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BPM Everywhere
Product Overview for OpenText Process Suite
13 March 2014
Abstract
OpenText BPM Everywhere delivers process visibility and participation across the enterprise for
OpenText’s BPM products. BPM Everywhere provides social enablement for BPM products by allowing
users to monitor process events, perform tasks and collaborate with others regardless of where they
are. This document highlights features introduced in OpenText BPM Everywhere.
Business Process Management | TECHNICAL WHITEPAPER 2
Contents OpenText BPM Everywhere .......................................................................................................................... 3
Overview ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
Concepts ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
Features ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Basic Collaboration Activities .................................................................................................................... 6
Topic Security ............................................................................................................................................ 6
Work .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Web Client................................................................................................................................................. 8
Integration – API ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Integration – Embeddable Component .................................................................................................. 10
Architecture ................................................................................................................................................ 11
Availability ................................................................................................................................................... 12
Trusted Experience ..................................................................................................................................... 13
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OpenText BPM Everywhere
Successful business solutions can rely on a number of technologies to handle work. Social tools and
technologies can be effective tools in the business workspace by enabling users to monitor process
events, perform tasks and collaborate with others.
OpenText BPM Everywhere delivers process visibility and participation across the enterprise via
social-enablement of OpenText’s BPM products. Features of BPM Everywhere include
Facebook and Twitter-like information stream allowing users to scroll through posts and
comment on them
Users can comment and collaborate on individual posts
Feeds can be received from process metrics, individual cases and other users
Lightweight work can be delivered to mobile users
Work can be initiated from mobile users
Users can “follow” work/cases
BPM Everywhere (BPME) capabilities are available to both mobile and desktop (browser-based)
users. Additionally, a component will be available that exposes BPM Everywhere features within a
BPM browser-based application.
BPM Everywhere will be part of the OpenText Process Suite. BPME will also be able to be offered in
conjunction with BPM products as an additional option -- for example, with Case360, Cordys,
Process360, Metastorm BPM, or managerView. Please see the various product roadmaps for timing
on these integrations.
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Key Features
Categorized information feeds can be integrated into a browser-based application
REST-based API can be used to instrument a BPM product that
o Enables the process/application to post updates or alerts on work status
o Enables the process/application to create a “work order” for BPM Everywhere users to
action that will return data to the process
Individuals can post content into information feeds; others can comment on the content
posted
Social interaction including access to content feeds will be available to both browser-based
and mobile/smartphone users
Work can be treated as a social entity – cases can be “followed” by BPM Everywhere users
Benefits
Users stay informed. Track critical work by “following” it -- monitor status, discover who
else is working on the case
Tap into the community; learn from others by “following” subject matter experts
Social media-based user experience simplifies access to information and tasks
By drawing from shared information and easy collaboration, knowledge workers have a
richer environment to make better decisions; the learning curve of less experienced users is
accelerated
The combination of ad hoc/social tools with structured processes make business
applications more effective
Social-enabled business processes result in faster time to the right decision
Delivery of work and information to mobile users broaden the application’s reach
The BPM Everywhere client user experience creates an environment familiar and engaging
for a new generation of workers
Overview
The addition of social media-based user experience to BPM systems will simplify access to information
and tasks. Access to these social capabilities is delivered across device types including mobile clients
such as smartphones and tablets, and on web browsers.
By leveraging social interaction capabilities into BPM, technologies are blended to solve your business
problems. Using OpenText BPM Everywhere, you leverage social tools and techniques to extend the
reach and impact of your business process. Even if you have deployed dynamic case management to
improve worker productivity, you need a means to facilitate the ad hoc social guidance that people need
in order to know what to do next. BPM Everywhere enables facilitation of that social guidance. Social
interaction for work collaboration is all about taking advantage of new tools and those tools are crafted
to enable focus on work by leveraging the social metaphor.
Get answers to business problems
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Tap into a broader network of peers
Surface new insight or new ideas
BPM Everywhere has an open interface to support event feeds from any instrumented third party
system, enabling extensibility that supports customer user applications or integrations.
OpenText BPM Everywhere includes a responsive HTML5 web client for smartphones, tablets and
desktop browsers. An HTML5-based “Embeddable Component” can be included in browser-based BPM
applications that enable access to BPM Everywhere features from within a BPM application. The
Embeddable Component can be configured to render only the posts associated with an individual case.
