comp.groupware FAQ: Products3: Frequently Asked Questions
Groupware FAQ
Archive-name: comp-groupware-faq/products3
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 1995.4.12
Version: 3.2
Copyright: 1989 - 1995 (C) David S. Stodolsky, PhD
Groupware Products - Part 3
===========================
Business Process Reengineering Tools
------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems
From: Jerome Kreuser OBPIE 32796 <JKRE...@worldbank.org>
Subject: BPR Tools
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 15:33:12 GMT
We are not a manufacturing company but produce
intellectual products and financial products. Most of the tools
I have seen are discrete simulation tools. Among these are:
SIMAN plus ARENA from Systems Modeling Corporation
SIMSCRIPT products from CACI including
SIMPROCESS their BPR product and
MODSIM for more flexibility and detail
HOCUS from P-E International
Extend+BPR from Imagine That, Inc.
ithink from High performance Systems, Inc.
Micro SAINT from Micro Analysis and Design, Inc.
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems
From: bab...@cc.gatech.edu (Jim Babcock)
Subject: Re: BPR Tools
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 16:00:45 GMT
Here are a few more tools used in US .. I have no evaluation data... sorry.
Business Design Facility (Texas Instrumants, Dallas TX)
Dynamic Business Modeling (Digital Equipment, Bosoton MA))
QSNAP/SIMPAL (TEchno Sciences Inc & Ameritech Greenbelt MD & Hoffman
Estates, IL))
SPARKS (Coopers Lybrand, Chicago)
TASC [Plan, FlowSim, Control, Station], (TASC, Reading MA)
WITNESS (AT&T, Cleveland OH)
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems
From: Carl Petter Swensson <ce...@taskon.no>
Subject: Re: BPR Tools
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 16:16:36 GMT
Jerome Kreuser OBPIE 32796 <JKRE...@worldbank.org> wrote:
Are there other useful tools available for BPR?
You should consider RDD-100 from Ascent Logic Corporation, CA, USA. This is
a system engineering tool, but many concepts in Systems Engineering and BPR
are common.
I have used this tool for doing reverse-engineering of software _and_ for modelling
business processes, the latter case was a military organization. In the case of
organizational modelling both reverse-engineering, i.e. figuring out
what people really
are doing, and forward engineering, i.e. what they should do, was done.
It worked well.
It is a comprehensive tool with a its basis in a methodology called
Requirements Driven Development. It has very good support for traceability, dynamic
simulation/verification facilities etc.
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems
From: "Susanne Strahringer" <SUS...@bwl.bwl.th-darmstadt.de>
Subject: Re: BPR Tools
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 11:29:13 GMT
In SPURR, K., LAYZELL, P., JENNISON, L., RICHARDS, N. (edts.),
Software Assistance for Business Re-engineering, John Wiley 1993,
several tools are described. These include:
APACHE (Electronic Data Systems): proprietary
Business Design Facility (Texas Instruments): commercially available
Business Improvement Facility (Virtual Software Factory):
commercially available
CADDIE (Logica Cambridge Ltd): research tool for consultancy support
iThink (High Performance Systems): commercially available
PROCESSWISE WORKBENCH (International Computers Ltd, ICL):
commercially available
RADitor (Co-ordination Systems Ltd): commercially available
SES/Workbench (Scientific and Engineering Software): commercially
available
TOP-IX (TOP-IX Ltd): commercially available
Apart from these I came across the following products. All but the first
of the following tools are of german or suisse origin and therefore
probably not available in an English version.
ProcessWeaver (Cap Gemini Innovation)
BONAPART (UBIS GmbH)
ARIS-Tools (IDS Prof. Scheer GmbH)
MOSAIK (sietec consulting GmbH Co. OHG)
Workflow Analyzer (C.I.T. GmbH)
INCOME (Promatis Informatik GmbH & Co KG)
PACE (Grossenbacher Elektronik AG)
GRADE (Siemens Nixdorf)
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems
From: j...@jytkoson2.jyu.fi (Juha-Pekka Tolvanen)
Subject: RE: BPR tools
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 14:20:23 GMT
One tool that can be added to the list of BPR tools is a metaCASE tool
called MetaEdit (MetaCase Consulting Inc.,meta...@jsp.fi).
