BPM Software (BPMS) is a process automation tool. It helps you map out your everyday processes to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, control your company’s costs, make your day-to-day processes as efficient as possible, and ensure the effectiveness of the people involved in your processes. Ultimus Adaptive BPM Software Suite is based on four basic methodologies:

• Modeling – Map out your process and measure the time and cost needed to execute your process
• Automating - Evolve your process from a manual process to an electronic process where data is collected in web forms and easily transferred to/from your existing third-party applications
• Managing – Gain insight into your processes, the business data in those processes, and the effectiveness of the process participants
• Optimization – Learn how to make your day-to-day business process more efficient, more cost-wise, and control data entry and application errors

Workflow software simply routes tasks from person to person. An example of this would be a Document Review process, where a single document is routed from one person to the next. Once all interested people have reviewed the document, the process is complete. A Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) takes workflow software to a whole new level in several ways:

• From a technical perspective a business process include seamless code-free integrations with existing systems, business rules, recipients, business data, forms and templates.
• Ultimus Adaptive BPMS not only provides routing engine capabilities, but also provides vital full process life-cycle functions including:
  • Process Modeling - simulates a process PRIOR to automation
  • Integrated Business Rules Engine – business process rules can be created and updated separate from the underlying business processes
  • Out-of-the Box Forms Designer - allows for easy to build forms to emulate your current offline documents
  • Process Simulation – allows you to test your business processes in the same way your end users will use the processes
  • Patented Process Optimization Methodologies (Adaptive Discovery) - supports Lean Six Sigma
  • Business Activity Monitoring and Reporting - visibility is a must for any process

The above tools are NOT BPM, they are workflow tools. We have specifically designed Ultimus to work WITH them not against it. Developing, building, automating, and integrating business processes with a BPMS allows a company to save time and reduce costs (optimizing day-to-day manual processes into easy to use, efficient, and traceable electronic processes). Conversely, taking the time to code and build the actual business rules engine and routing architecture takes your company's employees away from their core competency. Tools like WF and MOSS not only require you to build workflow technology ground-up, but most likely you will require hiring consulting resources to accomplish this goal. Ultimus has nearly two decades of history and over 1900 customers. Today we are on our 8th generation. Ultimus has thousands of processes under our belt to help you accelerate performance.

 

While ERP systems offer great benefits in being able to integrate disparate systems and applications, insight and visibility into the ERP processes is limited. Moreover, in today’s market and economy, it is vital to be able to move quickly when deciding to automate new systems for various reasons (cost, resources, competitive advantage, etc.). A Business Process Management Software Suite provides strengths in four main areas regarding business processes:

• Process Modeling
• Automation
• Management
• Process Optimization  

One could argue that an advantage that ERP systems offer is that they effectively handle Process Automation and Management, but do not require the intense coding resources and long project plans that many BPM software systems do. A BPMS like the Ultimus Suite not only provides workflow automation capabilities, but offers the ability to automate and manage business processes with little to no coding needed. Moreover, BPM software has the ability to provide process analytics BEFORE AND AFTER the business process goes live, a true differentiator from ERP. Having the ability to “take a step back” from the day to day of your business and analyze your business processes for bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and cost control will enable you to ensure your process automation efforts provide you the return on investment (ROI) your company executives are demanding.

 

Ultimus Process Designer is ideal for use by a variety of business users such as:

• Business Process Owners interested in defining and documenting processes
• Analysts interested in evaluating and optimizing processes
•  Workflow Consultants interested in deploying automated workflow processes
• Six Sigma Consultants seeking to enhance process performance
• Companies seeking ISO 9000 compliance

 

Process owners and business analysts can use Ultimus Process Designer to design and optimize processes before implementing and deploying those processes using the Ultimus Workflow Suite. As such, Ultimus Process Designer is a powerful design tool for process owners offering the following capabilities to design and fine-tune business processes through modeling:

• Design – Ultimus Process Designer lets you create a process map as a graphical representation of how a process flows from one step to another and what happens at each step, from initiation to completion.
• Modeling and Analysis – Ultimus Process Designer lets you define realistic scenarios and perform workload and throughput analysis on a process in order to predict its behavior. If the behavior is not consistent with expectations, the process design can be changed in order to optimize its performance.
• Documentation – Ultimus Process Designer has the ability to produce detailed documentation and design instructions about workflow requirements.

