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ProVision 5.0 Combines Enterprise Architecture With BPM for a Complete Enterprise Modeling Solution

Proforma's Integrated Enterprise Modeling Solutions Enable Effective Collaboration for Business and IT, Empower Organizations to Improve Processes and Systems

SYNOPSIS:

Proforma introduces ProVision 5.0, an integrated enterprise modeling solution that combines rigorous enterprise architecture capabilities with powerful business process analysis/business process management features. The tool:

--  Enables business and IT to collaborate more effectively than ever
    before to improve productivity and optimize business performance.
--  Incorporates three essential modeling paradigms -- business process
    modeling, data/information modeling, and application/technology modeling.
--  Delivers five key areas of improvement -- extended strategic planning
    support, strengthened technical architecture capabilities, increased power
    for DoDAF users, enhanced visibility, and additional flexibility, including
    a flexible new application interface.
    

Proforma Corporation, the established leader in enterprise modeling for business process improvement and enterprise architecture, today introduced ProVision 5.0. This multi-user, integrated enterprise modeling solution combines rigorous enterprise architecture capabilities with strengthened business process analysis and business process management (BPM) features, thus enabling business and IT to collaborate more effectively than ever before, improve productivity and optimize business performance.

ProVision 5.0 will be showcased Oct. 13-14 in Las Vegas at Vision 2005, Proforma's annual user group conference. It will be available in November.

"In today's global workplace, knowledge is a key asset and communication is more critical and complex than ever before," Jerry Huchzermeier, chief technical officer, Proforma. "To move to the next step, organizations need to fully understand their strategy, processes, and systems -- not only top-level information, but also the intricacies of the underlying data and business logic. ProVision 5.0 accomplishes these goals by combining enterprise architecture with strengthened modeling and analysis capabilities for BPM. The ultimate goal is to enable business and IT to effect changes in the business complemented by technology."

Already known for its ease of use, scalability and web-based repository access, this new version of ProVision fully incorporates three paradigms -- business process modeling, data/information modeling, and application/technology modeling -- making it easier for business and IT departments to collaborate on projects.

Industry leaders have frequently pointed to the need for organizations to use IT to add more value to business. ProVision 5.0 does this by empowering its users to align their strategic thinking with business operations, process design decisions, and system priorities.

In the Sept. 1, 2005 executive summary "Applying Enterprise Architecture," Gartner Vice Presidents Chuck Tucker and Dave Aron wrote, "Enterprise Architecture (EA) is an IT management process that translates business strategy into business value. CIOs with an EA program can use it as a management tool to further their value proposition to the business. Yet many do not leverage it fully because they have not considered EA broadly as a valuable asset, with multiple uses and audiences."

Alignment and process optimization also are important to BPM, according to Gartner. "Companies that have the best-orchestrated business processes will become the leaders in their industries. BPM is a clear path toward orchestrating business processes; however, BPM requires tightly aligning business and IT responsibilities," wrote Michael James Melenovsky, research director, Gartner, Inc. in the report "Align Roles and Responsibilities to Make BPM Work," May 26, 2005.

ProVision 5.0 Delivers Five Key Areas of Improvement

ProVision 5.0 provides significant technological advancements, including more modelers and improved navigation capabilities. Five key areas of improvements include:

1) Extended Support for Strategic Planning

ProVision 5.0 features six new robust modelers that define and structure the related impacts of plans, projects, goals, metrics, problems and opportunities. In addition, current business rules (or policies) and environmental influences can be documented along with their influence on other strategic components.

By documenting and analyzing these strategic components, process redesign, process improvement, organizational alignment and technology decisions will be consistent with the strategic direction and initiatives of the organization.

The new modelers include:

--  Environmental Influence Modeler -- Organizes the environmental
    influences that impact an organization. Environmental influences affect the
    way in which an agency performs its processes, but are outside its control.
    Some examples include government regulation, technology, financial markets,
    culture and competition.
--  Plan Modeler -- Organizes the plans that direct the enterprise. Plans
    are typically established during a strategic planning exercise and consist
    of the mission, strategies and tactics employed as a means for the
    enterprise to reach its goals.
--  Project Modeler -- Provides the ability to organize a portfolio of
    projects identified in a strategic planning effort. Projects can be divided
    into sub-projects or project phases to depict a finer granularity of
    detail.
--  Impact Modeler -- Organizes the possible impacts an organization may
    experience, such as costs, benefits or risks of an effort within the
    enterprise. Arranging impacts allows for an aggregate result to be seen.
    Using this information, individual costs can be clustered to view an
    overall cost, and individual risks can be viewed together to determine if
    the overall risk is worth taking.
--  Requirement Modeler -- Organizes the requirements needed by an
    organization. Requirements are necessary outcomes to be delivered by a
    department, process, system, etc.
--  Capability Modeler -- Organizes the defined abilities within the
    organization. A capability is a grouping mechanism that assembles the
    people, processes, systems and other resources to enable the organization
    to produce certain results and services.
    

