Wp Forrester Blueprint Process Discovery and Execution

8/7/2019 Wp Forrester Blueprint Process Discovery and Execution

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ExECUTIvE SUMMARy

Austin-based Lombardi Sowares latest oering, Blueprint, positions the vendor to extend its leadership

in human-centric business process management (BPM) and takes direct aim at Microso Word,

PowerPoint, and Visio as the tools o choice or process analysts. Blueprint provides a process modeling

and discovery platorm that blends collaboration and documentation capabilities into an easy-to-use,

low cost, soware-as-a-service oering that can be used by beginner to expert process analysts. o stay

ahead o the pack, the platorm needs to continue extending its collaborative Web 2.0 unctionality as

other BPM suite vendors play catch-up by introducing similar oerings. Consider Lombardi Blueprint iyou need a collaborative and lightweight process discovery tool that is tailored to support geographically

dispersed process discovery teams.

KEY IDEA: KNOWLEDGE WORKERS NEED TO LINK bpm STRATEGY TO EXECUTION

Process analysts are rustrated and ed up with the limited process discovery unctionality provided

by BPM suites. Many analysts ditch their respective BPM suites built-in modeler in avor o ready-

to-use documentation tools such as Microso Word, Visio, and PowerPoint. Although these tools

have very little to do with process discovery, theyre amiliar, dont require any learning curve, and

allow analysts to start with a blank sheet o paper. But using these tried-and-true tools oen introduces

serious disconnects between the BPM strategy dened during process discovery and the executableprocess developed by the technical team. Some organizations try to address these disconnects by

acquiring comprehensive business process analysis (BPA) tools such as Aris, MEGA, or Metis.1 While

BPA tools are well-suited to process discovery, most process analysts only need a small subset o the ull

unctionality provided by BPA tools, and many nd the learning curve too steep.

WHATS DIFFERENT: bLUEpRINT ENAbLES LEAN pROCESS DISCOVERY

Lombardi Soware, based in Austin, is a pioneer in the pure-play BPM market.2 With a portolio o

blue-chip customers, the companys eamworks BPM Suite continues to be a leader in the human-

centric BPM category. In April 2007, seeking to move urther up the BPM value chain, Lombardi

introduced a new oering, Lombardi Blueprint. Blueprint targets business analysts and processproessionals responsible or driving business case denition and process discovery within their

organizations. Key eatures o the Blueprint platorm include:

Februar 6, 2009

vendor Snapshot: Lombardi Blueprint Bridges Gap BetweenProcess Discovery And Executiony Clay Richardsonwith Connie Moore and Norman Nicolson


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2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction ProhibitedFebruar 6, 2009

2Vendor Snapshot: Lombardi Blueprint Bridges Gap Between Process Discovery And Execution


Lightweight process modeling. Blueprint combines the best o both worlds or analysts: theready-to-use eel o oce productivity tools and the comprehensive knowledge repository

ound in traditional BPA tools. Process analysts can brainstorm processes and prioritize key

objectives with high-level Discovery Maps (see Figure 1). From the Discovery view, analysts

can automatically generate lower-level process diagrams and documentation. Since all o

Blueprints views are linked, a change to one view or section updates the others. Process analysts

can pull in existing workfow diagrams rom Visio using a symbol-mapping interace that

associates Visio symbols with specic BPM activity types within Blueprint. Analysts can also

output process discovery documentation to PowerPoint-ormatted discovery reports that can be

modied and updated externally.

Collaborative process discovery. Collaboration is woven in to the very abric o Blueprint.Te platorm was built rom the ground up using Google Web oolkit (GW), which allows

developers to create highly interactive and collaborative Web 2.0 applications. Te completelybrowser-based platorm is delivered through a soware-as-a-service (SaaS) model that allows

geographically dispersed teams to collaborate on process models and denitions in real time.

Behind the scenes Blueprint automatically tracks changes and handles versioning, creating audit

trails or teams to accept or reject process modications.

