Free Open Source BPM Platforms 2015
People have always created and modified business processes, but until business process management (BPM) tools became available it was often an informal and fairly ad-hoc procedure. There is nothing particularly complex about BPM, despite the unnecessarily elaborate terminology. In essence it provides a language for people to design, analyse, build, modify and discuss business processes. And it also creates a bridge between the process and systems used to implement it – assuming technology is a factor, as it nearly always is.
The business process management cycle starts with analysis and design – as do all creative projects. A diagramming notation is used to show the activities, routing and messages involved in a process – usually based on the BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) standard. Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) provide a framework for these activities and a variety of tools to help in the design, implementation and monitoring of business processes. During the design and analysis phase a BPMS usually allows a design to be simulated, so that any undesirable side effects can be detected.
If a business process is to be more than just a diagram it needs to be plugged in to the operational systems. To this end BPMS offer connectors to various applications and support for methods such as Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), where existing systems can be made to behave as a set of services which a business process uses. Obviously this can become fairly technical – but no more than any other system implementation.
Finally we are ready to put the business processes into production where process instances (individual transactions and workflows) are handled. An essential part of this is the creation of a log of all process activities – invaluable material for the next phase.
Evaluating the performance of processes is a major benefit of a BPMS. The logs created during process execution can be interrogated to identify bottlenecks, loopholes, inefficiencies and any other form of poor performance. To this end process mining is a relatively new addition to many BPMS, where logs are interrogated for patterns of behaviour which are sub-optimal.
Of course this is just a brief over-view, and depending on the size of the organisation the whole process can become quite involved with thousands of processes having to be orchestrated. Even so these basic principles still apply.
Talend’s BPM products enable managers, business analysts, developers and end users to model current processes, collaborate on improvements, and rapidly create and optimize process-driven solutions in minutes. Talend combines three solutions in one: an innovative process modeler, a powerful BPM and workflow engine, and a breakthrough user interface for the creation of forms. You can create human interactive or process-based applications, and automate and optimize business processes in a single day.
Activiti is a light-weight workflow and Business Process Management (BPM) Platform targeted at business people, developers and system admins. Its core is a super-fast and rock-solid BPMN 2 process engine for Java. It’s open-source and distributed under the Apache license. Activiti runs in any Java application, on a server, on a cluster or in the cloud. It integrates perfectly with Spring, it is extremely lightweight and based on simple concepts.
Activiti supports all aspects of Business Process Management (BPM) in the full context of software development. This includes non technical aspects like analysis, modeling and optimizing business processes as well as technical aspects of creating software support for business processes. Activiti recognizes that BPM as a management discipline is a completely different aspect then BPM as software engineering.
Activiti’s primary purpose and focus is to implement the general purpose process language BPMN 2.0. And there is no single process language that can cover all the use cases well. In many cases a custom dedicated process language makes sense. So at the core, Activiti has the Process Virtual Machine architecture. That means that any custom process language can be build on top of it.
Bonita BPM improves business operations by connecting people, processes, and information systems into easily managed applications. Use Bonita Studio to map the organization, define the data structure, build the user interface, and create actionable reports. Bonita Portal creates a central location to perform tasks, monitor case completion, search for information, and collaborate with peers.
Camunda is an open source platform for workflow and business process automation. It executes BPMN 2.0, is very light-weight and scales very well. Camunda is written in Java and a perfect match for Java EE and Spring while providing a powerful REST API and script language support. You can use camunda BPM for system integration workflows as well as for human workflow and case management.
You can add camunda to your Java application as a library. You can also use it as a container service in Tomcat, JBoss etc., so it can be used by multiple applications which can be redeployed without shutting down the process engine. Some of the biggest companies in the world and most trusted public institutions rely on camunda.
Intalio bpms provides a comprehensive enterprise-class platform to design, deploy, and manage the most complex business processes; over 1000 organizations world-wide in all industries rely on the technology to manage their mission-critical business processes. Intalio bpms features an intuitive and powerful visual designer and a reliable high-performance process execution server. It also includes enterprise-level capabilities such as business activity and metrics monitoring, business rules and decision management, document management, mobility support, and system integration tools and portals.
jBPM is a flexible Business Process Management (BPM) Suite. It makes the bridge between business analysts and developers. Traditional BPM engines have a focus that is limited to non-technical people only. jBPM has a dual focus: it offers process management features in a way that both business users and developers like it. The core of jBPM is a light-weight, extensible workflow engine written in pure Java that allows you to execute business processes using the latest BPMN 2.0 specification. It can run in any Java environment, embedded in your application or as a service.
jSonic BPM suite enables enterprise owners to align business processes with the dynamic market conditions, statutory compliances and, customer and partner requirements. It is a comprehensive solution that improves the bottom line of organization by increasing process efficiency, optimizing resource utilization and automating human workflow system.
jSonic BPM suite, the Open Source BPM Software offers an all-encompassing solution covering process designing, modeling, executing, automating and monitoring as per the business needs and wants. The major components of the suite include Process Management, Workflow Management and the Interface Designer.
Orchestra is a complete solution to handle long-running, service oriented processes. It provides out of the box orchestration functionalities to handle complex business processes. It is based on the OASIS standard BPEL (Business Process Execution Language). Orchestra’s objectives:
- Improvement and control of processes
- Services interaction
- Productivity and agility of the company
Orchestra is fully Open Source and is downloadable under the LGPL License.
ProcessMaker is a cost effective and easy to use open source business process management (BPM) or workflow software application. Workflow software such as ProcessMaker can assist organizations of any size with designing, automating and deploying business processes or workflows of various kinds.
ProcessMaker workflow software features an extensive toolbox which provides the ability to easily create digital forms and map out fully functioning workflows. The software is completely web based and accessed via any web browser, making it simple to manage and coordinate workflows throughout an entire organization – including user groups and departments. ProcessMaker workflow software can also interact with other applications and systems such as ERP, business intelligence, CRM and document management.
Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite is the JBoss platform for Business Process Management (BPM). It enables enterprise business and IT users to document, simulate, manage, automate and monitor business processes and policies. It is designed to empower business and IT users to collaborate more effectively, so business applications can be changed more easily and quickly. Create, test, deploy and monitor BPMN2-based business processes to optimize enterprise workflows and automate critical processes. Includes all the business rules and event processing capabilities of Red Hat JBoss BRMS. Easily create real-time dashboards to monitor key performance indicators for running processes and activities.