Thought Leadership Insights: Explore Our Blog on Innovative Ideas & Strategies — CMW Lab Blog Plan. Manage. Collaborate. Tue, 22 Sep 2026 15:16:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.2 4 Tips for Creating an Effective Workflow Model https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/4-tips-for-creating-an-effective-workflow-model/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/4-tips-for-creating-an-effective-workflow-model/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2026 06:42:15 +0000 http://blog.comindware.com/?p=3544 A workflow model earns its place when people can use it to handle real work, including the request that arrives incomplete, the reviewer who is away, and the change that invalidates an earlier approval. A neat chain of boxes can hide all three. These four tips help turn a readable workflow chart into a model […]

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]]> An effective workflow model describes how work moves from a defined trigger to a verifiable outcome. It identifies the tasks, responsible roles, handoffs, decision rules, required information, and exception paths. A workflow chart makes those relationships visible; supporting specifications supply details that would overwhelm the diagram. Before automation, validate the model with realistic scenarios and confirm that its data, permissions, timing, and system behavior can be implemented.

Key takeaways

  • A useful workflow model has a clear starting event and observable completion criteria.
  • Every handoff needs a receiving role, required information, and an acceptance condition.
  • Parallel work needs explicit dependencies, completion rules, and a plan for changes.
  • Deadlines need a clock definition and an escalation action; a time label alone is insufficient.
  • A model becomes ready for implementation when its important paths have expected test outcomes.

What makes a workflow model useful?

A useful model lets two people independently explain what happens next and reach the same answer. They should agree on who acts, which information is used, how a decision is made, and what proves that the work is complete. If the explanation relies on “someone usually sorts that out,” the model has an unresolved dependency. Keep three things together: the diagram, a short specification of its tasks and rules, and the scenarios used to validate it. The diagram shows the route. The specification defines details such as allowed values and permissions. The scenarios demonstrate the intended behavior. Use a shared version identifier so the three do not drift apart. This guide focuses on modeling quality. For visual conventions and page layout, see how to draw a readable workflow diagram. For the broader discovery exercise, start with mapping the process as it actually works.

Tip 1: Define the process boundary before adding detail

State the trigger, the outcome, and what is outside the model. “Manage content” is too broad to test. “Take a submitted article through review to verified publication or cancellation” gives the team a start, alternative endings, and a manageable scope. Brainstorm with people who perform the work and ask what happens next at each step. Include awkward workarounds, missing information, queues, and informal approvals. Record the current process separately from the proposed one. Otherwise, a diagram can combine an existing manual workaround with a future automated step and describe a process that has never existed. Challenge each activity after discovery: what outcome does it produce, who uses that outcome, and what would fail if the activity disappeared? A duplicate check may be waste, or it may be an independent control. Understand its purpose before removing it. Use one level of detail on a diagram. “Complete editorial review” can be a task in an overview and a linked subprocess in a detailed model. Mouse clicks and screen fields normally belong in work instructions unless they change routing, accountability, or the evidence required to continue. APQC’s Process Classification Framework organizes business processes into a hierarchy. It can help teams align process names and scope. The local sequence, handoffs, and exception rules still need to be discovered and defined for the organization.

Tip 2: Make roles, handoffs, and ownership explicit

Assign a responsible role to every task and define how a person receives that assignment. A lane labeled “Marketing” communicates a department, but it does not tell an implementation team whether work goes to a queue, a named owner, or a person selected from the request. Describe each important handoff as a small contract: the sender, receiving role, information transferred, acceptance condition, and response when the handoff fails. For content review, “Send to reviewer” becomes “Assign the current asset version to the editorial reviewer with the brief, intended audience, and due time.” Keep the process owner distinct from task performers. The process owner resolves gaps that cross departments and maintains the overall design. A performer completes a particular piece of work. A backup assignment rule handles absence; it should not depend on everyone knowing whom to message. Rehearse an absence scenario. If the intended reviewer cannot receive work, does the request enter a monitored queue, move to a designated backup, or stop with an explicit exception? A task that exists but has no eligible recipient is still a failed handoff.

Tip 3: Model decisions, parallel work, and exception paths

Label decisions with conditions that the team can evaluate. “Looks good?” may be enough during brainstorming, but implementation needs permitted outcomes, required fields, and a route for missing or unexpected values. Keep the task that records a decision separate from the branch that uses it. Model rejection, rework, cancellation, timeout, and failure when they change who acts next or whether work can continue. Smaller calculations can live in a linked rule specification. The diagram should reveal consequential behavior without becoming a wall of formulas.

