Tag Archives: updates

Barium Live! updated to 2011.1.13

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We have updated Barium Live! with a small patch to fix some minor issues, add some additional stability and speed and add a few improvements.

The details of the update can be read in the Barium Live! Wiki but the highlights are:

  • Fixed issues when viewing embedded sub processes via External Web Links.
  • Improved the speed when loading lists for those with many lists and many list items.
  • Improved the External Web Link and External Start layout design.

Read all about it in our release notes.

Merry Christmas!
Jonathan Franze

Automating your process decisions

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One of the key features in using Barium Live! and the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is the ability to automate steps in your process that used to be manual.

Gateways is one of the activities that can be automated so that:

  • Decisions are made automatically.
  • The best path is chosen based on information in the process forms.
  • The path continues on a path based on a sub process end state.

This allows you to create a process application that is faster and more precise compared to a process that requires a lot of manual tasks being performed by the people in the task and a faster and better experience for your clients.

This is done using Expressions where you can create simple scripts, much like the type of scripts used in Excel to validate information in your process to automatically choose one or more paths to continue.

Automate a gateway to choose a path based on form data:

Automate a gateay to choose a path based on the end state of an embeded sub process or an independent sub process:

You can create advanced decisions based on mathematical calculations, combinations of expressions, choosing one or more paths and more…

To learn all about how to do automate gateways, visit our wiki: http://wiki.bariumlive.com.

Direct link here.

This is available for all Premium Trial and Premium Subscription accounts.

Regards,
Jonathan Franze

Introducing the Barium Process Performance Dashboard

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We are proud to present the Barium Process Performance Dashboard on Barium Live!

The Process Performance Dashboard gives you instant and live statistics on the performance of your process applications.

With visual and clear Key Performance Indexes you get information such as:

  • Average throughput time
  • Number of ongoing, completed and created instances
  • How much time is spent in each task
  • And more … 

No more need for tedious data mining to get the numbers you need,
your most important KPIs available immediately and
live statistics showing your process performance in real time.

What do you need to do?
You don’t have to do anything – we have already set this up for you. All the process applications that you have created so far automatically have the Process Performance Dashboard available for them.

In the same way the Process Performance Dashboard will be available to all the process applications that you create from now on.

Where can you see the dashboard?
Log on to www.bariumlive.com and follow these instructions:

  1. Click on the tab “Applications” on the top right of the screen.
  2. Double click on one of your applications to open the application overview.
  3. On the top right of your application overview you’ll find the tab called “Process Performance Dashboard”.

Don’t have an application yet?
Visit our Wiki to learn how to create your first process application to see the dashboard come to life.

Regards,
Jonathan Franze
Process Coach

Barium Business Navigator updated to 1.10

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The Barium Live! iPhone app Barium Business Navigator has been updated with new features!

iPhone app Barium Business Navigator: Start, take/pick photo & view process

The new version 1.10 has a whole bunch of new and improved features such as:

  1. Start a process from your iPhone
  2. Add a photo from your camera
  3. Assign who should perform tasks

Download it for free from the Apple App Store today!

Download it from the Apple app store

What is the Barium Business Navigator?
This iPhone app is Barium Live! in your pocket. By logging on with the same account you use on www.bariumlive.com you can:

  • See all process models
  • See your inbox with tasks to perform
  • Start new processes
  • Follow the status of all tasks your colleagues are performing

The Barium Business Navigator is created as a client to Barium Live! giving you the option of performing work on the go.

Would you like to know more?
Our wiki contains detailed descriptions of how the app works and how you can create process applications that look great for your app users.

Happy apping!
Jonathan Franze

Barium Live! updated to 2011.1

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Today the Barium Team has updated Barium Live! to version 2011.1 and this time it’s packed with new functions and features.

Release of Barium Live! 2011.1

Here are some of the key features in this release:
  • Lists – a brand new feature to let you access tasks more easily
  • Perform similar tasks directly from your inbox
  • Our free RESTful API
Lists allows you to decide which information in which process applications that is important to you. Create your own lists to show you information from form fields, filtered on dates, applications, sub processes and more. Save your lists and share them with others in your organisation for better control of what needs to be done.

Perform similar tasks from your inbox allows for effective handling of tasks that you want to complete with a single click. Select the tasks from your list and click “Perform action”.

The Barium Live! RESTful API allows you to integrate to Barium Live! in a standardised way. You can create your own client application, start new processes from your internal systems or get information from processes by using our open and free API.

Other things that we have improved include:
  • Quicker loading of the BPMN modeler in your web browser
  • Improved collaborative features in tasks
  • Presentation mode for process models

For the entire list of new and improved features on Barium Live! please read our
Release notes in the Barium Live! Wiki.

Best Regards,
Jonathan Franze
www.bariumlive.com

Barium Live! updated to 2010.1

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We have updated the Barium Live service today to version 2010.1. The update includes features and functions that we have been working on the latest months and bring you a number of improvements and several new functions and features. Below you can read about the general functions and in the following blog posts we will publish detailed examples of how you can use these functions in your daily process work.

Do you need to model 2 documents or more to a task and not want to clutter your process model with many document artifacts?

Use the “Container” artifact to add several documents and URL-links in one single document object.


Click on the container to see all of the documents and objects in the container. Click on a contained document to read it’s content.

Invite users to your task

Invite colleagues, experts and others to view, collaborate and work with a specific task in collaboration with you. Allow them to add input to the task, change information in the task or perform actions in your task.