Smooth transition to process execution. With most BPM suites, process analysts anddevelopers oen complain about starting rom scratch when it comes time to build the

executable process solution. All the modeling and knowledge captured during process discovery

must be recreated within the BPM suite. Blueprint solves this problem by generating process

denitions that can be exported to the companys Lombardi eamworks BPM suite. Under

the covers, Blueprint creates process models that adhere to the Business Process DenitionMetamodel (BPDM) standard developed by the Object Management Group (OMG), a

standards body responsible or establishing industry standards or BPM and process modeling.

Tese BPDM models can be read by eamworks since it also uses the same modeling standard.


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Source: Forrester Research, Inc.48120




Figure 1 Lombardi Blueprint Links Process Strategy To Execution

HOW ITS bEING USED: COLLAbORATIVE pROCESS DISCOVERY AND OpTImIzATION

Blueprint has established a notable ollowing, with Lombardi reporting more than 4,000 companies

using the platorm in more than 100 countries. Te ollowing three vendor-provided case studies,

revolve around a similar theme: the need or dispersed teams to quickly build detailed process

knowledge repositories.

Mapping business-to-business (B2B) processes. Morphis Soware, a leader in currencysupply chain management, uses Blueprint to document and validate its customers supply

chain processes. During collaborative sessions, Morphis draws on Blueprints Discovery Map

unctionality to quickly sketch out the customers process as users explain the process toMorphis supply chain consultants. Tis allows Morphis process analysts to visually identiy

gaps in the process and distill the lower-level process denition beore moving orward with

implementation. With clients and team members located around the globe, Blueprints SaaS

model has reduced travel expenses or Morphis without aecting real-time collaboration.


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Formalizing process knowledge. illamook County Creamery, an Oregon-based ood andbeverage manuacturer, used Blueprint to document tribal knowledge within its business

units that had been handed down rom generation to generation. illamooks CEO realized

that the company needed to ormally document this tribal knowledge to remain competitive

and improve process execution across business units. Using Lombardi Blueprint, the company

worked collaboratively with business units to quickly model and validate processes in order to

break down siloed process knowledge and prioritize process objectives and projects.

Driving process improvement initiatives. eliaSonera, a Nordic and Baltic telecommunicationsprovider, acquired both Lombardi eamworks and Lombardi Blueprint to support process

improvement initiatives or its Finnish sales division. Lombardi reported that eliaSonera plans to

use Blueprint and eamworks to improve operational eciency by eliminating rework, reducing

handos, and shortening delays. Process denitions scoped and dened in Blueprint will be

imported into eamworks to be urther rened and then developed or execution.

WHATS NEXT: mORE FOCUS ON COmmUNITY COLLAbORATION

Lombardi Blueprint represents a new way o developing, delivering, and interacting with soware

the combination o SaaS, Web 2.0, and business process. rue to the trend o lean soware, Lombardi

delivers updates to the platorm in ve- to six-week cycles.3 With its blog, the company has also built

a community around the Blueprint platorm, regularly posting inormation on new releases and

customer successes. While Blueprint and similar oerings have started catering more to the process

analyst community, still more work is needed:

Sharing industry-specifc blueprints. Neophyte BPM customers dont want to start romscratch; they want to begin with a baseline process that represents best practices within their

industry or discipline. Tis is particularly true o customers that start with the proverbial low-

hanging ruit (e.g., recruiting, employee onboarding, collections, etc.), as their rst process.

While the Blueprint platorm does not include industry-specic templates, Lombardi reports

that some o its partners are considering creating templates that are tailored to specic vertical

and horizontal business processes.

Sharing blueprints with the world. Te primary driver or Web 2.0 is a burning desire to shareinormation with the world la Facebook, LinkedIn, and your own blog. Tis need does not

stop at the individual level. Now, more than ever, organizations want to share best practices, usecases, and ways to overcome common challenges. While commercial industry might show some

restraint around sharing process models and designs, public-sector organizations are being

pushed to collaborate and share best practices on cross-government and cross-agency processes.

As dierent government agencies adopt Lombardi Blueprint as a standard, they will likely seek

to extend the platorm to create a community repository where they can publicly upload and

share Blueprint process models and denitions, and possibly request public comment.


