Business Process Management (BPM): June 2013

Hello BPM & Workflow enthusiasts ,

I would like to present some alternatives of other workflow tools like Microsoft style server licenses not CAL based.

Software : SharePoint 2010/2013 Server, MS office SharePoint Server, MS SharePoint Designer (Free), K2 Black Pearl or Nintex , Yammer social integration , Visual Studio, SQL Server backend, can use Infopath forms or use K2 Smart forms.

K2 platform is a well know workflow, BPM tool for Microsoft world and well accepted. Nintex is another competitor but K2 has more components and smart services.

K2 BlackPoint and BlackPearl are 2 different products where BlackPoint is known for No code workflow development.

K2 comes with K2 studio for visual workflow development (process diagram using K2 Designer, rules, and Vizio integration)

K2 Connect for SAP integration

K2 Smart Objects for – AD, Accounts, CRM, SAP,Exchange, Office 365, WS and WCF endpoints for SOA.

K2 has an API for developers to use , Can connect to the workflow server and write C# code if necessary.

string K2ServerName = "localhost";

SourceCode.Workflow.Client.Connection connection = new SourceCode.Workflow.Client.Connection();

connection.Open(K2ServerName);

...Make many calls using the active connection...

connection.Close();

Yammer (Acquired by Microsoft) is the social part and interface similar to Facebook/LinkedIn or I can even compare with Appian News ( feeds/messages/kudos)

K2 blackpoint unlimited enterprise license is around $15,000 (Please check with K2 Sales for exact prices)

K2 blackpearl is probably more as it has more integration features to biztalk/sap/visualstudio/office server etc.

Normally in a SharePoint workflow, when you have to reference data from a line of business system, you would develop a web service and then call that web service in the workflow. In K2, this can be achieved using smartobjects.

Alternative to InfoPath Forms are K2 Smart Forms or Nintex Forms.

Yammer Social Interface: and has its own API to extend if required. It can integrate in SharePoint as a Web Part.

Yammer Pricing: https://www.yammer.com/about/pricing

K2 Designer (Forms/Rules/Process) and Reports

SharePoint/Yammer integration a kind of Web Part. This has nothing to do with K2/Nintex

As every software there will be unknown issues in some integration or load balancing etc.

Need to verify about licenses in DEV/QA/UAT environments

Nintex also provides many features, but less than K2 from my perspective

Nintex product line says, Draw It, Not code It . its built on SharePoint.

Overall License costs: Microsoft yammer, Sharepoint Farm, K2 , reporting services, SQL server etc.

Talk to vendors about your expected network topology upfront as single server, multi core, SharePoint farm etc. to avoid surprises

As I write this , I am not a K2/Nintex employee nor an affiliate partner.

There are other products which may be expensive but can be used with ZERO footprint and no development necessary at least to start and business users can develop and deploy the process. Ex: Appian

Links:

http://www.k2.com/solutions/business-process-management

http://www.k2underground.com/

http://www.nintex.com

https://www.yammer.com/product/

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint

Building Effective Workflows using SharePoint: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh237664(v=office.14).aspx

Also learn more about iBPMS - Adding Intelligence to the BPM Suite –

iBPM Suites “enable leading organizations to make their business operations more intelligent by integrating analytics, social, and mobile technologies into orchestrated processes” - Gartner

http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1C86TEL&ct=120928&st=sb&goback=%2Egde_154575_member_171021411

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1943514

This below figure shows the 2012 iBPMS Magic Quadrant

Appian, Pegasystems and IBM Business Process Manager (Once called Lombardi Teamworks ) being in the Leaders Quadrant