Bonitasoft Bonita Open Solution v5 3 Ovum

Reference Code: OI00032-014

Publication Date: December 2010

Author: Mike Thompson

BonitaSoft – Bonita Open Solution v5.3 Published 12/2011

© Ovum. This Technology Audit is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied Page 1

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT

Bonita Open Solution v5.3 BonitaSoft

SUMMARY

CATALYST The business process management (BPM) space can broadly be split into two main categories: the

infrastructure players that provide BPM as part of an integrated technology stack, and the pure-play vendors

that provide BPM as a separate module, as an application that runs on various platforms. While the latter part

of the market can be seen as being well served by numerous vendors, BonitaSoft brings a different element

with a full-featured solution that follows the open source software (OSS) model. While this is not unique in

itself, BonitaSoft has created a solution that is both rich in functionality and backed up by a wealth of

expertise. Bonita Open Solution v5.3:

Views BPM as a method of creating process-based applications.

Is a full-featured open source solution.

Uses a code-free design methodology.

KEY FINDINGS

Strengths: Uses a code-free design methodology to limit the requirement of IT intervention in

creating and deploying processes.

Treats simulation as a key aspect of process design rather than as an optional add-on.

Focuses on the creation of embedded process-based applications.

Weaknesses: Lack of deployment experience for mission-critical processes.

The age of the company could be considered a negative.

Key Facts: i Complete open source solution.

i Comes with a comprehensive set of connectors for integration into underlying systems.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



OVUM VIEW Bonita Open Solution v5.3 is a comprehensive and scalable BPM solution that includes a process designer,

an execution engine, and a monitoring console.

Bonita Studio

The Bonita Studio provides an easy-to-use graphical environment, configurable for different types of users,

based on drag-and-drop components, and using the business process modeling notation (BPMN 2.0)

standard. It allows for the definition of business processes without writing any code, and covers the

generation of end-user web applications, and smart information system connectivity. It encompasses several

other features, such as data integration, reporting, and importation of existing business processes.

BPMN design – Users draw directly on the screen using a BPMN context palette. They can click on any

step in the process to drag the next element into place without the need to move back and forth from the

screen to a separate palette. Once the process model has been defined, roles within the process and

associated data definitions are also carried out using the same drag-and-drop methodology.

Process simulation – Resources such as cost, duration, consumption, calendar, and so on can be

defined to the user requirements, and the process can be executed in simulation mode to get advanced

statistics and reports on resource usage, process efficiency, and duration. This can quickly identify

bottlenecks and unused or poorly used resources, allowing the designer to adjust resources and other

process parameters to create a valid runtime process.

Form customization – The Bonita Studio encompasses a form editor which allows code-free

customization of the forms corresponding to the process steps, as well as easy implementation of an

existing look and feel.

Easy connectivity – Bonita Studio comes with more than 80 ready-to-use connectors, allowing users to

interface their processes with their existing systems, including databases (Oracle, MySQL, MSSQL);

messaging systems (Microsoft Exchange); Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) (Active

Directory); enterprise resource planning (ERP) (SAP); enterprise content management (ECM) (Alfresco,

eXo Platform, Nuxeo); customer relationship management (CRM) (SugarCRM); extract, transform, and

load (ETL) (Talend); business intelligence (BI) (JasperSoft); business rules (Drools); and social software

(such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) simply by setting parameters. Many more contributed

connectors can be downloaded from the BonitaSoft community site.

When ready with process designing, form customization, and connectivity settings, the resulting application

can deployed with a single click in local or server mode on any Java-enabled machine.

Bonita Execution Engine

Bonita Open Solution comes with a generic and extensible engine to integrate new services or standards that

may emerge in BPM. The Bonita Execution Engine is flexible enough to adapt easily to any information

systems (IS) architecture, from simple to complex, and is powerful enough to support intensive workloads

either on-premise or in the cloud.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



The Bonita Execution Engine is based on a technology that allows it to be deployed as a centralized or

distributed BPM server, as well as to be embedded within a BPM application.

Bonita User Experience

The Bonita User Experience is a pre-packaged production environment based on web standards. It can either

integrate into any kind of portal, or display a set of generic components that can be integrated into any

customer-specific production environment. The Bonita User Experience is a flexible, configurable, and

standard-based production environment that allows the easy integration of Bonita-generated applications into

the customer’s IS.

It contains an email-like interface from which users can easily manage their tasks and cases as they would

with Outlook. It also has business activity monitoring (BAM) capabilities: the reporting function shows an

overview of all processes and cases running, incorporating data from all users involved in the process.

