The keynotes were not conducted in the office building, because we don't have a room large enough for everyone to fit in. However, just a small walk away is an event building, which we used for the opening keynotes today.
Mr. Gerard, CEO of IDS Scheer, welcomed all participants and briefly introduced the day. He stressed the point that ARIS will not disappear even after the possible merger with Software AG, but that it will be a very important product also in the future. Mr. Gerard handed over to Dr. Jost, who is responsible for the ARIS products among other things.
Dr. Jost kicked off his talk with looking back at ARIS UserDays. He mentioned the first ARIS UserDay 1994, when about 25 people gathered in Saarbrücken. At that time, ARIS users were method experts, knowing all the details about the various diagrams, objects, and relationships. Today, he said, this has changed. Business process management became a topic important to everyone in a company even though that doesn't mean everyone will model. But today there are many interaction points with BPM. Therefore, IDS Scheer is currently focusing on bringing BPM to the masses. To do so, the following innovations are offered or soon to be released:
- ARIS Community, the digital home for people interested in BPM and ARIS
- ARIS Express, the world's first free BPM tool
- ARIS Process Governance, an execution engine for governance processes
- ARIS MashZone, creating business intelligence reports by end users
- ARIS Rocket Search, easy and rocket fast access to process and BPM knowledge
- Process Performance Manager 5, business analytics within seconds
Dr. Jost introduced each of these innovations briefly, showing for some innovations product videos such as the ARIS Express video. His talk was directly followed by presentations of ARIS MashZone and ARIS Express.