Content-centric workflow: Intalio and Alfresco add documents to business processes

Traditional business process management (BPM) systems cover the basics: design, automation, orchestration, and workflow. A partnership between Intalio and Alfresco lays the groundwork for expanding BPM to include document and content management in a broader Business Process Platform, whereby processes involving applications throughout the enterprise are easily developed and managed.

By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff March 12, 2008

Open-source business process management (BPM) vendor Italio is working on an enterprise content management (ECM) integration with Alfresco Software , whereby users will manage advanced document-centric workflow processes and support the collaborative development of complex business processes.”Our partnership with Alfresco serves as a foundation for building BPM into something larger—that is, a true Business Process Platform [BPP],” says Intalio CEO Ismael Ghalimi.Document-centric workflow processes comprise a powerful way to automate business communications, allowing documents to be transmitted to the right people based on complex rules. The integrated solution will allow business and IT staff to collaboratively document complex business processes, making it easier to understand business requirements and the rational behind new procedures.“Intalio gives our users an incredibly easy way to create complex processes,” says John Powell, CEO, Alfresco Software. “The flexibility to customize workflow in a graphical user interface helps business and technical users alike build their processes much faster. For our customers, this is another great example of how open source enables integration with different applications to meet the users’ needs, and for Intalio to complement Alfresco’s content workflow.” Genoko , an Intalio systems integration partner in Asia, is planning to deploy the solution in several large companies throughout the region. Says Dennis Fung, CTO for Genoko, “The synergies, in addition to the open-source model adopted, create tremendous opportunities for us to provide tailored solutions.”