A specific feature of Metaedit is that the modeling methods included can
be customized to different purposes (e.g. to modeling of logistic processes
or to workflow modeling), or even new methods can be created. Current method
support for BPR include value process modeling and activity modeling.
--
Juha-Pekka Tolvanen
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems
University of Jyv a:skyl a:
P.O.Box 35, 40351 Jyv a:skyl a:, Finland
E-mail: j...@jyu.fi
Tel: +358 41 603039, fax: 358 41 603611
From: conf...@indirect.com (The Conference Group)
Subject: BPR Tool to be Unveiled 3/10
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Scott Dixon Smith
310.798.2425
HOLOSOFX Ships v. 1.0 of Workflow*BPR,
Breakthrough Software for Process Representation
(Los Angeles . . . Feb. 20) HOLOSOFX, Inc. (f.k.a. Virtual Management,
Inc.) has announced commercial availability of version 1.0 of its flagship
business process representation product, Workflow*BPR.
Workflow*BPR, the first in a family of Business Process Improvement
products is a comprehensive, industry-independent, business process definition
tool that allows realistic visual representation of exactly how a process is
handled under specific conditions.
Workflow*BPR, v. 1.0 is a single-user, Windows-based tool that captures
the activities, participants, resources and conditions that determine the
course of a business process. These components are then used to generate
virtual workflows, which realistically represent exactly how a process is
handled under all specified conditions and exceptions. In addition, all of
the possible alternative paths within a virtual workflow can be captured and
an explicit path can be generated on demand.
[snip]
Workflow*BPR is available directly from HOLOSOFX in Manhattan Beach, CA
or from its new business partners. Business partners include TRW Systems
Integration Group (Long Beach, CA) RISCmanagement Inc. (New York, NY), Hcm
(Torrence, CA), Sequent Computer Systems (Portland) and IBM Workgroup
Solutions (Kettletown, CT). Pricing has been set at $2,495 for a single-user
copy.
Plans are in progress for a client/server version, due out during the
second quarter of 1995.
Collaborative Multimedia Scientific Design
------------------------------------------
SHASTRA is a X-11 based distributed and collaborative multimedia
environment for cooperative problem solving. Licensed and sold by the
Purdue Research Foundation. For info contact Prof. Chandrajit Bajaj
(ba...@cs.purdue.edu), 317-494-6531 fax 317-494-0739.
MeetingWorks
------------
From: "L. Floyd Lewis" <le...@cbe.wwu.edu>
Subject: Teaching version of MeetingWorks GSS
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 00:30:27 GMT
A teaching version of MeetingWorks for Windows
Group Support System is now available. Meeting-
Works is a Windows-based GSS that has just been
released for commercial use. It works best for
small to medium sized groups who meet in a face-
to-face setting. However, the software sets a
high limit on the number of participants (99),
and the current version could be used along with
separate teleconferencing software.
It is essentially a modular toolkit that can be
used to design meetings for almost any purpose.
It includes tools to support idea generation and
commenting, discussion and organization of ideas,
exploration of relationships (cross-impact analysis),
and a variety of evaluation approaches (voting,
selecting, ranking, rating, multi-attribute utility
analysis). Almost any other Windows or DOS program
can be included in a meeting script, and executed at
the appropriate time during the meeting. The Meeting-
Works modules create a variety of reports, tables, and
graphs which can be distributed during the meeting,
and/or used to document the activities of the group.
As the originator of MeetingWorks, and a professor,
I wanted to be able to offer a full featured GSS to
instructors at an affordable price. Therefore, the
teaching version has retained ALL of the power and
features of the full commercial version. However, we
want to remind users that this version is only to be
used for teaching, and not for any kind of consulting,
so we have included screen and report headings that
identify the software as being the teaching version.