Recommendations

The key factor behind a possible Bonita Open Solution implementation lies in the fact that it is an OSS

solution and, as such, comes with the advantages of reduced total cost of ownership (TCO). Unlike some

OSS solutions (not just in the BPM space) BonitaSoft has not handed off development improvements to

a community model, but takes full responsibility for supporting the solution.

Interestingly, BonitaSoft views BPM from an application viewpoint, something that is gaining traction in

the market. This model defines a process as an application, rather than seeing BPM as a technology

layer that controls applications.

Although Bonita Open Solution comes pre-packaged with a large number of connectors to underlying

systems, there is also a community (following the OSS model) from which additional connectors can be

downloaded. In this space there is also a strong recognition of the requirements for managing process in

relation to social networking, and connectors are available in this space.

FUNCTIONALITY

SOLUTION OVERVIEW Bonita Open Solution is an intuitive and powerful solution with which to build process-based applications for

optimum cost. It consists of three elements:

Bonita Studio – An application to design processes such as one would on a whiteboard, define roles

and data, customize forms, and connect the process to the information system(s).

Bonita User Experience – A web-based environment to run process-based applications and manage

cases.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



Bonita Execution Engine – The fast and robust “brain” of the solution. Bonita Open Solution comes with

a generic and extensible engine to integrate new services or standards that may emerge in BPM. The

Bonita Execution Engine is flexible enough to adapt easily to any IS architecture, from simple to complex.

In addition, it is powerful enough to support intensive workload.

Figure 1: Bonita Open Solution – architectural premise

Source: BonitaSoft O V U M

SOLUTION ANALYSIS Process modeling

Bonita Open Solution uses a whiteboard metaphor for designing processes, where the user defines the

process as they would if drawing process steps and activities outside of a technical environment. The only

constraints applied are in the use of a BPMN 2.0 palette, and developers/designers would require expertise in

the meaning of the symbols used. However, as BPMN 2.0 is fast becoming the de facto standard, this cannot

be considered a weakness in any way.

The design whiteboard has a context-sensitive palette which simplifies the modeling experience and reduces

the need to move back and forth between complex palettes, as the only possible requirements are presented

dependent upon the design task being undertaken.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



Versions of the process being modeled can be saved as staging versions, and the solution allows for the

management of these, as well as creating a collaborative environment for multiple participants within the

design process.

Bonita Open Solution is provided with an enterprise-class repository in which all processes can be saved,

organized, archived, and managed. This ensures that future design work can be undertaken not only with

reference to existing processes, but with the ability to re-use process parts.

Process modeling has to be seen as an iterative process, where the process model is dynamically linked to

the running instances of that model. Therefore, any modeling environment should allow for this, with the

ability to reflect changes to the model back into running process instances. Bonita Open Solution provides for

this functionality with the ability to change a process definition and publish this to live processes.

Unlike many other BPM solutions, BonitaSoft does not create a divide between the modeling and simulation

environments. Simulation is provided as an essential part of the design and modeling stage of creating

process-based applications, with users expected to create models that make reference to resource, cost, and

duration at all stages of the model creation. This allows for a “better” chance of creating a valid model at the

first pass, rather than relying on several iterations to implement a “correct” model.

As far as documentation goes, there are few limitations to how the process designs can be saved and

circulated. Process designs can be exported in a number of standards-based formats, such as pdf, jpeg, png,

bmp, gif, and svg. Process models can also be imported from three formats: BPMN 2.0, JBPM3, and XPDL.

The modeling environment (Bonita Studio) also ensures validation of the model, with warnings if a step or

activity is incorrectly configured or if there are missing data.

Development

Within BPM, development is not seen as a particular discipline. As the effort or methodology is focused on

building the model and then deploying it, there is effectively another stage involved, which can be likened to

application development. BonitaSoft sees processes as analogous to applications, a view shared by Ovum.

Process-based applications are essentially subsets of the more monolithic applications that proliferate

throughout organizations.

In order to bring this idea of process as application to fruition, BonitaSoft allows for advanced customization of

web forms, with field dependencies, dynamic field filling, pagination, and pre-built validation rules all included

in the application builder. This also allows the application to be customized to fit into corporate standards

easily, using advanced templating. Instead of having multiple applications, each with a different look and feel,

organizations can create process-based applications that have a consistency to them. This helps to reduce

training time and cost, and provides a better employee experience. These applications conform to World

Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. All applications created in Bonita

Open Solution are easily deployable from the Bonita Studio.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



Execution

Bonita Open Solution provides a rich interface that allows end-users to manage their process interactions.

