COURSE OUTLINE: WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
Outline 1.0: OVERVIEW OF WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
What is Workflow Management
Key Characteristics of Workflow Management
Importance of Workflow Management
Outline 2.0: OVERVIEW OF WORKFLOW MANAGEMNT ON OYASYNC
Workflow on Oyasync
Process (Steps) involved in creating a Workflow.
Case Studies
There is always a chain of command in every business. Mrs Funky runs a large Medical Unit. She has a lot of medical equipment she sells. She has an issue with work-flow, as many times she may not he around and urgent decisions needs to be made, she has lost several clients in the past as a result of this.
Mrs Degan has been assigned to assist, she is an Oyasync Expert.
Solution
Creating and setting up an Oyasync Account for Mrs Funky was the first step.
After which roles and duties of each staff was noted.
The next thing was to create a workflow and its transitions.
This workflow will help the business retain customers more, now, in the absence of the CEO, she has assigned a second in command. Whenever a customer is around the authorized personnel who is unaware of certain information will be notified in the absence of the CEO.
This gives rise to orderliness and enhances productivity in Mrs Funky’s business. The assigned Personnel can take the necessary action whenever it is required.
The workflow creates a pattern which needs to be followed righteously, so unauthorized personnel do not make any decisions they aren’t supposed to.
OUTLINE 1.0
OVERVIEW OF WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
A workflow refers to a series of tasks, steps, or processes that are organized and executed in a specific sequence to achieve a particular goal or outcome. Workflows are common in various industries and settings, including business operations, project management, software development, health care, and many others.
KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF WORKFLOWS INCLUDE:
Sequence of Steps: Work-flows involve a predefined sequence of steps or activities that need to be completed in a specific order to achieve the desired outcome.
Roles and Responsibilities: Work-flows often assign specific roles or responsibilities to individuals or teams involved in the process. Each participant knows their tasks and responsibilities within the work-flow.
Decision Points: Work-flows may include decision points where participants need to make choices based on specific criteria or conditions. These decisions can lead to different branches or paths within the work-flow.
Inputs and Outputs: Work-flows typically have inputs (e.g., data, materials) that are transformed or processed during the work-flow, resulting in outputs (e.g., completed tasks, finished products).
Automation and Manual Tasks: Some work-flows can be automated using technology, while others may involve manual tasks that require human intervention.
Rules and Conditions: Work-flows may incorporate rules, conditions, or criteria that dictate how tasks should be executed. These rules help ensure consistency and quality in the process.
Feedback and Communication: Effective workflows often include mechanisms for communication, feedback, and reporting. This helps keep participants informed and allows for progress tracking.
Integration with Tools and Software: Workflows may be facilitated by specialized software or tools that help manage and track tasks, automate processes, and facilitate communication among participants.
Monitoring and Analysis: Work-flows often include mechanisms for monitoring progress, analyzing performance metrics, and identifying areas for improvement.
EXAMPLES OF WORKFLOWS IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS INCLUDE:
Business Process Work-flow: In a business setting, a work-flow could involve the steps for processing a customer order, from order placement to fulfillment and delivery.
Project Management Workflow: In project management, a workflow outlines the sequence of tasks, dependencies, and milestones required to complete a project.
Software Development Workflow: In software development, a workflow may include stages like design, coding, testing, and deployment of a software product.
Healthcare Workflow: In healthcare, workflows define the series of tasks involved in patient care, from admission to diagnosis, treatment, and discharge.
Content Creation Work-flow: In content creation (e.g., writing, graphic design), a work-flow may involve steps for ideation, drafting, editing, and finalization of content.
Workflows are essential for streamlining processes, ensuring consistency, and achieving efficient outcomes across various industries and disciplines. They serve as a structured framework for organizing and managing tasks to meet specific objectives.
IMPORTANCE OF WORK FLOW MANAGEMENT
Work-flow management is of paramount importance for organizations across various industries. Here are several reasons why it holds significant value:
Efficiency and Productivity: Work-flow management ensures that tasks are organized, assigned, and completed in an orderly manner. This leads to increased efficiency and productivity as employees know what needs to be done and when.
Standardization and Consistency: It enforces standardized processes, reducing the likelihood of errors or variations in how tasks are performed. This consistency leads to higher quality outcomes.
Resource Optimization: Proper work-flow management helps in allocating resources, including time, manpower, and materials, more effectively. This prevents overloading certain teams or resources while others remain underutilized.