That is the ONLY difference. Like the commercial
version, the educational version is able to support up
to 99 users. If you want to consult using MeetingWorks,
educational institutions can acquire the commercial
version at a 33% discount. When you order an educational
Starter Pack, you receive the teaching version of the
software, a full Users Manual, five copies of my supple-
mental textbook, and a set of four meeting scripts that
can be used to teach and/or demonstrate MeetingWorks (you
can also write your own original meeting scripts using
the included tool, ScriptWriter). While the software
cannot be used for consulting, it can be used for bona
fide research projects that do not involve the exchange
of any funds (i.e. - you can't be paid in any way for
the research). The price for the above is $300. If you
wish to order or request further information, send me an
email message, and I will mail or fax you an order form
or send you additional information.
Dr. L. Floyd Lewis
Professor of Information Systems
Western Washington University
le...@cbe.wwu.edu
360-650-4817 (voice)
360-733-2193 (FAX)
IBIS, gIBIS, CM/1
-----------------
Newsgroups: alt.hypertext,comp.groupware
From: kc...@netcom.com (K.C. Burgess Yakemovic)
Subject: Re: Looking for Designs for Mapping Logical Arguments
Date: Sun, 1 May 1994 14:56:15 GMT
In article <940429112...@rx7.intercon.com> d...@intercon.com (Dave Kosiur) writes:
>In article <pjohnson....@hookup.net>, pjoh...@hookup.net (Peter
>Johnson) writes:
>> I'm interested designs for representing information organized around
>> the deconstruction of logical arguments.
>
>Take a look at the IBIS and gIBIS systems.
>.... gIBIS had been a long-term project at MCC
>in Austin. I believe the principals have since started their own business,
>but, for the life of me, I cannot remember the company or product name.
Jeff Conklin was the primary researcher in this work at MCC. He can be
reached at:
Corporate Memory Systems
8920 Business Park Drive
Austin TX 78759
phone: 512-795-9999
fax: 512-794-5921
email: con...@msi.com
The product name is CM/1.
I am not connected with this company, but I did work with Jeff while he
was at MCC... so I've kept up a bit with his more recent work.
-- kcby
KC Burgess Yakemovic
Group Performance Systems Inc. phone / fax: 404-395-0282
4776 Village N. Ct. email : kc...@netcom.com
Atlanta GA 30338 USA
k-lendars
---------
From: le...@crios.inria.fr (Jean-Michel Leon)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Re: Free email-based shared calendar (for UNIX) available?
Date: 12 Jul 1994 08:41:35 GMT
In article <DNB.94Ju...@media-lab.media.mit.edu>, d...@media.mit.edu (David
N. Blank-Edelman) writes:
|> I am hoping that this has been written and is already available.
|> I'd like to find a (freely redistributable) program that runs under
|> UNIX which accepts email requests to modify or query a group calendar.
|>
I'm writing k-lendars, which is a distributed calendar manager with
communications based on email. k-lendars has replicated architecture, so
that each group member has a copy of the current calendar.
I don't think if it is exactly what you need, because k-lendars do not offer
schedule mechanism, but here is the description...
DESCRIPTION :
-----------
K-lendars is a multi-user / multi-calendar diary.
It is a MOTIF user interface to a distributed calendar manager.
Communications are based on email and require a dispatch mechanism
(procmail, slocal,...)
Anyway if you do not want to use the multi user capabilities, you can use
k-lendars in single-user mode, with one or more calendars.
Features of version 1.1 are:
- multi/calendar support
- multi/user support, with group managment mechanisms
- select/unselect any calendar
- Year view
- Day view
- repeating appointments
- alarms (up to 1 week before an appointment)
- MOTIF 1.2 interface
- mouse (point and click) oriented interface
- customizability
AVAILABILITY :
------------
k-lendars is freely available, read the COPYRIGHT file.
ftp location:
avahi.inria.fr:/pub/k-lendars-1.1.tar.gz
--
Jean-Mic...@sophia.inria.fr - Groupe Bull
<A HREF="http://zenon.inria.fr:8003/koala/koala.html">See the Koala team</A>.
Schedule Publisher
------------------
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
From: hillelm@psun (Hillel Meyers)
Subject: Re: Looking for Schedule Publisher
Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 22:27:21 GMT
Schedule Publisher is from Lucas Managment Systems. You can contact
Anndee McManus in Detroit at 810-353-4080.
