Business process management (BPM) tools and services provider IDS Scheer today released ARIS EasySCOR 7.0, the latest version of its supply chain management software that is based on the Supply Chain Council's (SCC) Supply Chain Operations Reference Model (SCOR).
EasySCOR is a content-related upgrade that is based on the modeling tool in IDS' Scheer's ARIS business process management platform suite, which includes strategy, design, implementation and control. The content was taken from the SCC and built into the product. "EasySCOR is independent of any application," said Trevor Naidoo, managing director of product group, IDS Scheer, in an interview.
And, since SCOR is updated annually, IDS Scheer will continue to release new versions of its EasySCOR application every year, with a minimum of disruption. "If ARIS version 6 is being used by a customer, they will still use ARIS version 6. They just get a new content update."
IDS Scheer is one of 11 SAP service partners and has developed and implemented over 200 products with SAP over the last 15 years, such as the SAP APO system and ARIS for mySAP. With SOA and Web services driving interest in BPM, according to analysts, the company's partnership with SAP (and NetWeaver specifically) is helping to raise its profile in the business process management market. "If your company plans to create and deploy composite applications using SAP NetWeaver, ARIS from IDS Scheer is a must-have investment," said Eric Austvold, AMR Research in a recent research report.
Another AMR Research report, written by Dana Stiffler and Will McNeill, supports this view: "One benefit of working with IDS Scheer is its strong development relationship with SAP; it is the only named SAP development partner for PP/DS (Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling). IDS Scheer is the only provider we found that could drive a successful implementation of manufacturing, finite scheduling or complex PP/DS."
Interest in BPM is growing among companies that want to support end-to-end business processes. SOA and Web services make that easier to do, Naidoo said. "Front-end processes can help drive the back end. NetWeaver makes a lot of sense, and a lot of CIOs see the benefits ... it's a major driver when talking to companies," he added.
If customers are already utilizing SAP applications, IDS Scheer simply links up the SCOR model and the SAP Reference model. "We bring the content together so that customers can look at SAP and supply chain processes and the SCC and various other sources," said Naidoo, adding that "once we define these process models in ARIS, we can drive them into NetWeaver."
If the organization is not an SAP customer, "they will still utilize the SCOR model, but instead of having content available they'll have to define the lower processes (i.e., how do we enable the supply chain?)," said Naidoo. If there are multiple systems controlling the supply chain, such as WebSphere or Weblogix, "we have integration into these tools.
The EasySCOR supply chain modeling and management tool also offers customers easy navigation through the SCOR model to: learn and communicate SCOR content; understand the design of company-specific supply chain processes using pre-defined SCOR objects; document business processes beyond SCOR; analyze and optimize supply chain performance; and build a company-specific SCORCard, which is a standard way for organizations to measure themselves using a KPI (key performance indicator).
"It makes benchmarking easier," said Naidoo.