Reduced Delays and Bottlenecks: It helps identify and address bottlenecks or areas where tasks may get stuck. This leads to faster completion of projects and tasks.
Improved Communication and Collaboration: Work-flow management systems often include communication tools that facilitate collaboration among team members. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and can communicate effectively.
Increased Accountability and Transparency: With clearly defined roles and responsibilities, individuals or teams are held accountable for their tasks. This promotes a sense of ownership and responsibility for the work.
Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: For industries with strict regulatory requirements, work-flow management ensures that processes are executed in compliance with legal and industry standards.
Adaptability to Change: Effective work-flow management allows organizations to adapt to changes in business processes, market demands, or technological advancements more efficiently.
Risk Mitigation: By standardizing processes and ensuring that tasks are completed according to established guidelines, work-flow management helps reduce the risk of errors, oversights, or compliance violations.
Customer Satisfaction: Streamlined work-flows lead to quicker response times, faster delivery of products or services, and higher quality outcomes, all of which contribute to improved customer satisfaction.
Cost Control: Effective work-flow management helps in controlling costs by optimizing resource allocation, reducing unnecessary delays, and minimizing rework or errors.
Strategic Alignment: Work-flow management ensures that operational activities align with the overall strategic goals and objectives of the organization.
In summary, effective work-flow management is essential for organizations to operate smoothly, meet their goals, and remain competitive in today's dynamic business environment. It streamlines processes, enhances communication and collaboration, and leads to higher levels of productivity and quality.
OUTLINE 2.0
OVERVIEW OF WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT ON OYASYNC
With workflows you can rewrite how a particular process/work-flow is approved in Oyasync.
You can set multiple levels of approval for an Oyasync Work-flow. To allow multiple people to submit multiple requests, for approvals by multiple users, Oyasync requires you to fill the Work-flow conditions. Oyasync tracks the multiple permissions before submission.
Consider a scenario where multiple levels of approval are required for a quotation. A salesperson (user with 'Sales User' role) will create a quotation. Then it is either approved or rejected by a sales lead (user with 'Sales Manager' role). If approved by the sales lead, it is further approved or rejected by regional manager (user with 'Regional Manager' role).
Creating a Workflow
To create a workflow and transition rule go to:
> Home > Settings > Workflow
Once a Workflow is created, you can take actions on it via Workflow Actions.
1. Prerequisite
Before creating a Workflow, it is advised to create these first:
Workflow Actions
Work-flow States
2. How to Create a Workflow
Go to the Workflow list, click on New.
Enter a name for the Work-flow and select the DocType on which to be applied.
Enter the different states of the Work-flow. Enter Doc Status for them, select which field to update from the Update Field column, enter what the value will be updated to under Update Value.
The Work-flow States can have different colors according to the state. Eg: Green for success. Document statuses: Saved = 0, Submitted = 1, Canceled = 2.
Enter the Transition Rules.
2.2 Things to note when creating a Workflow
Creating a Work-flow in Oyasync essentially overrides the regular Save and Submit work-flow. Thus, the document will function based on your Work-flow and not based on the pre-set code workflow. Hence there might be no Submit button/option if you have not specified it in the Workflow you create.
If you don't apply a Work-flow to a document, and that document is submittable, then it has the default workflow with states: Draft - Submitted - Canceled. If you are applying a Workflow to a submittable document, then those default states should be handled by the user.
A document cannot be canceled unless it is submitted.
If you wish to give the option to cancel, you will have to write a work-flow transition step that says from submitted you can cancel.
If fields under Update Field column are not updated, a new custom field will be created with the name you set in the 'Workflow State Field' field.
2.3 Other options for a Workflow
Is Active: On ticking this, all other Work-flows for the selected DocType become inactive.
Don't Override Status: This Workflow's status will not override the status of the document (Quotation) in the list view.
Send Email Alerts: Emails will be sent to the user with next possible work-flow actions.
OUTLINE 3.0
FEATURES
3.1 Enable/Disable Optional Workflow State
In States, optional Workflow state means that the state may not be a part of final approval.
E.g. States like Canceled or Rejected can be optional.
Note: Workflow Actions are not created for optional states.
3.2 Conditions
You can also add a condition for the Transition to be applicable. For example, in this case, if a sales executive creates a quotation with grand total of $100,000 or more, a particular role must approve. For this to happen in the transition, you can set a property for Condition.