I have no experience with the tool, so I can give no comment.
==
Hillel A. Meyers - Motorola - SMTP: hil...@cadsun.corp.mot.com
Collage for the X Window System
-------------------------------
From: gbou...@void.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Gilles Bourhis)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Collage for X release 1.3
Date: 21 Apr 1994 22:00:25 GMT
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is announcing the 1.3 release
of Collage for the X Window System.
Contacting address: sof...@ncsa.uiuc.edu
Quick overview:
Collage is a tool with both scientific data analysis capabilities and
collaboratives capabilities.
Collage can read scientific data from HDF files and produce 2d images
from them, annotate this images, view in a spreadsheet the actual datas,
analyse them with some tools (profiling, histogram, contouring).
Collage can also view images from various file format.
Collage can be viewed also as a collaborative tools since several instances
of collage can be linked together via a server (collage_server),
exchanging message through the DTM protocol: what the end user will see is
that each action of any participant in a Collage session is immediately
propagated to the others, for example there is whiteboard where you can
doodle things: everybody can watch what the other draw of write.
New features in 1.3:
. Full support of int16 (short) HDF type.
. Support of int8 HDF type.
. Backspace works when doodling text in image or whiteboard.
. contour works for all data type.
. animation of a 3d data along an arbitrary axis can be generated from
the 3d panel.
. Fix bug when the default number of colorcells is less than 256.
. Add options for naming of SDSs (use of annotation or not...).
. Screen capture on SGI works better.
. Delete buttons added so that you can recover some memory.
. Add private copy button on the spreadsheet.
Distribution:
The software is available through anonymous ftp for both binaries and
source code. ftp ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50) and answer anonymous
to the Name question. Than cd /UNIX/XCollage/Collage1.3, get DOCS,
quit ftp, read DOCS and download the binaries that you need.
--
Gilles Bourhis Software Development Group
gbou...@ncsa.uiuc.edu NCSA, U of I at Urbana-Champaign
[NCSA WWW pages (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/SDGSoftDir.html):]
DEC's LinkWorks
---------------
From: arn...@cs.bu.edu (Randy Arndt)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Re: Is Lotus Notes REALLY groupware????
Date: 1 May 1994 13:23:08 GMT
Philip Leung (philip...@cuhk.hk) wrote:
: Also, so far, I haven't seen discussions on DEC's LinkWorks. I do find it
: quite impressive, especially on the document workflow capability. Any details
: from anyone?
: Philip Leung
LinkWorks is one of the most impressive products that I have seen. I don't
think that it is even in the same category as Notes. I recently attended a
conference called Crossroads '94 (Hosted by the company I work for, I must
add) where Digital was one of the main sponsors. The technology that they
chose to exhibit was Linkworks.
In addition to their exhibit, DEC also brought with them a customer (a
major Canadian bank) who put on a live demonstration of the product. What
I saw was incredible. As Philip pointed out, Linkworks does have extremely
robust (yet easy to use) workflow capabilities. However, that is not the
products only strong suit. What I was particularly impressed with was the
product allowed developers to create a desktop of functions for users. I
would liken this to the way Notes lets you build a set of applications in a
folder. Unlike Notes, however, Linkworks is not a development environment.
All of the applications are created with other products, but they are
collected and organized within the Linkworks desktop. These don't even
have to be custom applications. Products like Notes and Word are just as
easily integrated into the desktop as custom applications.
Another interesting feature is the portability of a user's desktop. As
with Notes, Linkworks provides a custom desktop for each user. This
desktop is also extremely portable. In the demonstration that I saw a
remote user dialed into the home LAN and received the same desktop that he
would have received if he had been physically located on the LAN. In fact,
for all intents and purposes he was on the LAN even though he was over
3,000 miles away. What was even more interesting was that the process is
intelligent. Developers can limit access to certain resources on the LAN
(such as multimedia apps that would be too slow over phone lines or high
security applications) for remote users.
I am not often excited about groupware, but I consider this product quite
good. It is an extremely young product, but I think it has a definite
future in enterprisewide workflow. If anyone would like more information
on Linkworks let me know and I will tell you who to get in touch with at
DEC.
