ProcessMaker Blog

ProcessMaker’s latest release is now available for download from SourceForge.  Version 1.2-2425 includes some neat new features, as well as several bug fixes.

The new PM Tables feature allows admins to create, edit, and manage new database tables directly from ProcessMaker. These database tables automatically appear in the wf database for the related workspace, and make it easy to manipulate database tables.

This version also includes a new option to upload input documents directly from Dynaforms, eliminating the need to include input documents as additional steps.

You can download the appropriate version for Windows or Linux, as well as the appropriate patch, here:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/processmaker/files/

ProcessMaker is becoming ever more global because our Community is translating it to different languages.

Now thanks to Andrea Ambrosini, an active community member, ProcessMaker is available in Italian.

We’re looking forward to having translations in Asian Languages and others.  So if you’d like to have ProcessMaker in your language, you can learn more at:
http://wiki.processmaker.com/index.php/Translating_ProcessMaker

or contact me patty@colosa.com

Grazie mille Andrea for your Translation.

There are markets that are traditionally considered solid examples of technology adopters – industries that, off the top of your head, are obvious candidates that need technology to lead, innovate and make sense of their business, such as utilities, retail banks and telecoms.  Vendors that work in the art world don’t immediately spring to mind.

Which is why we think Global Risk Partners is such an innovative company.  With offices across the globe, Global Risk specializes in the storage, handling, and procedures around fine art.  Whether it’s in museums, being transported to anywhere around the world or on display for the public to admire, Global Risk is the company that works out the risk and insurance involved.  And it does it with ProcessMaker.

As the CEO of an open source software company, I have no idea how much a Monet should be insured for compared to a Renoir.  Or how you calculate the amount of risk in moving a Michelangelo, but I do understand the benefit and strength of using technology to automate intensive and approval-based processes and workflow.  

To steal a quote from East Coast novelist John Cheever, “Art is the triumph over chaos.”  We couldn’t agree more, and that is our goal as well – to reduce chaos and turn business processes into a fine art.

Last Friday marked the final day of ProcessMaker Boot Camp Training.  For three days and twelve total hours, new ProcessMaker recruits were whipped into shape on business process management methodologies, process mapping, dynaform design, and advanced BPM functions.

By the end of the course, participants were able to design and implement a complex workflow, exploiting all of the functionalities that ProcessMaker has to offer.

Thank you, brave Boot Camp-ers, and congratulations on your hard work!  We’re proud of you!

For more information on ProcessMaker training opportunities, contact us at info@colosa.com

Matt Asay’s post about areas open source is helping made me reflect on how far open source has come in the past few years.

Matt outlines how open source software has helped reduce energy consumption.  It can automate our homes and even define and innovate exactly what that means.  Handling job applications is simple with open source software.  It can help learning and the curricula behind. There are so many applications that we take for granted: in everything from business applications, from finance through customer relationships to managing content.  In our personal lives, we can use it for file sharing, music recording, video production, chat and the operating systems that all of it runs on.  The internet runs on open source, with the Apache HTTP server the largest by far.

I’d like to add one more.  At Colosa we have seen what one of the most significant changes of our time: a real shift in governments adopting open source.  We have seen governments in emerging economies turn to open source to solve critical issues and infrastructure needs.  We have seen developed economies use it to save taxpayers’ money and increase self-sufficiency.  Across Latin America, Europe, Asia and North America, governments programs for open source are growing.  It would not have even been a thought even just a decade ago.

Open source is by nature democratic, and its use spreading will not only save the governments who use it money, but may even influence politics.

Contributed by: Lic. Ramiro Cuentas Gonzales (rcuentas@bnb.com.bo)
Systems Audit Executive – Banco Nacional de Bolivia S.A.

from the article series Four Pillars for Successful Business Process Automation

“If we want to enter into a schema of automated process implementation, it is necessary to consider at least the formal definition of the activities, actors, the output and input documents for each activity, the integration levels, the routing rules, etc. of the process to be automated. Formal definition refers to the elaboration of basic documentation for the initial phase of process automation according to the chosen methodology.  This documentation must be known and accepted by the senior business management that will carry out the processes automation.”

When we start to define the automated process, there exists the possibility that one will discover a process that is totally disorganized with a low level of maturity and that lacks a formal definition within the organization. In addition, we may find that activities that are carried out arbitrarily, or activities with no responsible party, no identified documents and varying workflow information among the participants of the process. Given the process described above, it is important for the project leader to document and explain to senior management the reality of the process to be automated, and determinate the plan of action for the automation project development and opportune decision-making.

If senior management wants to continue with the automation of said process that does not have a proper level of maturity for its automation and it is not formally defined, the process modeling using BPM notation and mapping of the information with the process participants are very important. Additionally, appropriate mapping can generate business opportunities for the project.