Concepts
Post is a message, notice, or other type of data. Some types of posts are generated by participants.
Other types are generated by a processing system. When you create a post, you specify to whom it is
visible to, and whether it should be posted to a topic. You can add attachments to a post, and you can
add comments to a post. Following are some special cases of posts:
Message posts can be a message from an individual or could also be a message generated from
a BPM system. Individuals receiving or reading a message post can respond by commenting on
that post or adding others to the conversation by sharing the post with them.
Work post requires action from someone. It typically is generated from a processing system for
additional information or activity. The action required might be to approve/reject, provide
additional data, or upload of a photo or document.
Collaboration is a form of work that facilitates working interactively with other users. For
instance, collaboration can be used to vote, take a survey, or get quick comments about a
particular subject.
Follow/Unfollow is to subscribe to, or unsubscribe from, a list of posts for a particular topic, person, or
case.
The Stream is a consolidated view of everything you’re following.
Topic is a category into which posts are organized. Topics can be public, semi-private, or private. Public
topics are visible to everyone. Semi-private topics are shown in search results but you must be invited
or request permission to access them. Private topics are not shown in search results except by
invitation.
Tag marks a topic or post so that it can be shared. A Post without any tags will never be seen by anyone.
Case is a reflection onto BPM Everywhere of work in process within a BPM system for access/reference
by BPME users
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Features
Basic Collaboration Activities
Features
Accessible Topic and Person details
An individual’s Stream provides “one-stop-shopping” of information that they are interested in;
data is pushed, so that an individual can receive real-time updates
Notifications let an individual know when new data is waiting for their attention.
Individual People and Topics can be “pinned” to the menu bar for easy access
Benefits
Stay current with changing situations and new news. Users can personalize their interface so
that they receive updates in ways that suit their style.
Easy to find out more about Topic feeds and People to determine whether this interest group or
individual may be useful
Easy to reach out to individuals and subject matter experts to receive and provide needed help,
from virtually anywhere and any time
Topic Security
Features
Public Topics are viewable by anyone; these topics can be easily discovered through the search
capability
Posts in Semi-Private Topics can be viewed only by people who have been provided access to
the Topic. Semi-Private topics can be discovered via browse of a list of Topics or search. An
individual wanting access to a Semi-Private topic can Request to Follow the topic. The request
to follow is referred to the Topic owner. The Topic owner can accept or decline the request to
follow.
Posts in Private Topics can be viewed only by people who have been provided access to the
topic. Private Topics cannot be discovered through browse or search. Access to private topics is
granted only by invitation. Owners of private Topics may browse for people to invite to their
topic
Topic Details shows who owns the Topic, how many people are following the Topic, how many
posts are in the Topic, and the security on the Topic.
Benefits
Companies and individuals can secure post feeds as they see fit.
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Work
Work processing is an integral capability of BPM Everywhere. Work1 in process in an OpenText BPM
system is reflected into BPM Everywhere as a Case.
Features
The BPM system determines which properties from the work in process are reflected in the
Case.
Posts can be tagged to a case. These posts can be generated by an individual user, or can be
generated by the BPM system using the BPM Everywhere API.
A Case can be followed. When the Case is followed, posts associated with that Case will appear
in the follower’s Stream.
Developers have means of discovering and displaying all posts associated with a specific Case.
Benefits
Up-to-the-moment information on work in process
Work posts are typically requests for action such as an approve/reject, or a short data form to request
additional information. This action request can be initiated by the BPM system via the process or
triggered by an action within a processor application. Work posts can be directed to an individual, to a
group or to a Topic.
Features
These requests for action are delivered via a post, so can be viewed in the Stream of the
individual the request is directed to.
Work posts needing action are quickly accessed via a “To Do” menu item that filters work posts
from the Stream. Users can easily see what work posts need their attention; there is a separate
tab for users to see what work posts have already been responded to.
The BPM Everywhere server detects if more than one individual attempts to respond to a work
post, and provides appropriate guidance.
Developers have means to collect completed work posts and manage next actions via the BPM
process.
Benefits
BPM Everywhere users can participate in work processing without having to initiate a BPM
application. Casual or highly mobile users don’t need to maintain access to a BPM processing
application.
1 Note that the various BPM systems have different terminologies for work in progress. For instance, they could be
called “cases”, “workpackets”, “folders”, or “work items” within the context of a specific BPM system.
