Cordys BOP4.1 to be released

Ok, we have been waiting for it for quite some time now...
However -at last- on Cordial 2011 Cordys announced that Fix Pack 1 for BOP4 (commercial name: BOP4.1) is to be released before the end of this month!

Those who are familiar with my blogs will understand that I was very eager to find out all about the new “goodies” packed in this new release.

At Cordial11 we were presented a brief overview of the new features of BOP4.1 and the roadmap for future capabilities. Though it was not completely clear to me what exactly is in scope for 4.1 and what not I would like to share the global picture of my perception of the new features of BOP4.1.

BAM KPI-s simplified
In BOP4 implementing BAM is fairly cumbersome. To have an idea: it involves five different kinds artifacts in BOP4 to report on KPI-s.
In BOP4.1 Cordys allows to define a KPI right where it belongs: in the BPM itself. This KPI is directly usable in dashboards. This is a big improvement for productivity, maintainability and transparency.

Document support in BPM-s
In BOP4 extensive document handling was only offered in Case Management.
BOP4.1 supports this now for BPM-s as well by allowing users to attach documents to process instances. Design time It will be possible to control (per activity) the types of documents that are allowed and the according access rights for the documents for different roles and users.

Multi language support
BOP4 offered very limited language support.
This should drastically improve in BOP4.1. Every language sensitive element in Cordys will be candidate subject to multi language support. Integration of BOP4.1 with Google Translate ensures that only a minimum of effort is required to create the required language tables.

Social Collaboration
BOP4.1 allows multiple developers on remote locations to simultaneously alter or review artifacts, like BPM-s and User Screens. Changes will be immediately visible available to all participants. During this process they can interact with each other, e.g. through real time messaging.

Document Generation
BOP4.1 supports documentation generation on BPM-s.
To be honest the demonstrated documentation looked rather plain and technical in my eyes, so I expect the intended audience is development. I am not really convinced if this will add much value. In my opinion models and structure should be “self explanatory” anyway (according to the agile paradigm), and all information is available in a structured way in the Cordys repository.

Multi browser support
Cordys claims that BOP4.1. will be supported by all widely accepted web browsers, like Safire, Google Chrome and Firefox. This is simply good news, as we already have seen customer requirements on browser support!

MDM modeling
BOP4.1 has improved MDM modeling capabilities.
In BOP4 I have used MDM hub and spoke only because it was required for BAM. Therefore it is hard to value this enhancement.

Process Instance Management (PIM) improvements
BOP4.1 will offer enhancements in PIM. One of the demonstrated capabilities is that it is possible to have BAM-like overviews on the status for specific users: What is their current work load, what is their productivity etc.
In the roadmap session I saw a demo of social capabilities as well, like being able to obtain all kind of information of participants in work lists and the possibility to interact with them though different social media. It is unclear to me to which extent this functionality will be in scope for BOP4.1.

Integration CPF-BOP4.1
BOP4.1 will provide integration with Cordys’ PaaS solution “Cordys Process Factory” (CPF): A logical step to improve the cloud capabilities of BOP4.1. Unfortunately we did not see a demo of this, so I cannot value this enhancement at this moment.

Deployment features
BOP4.1 will offer deployment enhancements by changing the ISV Package structure.
This should allow for easier, safer and better controlled deployments. It should improve productivity for administration and reduce the risk of errors.

Other enhancements and improvements:
A number of enhancements in BOP4.1 will likely increase development productivity to some extend:
- Context sensitive options for constructs in the BPM models (like I have already seen in e.g. SAP BPM). This means that when selecting e.g. an activity the developer can immediately see what the possible connectable constructs are and the required one can be selected.
- Zoom functionality (Handy for larger models. On the other hand: Do we want models to be large?)
- Improved process messaging (In BOP4 this was a bit cumbersome -having to use process instance ids-, as I wrote on in my earlier Blogs)
- E-Mail integration (E.g. easier to make mail templates)

Overall BOP4.1 looks like indeed it will offer some significant enhancements.
Currently I am personally most happy with multi browser support, multi language support, the new BAM and document management. I would really like to lay my hands on those.

I will address my next blog to the features that I am still missing in BOP4.1 and the roadmap of Cordys.

Regards, Harald van der Weel