BMW Nordic – Flexible Business Process Management

In cooperation with the BMW AG Nordic the Imixs software solutions GmbH is implementing a centralized workflow management solution for the locations of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The goal of the solution is to improve the exchange of business data and processes between the different locations. As typically for a workflow management system the solution allows to organize different document flows to be approved within the organisation and to optimize transactions between different locations aligned to the existing company policies.

The Imixs Software Solutions GmbH was commissioned with the development of this software solution which should be based on a flexible workflow engine to fulfill the demanding requirements. With the Open Source workflow engine ‘Imixs-Workflow’ the solution provides a central workflow platform which guarantees a continuous improvement of all involved business processes. The core concepts of the Imixs-Workflow engine are:

  • speed up the entire process flows
  • transparency for all employees at various locations
  • reduce the time to implement new process flows and changes
  • improve the quality of internal business processes.

With the help of the Imixs-Workflow solution, it was possible for BMW Nordic to fasten the total development process and to increase the transparency for all employees. With the beginning of implementing a new business process, first individual process models were designed describing the different phases and responsibilities within the organisation. Based on this abstract process model the development of a technical workflow model begins which can be deployed immediately into the productive environment. To resolve the responsibilities during a workflow the Imxis-Workflow engine implements different adapters to interact with the HR systems providing organisation information. So the Imxis-Workflow engine is able to send notifications and grant individual access to different process instances within the different locations. The access control is one of the core features of Imxis-Workflow which allows the design of complex workflow models also in large enterprises. Imixs uses a Eclipse based BPMN modelling tool to develop business processes in a process driven architecture.

So with the Imixs-Workflow framework and a modern Web interface the BMW Nordic BPM solution could be used already productive after a short test period. The Imixs GmbH specializes in the development of workflow management systems. A central goal of the Imixs GmbH is to design workflow solutions in a way that changes to the business process can be made without having to adjust the software itself.