Technology Selection Guide
With all of the confusion surrounding just what constitutes a true BPM technology, it is important to be able to call out the meaningful capabilities that real BPM technologies bring to the table.

Process Design & Management Capabilities

• Design and model processes graphically through drag and drop, not by writing code
• Publish processes and control versions with a single click
• Manage the business rules that drive the process separately from managing the process itself
• Build dynamic process logic for computations such as routing claims or calculating tax
• Create process owners who can only access and control their part of the process
• Test a process prior to rolling it out to make sure it works properly
• Simulate "what if" scenarios to see what would happen if you changed a process

Human Worker Interaction Capabilities

• Implement processes that involve people traditionally left out with CRM, ERP, or ECM seat license
• Enable users to participate in processes by tying their existing software to the business process
• Facilitate user participation through common desktop tools like Office, Acrobat, and Internet Explorer
• Task people with work based upon their role, geography, workload, work group, or calendar
• Notify people via email when they have work and provide a direct URL to complete it
• Escalate non-performed work automatically to an employee's superior based on org chart modeling
• Restrict the data available to process participants through role-based security

Systems Integration Capabilities

• Integrate with disparate systems through service-oriented architecture and Web Services
• Read and write from any ODBC or RDMS compliant database
• Read and write from Microsoft Excel
• Leverage any SMTP compliant email system for task notifications and dynamic content
• Leverage the SDK to expand integration capabilities without going back to the vendor

Process Engine Capabilities

• Stop, update, and restart any process from any point, not just the beginning
• Scale growing process complexity and volume through load-balanced clustering
• Withstand outages through a fault-tolerant automatic process resumption capability

Business Activity Monitoring (Reporting & Dashboards)

• Provide management with a Dashboard of operational insight at the appropriate level of granularity
• Provide detailed, step-by-step operational visibility to process owners
• Provide real time process visibility to stakeholders so they can monitor progress and stay informed
• Ensure and prove compliance by providing a complete audit trail of every process