Hi Tony,

You so rightly say , we are all here to learn, and I might have been a bit flipant with the way I posted, but in my experience, there are barriers to "starting" with the complexity of some tools out there, and given the size of the company, I have been there and battled with tools and the inability to get to know how to use them coupled with resource constraints.

I have also seen analysts in that same company size going down to a level of detail that really the low level plans, carried out by the developers skip right over. For us Process Master is not an analysis tool, it is a discovery and documentation tool and you can show the inputs and outputs to each activity and the features allow rich documentation and references to be associated with the steps or activities. It allows for sub-processes and drill down from a top-down approach. Most of all there are three USP's for the tool which make a difference, these are: Engagement - clients are able to draft their perceptions of what they need with ease with very little help. Enforcement of format - all discovery and documentation will be standardised. No dead-end - The output of the tool in XML can through the various connectors available, be used in the more complex tools in association with  UML or other system architect type repositories and do this with round tripping. The XML output is used by some of the leading Business Process Management vendors like Oracle, Tibco and others to configure their automated process engines and forms.

It has been so easy through this tool to move forward and to get there faster, and hence why I am such a follower - hope this explains my obsession.

Nigelus

Jim,

Why not download a free trial and play with it - I would really like some crit and feedback. I am really after the ease of engagement. I have found that if I cannot get my teeth into something within three days, it will not happen. If you give this tool to your client, it allows the people involved in the process execution to discover and document their percieved participation. Then the BA can get concensus on the "as-is" after massaging, and move forward to optimise or improve.

Nigel