Workflow will tell you what to do.

Workflow will tell you when to do it.

And if Workflow wants your opinion, it’ll ask for it.

For those who are not familiar, I feel like we are seeing a minor software revolution as companies start to embrace the management of business workflow with software.  It’s not nearly as dramatic as when companies gave up their paper general ledgers and replaced them with a software system, but logically it’s the same sort of transition.  Also, (often to the surprise of most) it can have almost as significant an impact.  You may think that I am overstating my case, but I promise you, I am not.

I think the best way to explain it is with the following example:

Let’s take a look at a typical requisition process.  Your organization needs to buy something, anything.  For this example that something will be a piece of furniture.  Sally, the branch manager for one of your remote offices has hired a new staff member and needs to get a desk for them.  The typical process might be as follows:

1. Sally logs into the workflow software webpage and creates a request for a desk.

2. She picks out the exact desk that she wants from Staples or Office Max (or any website that your organization has a purchasing agreement with and your requisition software is configured to talk to)

3.  The software can be configured to know that all of Sally’s purchases need to be approved by her regional manager.  As soon as Sally saves her requisition, an email requesting that approval will be sent to the appropriate regional manager.

4. If the regional manager approves, then the purchasing department will get a message that a new requisition has been entered in the system. This allows for an important step to where the purchasing department can check pricing and discounts to make sure that everything is in order.

5.  Since the desk is more than $500, an additional approval request might be required and can be sent to the controller automatically.  The controller can review this request and determine if the funds are available in the office furniture budget.

If you are reading these steps and thinking that “this is logically very close to what we do in our office, we just do it manually”, you are are ready to think about workflow software.  Workflow software can cut out the phone calls and the faxes and the back and forth emails.  It can streamline the process and save a lot of time.  It will create a tool for managers who need to approve purchases allowing them to login into the system and give their “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” for several requests at the same time.  The managers will also be able to see supporting documentation (quotes, notes, pictures, etc..) to help in their decision making process.  It truly makes the entire process easier and more efficient.

If you are reading this an thinking, “we can’t define or narrow down any particular process for when we need to buy something,” then that’s a different problem altogether.  In order to run your business as efficiently as possible you must be able to clearly define your processes.  In cases such as this,  we have consistently found that the proper implementation of a workflow system forces you to really define what your processes will be as well as ensure that controls are put in place to enforce them. (read: tough white board session with all of the key players in the process)  You’ll get an even bigger bang for your buck if take the time to put in the effort to do it.

– Scott