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AuditBoard vs IBM Blueworks Live comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

AuditBoard
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
GRC (7th), IT Vendor Risk Management (9th)
IBM Blueworks Live
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

AuditBoard and IBM Blueworks Live aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. AuditBoard is designed for GRC and holds a mindshare of 7.3%, up 5.8% compared to last year.
IBM Blueworks Live, on the other hand, focuses on Business Process Design, holds 3.5% mindshare, up 3.3% since last year.
GRC
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

Gopichand Rajbhar - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly, simple to implement, and has lots of features
There are lots of features. We like the reviewer and auditor, where they support you if you want to upload evidence. At the same time the reviewer or auditor can also put their remark. The solution is user-friendly. It's easy to set up. You can easily find out how to proceed for reassessment, how to upload that evidence, and how you can put in a remark. Everything is a single console where you can easily track what you need. It's stable. The product is scalable. They provide a demo to customers to allow them to explore the tools.
AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For AuditBoard, the simple workflow made it very easy to code with the group."
"The most significant feature of AuditBoard is its community tools. It provides an internal communication platform that enables users to communicate within the system rather than relying on external tools such as Outlook or Microsoft products. By communicating within the system, all interactions are centralized and accessible, promoting a streamlined workflow."
"In AuditBoard, there are all the audit steps, including documentation, archiving, and tracking the progress of audits."
"The most valuable feature is the well-documented instruction."
"The most valuable feature of AuditBoard is its ability to facilitate the editing of work papers in a seamless and efficient manner. This is achieved through a built-in tool that allows for real-time editing without the need for downloading the working paper. This feature has proven to be incredibly time-saving for me as it eliminates the step of having to download the file and make changes, instead providing an easy-to-access "edit work paper" option. Overall, this feature has greatly improved my experience with AuditBoard and has been a significant contributor to its success in my opinion."
"AuditBoard has several solutions for governance, internal audit, and other categories."
"I find the most significant elements of this solution are the out-of-the-box reporting, the ease of workflow, workflow management, and the ease of managing our audit process."
"Its ability to share the data in real-time has helped us well."
"The solution is stable. All the refreshes run very well."
"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."
"The business process discovery is excellent. The diagram or blueprinting functionality of the solution are very good. It's quite easy. You can link the sub-processes and get a big overview of the whole process then."
"The stability is pretty good. It is highly available, which is key. You don't lose your work and can autosave."
"Valuable features include real-time modeling and design work, the ability to perform workshops with clients in real-time with the tool, and getting instant output."
"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."
"It is a stable solution since there has not been any downtime. Everything loads fast."
 

Cons

"The layout for the end user could be improved."
"Everything is there, and I have no disadvantage to note as of now."
"Some of that flexibility could be enhanced. When comparing Archer and TeamMate+, there is a little more open-ended in terms of certain of our audit processes and procedures. And there is significantly greater freedom in creating ad hoc audit processes and procedures, whereas AuditBoard is a little more limiting in this regard."
"A handful of things in the solution need to be improved. One of them is better communication of updates to the system or tool itself."
"After sending out a request to my network for documents, it would be great to have a receipt that shows who received the request and who did not."
"AuditBoard could benefit from the addition of video capabilities, although it is not a necessity. Small companies that cannot afford licenses for Microsoft Teams or Zoom would benefit greatly from this feature, as it would enhance the communication process."
"They should improve the solution's test sheets feature for ease of use."
"AuditBoard is overly simple in some instances and there needs to be flexibility to make it more robust."
"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."
"I wish Blueworks Live had simulations built in, but it doesn't. It also lacks a feature of reporting; ad hoc, drag and drop reporting. A lot of senior people are always asking for reports, and there's no reporting feature within IBM Blueworks."
"IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts."
"In the Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."
"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."
"The user interface is quite easy at first but process analysts soon run into roadblocks of limited functionality, which is disappointing."
"The APIs are great, except the normal business user doesn't know how to create APIs. So it's hard because IBM comes to us as the business users and tell us to create reporting with APIs, except we don't know that, so we have to turn around and flip it to our IT people."
"I would like to see integration with ERP systems. This would help us to simulate the process and see where the problems are. Though IBM Blueworks Live is a good tool for documenting, it is not good for simulating."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I highly recommend this tool as the price is reasonable. However, consistent pricing is important, and having a loyalty program that rewards long-term customers with lower prices would be a great addition."
"Pricing is variable, like with any technology, and is determined by how hard you wish to negotiate. You can get to a price you're willing to pay if you're willing to negotiate aggressively."
"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."
"Making it less expensive would be good."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AuditBoard?
It consolidates the E2E process in one single solution, and in a very user friendly environment.
What needs improvement with AuditBoard?
AuditBoard is overly simple in some instances and there needs to be flexibility to make it more robust. For IBM OpenPages, the reporting can be more robust as the summary report on each of the modu...
What is your primary use case for AuditBoard?
I used AuditBoard primarily for risk assessment questionnaires in a very premature risk environment. I also have experience with IBM OpenPages, mostly for operational risk to track issues, to look ...
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 any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic.
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 it very effectively.
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Lombardi Blueprint
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
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