Make parallel work conditional on real independence

Some activities can run concurrently because neither needs the other’s output. Planning a trade-show promotion and booking travel may overlap once the event is confirmed. The original article’s advice to look for parallel work remains useful, but concurrency also requires a clear point at which downstream work may begin. For two required reviews, specify that both must approve the same version. If a writer revises the asset after one review, that earlier approval may no longer apply. Decide which checks must be repeated and what happens to review tasks still open on the old version. In Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), branching and synchronization have defined meanings. A parallel join waits for its required incoming flows; it cannot complete if it expects a mutually exclusive branch that never started. Use the BPMN element reference when translating the design into formal notation.

Give every exception a destination

An arrow labeled “Escalate” needs an owner and a recovery outcome. A reminder may leave the original task open; reassignment or cancellation may change who can act. Define which behavior is intended. A retry also needs a limit or a route to investigation, especially when the external action may already have succeeded.

Tip 4: Add data, timing, rules, and system events

Document the operational details that make the route work. For each task, identify required inputs, outputs, editable fields, access rules, and the event that allows the next step to start. Avoid making one status field stand for several unrelated facts such as approval, delivery, and payment. For a service-level agreement (SLA) or internal target, define when the clock starts, whether it uses elapsed or business time, which calendar applies, and whether it pauses during rework. Then define what a breach causes. The phrase “two days” leaves all of those questions unanswered. Give incoming requests a stable identifier. If the same submission or system event arrives twice, specify how the implementation recognizes it and avoids starting duplicate work. Also define how an external response is matched to the correct request and version. Separate “command sent” from “outcome confirmed.” A publication request sent to a content system is not proof that the intended version is publicly available. The completion criteria should include the relevant evidence: a successful response, the resulting URL, and a check that the output matches the approved version. For changing routing logic, keep a clear rule owner and version. The comparison of workflow and rules engines explains how task coordination differs from evaluating decision logic.

12-point workflow model review checklist

Use this original checklist to review one model version. Mark each row pass, unresolved, or not applicable, and link to the supporting evidence. An unresolved condition that affects authorization, routing, or completion should be addressed before the corresponding automation is released.
Check Question to answer Evidence to retain
1. Trigger What creates one instance, and how are duplicates recognized? Trigger definition and request identifier
2. Outcome What proves success, rejection, or cancellation? End states and observable completion criteria
3. Scope Are adjacent processes and assumptions explicit? Boundary statement and linked subprocesses
4. Owner Who maintains the process and resolves cross-team gaps? Named process-owner role
5. Assignment Who receives each task, including during absence? Assignment, queue, and backup rules
6. Handoff What must the receiving role get before starting? Input fields, documents, and acceptance condition
7. Decision Are conditions complete, with invalid values handled? Allowed outcomes and decision examples
8. Parallel work Which paths must finish, and must they use the same version? Dependency and synchronization rules
9. Rework What is repeated when an input changes? Return path and invalidated approvals
10. Time When does the clock run, and what happens when it expires? Calendar, due-time rule, and escalation owner
11. System failure How are failed or uncertain external actions resolved? Confirmation, retry, and recovery requirements
12. Validation Do realistic scenarios produce the expected outcomes? Model version, test inputs, observed results, open issues
Method: the checklist combines process-discovery, responsibility, execution, and verification questions. It is an editorial review aid, not a certification scheme or a statistically validated maturity score. Twelve checked boxes do not replace testing in the chosen system.

