Item: IBM Enterprise Content Manager
Rating: 6
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

--ECM is not a product, Enterprise Content Management is a technology area which address several content ,document, process related uses cases in large scale organizations.
IBM ECM comprise of several products, we used Content Engine(for managing content), Process Engine (for workflows) and of course Application Engine.
--We implemented in a large scale insurance company. Its used across the organization.
--Managing policy documents (storing,updating,retrieving), proof of documents for auto and fire policies and also managing the approval process whether the proof of document is satisfied inorder to apply a specific discount (e.g:good student needs college degree proof) and some docs to avoid policy cancellation/discount removal

Pros and Cons

The content engine which manages documents is the best part of IBM ECM suite. The Content Engine is pretty stable. We faced several issues with 3.5 version. But since 4.5 its pretty stable
The process engine part used to be really bad . But its improved a lot. I still believe there is opportunity to simplify the workflow development and deployment and debugging.
Custom application to access CE and PE (like providing web service to manage doc,initiate workflows etc.,) is also OK

Process engine is something that needs improvement . The workflow design ,development and debugging should be simplified. Currently its not as bad as it used to be in older versions (like 3.5) but still the PE should work smoothly and dev and admin life should be made easier
When you have complex workflows, managing the PE system is difficult. Making the application change is also very difficult.

Return on Investment

We were able to replace manual document management and manual verification and approval of proof of document with IBM ECM
Initially we had several issues but it was OK when the environment and applications were stabilized. We had issues with old version of products, but the product is almost stable since 4.5 version
Workflow part has some issues and caused some delays in processing and also resulted in some manual processing

Alternatives Considered

We also used IBM CMOD (Content management on demand) but IBM CE is integral part of IBM ECM with several features and deployment flexibility. EMC Documentum is also a good alternative but we used IBM ECM because its an IBM shop here.

Likelihood to Recommend

Overall we feel, IBM ECM is still a good ECM tool. Content Engine (CE) and Application Engine (AE) are smooth. If you use Process Engine (PE) and implement complex workflows, the managing environment will become slightly difficult. When we use other products like record manager, content collector , BPF (or case manager) etc., the environment will become complex.

Likelihood to Renew

There is no plan to change ECM at organizational level. Replacing products and changing custom applications involves lot of effort.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Vendor implemented
Implemented in-house

ADR(then Datacap) is completely implemented in house..Filenet p8 is initially implemented by a vendor ,but we developed custom applications in-house..currently all systems are maintained by us

IBM ECM feedback

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Enterprise Content Management