In addition, the Strategy Modeler has been extended with the new objects supported in the new modelers. They include new properties, associations and icons for each of the modelers.

2) Strengthened Technical Architecture Capabilities

Four new technical modelers and their related objects provide the structure for the physical environmental aspects that are necessary for system implementation. Because technical environments may exist with or without the presence of deployed systems, these models can be constructed for the purposes of inventorying the environment. Successful support of the organization's technical architecture will optimize its technology investment and provide adequate technical capabilities for all of the deployed application systems. The technical modelers include:

--  Platform Modeler -- Shows a stack of technologies that define a
    processing platform. A platform is a group of related technologies that
    provide the ability to execute system components. They can be constructed
    to define the environmental requirements of systems, databases, components
    and networks.
--  Standard Modeler -- Organizes the standards that are of interest to
    the enterprise.
--  System Interaction Modeler -- Depicts the logical interface links that
    are required for system components at various sites to interact. The
    objects available for the system interaction model include physical sites
    (locations, facilities, equipment) and system objects (systems, databases
    and networks).
--  Technology Modeler -- Organizes the technologies that are of interest
    to the enterprise. A technology is a technical capability that is provided
    by hardware and/or software components. When configured, technologies make
    up the operating environment of a system.
    

3) Increased Power for DoDAF Users

In May, Proforma announced that it is the first vendor to achieve certification in the DARS initiative. ProVision's interface with DARS drives the DoD one step closer toward its goal to establish net-centric operations, which will enhance data accessibility throughout the department. To achieve DARS certification, Proforma demonstrated the ability to import and export DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF) products in the Core Architecture Data Model (CADM) XML format, and in turn visualize the products in ProVision.

"ProVision utilizes an intelligent methodology that provides a cohesive, yet easily adaptable enterprise architecture plan," said Truman Parmele, project manager for the Assistant Secretary of Defense (OASD), Network Information and Integration (NII) organization. "In addition, we are impressed with ProVision's robust translator support for XML format -- which is an integral aspect of DARS."

ProVision 5.0 supports all of the DoDAF views within the extensible ProVision repository. Proforma supports eight DoDAF products for exchange with DARS (current DARS guidelines only call for seven):

--  AV-1: Overview and Summary Information
--  AV-2: Integrated Dictionary
--  OV-2: Operational Node Connectivity Description
--  OV-3: Operational Information Exchange Matrix
--  OV-4: Organizational Relationships Chart
--  OV-5: Operational Activity Model
--  SV-1: System Interface Description
--  TV-1: Technical Standards Profile
    

4) Enhanced Visibility

New to ProVision 5.0, the Navigator empowers enterprises to more clearly view and easily traverse ProVision's integrated repository that houses the models and objects. The Navigator provides access to all objects and links constructed when an integrated set of models are built within a notebook. This utilizes innovative neighborhood functionality to allow users to select a given object and progressively disclose selected associations to other objects in the notebook.

The purpose of the Navigator is to analyze associations constructed across various models. Models by nature reflect a given view within a given context. The Navigator allows for viewing objects and associations across a broad context.

5) Additional Flexibility

ProVision 5.0 features a flexible new interoperability layer based upon the ProVision Common Interchange Format (CIF). The CIF facilitates the exchange of business process models between BPA tools and tools for business process management and business rules engineering. It is expanding to also incorporate enterprise portfolio modernization products. CIF will support full traceability between business processes, the rules that manage them, the technical services forward engineered to implement them, and the legacy systems supporting those business processes, as well. This will enable continuous process optimization and business agility.

In addition, improved publishing capabilities and an enhanced translator combine to provide more flexibility in ProVision.

The publisher can:

--  Customize the publishing layout for Microsoft Word and HTML
--  Use Word templates
--  Insert interpreter blocks into bookmarks
--  Provide phrase (label) customization
--  Utilize boilerplates in text publications
--  Include artifact publication
    

With the enhanced structure of the translator, writing reports is now easier than ever. The translator:

--  Provides relational output to MS Access
--  Enables output of foreign keys to support "query by example"
    (including multi-type associations)
--  Delivers output model images for inclusion in reports
--  Allows the user to create predefined reports
    

To learn more about Proforma and ProVision 5.0, individuals can call 888.789.6903, write to info@proformacorp.com or visit www.proformacorp.com.

About Proforma Corporation

Proforma is a leading provider of enterprise modeling software and services that enable organizations to know and improve their business processes and systems. The robust ProVision enterprise modeling suite empowers both business and IT to collaboratively model, analyze and improve the enterprise's strategy, processes, systems and technology. With Proforma solutions, global enterprises, government agencies, and systems integrators successfully perform Business Process Improvement and Management, Enterprise Architecture, Simulation, ITIL, Supply Chain, Six Sigma, and Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance initiatives. Know More. Do More®. www.proformacorp.com

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