Business process management (BPM) provider Lombardi has announced the availability of its Blueprint Spring 08 release.

The process documentation tool has been updated with new functions to make it simpler to use, said the firm. Jim Rudden, Lombardi global marketing vice president, said “When we initially launched the first Blueprint in February 2007 we realised the need for business people to engage more in the conversations surrounding processes, such as what are the key activities, who owns them and the key problems.

“This is a higher level of conversation than that which just concerns IT and we have changed the workflow modelling tool to reflect that.”

A new way to do modelling, called inline diagramming, has been introduced in the latest release, “Instead of having drag and drop icons, users can hover over what they need to add and where,” Rudden explained.

Another update enhances the usability of mapping detailed diagrams. When a business process contains lots of sub processes, traditionally users have had to illustrate this with a number of different diagrams linked together, but now with the new capabilities users can zoom in and out of the map and collapse sub-processes, Rudden said.

Also, Microsoft Visio process drawings can be imported into the new version of Blueprint, Rudden said, adding, “This is in order to lower the barriers of adoption.”

Also announced by Lombardi was the availability of three Process Definition packages, which combine the firms' technology and delivery advice and are mainly meant for companies implementing BPM for the first time.

“The key to BPM is to move fast, based on hard data, with everyone in alignment,” said Lombardi’s president, Phil Gilbert. “That’s what these packages help you do: move fast, with data, everyone aligned.”

The three new packages are: Inventory, Assessment, and Analysis.

The Inventory package is a three week project that helps customers identify current processes, challenges and targets in a particular business area. The Assessment project lasts for one week and helps companies understand the main problem areas and KPIs in a process. The Analysis package is two weeks and helps companies design a business case to improve specific processes.