It is of great importance to implement and carry out trainings involving the both the project leader and participants in the process. The participants will contribute towards the development of user requirements and in the validation of activities as executors of the process tasks, which will in turn generate added value for the success of the project development. The participation by and the information gleaned from the process participants themselves is an immensely helpful input for proper modeling of the process to be automated.  And most importantly, the participants become committed to the BPM implementation project, as they become aware of the different facets of the project itself.  These aspects, with the support of senior management, will greatly enhance the probability of process automation success, when measured by time and estimated cost.

BPM trainings should not drag on, nor should they cause great discomfort or inconvenience for participants. On the contrary, the trainings must be interactive sessions to validate the process to be automated. Said trainings will also be useful in providing an information base about the process automation and how it will affect the operational activities that are currently carried out manually or are semi-automated by the process participants.
It is also important that the documentation resulting from the elaborated trainings is known and approved by senior management in order to identify action plans and make decisions, if necessary.

If the business has a formally defined process, and that process has a maturity level suitable for automation, it is important to carry out trainings; but in this case aimed at demonstrating the benefits of the process automation, surveying some needs to achieve a better process model, and at using the BPM tool with which the project will be managed.

If changes occur during the modelling process, these should be coordinated and understood by the senior management to foster an appropriate dissemination and implementation of the proposed changes. Any required changes according the process participant needs should be considered and approved by the senior management, so that management can evaluate the impact on the business as a whole, with an overview of organizational strategies. It is also important to evaluate changes at the automation equipment or systems level, to consider the impact of changes in terms of time and budget.

In the case of automating a process that has not been formally defined, we must consider that the automation of said process may take longer than was originally expected.  This delay is due to the fact that the process participants do not have any previous education related to their role the operational processes. The users are used to ad hoc (arbitrary) operations, so the implementation of a tool for process automation may cause a negative reaction and maybe create a bottleneck for a proper implementation. So the budget must be also evaluated in this case.

In the case of defined processes that are properly automated and are running smoothly within the business, it is suggested to strengthen everything related to the control and monitoring of the process instances through the BPM tool, in order to asses the added functionalities that the BPM tool offers. Because the project is clearly oriented to the implementation, the control, monitoring and the use of advanced functionalities may be weaker; they could be set aside during the project development because of the time and resources spent on the implementation, fulfilling business expectations, and meeting the terms of the agreed-upon contract.

It is in this sense that a proper formalization of the process to be automated, approved, distributed and agreed upon among senior management, process participants, and process automation consultants, helps greatly to ensure the successful development and execution of the project to be automated. This formalization must be documented and filed as a support for the finalization and delivery of the project.

Velkommen! That’s Danish for ‘welcome’. There is a reason for the slip into a foreign tongue – we’ve just announced that ProcessMaker is now available in Danish. Support and services to customers in Northern Europe, are provided by Xcompetence, a trusted and strategic partner to Colosa and a ProcessMaker gold partner.

The Nordic countries are great supporters of open source software, and there has been increasing demand from our Danish users for Process Maker to be localized. Our collaboration with Xcompetence has given us the opportunity to do this, and we worked closely together to produce a great quality translation. As well as this, we’re continuing to collaborate with Xcompetence on a number of initiatives, including joint training programs.

Businesses in over 11 countries have embraced Process Maker, automating their business processes and becoming more efficient. We’re deeply appreciative of this global user base, and are committed to providing them with the best BPM software and services we can. Our partners play a key role in allowing us to do this.

So, if any Danish speakers are reading, go check out the newly translated ProcessMaker on our translations page . And fortsat god dag, or ‘have a nice day’.

I suppose that when Matt Asay is quoted in the Economist, then Open Source truly has gone mainstream.  Although I would be inclined to say that this is definitely good news for all of us Open Source Software companies out there, the Economist does allude to an interesting problem regarding “message/brand” dilution.

The Economist article says, “Indeed, open source is so widely accepted that traditional software firms are beginning to dabble in it, while some open-source firms are starting to sell proprietary add-ons to open-source programs instead of charging to provide support to firms using open-source software. If current trends hold, traditional software firms and their open-source rivals will soon be hard to tell apart.”

I’ve heard this point alluded to before and there is both a good and a bad side to the story.  If Open Source fades away because all software becomes truly open, this would be a good thing.  It would mean that the open source movement had in fact succeeded and was effectively no longer needed.  I don’t think this will happen anytime soon and this is not what the the point The Economist is making.

The risk is that open source starts to get used by software vendors as a cheap gambit to trap consumers into buying proprietary software. 

In fact, it is already happening to a large degree.  Just ask the average software user the following question:

Which one of the represents open source Software?

A) Offering a free and open version of your software while trying to convince users to buy a per user licensed version of your software with additional enterprise features.

B) Offering a free and open version of your software while trying to convince users to buy a commercial plug-in (based on a one-time fee instead of a per user license) which provides some additional features for your software.

C) A  solution which is totally free to try online for up to 10 users but if you want more than 10 users you need to pay.

D) Gmail

E) None of the above

(See end of article for answers)

If you are confused, you are definitely not alone.  And this will represent an ever increasing challenge for organizations like the Free Software Foundation.

