Background

At this point we should like to describe briefly for you the origins of the Process Engine and perhaps also give you a tiny glimpse into the future.

The development of the software began in 1999 when a relatively small pharmaceutical company was seeking a program which would relieve them from the process control of various minor processes, such as, for example, stock receipt of raw materials including QA control or goods output, as well as various quality assurance processes in the course of processing. At the same time, pursuant to the strict US Standard FDA-21CFR 11, the system had to document in a way that would be impossible to falsify each individual process stage and procedure and in addition to run on entirely different platforms (operating systems). In addition it was supposed to advise staff of pending tasks, in other words to have available a task list and to escalate automatically when time outs occurred.

Of course no system of the kind existed on the market in 1999 and the firm initiated a call for tenders, and we made a successful bid. Over 4 years together with this customer, we have developed the software which we would like to introduce to you here as Process Engine. In 2003 the program was ready for the market for the first time and we received the Lower Saxony Award for Innovation both for the product and for the way in which applications are programmed into our software.

In 2004 we implemented complete integration with sycat business process modelling and since then our customers have been able to import branded business processes into Process Engine to immediately have an executable environment into which they then need only to integrate their user interfaces and ports. Since every user-defined business process can be imported, every customer can convert his individual process into true software applications. A proprietary, individual application is created, as it were, in a standardised platform.

In 2006 our software became freed from the close confines of a server/client system and has since become self-contained on the applications page of every browser and executable on nearly every database management system.

In the meantime the complete integration of all functionalities of a project tool (including memory function and escalation mechanisms) with potential for automation became possible. In addition standard applications were carried over into the sycat Tool Suite – this is accessible from the sycat Document Management Portal. The innovative software, "Process to flow" is the most recent development based on the binner IMS Process Engine.