Randy Arndt
Open Systems Advisors
From: roe...@apd.dec.com (Roelof Vuurboom)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Re: DEC Linkworks.
Message-ID: <roelof.786041406@zoem>
Date: 28 Nov 94 16:50:06 GMT
this may help you on your way a bit: some reviews partially or
totally dedicated to LinkWorks done by some independent magazines. I've
also included the first sentence on LinkWorks.
* Byte Magazine - August 1994 pp.147 (Ben Smith)
DEC's LinkWorks delivers a multiplatform - Unix, Open VMS, PC, and
Macintosh - workflow system. If groups in your organization collaborate
on the creation and development of documents, images, or data,
LinkWorks can provide an effective set of tools for automating your
most complex workflow task.
* Datamation - 7 January 1994 (Wendy Pickering)
LinkWorks illustrates some of the advantages the frameworks
approach has over suites. For one, Digital has initially announced
support for HP-PA, IBM RS/6000 servers, Mac and Motif workstations
running on Alpha AXP, OpenVMS for VAX, reduced instruction set
computing systems, SCO-UNIX and Windows PC's, and Digital promises
to keep expanding its platforms. The suites are largely Windows based.
* SCO World - July 1994 (Alan Southerton)
LinkWorks - Groupware from DEC Digital Equipment Corp. attacks
the market with a vengeance. LinkWorks is a high-profile Windows-based
product that runs on an SCO server and distributes your workflow.
[Note: LinkWorks clients run on Macintosh, Presentation Manager and
Motif besides Windows. roelof]
* UNIX NEWS - April 1994 (Roger Whitehead) pp.41
DEC is adapting to new demands in the office systems market with
its new LinkWorks product, which may eventually supplant its All-in-1
office system. Roger Whitehead reviews the new software.
* CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING, October 1994:
Message-Based Workflow Tools Find Eager Audience (sidebar titled
Users Helped by Object Orientation)
The next generation of workflow tools will use object-oriented technology,
allowing users and developers to create workflows by simply manipulating
icons that represent tools, users, processes and routing of objects. . .
If you have access to the World Wide Web you can acquire some
information directly from Digitals World Wide Web Server:
Customer Updates on LinkWorks are accessible via:
http://www.digital.com/www-cgi-bin/Customer-Update?LinkWorks
Software Product Descriptions on LinkWorks are accessible via:
http://www.digital.com/www-cgi-bin/SPD?LinkWorks
Info Sheets on LinkWorks are accessible via:
http://www.digital.com/www-cgi-bin/infosheet?LinkWorks
Some brochures describing some customer experiences are accessible via:
http://www.digital.com/www-cgi-bin/brochure?LinkWorks
--
Roelof Vuurboom tel: (+31) 40 89 22 25
E.C.H.O fax: (+31) 40 89 23 00
Philips Information Systems email: roe...@pcg.philips.nl
From: Roelof Vuurboom <roe...@apd.dec.com>
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Announcing Digital's LinkWorks WWW Site
Date: 24 Feb 1995 13:06:50 GMT
Digital Equipment Corporation announces the LinkWorks InfoCenter
WWW server at:
<URL:http://www.digital.com/info/linkworks>
You can also access the InfoCenter from Digital's Corporate Home Page:
<URL:http://www.digital.com>
and select InfoCenters.
LinkWorks is Digital's award-winning framework for delivering
client/server, customized business solutions for knowledge workers in
workgroup environments. Out-of-the-box LinkWorks group-enables existing
systems and applications with group-sharing, document management and
workflow functionality. It integrates personal and group productivity
applications as well as business applications.
The fully object-oriented LinkWorks engine allows customers, business
partners and ISVs alike to routinely develop group-enabled client/server
solutions and to integrate business applications and legacy
systems within the LinkWorks framework. Sophisticated technology can
encapsulate value add solutions into software components allowing third
parties to market and distribute their solutions in a protected form
providing investment security. Software component installation is as
simple as runtime drag-and-drop.
