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ARIS BPA vs PTC Windchill comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Blueworks Live
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (12th)
ARIS BPA
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (3rd), Business Process Management (BPM) (4th)
PTC Windchill
Average Rating
5.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (21st), Engineering Process (2nd), PLM Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Business Process Design
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 5, 2023
An easily scalable and affordable solution that enables users to document and digitize processes with ease
IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts. There is only one kind of BPMN 2.0 diagram. It is a process diagram. It doesn't have the concept of separate tools, which other products offer. If I had to do a hardcore BPMN 2.0 modeling, the product would have its own reservations. There were features we could not explore from a BPMN 2.0 perspective. Most of the time, people who are shifting from Microsoft Office tools to a digitized way of working still want the reporting capabilities to be strong. Some tools, like ARIS or Signavio, offer customized solutions from the reporting perspective. If I have documented my whole finance process and want to fetch out a complete SOP report in a very customized manner, IBM Blueworks cannot provide it. We have to rely on some other services. So that's one area in which we always struggled, how to really customize the reporting aspects. I understand that we need to keep the tool a little more asset-light. It's very difficult to keep adding many options, but at least a few BPMN 2.0 options were needed. We have been suggesting to IBM that we should have some way of customizing the reporting. At least we should get a custom way of reporting it into different formats like Excel or putting up a logo for one of the clients so that their SAP can be printed that way.
BP
Aug 31, 2023
A fantastic tool for creating content
The initial setup of ARIS BPA is simple. When we first started using it, it was deployed on-premises. The latest version was deployed on cloud and it only takes a few days. It promises to teach you how to do that, but that is not very helpful since your company's team and organization need to be suitable for this kind of complexity. It's web-based, but there are technical limits to what you can do with it. In a way, it encourages you to purchase more and more if you want to maximize its usability. It does not teach you how to use it and it's very formal. Although ARIS is a fantastic tool, it would be better if it was focused on the customer's success. It requires a lot of maintenance.
JY
Aug 28, 2023
Pricy and tough to integrate with some solutions, though it provided essential support for workflows
I use the solution for product data management The solution provided essential support for workflow and decision-making. I like how the product integrates with other technical solutions. Source control and application management can be integrated into Windchill. Also, since the product is based…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's very easy, very quick to create a process map. It has templates. The look and feel is very nice. What we want to achieve out of the process map, we can achieve it using Blueworks."
"The ease of documenting and digitizing the processes was valuable to us."
"The licenses are transferrable between different users."
"It enables decisions based upon processes that we do model, and ultimately move forward with."
"I like the two-tiered approach, that is, discover and then drill down to the main steps. You can right click and attach risk, policies, and much more. It is a user-friendly solution."
"The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic."
"It is a stable solution since there has not been any downtime. Everything loads fast."
"For me, what I find to be the most valuable is its simplicity and the association with Microsoft Office."
"The simulation engine and SAP integration are technically very robust."
"If you ever tried to draw a picture in a browser app or with a cloud service, it is normally a painful death. ARIS works perfectly on diagrams in the browser, so I was excited. I like it because there have been so many bad experiences in the past with drawing or doing something in a browser. Normally, it's always painful because it's coded badly. With ARIS, it is really well-implemented. It's simple."
"There is a module designer, that one is very powerful and it creates very good reports."
"Good at controlling the workflow and relevant key processes."
"Fully-reportable database over Visio."
"You can relate different aspects of an organization to each other, and you can clearly define the rates seen in the application."
"ARIS BPA is customizable as per specific business requirements."
"The initial setup and installation are very straightforward."
"I like how the product integrates with other technical solutions."
 

Cons

"In the Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."
"Some of the import functionality was a bit restrictive, in terms of loading data in from other data sources. Something as simple as Excel, loading data tables from Excel, wasn't great. And vice-versa. Some of the export and import functionality with something like Visio - which, I know it's a slightly different tool - but being able to work seamlessly with those other tool sets would've been quite useful. I know it was something that was in the pipeline to be looked at. So that would be useful."
"We would like the ability to add additional custom colors. We would like to color additional items to add notes to the blueprint."
"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."
"I can't insert any images. For example, within the process map, if I want to put it in the box or rectangle, or circle. If I have to use one image or icon, that's not possible."
"Spaces are not well organized; space controls are lacking."
"The font size is really, really small and it's really not useful to print out process models because you cannot read what's written in different boxes. This makes it necessary for people to have access to the tool. We view licenses to see how the printing or output is. It's not very good."
"The objects that the solution creates are not unique."
"Newer versions (9.x) are technically more difficult to maintain."
"There should be a more intuitive tool when creating reports."
"The areas of ARIS where we see room for improvement are actually related to the background services that support it. Over the last number of years, Software AG has moved from an on-premises solution into deploying a SaaS solution to their enterprise base. That has been really successful from my point of view, as I have been a customer of ARIS, managing the relationship, for a couple years. Certain support functions around the knowledge base, customer service, and the cross and upselling of modules within the core ARIS component are lagging behind the SaaS movement."
"While the dashboarding solution for integrating all kinds of process-related information from company sources other than ARIS is getting ever better, my personal wish would be to have a module that is more targeted to an Agile implementation of some modeled processes (model–to-execute)."
"One thing that could be improved is regarding the handling of the content itself. Maybe ARIS could provide a set of best practices, or best processes, so that people do not have to start from scratch."
"Since ARIS 9.X was released, the product has not been as robust and responsive as the previous versions​."
"With ARIS BPM, the script creation is quite cumbersome. With version ten, we needed our developers to do scripting."
"The user experience's usability (in general) should be improved as the tool is updated."
"Some parts of the system are exclusive, so we can't work with them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."
"Based on the licenses purchased, from a footprint perspective, you can have as many people as you want. You have multiple different categories of licenses to keep the cost low."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"Making it less expensive would be good."
"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."
"It depends on different parameters."
"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."
"In terms of pricing, it would be nice if it were more affordable."
"Their license model is really difficult to understand, and licenses are quite expensive."
"This is absolutely not the cheapest solution in the market, but for large companies, the price is fine."
"The product is a bit pricey."
"Pricing for ARIS BPA is average, not cheap or expensive. It's cost-effective and worth the money we pay."
"​It is on the higher side."
"I rate PTC Windchill's pricing a seven out of ten since it is pricey."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
26%
Computer Software Company
16%
Healthcare Company
6%
Transportation Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put an...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.
What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?
Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use...
What do you like most about ARIS BPA?
The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS BPA?
ARIS has different licensing mechanisms for different modules, but they are perpetual licenses. So you pay once. It i...
What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?
I always miss an execution module that is better than the current one. The current one is called ARIS Process Governa...
What do you like most about PTC Windchill?
I like how the product integrates with other technical solutions.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PTC Windchill?
I rate PTC Windchill's pricing a seven out of ten since it is pricey. The costs are fixed, and there are no additiona...
What needs improvement with PTC Windchill?
Some parts of the system are exclusive, so we can't work with them. There are many programs, but ones from other comp...
 

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint
ARIS, ARIS BPM
Windchill, Atego Artisan Studio, Integrity Modeler
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
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.
Bose, Valliant Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Camunda, Software AG and others in Business Process Design. Updated: September 2024.
805,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.