Item: TIBCO Integration (including BusinessWorks and Flogo)
Rating: 10
Author: Srinivasa Rao Velineni

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using TIBCO BusinessWorks in the whole organization. TIBCO BusinessWorks helped us to integrate with various applications at our company. It is a good enterprise integration platform.

Pros and Cons

Nice graphical user interface and works on any platform. Easy to develop/deploy for a programmer.
BusinessWorks is forward and backward compatible.

It would be helpful to get more plugins (e.g SFTP/REST Plugin) out of the box.

Training Types Used

Online training
In-person training
Self-taught

It helped to design correctly.

Time to Market

Tibco BusinessWorks is a great product. I am only concerned with versions BW 5x and BW 6x.

Alternatives Considered

I like BusinessWorks 5.x. I am not a big fan of BW 6.x

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited with enterprise integration with various systems. It might not appropriate for small companies.

Users and Roles

10 -

ERP Integration

CRM Integration

Retail

eComm

Warehouse Operations

Support Headcount Required

5 -

Overall Application knowledge

Data base knowledge

Operating System Skills

IT Troubleshooting skills

Business Processes Supported

Global Integration
eComm Interfaces
SOA/ WebServices

Innovative Uses

We used as WebBased Applications for some tasks.
Common Integration model across multiple regions

Future Planned Uses

Continue to use global integration model

We use Tibco BW heavily across multiple regions and Total cost of ownership is not very high. We have in house expertise on different adapters and palettes. It is very easy to upgrade/migrate just Businessworks 5.2 to 5.9/5.12 without any issues.

Other Software Used

Mulesoft Anypoint Platform

Products Replaced

Yes - We used to have IBM product suite and replaced many products. Our company decided to go with Tibco Businessworks for enterprise application integration and EDI integration.

Key Differentiators

Price
Product Features
Product Usability
Product Reputation
Prior Experience with the Product
Vendor Reputation
Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
Analyst Reports
Third-party Reviews

Tibco is platform independent and not tied with any major vendors. So this definitely helps to integrate with any kind of product and easy to migrate for any kind of data related tasks.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

We wouldn't have changed our evaluation and selection process much. We might have included some plugins as part of the package. So being said that, we will still go with Tibco Business Works.

Implementation Rating

If we don't design the process correctly, it can do lot of damage (like deleting files or data etc.,) and might assume product issue rather than a design flaw. So it is always recommended to do thorough unit testing , QA and a design review even for a small process to avoid major problems.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Vendor implemented
Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

Yes - Yes, we have implemented in multi phase approach. First we have implemented basic EDI and extended it to other functions of Business Works. We have extended it to Web integration. After that we used the product across multiple regions.

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled

Implementation Issues

Development/testing and troubleshooting
Migration is key from Dev/QA to Prod

Support Rating

This product is very stable and we rarely use support.

TIBCO Integration (including BusinessWorks and Flogo) Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

No - We might be using previous versions of the Tibco Business Works. So if we go with premium or basic support, Tibco support might ask 'what version of software you are using and won't support the older versions'. That's why we prefer basic support.

Bug Resolution

Yes - Yes, issues were resolved in a timely fashion. I am satisfied in some cases and have concerns for some times. The only concern would be 'Tibco version and support policies'. I would say Tibco can mention 'this version is not supported, however we will try to help you on this problem and not sure whether the issue will be resolved etc.,'

Exceptional Examples of TIBCO Integration (including BusinessWorks and Flogo) Support

I am happy when Tibco provided the custom palettes for SFTP activities and that was a big help for us. I am very happy with the product and overall support. There is a good enough information on best practices, support docs and guidelines. I noticed continuous updates to the versions and patches.

Usability

Tibco Business Works is very nice tool with lot of integration options. We can write a file activity and automate the process within few hours vs traditional applications. We can test the process and troubleshoot with in the designer. We can deploy the process very easily in the Tibco Administrator and easy to monitor.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Convenient Feel confident using	Requires technical support Slow to learn

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