LinkWorks supports a broad choice of desktop clients (Windows, Macintosh,
OS/2 and Motif workstations), network protocols (TCP/IP, DECnet and IPX/SPX),
databases (CA/Ingres, Informix and Oracle) and servers (Digital, HP, IBM
and Intel-based), both protecting existing investments as well as providing
customers freedom of platform choice. LinkWorks is fully internationalised and
is available in over 25 Asian and Western languages world wide.
Email address is link...@digital.com
LinkWorks related information is also available on the FABA
(Fallmann und Bauernfeind Gesellschaft.m.b.H.) WWW server at:
<URL:http://www.faba.co.at/faba/>
Workflow Management
-------------------
From: as9...@raver.sbil.co.uk (Andrew Stuart)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Re: Need product-infos on Workflow Management
Date: 6 May 1994 13:13:44 GMT
Reply-To: as9...@raver.sbil.co.uk
Which tool you use depends on your aplication, but some of the tools are
Lotus Notes, Action Workflow, Staffware, Teamlinks, Delrina Formflow,
Jetform, Wordperfect Informs and many others. The US edition of PC magazine
reviewed Workgrouping packages in their June 93 issue.
For pure workflow, there isnm't alot out there at the moment. Look closely
at Action Workflow in conjunction with Lotus Notes, or use its SQL connectivity.
It can be a good idea just to build your application using traditional tools such
as Power or visual basic, but the use the add in libraries for Lotus Notes
for each product to enhance their workgrouping abilities.
Andrew
From: mfal...@VNET.IBM.COM (Michael Alexander)
Date: Sun, 22 May 94 00:09:02 CST
Subject: Re: Need product-infos on Workflow Management
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
In article <2qdfq8$jh59offas_dike.sbil.co.uk> as999999raver.sbil.co.uk writes:
> For pure workflow, there isnm't alot out there at the moment. Look closely
> at Action Workflow in conjunction with Lotus Notes, or use its SQL
> connectivity.
There's good news; IBM Corp. has just announced the availability of FlowMark,
an industry-strength workflow manager.
FlowMark is a fully object-oriented client/server application with
functionality to do everything from graphically designing processes to
animating and operating them.
Persons involved in a FlowMark process see their assigned activities on their
personalized work lists on their workstation. When they perform activities
from the work list they are guided by appropriate help information, and
supported by seamless invocation of the necessary programs.
FlowMark is prepared to run with Lotus Notes, can be a front-end to 3270-
based host applications and work with IBM VisualInfo for image based
workflow, among others. It can be tailored for workflow management in
a variety of industries. Applications areas also include business process
documentation/improvement/re-engineering, ISO 9000 certification/Baldridge
and application integration.
For information contact your local IBM representative/office and ask for
FlowMark/workgroup. If you need info on services around FlowMark or want
to provide them you can drop me a note.
Best Regards,
Michael F.Alexander
mfal...@vnet.ibm.com
From: r...@fractaldata.com (Robert Stucky)
Subject: Re: Workflow automation software
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 13:19:26 GMT
Check out ODMS from Odesta Systems Corp (Northbrook, Ill. (708) 498-5615,
e-mail at b...@odesta.com). Their software will do what you want, plus some.
>the type of
>application I'm looking at (IBM's Flowmark is an example) is able to define,
>model and provide scripting for execution of procedures, including invocation
>of applications which are actually needed to perform the task. As a
>software developer, I'd like to see a package that also allows discrete
>portions of the workflow to be encapsulated so that a development effort can
>be undertaking to completely automate portions of the workflow. Deployment
>on GUI workstations is a must with design work also done graphically.
This is precisely what I am using it for on a project form EPRI. We are
taking analyses that run on remote machines and combining the output to make
predictions of mechanical behavior in reactor pressure vessels. It's a
combination of human-human, human-machine-human workflow. Most stages are
fully automated. As for deployment, applications are automatically deployed
across platforms. Develop on Windows, deploy to Mac, and vice versa (100%
compatibility). Oh, by the way, the client software automatically downloads
changes to applications during log on. An "X" version is due out sometime
this summer.