Before and after: a content publication workflow

Illustrative example: a team publishes a marketing asset after editorial and brand review. The process, roles, two-business-day review target, and version rules below are assumptions created for this guide. They are not a customer case or a measured performance claim.
Ambiguous workflow chart with three steps: draft, review, and publish, leaving ownership, review outcomes, and completion evidence undefined.
Before: three activities show the general direction but leave important operating decisions unresolved.
The initial chart says “Draft → Review → Publish.” It does not identify who coordinates the reviews, whether both are required, what happens after a revision, or whether “Publish” means an attempt or a confirmed result. Different team members can follow the same chart and produce different outcomes.
Revised content workflow: register an asset version, run editorial and brand checks, evaluate both results, revise and repeat when needed, then publish and verify the approved version.
After: roles, version checks, rework, a review target, and publication evidence make the workflow testable. This is a conceptual flowchart.
The revised model adds these rules:
  1. Intake: the writer submits an asset with its brief and version identifier. The coordinator checks completeness before assigning reviews.
  2. Review: editorial and brand reviewers work independently on that same version. Each records approved or changes requested. A monitored backup rule covers unavailable reviewers.
  3. Rework: the coordinator collects both review outcomes. If either requests changes, the writer creates a new version and both checks repeat. This deliberately trades some extra review work for a simple, auditable version rule.
  4. Publication: the publisher releases only the version that has both approvals, then verifies its public output. An uncertain or failed result stays unresolved until the publisher checks what happened.
  5. Timing: review time begins when both tasks are assigned and follows the team’s working calendar. At two business days, the coordinator receives an escalation; the pending review remains open. An unavailable reviewer follows the backup rule.
The diagram groups some detail into labeled activities to stay readable. Intake corrections, reminders, and publication recovery are specified in the text and implementation requirements. The team must also define cancellation and the retry policy before building the automation. The drawing is a testable design example, not an executable file.

Validate the version rule with concrete scenarios

Walk through these cases with the writer, coordinator, reviewers, and publisher. Record the model version and the expected result before configuring the workflow.
  • Both approve version A: version A can enter publication.
  • One requests changes: publication remains blocked; version B starts a new review cycle.
  • An old approval arrives for version A after B exists: it cannot authorize publication of B.
  • One reviewer misses the target: the coordinator handles the escalation; the missing approval is not assumed.
  • The publication call times out: check whether publication occurred before retrying, to avoid duplicate output.
  • The request is canceled: outstanding tasks close according to the agreed cancellation rule, and nothing is published.

Measure whether the revised process works

Measure review cycle time from review assignment to the final required outcome for one asset version. Track first-pass approval rate as initial versions approved by both reviewers without rework / initial versions with both review outcomes × 100. Keep versions still awaiting a result visible as open work. For an illustrative cohort of 20 initial versions with completed reviews, 15 approved without rework gives 15 / 20 × 100 = 75%. This is a sample calculation, not a CMW Lab customer result. Compare equivalent cohorts before and after a change and monitor publication errors alongside speed.

Common modeling mistakes and how to fix them

Mistake Practical consequence Correction
Drawing only the successful path Rejected or incomplete work has no defined owner Add the consequential exception routes and recovery outcomes
Using a department name as an assignment rule A task can sit unclaimed Define a queue, recipient rule, and monitored backup
Starting every activity in parallel Work begins without required information or authorization Check dependencies and specify the join condition
Keeping approvals after the underlying input changes The approved and published versions can differ Bind approvals to a version and define invalidation rules
Calling an attempted system action complete Failed delivery can appear successful Require confirmation and a recovery route for uncertainty
Mixing business outcomes with every interface click The model becomes difficult to review and maintain Separate process logic from linked work instructions

From workflow model to executable automation

Choose notation according to the behavior you need to communicate. A simple flowchart can support an early workshop. OMG BPMN 2.0.2 provides formal process semantics when events, participants, branches, and synchronization must be explicit. A valid notation choice does not fill in missing business rules. Translate the agreed model into the target system’s supported constructs. Configure the data model, forms, assignments, access rights, conditions, deadlines, and integrations. Then run the scenarios and inspect task state, stored results, and external output. Importing or saving a diagram is only one part of that work. The current CMW Lab site presents CMW Tracker workflow management software with graphical workflow design, configurable forms, transition and validation rules, and time- or condition-based notifications. For BPMN modeling in the platform, the process-diagram documentation describes editing and publication. Confirm the intended product and version when moving from design to implementation.

First-party lesson: connect routing to the information it needs

The historical Hertz case published by CMW Lab describes capital expenditure requests, documents, and status information spread across spreadsheets and email. The change combined request data and collaboration in a workflow application, with approval routing based on the purpose and amount of the requested budget. The case PDF, carrying a 2022 copyright notice, reports better visibility and faster CapEx processes, but supplies no comparable before-and-after cycle-time figures. It supports a qualitative lesson: routing design depends on consistent request data and access to the relevant context. It does not establish a percentage improvement or the customer’s current operating state. For the next modeling session, bring one current workflow, the 12-point checklist, and a few failed or delayed cases. Use them to identify the missing decisions before evaluating automation. A useful demonstration should show the normal path, a changed input, an unavailable assignee, and a failed system action against the team’s expected outcomes. How this guide was built: the four original themes of discovery, challenging assumptions, parallel work, and responsibility were retained and made testable. The checklist and content example are original explanatory material. Product statements were checked against current public pages and documentation; the historical case is identified separately.