Although this follows an “inbox” metaphor, it has to be said that many users are happier with full integration

into Microsoft Outlook. Although this requirement has been recognized and implemented in many BPM

solutions, BonitaSoft has not implemented this as part of the package in order to maintain a non-proprietary

structure (although integration is possible should end-users require it).

The product has native support for English, French, and Spanish, and support for translating interfaces into

other languages is carried out through community translation tool Babili, allowing the BonitaSoft community to

translate Bonita Open Solution interfaces.

BonitaSoft has also made a strong investment in allowing its solution to interface with social media solutions

such as Facebook and Twitter. Although this may appear to be of limited value, more and more users who

are implementing BPM are coming to realize that interaction mechanisms need to be available during the

process runtime, and not simply during the modeling phase.

Bonita Open Solution supports multi-process execution, where several processes can be modeled in a single

diagram and executed independently. This helps to reduce the dependency that exists between the model

and the process instance, where too much reliance is placed on the model to represent processes that might

be structured more loosely.

As a corollary to this, individual processes can be placed into a logical group (or more than one group) and

then the input for one process can be taken from the output of another. Although at first sight this might

appear to be of limited value, as it could be seen as a task better undertaken at design time (i.e. design the

logical function of each process), it does allow designers to think less about the required granularity of

process at the initial design phase.

Ovum has always promoted the idea of processes being analogous to transactions, with each process

instance being managed in the same way that transaction management takes place. The Bonita Execution

Engine is fully transactional in nature, allowing for failure management.

Monitoring and administration

Bonita Open Solution provides the same level of security as would be expected in, for example, a database

management system. Thus, user rights can be limited in respect of read, modify, update, and so on. In order

to ensure an understanding of this from the end-user point of view, actions that cannot be carried out by a

specific user or group will not be made visible. Users can define user and user groups from within the

process, or can integrate into existing LDAP directories.

Managers can define key performance indicators (KPIs) for any stage of the process, and have individual

instances presented in definable dashboards to ensure that targets are kept under control. This is allied to full

BAM capabilities to ensure the strong management of all aspects of the process and process environment.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



PRODUCT STRATEGY

Bonita Open Solution is available to download for free over the Internet and is provided under a GNU General

Public License. The software is initially downloaded by first-time BPM customers to solve specific problems,

and not typically as part of a strategic technology purchasing decision. However, because Bonita Solution’s

software is powerful, and easy to use and maintain, initial purchases drive further adoption of Bonita

Solution’s software within customers’ organizations.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY BonitaSoft believes that the BPM market is dominated by commercial vendors that supply their technologies

to large accounts via lengthy, complex, and expensive business and IS re-engineering projects. This high-end

positioning allows commercial vendors to charge a premium price for their products, bundled with high-level

consulting that aims to change the customer’s IS organization through a top-down approach.

With more than 20 years of evangelization from vendors and consultants, many companies are now fully

aware of the benefits of BPM and of the value of BPM solutions. However, those who want BPM but not

complex IT re-engineering are finding it difficult to justify the premium cost of proprietary solutions. They are

looking for cost-efficient, flexible but powerful alternatives.

Bonita Open Solution is the solution for businesses and organizations that want to avoid heavyweight

proprietary software, do not want to re-invent their IT systems, and expect a simple, cost-efficient, and

powerful tool.

While, in Ovum’s opinion, this might be an over-simplistic view of the state of the BPM market today, there is

no denying that many organizations are implementing OSS solutions in many areas, and that BPM is not well-

served in this space. Therefore, the introduction of Bonita Open Solution does create a possible market

disruptor.

GO TO MARKET STRATEGY BonitaSoft targets medium to large companies and organizations, and addresses the needs of small

standalone development projects all the way up to company-wide IS re-engineering.

BonitaSoft has a fairly strong go to market strategy, in which it targets project team environments and small

project implementations as an initial approach, rather than going for the “big bang BPM” approach in the first

instance before increasing the scope organically to look at larger implementations within the organization.

BonitaSoft has an up-to-date, non-vertical-specific focus, as the company aims to disseminate Bonita Open

Solution to the widest possible audience. In 2010, BonitaSoft’s main geographic focus has been the south of

Europe and the US, which it will extend to Western Europe and Latin America in 2011.

At present, BonitaSoft has commercial offices in France, Germany, and the US, and its services are available

over five continents through its partnership network.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



BonitaSoft has a direct sales model, mainly into private companies with small- and medium-sized projects. It

also has a partner network that targets larger deployments, as well as a public sector focus. Currently, the

revenue split between these two channels is 70/30, respectively.

BonitaSoft sees competition in three main areas:

Commercial solutions – IBM Lombardi Edition, Oracle, TIBCO, and Software AG.