Model a process and make it runable. In every task the person(s) responsible for the task can choose to invite other users. Process-driven collaboration.

Discuss and comment activities in tasks

Discuss and comment activities within tasks with other users who work on the same task.

Pin important comment threads to move them to the top of the discussion.

Ensure that discussions are saved in the same place as the task is being performed.

Track all changes in an activity

View all activities performed within process activities.

See if when a document has been updated, who updated it and when. See who added a comment.

Get a full traceability of a work being performed in a specific task and who did what.

All of these features are available to you right now. Log on to Barium Live and try them. Don’t have an account? Sign up for a free 30-day trial account and get started improving your business process and running your business.

In the coming weeks we will be publishing more detailed information on how these functions work and other minor changes that are available to you. Keep posted by subscribing to our blog och come back and visit soon.

Regards,
Jonathan Franze
Process Coach
www.bariumlive.com

New update coming today

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Barium Live will be updated today bringing you improved functionality and features. This means that there will be a short service window that will require that we stop our service.

During the upgrade you will not be able to log on to Barium Live to model, configure or run processes.

We will keep you updated on our web site and on twitter, make sure you follow us there.

What’s new?
How about features such as:

  • Container artifact (Add multiple documents in document artifact)
  • Invite other users to an activity (Involve experts and interested parties)
  • Discuss and comment activities in tasks (“Chat” and commenting in a task)

…much more.

Regards,
Jonathan Franze
Process Coach
www.bariumlive.com

Barium Live! release 2009.4 – Publish your process app on the web!

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We have been working on the 2009.4 update to Barium Live! and are happy to announce that it is now available to all of our users!

Release 2009.4

This time around focus has been set on the following stories:

  • External start of process applications
  • Modeler support for restricted networks
  • A number of fixes

Publish your process app on the web and create your own e-services

Transform your process application into an e-service by publishing process applications on a public web site, intranet or extranet. With just a few clicks you can turn on external start on your process application and generate a public URL for your process application to use on sites where people can start instances of your process. There’s no need for them have an account on Barium Live and no need for complicated e-mail inbox monitoring. Everything ends up in your task inbox on Barium Live!

Better support for restricted networks when modeling processes

Many of our users model processes from within their restricted computer networks – with proxies, firewalls and other security measures. These security measures have made it difficult for some to save process models to Barium Live! directly from the browser.

We have now enhanced the networking capabilities of Barium BPMN Modeler to better work around these problems. Modeling processes online is essential to get access to all online features such as Forms, Business Rules, Document Repositories and more. If the modeler is unable to contact the Barium Live! server it will automatically run in disconnected mode, letting you model processes with all the features available online but prompting you to save your modeled process locally on your computer instead of online when saving.

When your are finished modeling, simply upload the .BPMN file to Barium Live! to continue work on your process.

Fixes

A number of smaller problems have been fixed to enhance usability and functions across the entire web service. Among others:

  • Data Objects are now visible when viewing process models
  • Support for embedded PDF files in Firefox and Chrome
  • Improved saving of sub forms when performing tasks

Regards
Jonathan Franze
Process Coach
www.bariumlive.com

Barium Live! release 2009.3 – E-forms and execution

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Our development team has been working on a new update, which is now available to all Barium Live! users!

Barium Live! is developed using the SCRUM methodology, working in iterations of one or two months at a time, after which a new release is rolled out to our web servicewww.bariumlive.com. Each release includes new features, as well as bug fixes. In this release we have focused on e-forms and process execution. If you are interested in knowing more about our development process, drop us a line. We might publish it on our blog if we get around to it!

Release 2009.3
The main focus areas for this release has been 1) improving our e-forms designer and 2) improving process execution, making it easier to create process-driven web applications with strong collaborative capabilities. Several bugs have been fixed and Internet Explorer 8 is now officially supported. A few improvements have also been made to the Barium BPMN Modeler.

Process execution improvements
Support for sub process instances.

  • Example: a project can be a process instance, every project generates change requests according to a change request process. All created change requests are shown as sub process instances to the main project process instance. Process instances and sub process instances are shown in a hierarchical structure.

Planned activities can be inserted into your Outlook or Google Calendar using the iCalendar standard format.

Human participants can now be manually assigned. Choose from a list who should be assigned as the acting participant for consecutive steps in the process.

Process application creators/operators can now restart process instances and solve process application problems.

  • Example. Process applications with integrated web services may fail if a web service is temporarily out of service, which might affect the current process instance. With the process application dashboard, errors can be identified and fixed.

Public web service-based integration API

  • Integrate process applications with other web services and line-of-business applications.

E-form improvements
General enhancements of the e-form creator making it easier to use and more transparent.

Support for sub-e-forms. You can re-use commonly used forms e.g. contact information fields.

General feature improvements
Better support for Internet Explorer 8.

Barium BPMN Modeler improvements
The first pool that is added to your process is automatically given the same name as your process.

Use the F2 key to edit the name of pools and lanes just as you can with any other object.

Lanes automatically assume the name of a drag-and-dropped process participant.

Fixed bugs
A total of 25 minor bugs were fixed ranging across all aspects of the service.

If you have questions or comments regarding this update, drop us a comment here in the blog or let us know in the forums on http://bariumlive.com (available for all registered users).

Regards
Jonathan Franze
Process Coach
Barium Live!