What are processes
Any organization operates according to certain rules. For example, all sales employees know what to do on receipt of a client request. Usually the process depends on factors such as whether it’s a new or existing client, whether payment will be in advance or on receipt, delivery terms and conditions, etc. The sales employee’s sequence of actions takes account of the separate circumstances for each client. Moreover, employees of other business units (for example, accounts and logistics) also adjust their sequence of actions accordingly.
Formerly, to ensure that employees were aware of who should do what and when, these rules, conditions, and actions were noted down on paper and called a “Client request business process.” In addition, someone was needed to oversee the proper execution of these processes.
Today, every employee has a phone and a tablet, so everything is paperless, and much faster and more convenient. And monitoring is also automated. This is what makes Workflowsoft a business process management system.
The business process logic is described in the Process editor. Based on the once-created process, it is possible to start as many processes as required. For example, after you create the Business cards request process, any employee will be able to initiate a request with a single click.
When you create a process you can add fields of various types (text, numeric, dates, etc.) with just a few simple clicks. For example, if you are creating a process for ordering business cards, you can add fields allowing employees to enter their name, position, and phone number.
Usually the process consists of actions (tasks) and links between them. For this, a Process editor can be used to add new tasks and link them together. After the process is started, it follows the links from one task to another, and different assignees can be responsible for different tasks.
To complete the task, the assignee selects one of task statuses. Each status activates an outgoing link with the same name, and the next task starts automatically. As a result, a different sequence of tasks will start depending on the selected status. The execution path can branch, or be merged. It is also possible to move either forwards along a path or return to previous tasks.
If you need more advanced routing, you can set conditions for a link that enables or disables it. For example, it is possible to compare information entered by the user in a field, and activate one of the outgoing links.
It is these features that allow any process in your organization to be automated. No assistance is required from programmers or administrators, all users themselves can easily create workflows.
Every business process owner creates their own processes in the user-friendly visual editor (similar to drawing) - this is the main concept of Workflowsoft. The head of marketing, head of operations, head of HR etc., can create processes for their business units. Processes can also be created by employees fulfilling queries or orders.
Creating a process ensures the prompt and timely execution of requests, and does away with endless emailing. For example, the Logistic Division constantly receives requests for equipment. If a process is created for such requests, employees will always have all the information required to fulfill the request, plus all tasks will automatically appear on the computers, tablets, and smartphones of all process participants.
Examples of processes that you can create:
- for the Marketing Division - “Preparing and launching a marketing campaign"
- for the HR Division - “Searching for and hiring an employee”
- for the Logistic Division - “Request for purchase, exchange, return”
- for the Administrative Division - “Request for purchase of stationery”
- for the IT Division - “Request for technical support”
- for Reception - “Request for visitor pass”
To accelerate the learning curve, we have created some demo processes - please click the Start process button on the left, then click the name of the demo process you want to start. You can start any of the ready-made processes and see how the tasks run in them.