>I think I'm looking for a combination workflow/CASE tool here, so both
>procedures and data used therein can be modelled with the same tool, yet
>the resulting procedures can actually be deployed to end users - any
>recommendations for tools to look at?
Their scripting language is kind of a cross between C and hypertalk. It is
very powerful, and also inherently extensible. Extensions are written as
code resources, much like VBX controls or XCMD's.
Another nice feature of the product is it's implementation of roles. People
(machines) are assigned roles, and the role defines what application objects
are downloaded on what machine. This gives you the ability to define speciic
task sets at the machine level, and deploy an application customized for
that particular workstation. A side benefit is that rolse stick to the user
id & password. This allows people to log on from any workstation anywhere
and still get the application suite they expect (and need). As an example,
you could be in a meeting, and log on using someone else's laptop, the
software would note who you were, and download the appropriate application
objects for your role.
===============================================================================
Robert Stucky Education is what remains
r...@fractaldata.com when one has forgotten
everything he learned in school.
A. Einstein
From: MICHAEL...@OFFICE.WANG.COM ("Michael Willett")
Newsgroups: comp.groupware,comp.unix.aix,comp.sys.hp.apps
Subject: Re: Need product-infos on workflow management
mfal...@VNET.IBM.COM writes:
>IBM Corp. has just announced...workflow manager.
Although Wang is an IBM alliance partner, reselling RS/6000s,
we generally provide the new Wang GUI-oriented workflow for AIX
with the RS/6000, rather than the IBM workflow, as I understand
it. RS/6000 users might want to benchmark the two, and see which
better meets their technical requirements. (The Wang workflow also
runs under HP-UX, for those interested in potential portability.)
From: Shelly Partrich <Shelly....@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>
Subject: Re: Workflow automation software
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 14:03:52 GMT
ProcessIT is sounding more and more a product that you need to consider. Here's
a brief description.
AT&T ProcessIT is a transaction-based, groupware product for developing and
executing automated process paths within the cost-effective environment of
client/server computing.
MapBuilder is the Windows-based tool used to define process maps. Maps can
include submaps to allow complex processes to be defined and automated with
ProcessIT.
The Process Activity Manager (PAM) is ProcessIT's workflow engine that resides
on the server. PAM acts as a routing and delivery server, providing information
to its clients about the work to be done based on the defined process map.
WorkView is a graphical "to-do" list that provides a focal point for launching
client workflow activity. WorkView executes any Windows application that are
defined by using ProcessIT P2s Association feature. Work may be viewed by user,
roles, or by activities. Workitems can be queried by priority so that the
highest priority work items can be worked on first.
ProcessIT's Status Monitor is a Windows application that allows Administrators
to capture the status of work items and activity queues to identify potential
bottlenecks.
ProcessIT 2.0 just had its second release last month and will be shown at the
Workflow Conference in San Jose on August 10-12.
You can get information by calling your local AT&T Global Information Solutions
representative in your area. (AT&T Global Information Solutions is what was
formerly called NCR.) If you need further assistance getting information
about ProcessIT, send an email to Shelly....@Columbia.SC.NCR.COM.
From: ge...@csesys.csesys.co.at (Gerald Trost C.S.E Systems)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: product info Workflow CSE/IBM at
Date: 20 Jun 1994 14:35:47 GMT
WORKFLOW BY C.S.E SYSTEMS AND IBM AUSTRIA
WorkFlow is a client/server product with more than 425 000
lines of code, originally build for Austrian government agencies
(which work according to very strict rules similar to ISO9000).
It fully complies to the reference model of the
Workflow Management Coalition, i.e. it consists of a module
for "build time" operations
(design of business models and business re-engineering), a
workflow run time engine, communication facilities to combine
two or more workflow engines
seamless into one workflow service, various tools and utilities.
The product can integrate office software (MS Office, Lotus, Word Perfect)
as well as host and UNIX services. It handles heterogeneous packages of
user defined data (called folders, files, ....).
The product uses a standard relational database to store case data.
Installations in the German speaking area of Europe use currently Oracle,
Ingres and Informix databases with WorkFlow. Support for
Sybase and DB2 on RISC/6000 will be available soon.
