{"id":236,"date":"2018-06-14T14:00:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T14:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/?p=236"},"modified":"2018-07-31T19:51:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T19:51:20","slug":"the-top-5-questions-to-ask-when-evaluating-a-business-process-management-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/the-top-5-questions-to-ask-when-evaluating-a-business-process-management-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 5 Questions to Ask When Evaluating A Business Process Management Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Five<\/p>\n

The following is an excerpt from Solutions Review\u2019s\u00a0Buyer\u2019s Guide for Business Process Management Solutions.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Business Process Management (BPM) software has seen increased interest during the past year as organizations look to automate and streamline business processes to become more efficient. As more and more vendors offer BPM solutions, the options are becoming endless – even overwhelming.<\/p>\n

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To help you evaluate prospective\u00a0BPM products, below are the top fives questions you should ask while evaluating a BPM tool. If you find this helpful, be sure to check out our\u00a0BPM Buyer\u2019s Guide<\/a>, which features key capabilities to look for before purchasing, steps to take before implementing the BPM solution, a comprehensive overview of the market, and full, one page profiles of the top-24 BPM vendors, including our \u201cBottom Line\u201d analysis.<\/p>\n

How long will the implementation take?<\/h4>\n

Time is an invaluable resource in the modern enterprise, so implementation time is a real concern. You should ask prospective BPM vendors about how long it will take to go from signing a contract to seeing the platform in action. The quicker the roll out the cheaper the implementation process and the sooner you start to see a return on your investment. Naturally, low-code platforms are bound to be easier and quicker to set up, as more people will be able to work on it.<\/p>\n

How user-friendly is the system?<\/h4>\n

It may seem obvious, but you should invest in a BPM system that is not only usable and useful to end-users, but for those who provide maintenance to the system as well. Talk to vendors about the amount of training required to get end-users up to speed with the software and whether they provide that training themselves. If you have a few options in mind, ask some end-users to join in a trial period and ask them which systems they feel more comfortable with.<\/p>\n

Which features and integrations are needed?<\/h4>\n

Spend time looking at which features and integrations are consider \u201cmust-haves\u201d for your business and then weed out all the vendors that don\u2019t meet those requirements. Are you looking to go mobile? Then a mobile interface is a must. Will you be able to integrate with other systems such as ERP and CRM? These are all questions you need to be asking yourself. With that being said, you should also look to the future to make sure that potential BPM systems will meet your needs as your company continues to grow.<\/p>\n

Is it possible to alter an activity in a process while the software is running?<\/h4>\n

A few workflow and BPM products are able to provide on-the-fly process changes. You\u2019re need for this depends on how long your processes are expected to run. If your writing processes are all wrapped up in a few minutes, this may not be a big concern for you. However, if your processes are looking to take days, weeks, months, or years, this may be something you\u2019ll want to look in to. In that time-span, markets, customers, and laws are in flux. You\u2019ll want to be adjusting your processes with ease during this time as well.<\/p>\n

Does the product support XPDL?<\/h4>\n

Today, most workflow and BPM software support XPDL to some degree. XPDL, also known as the XML Process Definition Language, is a format designed to interchange business process definitions between separate workflow products. While it\u2019s currently the best option for transferring definitions, there are a number of other formats in use. In this case, it might be a good idea to compile a list of BPM products that people in your business may be interested in using in order to see which product formats are the most popular.<\/p>\n

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