OSS solutions – JBPM, ProcessMaker.

In-house developments.

Payment options are for support only. BonitaSoft Subscription Pack is a subscription service that adds to

Bonita Open Solution professional grade technical support and additional features to facilitate teamwork and

to accelerate and secure BPM deployments. There is also a professional support level which provides

professional-grade technical support.

IMPLEMENTATION

A pilot project would typically take between one and five days, and could involve just a single person with

basic Java skills for any technical requirements (this is the only technical requirement, regardless of the size

of the project). A departmental implementation with up to 30 users could take up to 20 days, and would

typically involve three people. Larger enterprise-wide implementations could be up to 40 days in length and

involve 10 people.

BonitaSoft has developed a number of programs designed to facilitate the ramp-up of project teams and to

ensure the highest level of productivity. Service offerings include:

Professional Support – BonitaSoft Professional Support covers all product-related issues when

designing, developing, deploying, and delivering a BPM application. BonitaSoft support teams are

directly connected with the BonitaSoft Research & Development organization. BonitaSoft Professional

Support includes developer and production support for Bonita Open Solution, including patches, updates,

and security fixes.

Subscription Pack – BonitaSoft Subscription Pack is a subscription service that adds to Bonita Open

Solution professional-grade technical support and additional features to facilitate teamwork and to

accelerate and secure BPM deployments.

Training – BonitaSoft offers a range of public and on-site training services to meet customer

requirements. Training is designed to help users fully leverage BonitaSoft’s solutions. Training

incorporates lectures, hands-on exercises, and use-case scenarios to build expertise in participants.

Instructors are BonitaSoft experts in designing, implementing, and deploying BPM applications.

Expertise and consulting – BonitaSoft offers a full range of consulting services to help developers go

from download to deployment and beyond. BonitaSoft experts can address a variety of situations in the

BPM project lifecycle.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT



DEPLOYMENT EXAMPLES Société Générale, internal banking applications (France)

This major French bank has selected Bonita as the BPM solution for an internal ticketing application. With

Bonita, support requests are managed by a web application that interacts with Bonita processes responsible

for the lifecycle of the IT department’s request (around 50 concurrent users). This is a departmental

application that replaces a previous manual programmed application by externalizing the business logic into

processes. The deployment environment comprises a four-central processing unit (CPU) server running a

Tomcat and MySQL database over a Linux operating system. This is a standalone web application in which

the Bonita BPM engine is embedded.

Government of the Canary Islands, BPM in e-government applications (Spain)

Bonita was selected by the government of the Canary Islands as the BPM solution for e-government

applications. The customer was already using a BPM solution (proprietary vendor) but decided to migrate to

Bonita as it was looking to reduce costs by moving over to an open source solution. Bonita is deployed in a

centralized and clustered infrastructure (on top of a JEE application server) providing support for e-

administration and e-government applications developed by the government teams, integrators, and other

solution providers.

Bonita is deployed in an enterprise-wide environment with thousands of potential customers. The technical

environment comprises a Linux server, Oracle database, and a cluster of two eight-CPU servers in which a

Bonita BPM engine is deployed in a Jboss application server. The server is accessed remotely by

applications deployed in different servers.

Chronoexpres: BPM in logistics and supply chain management (Spain)

Chronoexpres, a subsidiary of Spanish Postal, deployed Bonita to manage logistics applications, as well as

internal and external processes, as part of a strategic refactoring of its IS. The company’s new IS is based on

JEE and open source technologies, and includes a Jboss application server, Talend ETL solution, Alfresco

ECM product, Liferay portal, and Bonita. The whole system is deployed on Linux. The first BPM application

on top of Bonita is managing logistics and have as users both customers and internal Chronoexpres agents.

This first application is deployed in a four-CPU Linux server.

French Ministry of Agriculture, BPM framework for HR applications (France)

Bonita has been integrated into the Java/JEE framework internally developed by the R&D teams of the

French Ministry of Agriculture. This framework is used by other divisions of the ministry to re-develop its

human resources applications. Bonita’s rich application programming interface provides flexibility to the

development teams for developing and integrating BPM features in both existing and new applications.

Deployment infrastructure includes a Jboss application server and Sybase database on top of Linux servers.

It is being deployed by a French integrator with the support of BonitaSoft teams.

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT

Table 1: Contact details

BonitaSoft (Headquarters)

31, rue Gustave Eiffel

38000 Grenoble

France

www.bonitasoft.com

BonitaSoft

51 Federal St. Suite 305

San Francisco, CA

94107

USA

Source: Ovum O V U M



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Bonitasoft Bonita Open Solution v5 3 Ovum