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IBM launched social BPM service
November 25, 2010 | Author: Michael Stromann
BPM (business process management) - is hardly associated with social services, which are intended for free interaction, rather than for formal automation. Nevertheless BPM systems are also becoming social. Few days ago IBM launched the SaaS service Blueworks Live that really has a human (social) face. Looking at the service you are thinking - "OK, everything is simple and clear. you draw a sequence of tasks (like in Visio). start a process. tasks are automatically created according to the algorithm. each user has own task list (like in Outlook). task notifications are sent by email. user follows the link, adds comments or clicks "Check" button. all actions are logged in activity stream (like in Facebook). so why do they call all this with the complicated word BPM? ".
In Blueworks Live each user has an own page with the list of tasks and list of the processes that he initiated. An example of a process - Trip approval: submit application form -> manager approve -> accountant approve -> book tickets and hotel. When an employee needs to go to a business trip, he find the "Trip approval" process in the library, clicks on it, fills out the form and waits for the reaction of his colleagues.
When an employee is assigned a new task - he receives notification by email. He clicks the link and goes to the page of the process in which this task was created. On the process page he can see the entire sequence of tasks, and the history - what tasks are already completed and by whom. In the right pane - there are comments, so participants can communicate and discuss the process. On the same page they can also upload needed files.
Once an employee completes a task - the following task is automatically created for another user. These processes are programmed in a simple process designer, looking like Visio.
The Work zone in Blueworks Live is divided into workspaces that are created for separate departments or projects. Each workspace includes a list of employees, list of running processes and the activity stream, that logging all the events in these processes (e.g. "Mike has approved Ann's trip application"). It's like a group on Facebook.
Like in Facebook user can follow specific workspaces or processes. And manager can follow user's updates to control what he is doing during working hours. You can read the subscriptions in the Community tab. There you can communicate with colleagues on different topics that are not related to processes.
Blueworks Live costs $10/month for a regular user, and $ 50/month for user, who can design business processes.
In Blueworks Live each user has an own page with the list of tasks and list of the processes that he initiated. An example of a process - Trip approval: submit application form -> manager approve -> accountant approve -> book tickets and hotel. When an employee needs to go to a business trip, he find the "Trip approval" process in the library, clicks on it, fills out the form and waits for the reaction of his colleagues.
When an employee is assigned a new task - he receives notification by email. He clicks the link and goes to the page of the process in which this task was created. On the process page he can see the entire sequence of tasks, and the history - what tasks are already completed and by whom. In the right pane - there are comments, so participants can communicate and discuss the process. On the same page they can also upload needed files.
Once an employee completes a task - the following task is automatically created for another user. These processes are programmed in a simple process designer, looking like Visio.
The Work zone in Blueworks Live is divided into workspaces that are created for separate departments or projects. Each workspace includes a list of employees, list of running processes and the activity stream, that logging all the events in these processes (e.g. "Mike has approved Ann's trip application"). It's like a group on Facebook.
Like in Facebook user can follow specific workspaces or processes. And manager can follow user's updates to control what he is doing during working hours. You can read the subscriptions in the Community tab. There you can communicate with colleagues on different topics that are not related to processes.
Blueworks Live costs $10/month for a regular user, and $ 50/month for user, who can design business processes.
See also: Top 10 BPM Software