The role of the FSF.org will begin to transform.  It will not just be tasked with informing an uninformed public, but it will have the even more difficult task of informing a MISINFORMED public.  As every politician knows, this second task is much more difficult and represents an even greater threat to the Free Software Movement.

The Cloud is a great example of a new threat of misinformation that will affect Open Source Software in a big way.  “The Cloud” is slowly reshaping the entire vocabulary around software in general.

Remember, free software follows four basic tenets:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Software in the cloud is almost entirely not Open Source because1) Your vendors don’t give you access to the source code

2) Your vendors might not even give you access to your data when things turn sour.

Remember what happened to Coghead and all of its users when Coghead went belly up?  Coghead was a cloud competitor of ProcessMaker.  Like ProcessMaker, it was a BPM/Workflow solution and a PaaS (Platform as a Service) provider.  The scraps were purchased by SAP.  Coghead failed overnight and left their users and their user’s data stranded (see my comments in this ZDNET Article).

So, what is the answer?  I think it all starts with getting the right information out there.  In other words - make your contributions this year to the Free Software Foundation (and tell them I sent you :).

Last week I walked into an OfficeMax store to buy a copy of Quickbooks PRO for a friend’s business.  “

The office manager told me, “Sorry, We’ve Sold Out of Quickbooks Pro.”

I was dumbfounded.  All I could do was give a slight grimace, put my $99 back in my pocket, and walk out of the store.  In an age of instantaneous delivery via digital download, how could a software company sell out of a piece of software and tell a customer to go home empty handed?   Imagine going to source forge, finding an open source software you are interested in, clicking to download, and then seeing a message pop up that says,

“Please come back tomorrow – we sold out of this particular software for today”

Does that sound like something from the 20^th century?  Well, it should.   Intuit ran a special advertisement in the NYTimes the other weekend offering Quickbooks for 50% off at select retailers.  But then they ran out! 

Just imagine that for a moment.  They spent all of that advertising money to get patrons like me to take 30 minutes out of our day to go to the store.  I had money and was ready to transact.  But they couldn’t close the deal because they were out of the software.  Uh…hmm…but software is a digital item that costs nothing to produce on a per unit basis (a few pennies for the papers and box in this case).  So how is it possible to have a distribution/supply problem?

As with most open source software companies, ProcessMaker has totally eliminated  all frictional costs associated with distribution.  We do that, quite simply, by “giving” away our product.  In fact, we give away literally hundreds of copies everyday of the year (Yes, we are open for all holidays).  The simple idea behind this is that a software company is better off driving distribution and sales costs to zero because the marketing benefits of doing so outweigh the disadvantages of doing so.  If you give away your product, your focus moves away from spending marketing dollars to convince potential customers how great your product is to offering actual users (people who downloaded your product) services they will want to pay for (adanvced features, support, and services). 

Of course, there are plenty of other arguments about why open source is so great.  But the simple fact that there are still software companies selling boxed software and (apparently) running out of boxed software reminds me again and again of the many reasons why open source software continues to gain market share all over the world. 

Here at Colosa, we’re big fans of Zimbra : its next-generation messaging and collaboration software, and its vision of how users, groups, and organizations should collaborate. The Yahoo!-owned company’s commitment to innovation is visible at every level – from its commitment to open source, compatibility with a dazzling array of desktops and applications, rich user experience and its web services and mashup mechanisms (aka Zimlets) to integrate with relevant content-based systems.

We’re excited to be part of this innovation and to announce the availability of the ProcessMaker Zimlet which integrates Zimbra Collaboration Suite and ProcessMaker. Achieved through Zimbra Zimlet technology and ProcessMaker Web Services technology, this integration means that Zimbra users can easily access and use ProcessMaker to manage workflow and business process management (BPM) initiatives.

Zimbra users can now, with just one click, start a new ProcessMaker case from within Zimbra (as easy as clicking new to start a new email), access to-do-lists of ProcessMaker cases, and through a calendar feed (iCal) know that dates from ProcessMaker forms and workflows are set automatically in their Zimbra calendar. Even more impresssive, users can drag incoming emails from their Zimbra inbox onto the ProcessMaker zimlet in order to store the email thread inside a ProcessMaker case. And with automatic user authentication, it means users can easily access ProcessMaker from Zimbra without having to sign back in.

We expect organizations to see huge productivity gains by using the two technologies together.  Most organizations have email trees growing out of control because they are not using workflow to separate repetitive processes vs emails.  With ProcessMaker + Zimbra, this just got a whole lot easier.

ProcessMaker’s aim is to use open source technology to drive transparency, efficiency and effectiveness, to encourage collaboration and coordinate workflows. This new integration is in line with our vision and commitment, along with that of Zimbra’s to provide its users with as much tools for productivity as possible.

With more than 41 million paid mailboxes and more than 60,000 organizations using it, we’re not the only Zimbra fans.