ARIS BPA vs IBM Case Foundation comparison

Software AG and IBM are both solutions in the Business Process Management (BPM) category. Software AG is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3, while IBM is ranked #32 with an average rating of 8.0. Software AG holds a 5.0% mindshare in BPM, compared to IBM’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of IBM users who would recommend it.

ARIS BPA

Read 66 ARIS BPA reviews

4,154 Views
3,390 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

IBM Case Foundation

Read 13 IBM Case Foundation reviews

298 Views
204 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

ARIS BPA

IBM Case Foundation

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

ARIS BPA and IBM Case Foundation are prominent players in the business process management and content management sectors. ARIS BPA seems to have the upper hand with its comprehensive process modeling and enterprise analysis capabilities.

Features: ARIS BPA offers extensive process modeling and enterprise analysis with object-oriented flexibility, supporting notations like BPMN and EPC. It features robust integration across IT and business processes, making it highly adaptable for visual management and process governance. IBM Case Foundation excels in content management, providing document templates and facilitating decision-making with robust integration capabilities, particularly within IBM's enterprise solutions suite.

Room for Improvement: ARIS BPA lacks a workflow engine, restricting business process execution and automation. Users cite integration challenges and high costs, along with a complex interface and steep learning curve. IBM Case Foundation needs better support for updated development platforms and languages, with users desiring a more intuitive interface and improved integration with emerging technologies.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ARIS BPA offers versatile deployment options including Hybrid, Public, Private Cloud, and On-premises, providing flexibility within IT infrastructures, though support response times can improve. IBM Case Foundation is mainly On-premises, noted for traditional deployment and improved technical support, although further enhancement in response and adaptation is wished for.

Pricing and ROI: ARIS BPA is considered expensive but offers various license models appropriate for enterprises valuing modeling capabilities. Users find robust ROI through process transparency and efficiency. IBM Case Foundation's pricing is perceived mid-range, often viewed as high given functionality, with ROI heavily dependent on implementation and usage scales.

To learn more, read our detailed ARIS BPA vs. IBM Case Foundation Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. IBM Case Foundation

April 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

ARIS BPA

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (5th)

IBM Case Foundation

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

32nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of ARIS BPA is 5.0%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Case Foundation is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Management (BPM)

Featured Reviews

Libor Černý

Process manager at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees

I can usually find an answer to my issue on ARIS Community

From the start, there were some difficulties on how to create outputs since there wasn't a repository tool in version 6. However, in version 7, there has been a tool for creating standards for a company, and that tool has been very intuitive. While I have been using this tool for several years, other people just starting to use it find the learning curve steep. This tool is very robust and accommodates many roles, where people can participate from compliance, IT designers, etc. This can create problems for users who have no experience with similar tools. It took me a year before I felt comfortable with this tool, because when I came from university it was the first or second tool that I worked on. It took me a year to run every feature or use it for every possibility since this tool is very robust. We sometimes have to create the link to the server and the repository twice because it is deleted once for some unknown reason. Though, this is not a big problem. There should be a more intuitive tool when creating reports.

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Nouman Nawaz

Deputy Director - IT(Plans) at DHA Lahore

Mature product in terms of security and stable product

The architecture is a bit difficult, but in BAW, they introduced the Business Automation Workflow. It's a bit easier compared to Case Manager. Currently, we use Case Manager, so it's a bit difficult to upgrade and handle, but BAW is comparatively much better and easier to handle. The limitation is only for customization because IBM doesn't support it. In some scenarios, if you want some business processes to be customized, we have already spoken two or three times with IBM representatives that we have to customize some of the features in this business process. They would say that if you want to do this automation at your own end, then okay, fine, go ahead, but we are not supporting all this customization. The only thing is the customization because it's a complete standard application.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I am impressed with the tool's integration. It also facilitates collaboration in the organization."

"Objects can be reused across different BPMNs and processes, so we can design new processes quicker and easier."

"Collaboration and governance over enterprise artifacts."

"The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are the centralized repository and the automatic rendering of diagrams."

"Fully-reportable database over Visio."

"The ease of use is the most valuable. I have tried a number of BPMN packages, and I find the user interface of ARIS BPM easier and more intuitive than others. If your team is knowledgeable on BPMN, it is really pretty easy to figure out on your own because it adheres to the standards extremely well. I have tried Bizagi, BizFlow, and a variety of such solutions, and I just liked ARIS BPM better."

"The maintenance capabilities of ARIS BPM and the strong underlying database are particularly valuable."

"Process Modeling or Process Mapping/Documentation. This is the most comprehensive tool for capturing the process details. Any organization who wants to embark on a BPM journey, process mapping/documentation, lays the foundation for the BPM led implementation."

More ARIS BPA pros

"It provides us the capability of producing business processes for documents that are launched immediately when a document comes into the repository."

"It's very easy."

"The client and the IBM content navigation are the solution's most valuable features."

"The most valuable feature is its stability, which is why we are using it."

"The most valuable feature is the content manager part of the file as it is very stable, robust, and reliable."

"It is easy to set up workflows that notify the user depending on certain events."

"The only thing is that we can easily track where the application is in the process, from manual to automation."

