It also employs anappropriate mix of tools ofintervention – people, processesand technology.

The knowledge propositionoutlined here suggests aknowledge framework that canhelp organisations mapknowledge-focused activitiesagainst their key performanceindicators.

● Nigel Oxbrow is CEO ofinformation and contentmanagement recruitment andadvisory business TFPL. Tel: 020 7251 5522. Email:[email protected]. A copyof the knowledge propositioncan be downloaded fromwww.tfpl.com.



FIGURE 2: Key factors in process improvement

Embeddingknowledge

into businessprocesses

Connectingpeople with

people

Identifyingopportunitiesfor processimprovement

Expertise Information

Ideas

Drivingcontinuous

processimprovement

TABLE 2: Knowledge conscious management – product leadership


● Delivering supply chainintelligence.

● Maintaining portfolio intelligence.● Making product information

easily available to employees andcustomers.

● Recording decisions and theirevidence.

Ideas● Core actions

● Developing an innovation culture.● Managing the product portfolio.● Stimulating and rewarding new

product ideas.● Encouraging off-the-wall

thinking.


● Managing decision chainmanagement.

● Portfolio management.● Conducting simulation,

visualisation and modelling.● Directing knowledge sharing

between projects.

TABLE 3: Knowledge conscious management – operational excellence


● Benchmarking.● Capturing and sharing

performance data.● Providing research and

information to take appropriateactions.

● Developing location tools forinternal and external expertise tohelp solve problems.

● Creating feedback processes.

Ideas● Core actions.

● Encouraging new perspectives tobe applied to processes andproblems.

● Coaching people to look at newinnovative ways of doing things.

● Developing processes for sharingideas with suppliers andpartners.

● Ensuring that all parts of theorganisation contribute ideas.


● Ensuring that all expertise isapplied to continuousimprovement.

● Embedding knowledge activitiesinto business processes.

● Measuring how good you are,coming up with better ways andmaking these happen.

● Making customer-facing peopleas smart as possible.

● Developing managementeducation and communication tohelp embed the value of theknowledge.

workflow, document & business process management

Documents

document records management

document management

document management

management briefingarticles

bpm systems

workflowand bpm

copyright of pmp uk

conspectus sales enquiries