The Ultimus Workflow Suite can directly import process designs from Ultimus Process Designer, and enable IT professionals to develop fully automated workflow solutions ready for deployment. The Ultimus Workflow Suite is composed of the following modules offering the capability to build, simulate, integrate, and deploy workflow processes:

• Ultimus Builder – provides complete development and simulation of workflow without programming.
• Ultimus Administrator – performs administrative and reporting functions related to workflow as part of the Microsoft Management Console.
• Ultimus Org Chart – enables users to design the company’s org chart so that workflow is aware of users, job functions, reporting relationships, and more.
• Ultimus Workflow Server – provides the engine for sophisticated and scalable control of workflow.
• Ultimus Client – provides a powerful, user-friendly browser-based interface for users to participate in workflow.
• Ultimus Reports – generates comprehensive web-based reports on process metrics.
• Ultimus Flobots/FloStation – provides a platform for Ultimus Flobots to work with third-party applications.

 

BPMA (Business Process Modeling and Analysis) is a new category of software tools and analytical activities designed to provide comprehensive capabilities for the design, modeling, analysis, improvement and documentation of business processes. Corporations can leverage BPMA and its associated concepts to rapidly optimize their core business processes for improved efficiency. Process Designer supports the BPMA framework through extensive support for design, modeling, analysis and documentation activities.

 

Six Sigma is a methodology for businesses to improve their processes by identifying and controlling process variations. Ultimus Process Designer plays a key role in Six Sigma implementations by providing the following capabilities:

• Process Design – the ability to define and map any process – from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.
• Process Modeling and Analysis – the ability to measure, analyze, and improve processes based on statistical representation, catering to the Six Sigma data-driven approach.
• Process Documentation – the ability to automate the documentation of existing process specifications, and provide design details for developing new processes.

 

The essence of ISO 9000 quality initiative is “to say what you do, and do what you say”. Ultimus Process Designer allows you to create a Document Template using the full functionality of Microsoft Word that specifies the desired format and content of the documentation. Ultimus Process Designer’s Documentation feature offers the flexibility to format documentation output according to industry-dependant ISO 9000 standards. You can create multiple Document Templates in any format, whereby Ultimus Process Designer will automatically produce process documentation in the format of your choice. Since Process Designer uses Microsoft Word as the documentation tool, the resulting output can be easily modified or edited.

 

Business Process Modeling is the workload and throughput analysis of business processes prior to development of workflow solutions. This capability enables business analysts to use the process design developed by the process owner and provide estimates about resource availability and completion times for each step. Ultimus Process Designer can statistically run a large number of workflow incidents through the model and produce data indicating lag time, elapsed time and bottlenecks in the process. Process owners and business analysts can use data produced by process modeling to change the process, or the resources used by the process, with the goal of optimizing its performance. Process modeling enables business owners and analysts to predict the behavior of a workflow process well before it is actually developed, deployed and used. By knowing this behavior, business owners can understand the benefits and the constraints of the workflow solution.

 

Ultimus Process Designer is a stand-alone product and does not require the purchase of Ultimus Workflow Suite for use.

Customers who purchase the Ultimus Workflow Suite will get Process Designer bundled with it, increasing the value of the Workflow Suite.

Ultimus Process Designer is the first step in developing automated business processes by providing design, modeling, analysis and documentations tools to define processes for automation. Ultimus Workflow Suite can then be used to build processes designed in Process Designer into fully automated workflow solutions for immediate deployment.

 

Intuitive is the best way to describe how easy it is to use Ultimus Process Designer. The Process Designer is intended for the Business Analyst and Process Owners who do not have any IT expertise. You can begin to map out business processes immediately upon installation. The Process Designer provides a user-friendly approach to graphically designing and modeling a process without requiring any scripting, programming, databases or IT knowledge. The only skill you must have is the ability to use the Windows user interface and drag and drop features.