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Web Client
Features
Mobile user experience compatible with popular social media applications
Access Basic Collaboration capabilities including
o Access to topics, posts and streams
o Can create posts, comment on posts
o Can create and manage topics
o Follow and unfollow people and topics
o Pin people and topics to home screen
Participate in work
o Action work posts: enter data, upload documents/photos
o Initiate work via applications
o Browse and follow cases
o Pin work initiation applications, cases to home screen
Leverage mobile device features – location, camera
Push notifications enable the user to be alerted that something needs attention without having
to open the application
Devices supported
o HTML5-based web client for Android-based smartphones and tablets
o Responsive design such that the client applications conform to the form factor of the
device. The same client operates on smartphone, tablet, or desktop browser.
Browsers supported: Microsoft IE, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari
Benefits
Mobile field personnel have up-to-the-moment information at their fingertips
Participate in real-time with unified access to events and data
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“Following” work/cases ensures that you can stay informed on the progress of work items that
are important to you
Focus on business, and business drives the value of the social environment
User interface is optimized for the device in use for an optimal user experience
Personalizable user experience enables users to access information in a way that fits their role
or working style
The BPM Everywhere client user experience creates an environment familiar and engaging for a
new generation of workers
Consistent user experience reduces training headaches
Integration – API
Example: Work Order creation initiated by BPM system
Features
Open API is OData compliant and REST-based. Mobile devices and process systems interact with
BPM Everywhere using this API. The API enables
o Creation of user accounts
o Creation and management of Topics
o Creation of Posts
o Application of comments to Posts
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Benefits
BPM systems can easily integrate with BPM Everywhere creating
o Instrumented processes that can send alert posts for individual work items or for system
performance
o Instrumented processes that can send work posts to individuals or to an interest group
o The ability to create work from a mobile BPM Everywhere users that initiate a process
on a BPM system
Integration – Embeddable Component
Features
HTML5-based embeddable component exposes relevant BPM Everywhere capabilities to a
browser-based BPM user application enabling
o Creation, commenting and management of posts
o Access to Stream
o Access to People and Topics
o Ability to follow People or Topics
User experience mirrors mobile/desktop web client
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Configurable to
o Limit post display to a specific case
o Limit access to specific BPM Everywhere areas (Stream vs Topics, etc.)
Supports federated authentication via ADFS
Benefits
Browser-based application users can leverage BPM Everywhere to collaborate with other users
Application users have full exposure to collaboration information created for the open case
Simplifies integration of BPM Everywhere capabilities into processing and management
applications
Architecture
As well as deployable on-premise, the BPM Everywhere server architecture supports multi-tenant,
cloud-based deployment.
1. Source systems send posts to the accounts on the BPM Everywhere server
2. The BPME server maintains a directory of accounts and a database of the posts
3. User access streams of posts from browsers and mobile devices
Future plans include RSS integration. For example, Twitter feeds could populate a BPME topic.
Cases are “owned” by the BPM processing system. Work associated with a case as a “work post” is
delivered by the BPM Everywhere Server as a kind of post. The BPM system receives a message that
some work is completed on the BPME server. After retrieving the completed work, the BPM system can
then react based on the type of work completed and the data provided by the user. What to do next,
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how and whether to respond back to the user or post information to the associated case is handled
entirely by the BPM system, as business logic and process would dictate.
Availability
Initial customer availability of BPM Everywhere is targeted for release with OpenText’s Process Suite.
This document describes what has been in plan for this initial customer availability release.
Integrating BPM products (Case360, Cordys, Process360, Metastorm BPM, etc.) will provide features
enabling integration with BPM Everywhere as part of their individual product direction. Please see their
roadmap statements for more information on their feature plans.
www.opentex t . com
For more information about OpenText products and services, visit www.opentext.com. OpenText is a publicly traded company on both NASDAQ (OTEX) and the TSX (OTC).
Copyright © 2013 by OpenText Corporation. OpenText and The Content Experts are trademarks or registered trademarks of OpenText Corporation. This list is not exhaustive. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Trusted Experience
OpenText Business Process Solutions is dedicated to helping users manage their information and
leverage their business processes – no matter how complex the systems or diverse the company.
OpenText BPS delivers complete business management solutions allowing our clients to create, capture,
demonstrate, share, analyze and deploy business processes within units and throughout the enterprise.