"A valuable feature includes seamless integration with the document management system, along with robust capabilities in analytics and reporting."

More IBM Case Foundation pros

Cons

"The tool needs to improve its support since they take long to respond."

"In terms of improvement, the app could use some small details and functionalities."

"Regarding stability, when there are any customized settings being done at customer end - post upgrade to newer versions - it makes the customer environment unstable for a short duration."

"Since this is a design tool, seamless interface to make the process flows executable."

"I would like the possibility to use real data. In other words, it can use this system to integrate with others that are operating directing with users like clients, employs, and others."

"It needs external API and the ability to navigate back, similar to "Back" in web browser."

"ARIS needs to make a better user interface. The user interface sucks. The problem with ARIS is that they have two interfaces for the same product."

"The standard out-of-the-box solutions for modeling are not so good. You have to do some configuration to make it easier and more user-friendly."

More ARIS BPA cons

"The service as it currently stands is out-of-date and lacks flexibility."

"IBM needs to update the user interfaces of all its products to make them more intuitive and accessible to beginners. Compared to Microsoft products, IBM solutions are less user-friendly. IBM programs are hard to master. It's a problem in my region because it's hard to find IT staff who can work with IBM."

"There is a need for more open and flexible integration capabilities, allowing seamless collaboration with a broader spectrum of business process management solutions, beyond the confines of IBM's document management offerings."

"90% of the feedback we receive states that the UI is not very user-friendly."

"There are some features that could be enhanced like the document viewer"

"Once a workflow is launched then it stays static forever, which is a problem because if there is a change in the business then you cannot change the workflow."

"The solution can be quite expensive."

"We are now using microservices but there are some areas where the coordination with FileNet is problematic."

More IBM Case Foundation cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is inexpensive."

"ARIS BPA is too costly from a licensing perspective."

"ARIS enables you to start small and grow the use of the solution over time, although it's quite expensive. So if you want to start small, it's quite an investment for a small company."

"If you can afford it, it's the best so far."

"Their license model is really difficult to understand, and licenses are quite expensive."

"From my point of view, no, it is not cheap, but it is not too expensive because you get this big organization behind it, technical support, and all those things. It's not so expensive to use. It's a Rolls Royce in this field, I know that. Even for small organizations, they can get so much effect from using this tool, in a very fast way, so the money will be back in the customer's pocket very fast."

"It is an expensive solution."

"ARIS has different licensing mechanisms for different modules, but they are perpetual licenses. So you pay once."

More ARIS BPA pricing and cost advice

"Pricing is in the mid-range, it is not cheap, but it's not expensive."

"This is not an expensive solution and we are using the standard license."

"The price falls in the middle range—not overly expensive but not extremely affordable either."

"IBM Case Foundation is a little expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Insurance Company

12%

University

10%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS BPA?

The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS BPA?

Pricing for ARIS BPA is average, not cheap or expensive. It's cost-effective and worth the money we pay.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?

I find it difficult to access the database as I want with direct querying. I must write scripts, which requires specific knowledge. Software AG could improve this by making the database more open. ...

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Case Foundation?

A valuable feature includes seamless integration with the document management system, along with robust capabilities in analytics and reporting.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Case Foundation?

It was affordable, but right now, ten years later, the cost of the product is extremely high. That's why we are looking for another product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Case Foundation?

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS BPA

Compared 25% of the time

ADONIS vs ARIS BPA

Compared 10% of the time

Camunda vs ARIS BPA

Compared 7% of the time

Visio vs ARIS BPA

Compared 6% of the time

Bizagi vs ARIS BPA

Compared 6% of the time

More ARIS BPA Competitors

IBM Business Automation Workflow vs IBM Case Foundation

Compared 100% of the time

More IBM Case Foundation Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA

May 2025

Download ARIS BPA product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Case Foundation

April 2025

Download IBM Case Foundation product report

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM

Case Foundation, FileNet Business Process Manager

Overview

ARIS is the market-leading solution for professional business process management and modeling. Whether you want to document the "as-is" state of your operations for quality or certification reasons or design the "to-be" in terms of continuous improvement in your transformation program, ARIS is the best choice for establishing a single source of truth regarding all process excellence topics in your organization. It is for any organization looking to digitally transform their business, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution. ARIS helps you to make the most out of your processes with Process Mining, Risk & Compliance Management, RPA and much more.

What makes the difference?

The most comprehensive platform for process excellence in the market
Easy to use
Covers business & IT architecture from all angles
Full flexibility and >100 diagram types
Customer-driven development based on best practices
Strong partner ecosystem

ARIS is the market-leading solution for any organization and ideally suited to digitally transform the organization, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution.

Software AG

IBM Case Foundation is for organizations that need to harness unstructured information and integrate it with business processes to drive critical business decisions. It enables organizations to create, manage and optimize case-based processes and is designed to decrease development costs while significantly improving process performance. Case Foundation links specific pieces of content with a structured workflow. It's an on ramp for organizations that choose to move from document-centric workflow solutions to the advanced capabilities of IBM Case Manager.

IBM

Sample Customers

Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market, 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.

Suncorp Group Limited

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. IBM Case Foundation

April 2025

Free Report: ARIS BPA vs. IBM Case Foundation

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