Business Process Automation (BPA)
Business Process Automation (BPA)
Mastering critical success factors
Business Process Automation (BPA) is more important today than ever: The focus is on more than just cost savings. For many companies, mastering and optimizing their business processes is the critical success factor for maintaining a leading position in global competition. The decisive factor here is to understand Business Process Automation as an overall concept and to anchor it systematically and sustainably in the company.
Our Business Process Automation portfolio
Our services and solutions include comprehensive consulting for a holistic view of your value chain. Our employees have many years of project and consulting experience - starting with the creation of technical concepts, through the design phase and implementation and complete automation, to documentation and training of end users. With a view to your business-critical processes and their strategic importance, we optimize and automate your business processes for long-term economic success.
PASS BPA Suite COSA 6
With the PASS BPA Suite COSA 6 you can analyze and model your business processes as well as efficiently automate and test them. You avoid media discontinuity and increase the efficiency and quality of your process outputs. In addition to the fully comprehensive workflow server, the BPA system includes a fully integrateable document management server. Everything is possible, from process-supported, structured document archiving to the implementation of e-files.
PASS Process Factory
The intelligent integration of the open source workflow engine Activiti into the proven PASS Virtual Software Factory allows the lean and high-performance automation of your processes. Thanks to comprehensive, model-driven development of GUIs, logic and processes, the PASS Process Factory achieves the highest levels of efficiency and a fast time-to-market.
BPA Open Source
You have already automated your processes or are about to do so, but the license/operating costs are too high? We would be happy to migrate or implement an open source solution such as Activiti for you.
Business Process Automation Suite (BPA Suite)
PASS COSA 6 BPA Suite – Process Modelling, Workflow Management System, Data and Document Management System
The digitalization of products, workflows and workplaces is in full swing worldwide and offers enormous advantages in the areas of efficiency, quality, sustainability, sales and customer loyalty. Many markets are already being disrupted by new digital players and the first movers among the established market participants. One of the most important pillars of digitalization is the automation of business processes and the digital archiving of data and documents.
With the COSA 6 BPA Suite you can model your processes, implement them into automated, executable workflows and then run and monitor the process instances in the BPA engine.
As powerful business process automation software, COSA 6 supports highly structured and ad-hoc processes, whether they are human-centric workflows (H2H, H2S) or fully automated processes (S2S) without user interaction. The processes and their instances are controlled, monitored and additionally their context is maintained. A structured data and document management is integrated into the BPA Suite to archive versioned process and enterprise data.
However, business process management and document management are more than the handling of processes and the processing of documents. BPA software offers applications and tools to cover the entire BPA lifecycle.
Applications of the BPA Suite
The two domains of the BPA Suite COSA 6 Business Process Management and Document Management can be used bundled and fully integrated, but also separately.
Business process management and automation
With the COSA 6 BPA Suite, business processes can be managed throughout the entire BPA lifecycle. From the analysis, design, implementation and execution of processes to the analysis of running and completed process instances and the derivation of corresponding optimization potential. The BPA system thus covers all necessary functionalities.
Archive and document management
Integrated into the BPA Suite is a configurable document management system (DMS system), which provides for the structured storage, archiving and filing of business data, records and documents. The document archive can be easily accessed from the processes and makes archive contents usable. Conversely, processes can be initiated from the document archive or communicated with running process instances (event handling).
The processes can be modeled using a graphical process designer in BPMN with and without swimlanes or in Petri nets. It is possible to switch between business and technical view. There are various options for enriching the models with business information. Also the technical implementation of individual process tasks, such as adding attachments (e.g. documentation files), is possible. The repository of functions and transition conditions is also maintained and integrated into the process. For example, user/group structures and rights can be modeled and process maps can be created.
At the push of a button, implemented process models can be validated and switched live directly to the BPA server. They are available immediately live in the BPA system. The BPA engine executes the processes and controls the running instances. It manages and monitors the processes, makes the individual tasks available for other systems or users and executes the process implementations in the script engine.
The integration of external systems into the processes is carried out using "Tool Agent Manager", as a kind of middleware. Via API accesses, the "Tool Agents" can encapsulate and bundle the functions of complex Java libraries for easy use from within COSA's own scripting language. This enables even complex functions to be implemented by the technically experienced department during process implementation. The Tool-Agent technology enables the easy integration of external systems as well as the interaction with the BPA engine and the document management server.
For the execution and monitoring of tasks and process instances, the BPA engine provides so-called work lists for users or roles. These can be retrieved by client applications (e.g. the standard component "Context Handler") and the individual tasks can be displayed and processed depending on the respective roles and rights of the logged on user. Furthermore, there are separate clients for searching, browsing and working in the electronic archive.
The integratable DMS system ensures the structured storage, archiving and filing of data and documents. Stored data and documents can be accessed directly from the workflows. Documents and/or files can be attached to the meta objects of the electronic archive. Thus, documents can be arranged hierarchically and stored in versions.