Frequently asked questions

How detailed should a workflow model be?

A workflow model should contain enough detail to explain the decisions and handoffs required for its purpose. An overview can group internal tasks, while an implementation model needs explicit routing, inputs, assignments, and exceptions. Move interface instructions into supporting documentation unless they change process behavior. Use linked subprocesses when one diagram becomes difficult to review.

What information must every workflow model include?

Every useful workflow model needs a trigger, an outcome, activities, responsibility, and the conditions connecting them. Add the inputs, handoff requirements, and exception behavior needed to explain the actual process. For automation, also specify permissions, timing, system interactions, and verification evidence. Keep those details linked to the same model version.

When should a simple flowchart be replaced with BPMN?

Consider BPMN when informal symbols no longer communicate the process behavior precisely enough. Typical triggers include parallel synchronization, participant messages, boundary events, or complex exception handling. A small sequence may remain clearer as a simple flowchart. If execution is planned, verify the chosen engine’s supported BPMN constructs and configuration requirements.

How do you validate a workflow model with process participants?

Validate the model by walking through realistic cases with people who perform and receive the work. Include normal completion, rework, missing inputs, absence, cancellation, and system failure. For each case, ask who acts next, which data is available, and what proves completion. Record disagreements as specific design questions and retest after resolving them.

What makes a workflow model ready for automation?

A workflow model is ready for implementation when its scope, roles, inputs, rules, timing, and important exceptions are defined well enough to configure and test. Readiness for production comes later: the configured workflow must demonstrate the expected behavior in the target environment. A clear chart and a successful save do not establish that result.

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/4-tips-for-creating-an-effective-workflow-model/feed/ 1 Business Rules Engine and Workflow Engine – Difference https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/business-rules-engine-and-workflow-engine/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/business-rules-engine-and-workflow-engine/#respond Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:52:22 +0000 https://blog.comindware.com/?p=5209 A purchase request can reach the right approver and still follow the wrong policy. It can also receive the right routing decision and then sit in an unassigned queue. These are different failures: one concerns decision logic; the other concerns execution. Understanding the distinction helps you decide what belongs in a business rules engine, what […]

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]]> A business rules engine evaluates facts against explicit rules to produce a decision or result. A workflow engine coordinates tasks, people, systems, and the state of a running process. They often work together: the rules engine determines an approval route, while the workflow engine assigns the review, waits for its completion, and handles exceptions. Neither component alone guarantees that the underlying policy or process is correct.

Key takeaways

  • Separate the decision to make from the work needed to carry it out.
  • A business rules management system includes capabilities around rule execution, such as authoring and maintaining rules.
  • Keep a small, stable branch in the workflow when a separate decision service would add more complexity than value.
  • For decision tables, specify how multiple matching rows are handled; row order can change the result.
  • Test boundaries, missing data, version changes, and failures before allowing a decision to advance a live process.

What is a business rules engine?

A business rules engine (BRE) is a software component that evaluates explicit conditions against supplied facts and produces results. For example, it can determine which approval route applies to a purchase request using its amount and supplier status. The result might be a route identifier, a calculated value, a validation message, or a classification. The engine executes the logic. A business rules management system (BRMS) is the broader environment for creating, storing, maintaining, and executing that logic. IBM describes authoring tools, a rule repository, and an execution engine as BRMS components. A product may package these functions together, but the engine and the management system are not interchangeable terms. See IBM’s BRMS overview.

Rules, policies, process logic, and decision models

A policy states an organizational requirement: purchases above a defined threshold need additional review. A business rule makes a part of that requirement executable: a request for at least $5,000 must use the procurement review route. Process logic says what happens next: create the review task, wait for a response, and return incomplete requests to their owners. A decision model organizes the inputs, rules, and dependencies needed to answer a business question. One decision may depend on another, such as classifying the supplier before selecting an approval route. A decision engine is a broader product term; depending on the system, it may combine explicit rules with scoring, optimization, or predictive models. Check the actual execution behavior instead of treating the label as a capability list.

