Today, I will continue with my serial about ARIS User Groups worldwide. And I won't go far away: I will give you a picture about the German internet forum www.aris-user.de - there were also comments from other readers of our blog what's with German initiatives.
Since 2005, the internet forum www.aris-user.de is online. Since its beginnings it has been very popular: more than 600 users are now discussing ARIS solutions online. I spoke with Alexander Riezler, the forum founder. He is owner of QUANT Consulting and has been ARIS user for many years. He gathered a lot of experience with the BPM topic and ARIS and has become a real "fan" of the products.
What exactly is the ARIS User Forum?
The forum is an open community for the exchange of information around the ARIS products of IDS Scheer. Users can discuss problems and suitable solutions – all topics regarding ARIS are very welcome. If you look at some of the leads concerning a really complicated question, you will find that the results are just phenomenal: a correct answer – straight to the point. All other users can benefit from these solutions. The quick support from other users is also remarkable: just within a few hours, solutions and suggestions to tackle difficult problems are posted.
What columns are featured in the ARIS user forum?
The ARIS user forum consists of two areas. The upper area is designed to feature news and links. It is intended to give a general overview over ARIS. Event advertisements, links to further reading on ARIS, ARIS expert papers on current topics, and know-how from the Scheer magazine may be found here. This area is designed for pure retrieval purposes for the visitor – and therefore has no comment facility. The second area contains the actual discussion forum, which includes a variety of columns – depending on topic and product. There is, for example, an ARIS basics column for methodical questions, columns regarding all aspects of ARIS products, and there is also a highly frequented area for reports. A small job and project portal completes the offer. Fundamentally, the structure of the columns reflects the current mainstream of discussions and topics.
How do ARIS users react to the forum?
From 73 users in July 2006, the number of users has risen to more than 600. The audience is very diverse: apart from the German-language registrations, there are also international users from the USA or South Africa, for example, who regularly post contributions. Thus the number of contributions has meanwhile risen to more than 3.300. Due to the international user community, English contributions also receive quick replies from ARIS experts in the forum. For other contributions, an automatic translation function into English, Spanish and French is available, and opens access to users outside the German-speaking regions.
What does the future development of the ARIS user forum look like?
It clearly follows a market driven, evolutionary approach, i.e. when there is a need for more topic and product categories, those columns can be added very quickly. The contribution of new topics and discussions is always welcome: www.aris-user.de