Savvion compared to Remedy

You may have noticed I've changed the header on this blog. It's a temporary name - as I'm hoping to find the right name that encapsulates "workflow", as these types of applications are my thing - and also the stuff I write about project management and software development. I still have one foot in the Remedy development world, but I've just put my tippy-toe into a new product to me - Savvion.

I saw a Savvion demo, perhaps of their Process Modeler, and it didn't look to be in the same space as Remedy ARS. In fact, it looked more like a modeling tool, like a more meaty Visio. I hadn't yet made the connection that the modeling tool was the development tool. Savvion is also four times the price of Remedy ARS. Not that Remedy is undervalued - I think it's price reflects the fact that BMC wants to sell Remedy as a platform for their applications (ITSM suite, etc) - and some even say that a lower price for Remedy ARS could encourage more development on it - making it a .NET competitor.

My first look at Savvion - past the flashy demos on their site - was with the Savvion developer at my company. My task is to get up to speed on this application so that I can contribute my requirements analysis skills to the next round of application development. It took some time to install the BPM Studio on my computer. It looks as if the strength of Savvion is that, even more so than Remedy, a non-developer could go in and define workflow. However, accompanying that, any custom actions and database transactions require knowledge of SQL and Java. So, it is at the same time far more technical and far less than Remedy.

Strengths of Remedy - Very quick to develop - a "5GL language". Ability to integrate with other systems, sometmes easily. Form design is intuitive and the form is the database table, essentially. Common functionality is built in, such as database access (put & get), email notifications, opening a window. Can run on numerous OS and database platforms. Easy web interface - doesn't require web programming experience.

Strengths of Savvion - process modeling is easy for the business user, so eliminates need for requirements gathering by IT.


Savvion Links for the interested:

• Savvion's website
• Put It To the Test - Savvion 7.0
• BPM Process Management Suites

The brief summary I gave to one of my colleagues -

"It looks as if Savvion would let the business user build their own workflow,
and then only go to the developer for the more complicated integrations.
While in Remedy, the development team needs to find out what the business user
wants, before we can build it. However, the development in Savvion looks a
lot more challenging than Remedy development. At the same time, getting
requirements from the business user and translating those into workflow can be a
chore in itself."