GlobiFlow for Podio vs. IBM Business Automation Workflow

GlobiFlow should be considered advanced software for a limited number of employees. If users of GlobiFlow don't work together, they could easily create processes that cancel out other work. GlobiFlow works very well when one person understands the program well and uses it to help coworkers think through processes. The most helpful way we've used it is in automating our hiring process somewhat. Instead of receiving hundreds of emails with job applications, we set up an app in Podio and used Globiflow to notify supervisors when applications were received through our website. As a candidate moves through the hiring process, GlobiFlow processes provide triggers to help us remember what needs to happen at each step along the way by automatically generating tasks, emails, and items in other apps.

Incentivized

Have your process first on paper Its important to first document the process before venturing into BPMS. It will save a lot of pain and heartaches. A BPM tool is no magic bullet, it merely automates your process. Its upto you to put visibility and tracking on top of it. Provide monitoring so that you get a chance to improve your process continously. BPM is not an application If you are trying to build an application with BPM, chances are that your are alraedy failing. BPM must be a strategic initiative for an organization. Yes, you build Dashboards, Reports and other software in BPMS, however you do it at a process level not at an application level. http://bpmstech.blogspot.com/2011/05/bpm-initiative.html Know the difference between process data and business data http://bpmstech.blogspot.com/2011/05/lombardi-best-practices.html http://bpmstech.blogspot.com/2012/02/bpm-system-architecture.html

• GlobiFlow allows one event to prompt a task or notification automatically, which greatly improves workflows and internal communications.
• GlobiFlow makes it possible to automate some interactions we have with people outside the agency, for example, responding immediately to an application when it is received, creating a Sharefile folder to collect submitted documents all in one secure location, etc.
• GlobiFlow suggests new ways of setting up workflows that makes us think through and improve our processes.
• GlobiFlow helps us keep track of events in new and improved ways. For example, when a leave request is approved GlobiFlow automates the process for putting that date on an agency-wide calendar.
• GlobiFlow helps us use Podio and Sharefile better so we communicate with employees in other offices and out in the field more effectively.

Incentivized

• System does a great job normalizing business process and automating order processing tasks. Before TeamWorks, the process was much more manual and more expensive staff ($65k to $70K) were required to manage the process. Since implementing TeamWorks, we need much lower-skilled workers to manage order processing.
• System ensures that we have consistent data across all systems.
• Rules engine is really the “company playbook” – it is the heart and soul of how the company works. It handles thousands of orders per day

• There is a steep learning curve for your typical PC user. I've used GlobiFlow for over a year but there are many things I still don't understand about it. The help pages are somewhat helpful, but there is a whole vocabulary associated with GlobiFlow that is a bit mysterious at the front end.
• Any limitations in Podio are repeated in GlobiFlow.
• Setting up processes in GlobiFlow is somewhat complicated, which makes it a little tedious when employees change and responsibilities shift, as they often do in a growing organization. Naming your processes well is important so you can go back and find places where changes need to be made.

Incentivized

• The system gets crashed when many instances go into the queue stage. The system even crashes and sometimes restarts automatically when the load on the server increases. We had to develop a separate software for this and maintain the same.
• We cannot manipulate the data during run time. It is difficult to develop user-interfaces with complex functionality.
• In order to consume external services that follow HTTP protocol, we need to use IDE for that, and consuming services from IDE takes a lot of time to give a response.

Incentivized

This particular decision will be made by other people. Overall IBM BPM is the best BPM engine that I have worked with. It is implemented at our company and IT and business are already somewhat familiar with it. Therefore if asked I will recommend renewal as long as the price is reasonable.

• The system is easy enough to use but, by definition, is a complex tool. However, they have done a good job generally balancing tool complexity / capability with usability. When comparing to MS Biz Talk, for example, Biz Talk has less functionality but is actually harder to use.
• Software is very flexible. For somebody with the right technical background, it’s quite easy to write some Java code to overcome any hurdles or make the product do what is needed

Issues can be raised through tickets and it works based on the priority of the issue. The Support Team response is also good and the solution is provided in a short span of time. In a case where the issue is serious, they try to find out the root cause and provide an alternative for it.

Incentivized

• Attended on premise sysadmin training for 4 days, 8 hours per day. Although further follow-up training was available, I never felt the need to go back. Training was very hands-on with real modeling (rather than just following a manual). Very effective.

• Very satisfied – not too difficult at all.
• We had a consultant available as part of our contract, but we didn’t really need to use (except for some advice on ActiveDirectory and single sign-on)

We acquired GlobiFlow at the same time that we GlobiFlow Podio and ShareFile. GlobiFlow helped us use both Podio and ShareFile more efficiently. Podio has an internal automation function that performs some of the same tasks as GlobiFlow but is far more limited, which is why we decided to go ahead and learn how to implement GlobiFlow.

Incentivized

Pega Pega is a comprehensive suite which offers a unique theme of BPM development in the market. A no-coding approach based on rules with inheritance makes Pega a very powerful product. However Pega, falls short on integration centric capabilities and very rigid to customize. On the other hand IBM comes with array of products which suits needs of varying degree. Advanced integration is solved by BPEL Process Server which has support for state based patterns and mediation. Dynamic rules and event management can be solved with WODM, Cloud to on-premise connectivity with Cast Iron, Enterprise gateway and security usecases with DataPower, Social BPM with IBM BPM , WODM, mobify with Worklight. Pega has a little bit of eveything here and there. It solves the dynamic rule management, brings out the flavor of Social BPM and mobility with Antenna ( I guess) and predictive analytics as well in one single suite. There are certain usecases which needs to have a little bit of everything, however this little bits and pieces of functionality when its blows, Pega would have problems to scale. With IBM its a bit nightmare to maintain a variety of technologies, however you can wish to go for one without the other and go for something only when you truly need it. Pega vs IBM Its difficult to pick a winner. In nutshell when you want a full scale BPM with rich integration capabilities go for IBM BPM. On the other hand if you hava mature integration capability already, Pega can yield quick results for you as well. Pega's strength is its methodology. IBM BPM's strength is integration. Actually you can't go wrong with both in terms of implementation. My strong recommendation is to invest time to process analysis and pick a good vendor to support consulting and implementation.

It scales from small team interactions to business processes serving thousands of employees, as well as straight-through-processing needs that go well beyond. Of course, scale is always in the eye of the beholder, but IBM BPM does a good job of giving you all of the hooks, APIs, and data that you need to take on whatever scaling approaches you need to meet the load

• GlobiFlow saves time once you get it up and running.
• GlobiFlow improves internal communication and cross-agency collaboration.
• GlobiFlow helps us communicate with external clients and applicants in a more efficient and professional manner.

Incentivized

• It has added value to the upper management to give visibility into what is happening at any time in the enterprise.
• Boosted employee morale because it gives them all the information to work the case/task in a single location.
• Identifies bottlenecks and improves the turnover.

Incentivized