The integrable electronic archive can be freely configured with regard to its objects, their attributes and the hierarchy. It can be used as a business data repository for master data as well as for the implementation of business files or similar. The electronic archive allows versioning of the stored objects and structures. A task portal with various functionalities is available for those involved in the process, which also allows browsing in the electronic archive.
- Automated processes increase work quality and reduce process costs.
- Media breaks are avoided and the complete traceability of the individual processing steps within the process instances can be guaranteed.
- Simple steps that were previously performed manually can be fully automated, freeing up employee time for higher quality and creative work.
- The working history of data and documents can be traced via the different versions.
- Searching for indexed documents is easier, faster and more efficient.
- Documents can be read by any number of people at the same time without making copies.
- Original documents are no longer lost or destroyed on their way through the company.
Events and triggers
Within process instances, the trigger function can be used to intervene in the processes and thus react flexibly to triggering events (internal and external) in the processes. Triggers can be initiated between processes and process instances as well as from outside the processes.
Autotasks
COSA autotasks offer the possibility to execute scripts at periodic intervals or on specific dates. It is a kind of cron job system integrated into the BPA Suite.
LDAP Synchronization
The user/group structures can be synchronized via the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
Individual archive structures
The structure of the document archive can be flexibly adapted to the needs of the customer. The archive structure can be freely defined.
Individual object types
The object types stored in the document archive can be defined flexibly according to customer requirements. Any attributes can be assigned and configured to each object (e.g. mandatory field, read-only, etc.).
Integrated authorization system
Various rights and roles for users can be flexibly assigned to the objects and documents by means of an integrated authorization system.
COSA Designer: Example Process
COSA Designer can be used to model processes, process maps, organisations and tasks and implement them into an executable process application. Using COSA Designer, the process applications are switched live directly via provision on the COSA BPA Server.
COSA Designer: Example Process Script
The contents of the activities (process steps) can be implemented using COSA's own intuitive script language. This is supported by the COSA Tool Agents library, various wizards and the possibility to implement your own tool agents.
COSA Context Handler (CTH): processes/activities
Using the end-user client COSA Context Handler, tasks in the process can be started, processed and entire processes can be restarted. The tasks are organized individually in folders according to the process instances. The user interface can be configured individually for each user.
COSA Context Handler (CTH): Tasks/Resubmission
Tasks can be rejected, forwarded, prioritized and put back to resubmission, depending on individual authorization.
COSA Context Handler (CTH): Document Management
With the integrated COSA archive, the Context Handler can also be used to access document management. Access to business objects, data and documents is individually configured and rights-based.
Archive Client (CA Explorer): Object/Document
For stand-alone installation of the COSA archive (or alternatively to the CTH), the Archive Explorer is available as an access client. In the Explorer it is possible to access the individually configurable archive structure, objects and documents – again based on rights and roles.
Archive Client (CA Explorer): Users/Groups
If LDAP synchronization is not possible or desired, users and groups can also be administered in the stand-alone archive via the administration interface of the archive client.
Archive Client (CA Explorer): Mounting disks
Also, the administration interface can be used to manage storage media, mount disks and carry out other administrative settings.
Users and the technical side
- Process models available and 100% suitable for implemented processes
- Clearly defined tasks within the processes
- Very good overview of tasks, deadlines and workload
- Quick retrieval of documents
- Easy archiving of documents
IT-Management
- Traceability of the processing history of the process steps
- Quantitative analyses of processing times possible
- Increased quality of work
Decision makers
- Higher quality of work and lower error rates
- Optimization of labour costs and output
- Complete traceability of the processing of documents and business processes
Special features of PASS Services
The integration of business process management, automated workflows, the operation, management and control via the BPA engine and the document management system is done in one software suite and from one single source. Another special feature of the PASS solution offering is that it ranges from strategic consulting to implementation and operation of the solutions, making PASS one of the few full-service providers in this segment.
Our services:
- Consulting on digitalization, business process management and document archiving
- Implementation project for the BPA Suite, process automation and archive planning / implementation
- Administrator training
- User training
- Hosting of the BPA system from our German data centers (SaaS)
Hardly any business process of one company is similar to another. Of course, processes such as resubmission, postponement, forwarding of tasks, etc. are implemented in the standard client. In addition, our experts will be happy to advise you with best practices for implementing your very individual workflows.
The COSA 6 BPA Suite supports you both in BPA – the discipline for managing business processes in the areas of analysis, modeling, implementation, control and optimization – and in workflow management. The COSA 6 Suite contains a complete workflow server (including workflow engine) to which the process models are transferred and in which they can be executed automatically and ad-hoc.
On the document management system (DMS) product page, we have answered specific questions on the subject of digital document management for you.