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Sharing with other BPM suites. Understandably, Lombardi might not be interested in makingit easier or Blueprint to share process models with competing BPM suites. However, the

vendor has already gone a long way toward this by generating process denitions using the

BPDM standard. Still, many BPM suites use XPDL or other standards to generate and render

process denitions, requiring savvy developers to transorm Blueprints BPDM models into

XPDL or another ormat to import process denitions. Given the limited process knowledge

repository capabilities o most BPM suites, Blueprint could nd a treasure trove o champions

within organizations that have already acquired a Lombardi eamworks competitor or process

execution. A process model translator that converts Blueprint models into other common BPM

suite model ormats would minimize resistance rom I.

W H A T I T M E A N S

mORE bpm VENDORS WILL Amp Up THEIR FOCUS ON bUSINESS AND pROCESS

ANALYSTS

From the er beginning, BPM suite endors sold business and process analsts on empt

promises o eas-to-use modeling capabilities. Lombardi is one o the rst BPM suite endors

to delier on the promise o ease o use or process analsts. Lombardi Blueprint combines

collaboration, ease of use, and a centralized process repository into an inexpensive and elegant

SaaS-based ofering. Watch or BPM suite endors to continue simpliing their modeling

enironments or process analsts and proiding more robust unctionalit to connect process

strategy and discovery to process execution.

ENDNOTES

1 Forrester evaluated leading enterprise architecture (EA) tools vendors across 120 criteria and ound that

Casewise, IDS Scheer, MEGA International, Proorma, and elelogic conrmed their EA tools leadership

in this double-digit growth market. Relatively new entrants alabet, Agilense, roux, and Adaptive are also

Strong Perormers but lack the most advanced eatures like simulation or templates. Finally, Embarcadero is

a newcomer in the EA tools market arena and could be a good entry point or data-ocused, lightweight EA

initiatives. See the April 25, 2007, Te Forrester Wave: Enterprise Architecture ools, Q2 2007 report.

2 Leveraging the lab-based Te Forrester Wave: Human-Centric BPM For Java Platorms, Q3 2007 report,

Forrester evaluated leading vendors with business process management suites (BPMS) or banking and

investments across 17 criteria. Pegasystems and Appian established early BPM suites or banking and

investments leadership thanks to their human-centric BPMS capabilities and deep prebuilt processes

or banks and investment rms. IBM ollows closely as a Leader, also with processes available through its

Inormation FrameWork (IFW). IBCO Soware and Lombardi Soware close out the Leader category

with strong strategies that include support or centers o excellence (COEs). In the Strong Perormer

category, Soware AG and Savvion provide the required fexibility or process development and execution

in nancial services (FS). Graham echnology, another Strong Perormer, is a niche player in banking with
http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=41915&src=48120pdfhttp://www.forrester.com/go?docid=41915&src=48120pdf


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extremely strong proessional services and sales expertise. Finally, BEA Systems, HandySo Global, and

Fujitsu are also Strong Perormers with either process templates or strong sta expertise in banking. See

the August 30, 2007, Te Forrester Wave: Human-Centric BPMS For Banking And Investments, Q3 2007

report.

3 Bloat kills. Whether its excessive complexity in the application, its underlying platorm or architecture, or

the process used to deliver it, overloaded platorm soware and heavy processes impede delivery o the

solutions the business demands. Yet most enterprises are awash in application suites, development tools,

processes, and platorms that have grown so large they no longer resemble the clean and clear vision o their

original purpose. Lean soware is emerging as the antidote to bloatware, enabling architects and developers

to rapidly assemble business solutions that deliver just in time the soware capabilities the business

requires both today and tomorrow. Te trend toward lean soware has been building or years, but the

worldwide recession is accelerating it. All application development proessionals should know why and how

to incorporate lean soware into their soware strategies or the uture. See the December 12, 2008, Lean

Soware Is Agile, Fit-o-Purpose, And Ecient report.



Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and orward-thinking advice to global leaders in businessand technology. Forrester works with proessionals in 19 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, consumer insight, consulting, events, andpeer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 25 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successul every day. Formore inormation, visit ww w.orrester.com.

2009, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Inormation is based on best available resources. Opinionsrefect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester, Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are

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Wp Forrester Blueprint Process Discovery and Execution

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