ARIS vs. Workiva

Well suited for enterprise architecture modeling where the intent to document elements beyond processes as well, such as risks and controls, KPIs, systems, org charts, etc. It also has the excellent capability of creating custom reports, hence if looking for various views right from summary to detailed, this is a great tool. It is less appropriate for implementing the processes as it is not very strong in BPMN.

Wdesk is best suited for companies with demanding SEC filings and documents, with multiple revisions due to auditor/counsel review, and where financial reporting is extremely manual. Wdesk really helps take out the potential errors out of extremely manual processes, and helps automate regular financial reporting by allowing companies to link financial information and build customized flows of their information into financial statements and other documents (such as presentations or other internal reporting).

Incentivized

• Query feature is excellent to extract information in a specific manner.
• Ability to create custom reports.
• Collaboration feature is very good.
• Semantic checks to check validation errors.
• cloud based central repository.

Incentivized

• The biggest strength of the program for our team is that multiple users can work in the document at the same time. Multiple users can be in the program updating financial statements, footnotes, MD&A - all without stepping on each other's toes.
• Rolling forward the documents from one period to the next is pretty simple. Links to source documents are maintained and new ones can be added without much hassle.
• Edits and changes can be made right up until the last minute before filing. There is no waiting period or pencils-down period unless we enforce one ourselves - the Financial Reporting team is in control of the timing of our filings.

Incentivized

• Defining databases, use of entities and relationship diagrams, define data, like data models, there is still a part they could improve.
• Providing more standard reports and improving on access rights and privileges functionality

Incentivized

• The automation could be better. A lot of mass updates are done manually.
• Sometimes the system has connection issues and certain functions are down.
• The customer service could be more proactive to provide regular training and sharing updates on the software.
• Customer service could be better to help process the mass updates in a timely fashion.

Incentivized

I am a BPM and Enterprise Architect Consultant and hence have been using different BPM and EA tools for consulting practice. Until now I have used Opentext Provision EA,Sparx EA, MS Visio and IBM Blueworks. All of the tools used are good and have their own unique features and capabilities. ARIS BPA is widely used by my current organization for different projects.

Incentivized

Overall it's a good-to-go product because of its features. It's easy to set up, meets requirements, has quality support, etc. So far, it has been working quite well for me, and I wish to continue using it for as long as it meets my requirements.

Incentivized

It has good, even complex functionality that is provided by its library and ability to create relations between items, yet it is not hard to use. Anyone can use it in a short time. It provides reporting abilities and good documentation with the availability of exporting options. The only drawback I have seen was user management/login issues.

Incentivized

Workiva's technical support is impeccable and undoubtedly one of the best. The times we needed them, they were super quick and willing to help. It works 24 hours a day, and there will always be someone to help with doubts or technical problems regarding the tool.

Incentivized

The Service area, they have been very useful. ARIS suite is covering number of applications. ARIS engine is very powerful and robust. The tool can be configured in many ways which can be beneficial but can be a curse at the same time. As a user, you need to apply this flexibility with care.

Incentivized

We moved from a third party filer to doing it in house. Have seen demos of products like Active Disclosure, which has come a long way from the beta version I saw and but we are not too far gone with Wdesk for us to evaluate other products. When we first signed up with Webfilings, (former name of Workiva), there were no viable products in the market. I had seen an Oracle product and a beta version of Active Disclosure. It was not hard to see the ease and intuitive-screens, to guide one through the filing process. The excel-like spreadsheets were an added bonus.

Incentivized

• Documentation of processes made it possible for anyone to see who does what, how and using what systems.
• Dependency on specific people is eliminated.

Incentivized

• We spend less than we used to with a traditional printer.
• We have been able to do turn-on-a-dime equity offerings with last minute changes and still file on time.
• Inviting external legal into the platform has helped with communication but we actually suspect they spend MORE time (and billing) on our documents than they used to just simply because it's so easy to get at them anytime they want.

Incentivized