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An Introduction to Workflow Management Systems



II. Technical Overview

The State of the Market

This section outlines the names of vendors and their products sorted by the four categories. In some cases a “∞“ is inserted in the “product name” column. This means that the vendor’s products can be classified as belonging in more than one category. The vendor names and products are from James G. Kobielus’ Workflow Strategies.14

Leading Vendors in Production Workflow Systems

Vendor Name
 
Product Name(s)
 
Background
 
Action
Technologies Inc.
 
Action Workflow
System
 
One of the first vendors on the market.
 
Autodesk Inc.
 
Autodesk
WorkCenter
 
Focuses on a niche of production workflow called product data management. Some of their products are CAD (Computer Assisted Design) products with workflow capabilities.
 
BanTec Inc.
 
Flexus FloWare
 
Flexus FloWare is one of the top products
based on revenue measures.
 
FileNet Corp.
 
WorkFlo Business System
FileNet: WorkGroup
FileNet Visual
WorkFlo
 
The pioneer, and undisputed market leader.
 
IA Corp.
 
Object-oriented
Workflow
 
Leading vendor of enterprise-wide
multimedia workflow solutions.
 
IBM/Lotus
Development
Corp.
 
ImagePlus
FlowMark
Lotus Notes:
Document Imaging
 
Only NY-headquartered company.
 
InConcert, Inc.
 
InConcert
 
Have broad range of products, formerly
Known as Xsoft.
 
Keyfile Corp.
 
Keyfile Enterprises
Edition
 
 
ViewStar Corp.
 
ViewStar
 
Runs on broad range of platforms
 
Wang
Laboratories Inc.
 
Open/Image
Open/Workflow
 
 

Leading Vendors in the Messaging-based Workflow Market

Vendor Name
 
Product Name(s)
 
Background
 
Banyan Systems
Inc.
 
BeyondMail
 
 
Filenet Corp.
 
 
 
IBM/Lotus
Development
Corp.
 
Lotus Forms
FormTalk
 
 
JetForm Corp.
 
Jetform Design
Jetform Filler
 
Canadian headquartered company
 
Keyfile Corp.
 
Keyflow
 
 
Microsoft Corp.
 
Electronic Forms
Designer
 
 
Novell Inc.
 
InForms
InForms Designer
InForms Filler
 
 

Leading Vendors in the Web-based Workflow Market

Vendor Name
 
Product Name(s)
 
Background
 
Action
Technologies Inc.
 
Action Workflow
Metro
 
 
Banyan Systems
Inc.
 
 
Listed here because they have announced plans to move into this category
 
Documentum, Inc.
 
Enterprise Document
Management System
(EDMS)
 
 
JetForm Corp.
 
Web Connectivity
Pak
 
 
Novell Inc.
 
GroupWise Web
Access
 
 
Open Text Corp.
 
Livelink Intranet
 
 
Ultimus Inc.
 
Ultimus
 
 

Leading Vendors in the Suite-based Workflow Market

Vendor Name
 
Product Name(s)
 
Background
 
Digital Equipment
Corp.
 
Link Works
TeamLinks
 
 
IBM/Lotus
Development
Corp.
 
Notes
NotesFlow
SmartSuite
 
 
Microsoft Corp.
 
Microsoft Office
Exchange
 
Already in use in many agencies
 
Novell Inc.
 
GroupWise
Ensemble
 
 

The Future

All the vendors featured in this section are considered leaders in the field for some reason or other. There are a number of other vendors that might be better suited for specific application needs. The vendors named in this section should not be used as a short-list for selection, but rather as a starting point for exploration. A list of additional Workflow products can be found at http://wwwis.cs.utwente.nl:8080/~joosten/workflow.sites.html. It is to be expected that many of the vendors in the market will not survive the next decade of competition, and the selection of a vendor and partner for development is therefore very important.

1414 James G. Kobielus, Workflow Strategies, Ch. 7, 8, 9, and 10.