ModelFoundry Successfully Demonstrates BPMN Interchange Capability at OMG’s March 2016 Technical Committee Meeting
By Sam Mancarella
Last week was a hat-trick for ModelFoundry, and we couldn’t be more excited to tell you about it!
BPMN in ModelFoundry
First, we launched our first premium (ie: not for free) product to market – BPMN modeling in ModelFoundry. You can create complex, detailed process models using the Business Process Model & Notation language. It’s a really useful language that lets you describe processes, information exchange and decisions in a standardized way, and that’s useful for two reasons:
First, using a modeling language, supported by an ecosystem of tools, practitioners and certification bodies means that more people can produce and consume (ie: understand!) the meaning conveyed by your model – therefore more people ‘get it’.
Secondly, using a standard modeling language lets you do pretty interesting things with the model. So for a BPMN model you can produce it one modeling tool, send it to someone who opens and changes it in a different tool, who then passes it onto a simulator to run it. Wash, rinse, repeat until that model reaches the desired maturity. From there the model can be passed on to the business process engine (think big ERP systems) that then execute the model in a production setting.
Authoring a BPMN model is a bit like writing a computer program, but for business. Your organisation, structured into service units, is the computer (cpu, memory, peripherals, etc). Your BPMN program is what the organisation performs to deliver value – a new product line, a B2B transaction, etc.
The cool thing about BPMN is that its graphical representation is intuitive – a lay person can see that process A waits for process B for a length of time, actor 1 sends this message to actor 2 and so on. This is important because people are an essential part of an organization and need to perform the BPMN-described process themselves.
So you can now create new BPMN models, or open and modify existing BPMN models – from other tools – using ModelFoundry. It’s just a simple In-App Purchase and once you unlock BPMN you’re good to go.
BPMN Model-Interchange Demonstration
Our second achievement was our successful participation in the BPMN Model Interchange Working Group’s fifth Model Interchange Capability Demonstration on March 16th 2016. This demonstration was broadcast live from the Object Management Group's quarterly Technical Committee meeting in Reston, VA. It involved 11 different tools working together to create a BPMN model and then execute it on various BPMN execution engines.
For those of you that didn’t watch the live broadcast as it happened, here’s the live recording for your enjoyment (our bit starts at 23:38).
As the only tablet app to participate in the demonstration, we were able to show how a BPMN model – created by a team of analysts, architects and practitioners – can be sent directly to a decision maker, or subject matter expert, for review and approval. If the stakeholder needed to make changes to the model, she/he could do so directly in the app and send the modified model back, otherwise the model’s ready to be put into action. So an app like ModelFoundry makes a handy complement to your organizations existing BPM solutions.
Our First Exhibit
Our third achievement was having our name ‘in lights’ at OMG’s Technical Committee meeting with our very first exhibit table at the event. For a startup like ModelFoundry, having a quaint display alongside established names in the industry isn’t just some symbolic accomplishment – it’s a great way to build one’s brand among the delegates, share life experiences within the industry and learn of the many different ways that people can do business with you.
You can start off with a simple exhibit table (or booth) at an event that best represents your target industry where users, early adopters and influencers are likely to be. (tip: if it requires international travel, do it!) Add a couple flyers, a demo to play with and some hors d'oeuvre and you got yourself the perfect conversation starter needed to get people thinking about how they can apply your offering to their organization, wonder how their organization managed without you, and – most importantly – leave them hungry for more.
- Sam Mancarella is Founder and Managing Director of ModelFoundry Pty. Ltd.