Since the product was originally build for Government, data security and
safety was given special consideration. The product is positioned carefully to
complement IBM FlowMark's functionality. FlowMark was developed in the IBM Labs
of Vienna/Austria as part of IBM's AD Cycle product line.
While FlowMark has its strengths in the analysis, design and simulation
phase of the business reengineering effort, WorkFlow focuses on the
implementation, run-time and evaluation phase. An interface between FlowMark
and WorkFlow is currently implemented by CSE Systems, as well as interfaces
to systems from other suppliers of business analysis and redesign products.
From: rne...@wv.mentorg.com (Reynaldo Newman)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Mentor Graphics Announces EDA Workflow Management System
Date: 11 Nov 1994 16:00:14 GMT
MENTOR GRAPHICS PRESS RELEASE
Lillian Tsai
Corporate Communications
Mentor Graphics Corporation
(503) 685-1177
MENTOR GRAPHICS ANNOUNCES INDUSTRY'S FIRST COMPLETE WORKFLOW
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Users Cite 30 Percent Reduction in Design Cycle Time
WILSONVILLE, Ore. -- November 7, 1994 -- Mentor Graphics
Corporation today announced a major advancement in workflow
management technology with the introduction of its
WorkXpert(tm) family of products. The products, which
function in any EDA vendor's design flow, enable design teams
to capture, control and track their design flows with
unprecedented ease and flexibility, and reduce propagation of
errors in the design process, therefore increasing the
opportunity for first-pass design success. Early users have
reported up to a 30 percent reduction in design cycle times.
The WorkXpert family of products consists of the following
applications:
- FlowXpert - A multi-user application that offers a
graphical view of design flows, tracking of tasks and data,
automation of design steps, and a history of actions taken to
complete the design.
- XpertBuilder - A graphical drag and drop builder tool for
capturing and modifying design flows and associated behavior.
- ProjectXpert - ProjectXpert allows for the setup and
administration of design projects, and the exportation of
project metrics to project management tools such as Microsoft
Corporation's Microsoft Project(tm), Claris' MacProject(tm)
and Digital Tools' AutoPlan II(tm). It also features
ProjectProbes(tm), a unique capability which provides up-to-
the-minute, accurate status on the state of key project
deliverables.
From: fr...@fred1.demon.co.uk (Fred K Weil)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Re: Workflow Management Systems
In article <3434o4$i...@onramp.arc.nasa.gov> lama...@puma.arc.nasa.gov (Hugh LaMaster) writes:
>
> Do any of these, or any other workflow products, run on *Unix*
> platforms?
>
Staffware, Process IT, Flo-Ware to name but three all run on UNIX. They all
support Windows 3 clients. Staffware and Flo-Ware support Dumb Terminals,
I think Flo-Ware also support X.Windows and Mac Clients.
ICL and IBM also produce UNIX products as do other suppliers.
Electronic Forms
----------------
From: CAR...@infocomp.csir.co.za (ABU ABRAHAMS)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Re: Info on Electronic Forms please.
Date: Wed, 4 May 1994 09:12:37
The following references to packages were made.
References:
1. Staffware: a robust workflow application from a British
company with over 30,000 seats installed around the world.
in London: +44 (0) 71 262 1021
2. AT&T ProcessIT: a new workflow product, backed by AT&T, and they
also remarket DelRina's FormFlow software.
Seems to require AT&T Unix. Contact AT&T.
3. InConcert from XEROX. A good looking workflow application
running on Windows or Unix clients, and Unix servers.
In Palo Alto, CA: 415-424-0111 or 800-626-6775.
4> Reach Software Corporation has a package out It's an e-mail
based workflow manager, with a forms generation package included,
and graphical workflow design, for an all-PC environment.
5> Word Perfect INFORMS -Professional form handling,Network ready,
Email enabled.
// //..\\ aabr...@infocomp.csir.co.za
====UU====UU= CSIR - S.A
=======================================================
David S. Stodolsky Euromath Center University of Copenhagen
da...@euromath.dk Tel.: +45 38 33 03 30 Fax: +45 38 33 88 80 (C)