Common rule types and representations

  • Validation: Is the amount present and within an accepted range?
  • Eligibility: Does this request qualify for a defined purchasing channel?
  • Routing: Which review group should receive the request?
  • Calculation: What total follows from approved quantities and unit prices?
  • Policy checks: Does the request meet an explicitly encoded internal requirement?
  • Pricing: Which agreed price schedule applies to this order?
Use a decision table when several inputs determine a result and reviewers benefit from seeing the combinations together. Use an expression for a concise calculation. A decision tree can explain a sequence of questions. A decision service exposes a defined decision through an interface so that more than one process or application can call it. The representation should make omissions and conflicts easier to find, not merely make the diagram smaller.

What is a workflow engine?

A workflow engine runs a defined flow of work and tracks each instance as it progresses. It creates tasks, routes work to people or services, waits for events, and handles outcomes according to the process design. In a purchasing process, it can coordinate request submission, review, corrections, order creation, and completion. A workflow is the design of the work; its engine is the software executing that design. The engine needs to know which request is waiting, which task is active, and which event can move that request forward. For a broader explanation of process execution, see our business process engine guide. Workflow engines also evaluate conditions. A gateway can route an approved request toward order creation and a rejected request toward closure. That does not mean every branch needs a separate rules engine. Extract a decision when its complexity, reuse, ownership, or rate of change makes separate management useful.

Business rules engine vs. workflow engine: key differences

The comparison below describes responsibilities, not mandatory product boundaries. One platform can provide both. Confirm which responsibilities a proposed implementation actually covers, including testing, versioning, access control, and failure handling.
Dimension Business rules engine Workflow engine
Main question Given these facts, what result applies? What work should happen next, and who or what performs it?
Typical inputs Facts, parameters, and the selected rule version Process data, task outcomes, events, and decision results
Typical outputs A route, value, classification, or validation result A task assignment, service call, state transition, or completed process
Change to isolate A threshold, condition, calculation, or decision policy A handoff, approval stage, timeout, or exception path
State Can use stateless or stateful execution, depending on the engine and design Tracks the progress of each running workflow instance
Failure to plan for Invalid inputs, conflicting rules, no match, or unavailable evaluation Unassigned tasks, failed integrations, expired waits, or stuck instances
Useful acceptance evidence Expected results for normal, boundary, invalid, and overlapping cases End-to-end execution including rejection, rework, timeout, and recovery
Do not use “stateless versus stateful” as an absolute dividing line. The official Drools rule-engine documentation describes both stateless and stateful KIE sessions. A rules engine can retain facts across interactions; that still does not make it a substitute for the full task and process lifecycle your application requires.

How rules and workflow engines work together

Start with a clear responsibility boundary. The workflow gathers and validates request data, calls the decision with a defined input set, records the result, and follows the corresponding route. The decision evaluates the supplied facts. The workflow remains responsible for assigning the resulting task and handling its completion.
A purchase request workflow calls a separate decision service, records its route and version, and then assigns a review task.
Separate decision evaluation from task execution. Record the returned route and rule version before advancing the process.

Define a decision contract

Specify input names, types, allowed values, units, and required fields. “Amount” is incomplete without a currency and an agreed treatment of taxes or conversion. Decide whether the call uses data captured at submission or current reference data. Different choices can produce different outcomes even when the rule itself has not changed. Define the output just as carefully. In the example below, it contains a route code, matched rule ID, policy version, and explanation code. Record these with the request identifier and evaluation time. The specific storage and logging mechanism depends on the implementation; this is a design recommendation, not a claim that every engine supplies it automatically.

Make failure behavior explicit

An unavailable decision service is not an approval. Send evaluation failures to a controlled hold or review path, with an owner and recovery action. Distinguish a valid “manual review” result from a timeout or malformed response. Otherwise, operational errors can be misreported as policy decisions. If a call is retried, prevent the retry from creating duplicate approval tasks. A useful design separates evaluation from side effects: evaluate, persist the accepted result, then create the task through a step that detects duplicate requests. If decision evaluation itself changes data, document that behavior and its recovery requirements before using it in a retryable integration.

Worked example: a purchase approval routing table

Illustrative example: the following policy, thresholds, test cases, and version history are invented for explanation. They are not a customer result, a recommended purchasing policy, or a product screenshot. The output selects a review route; it does not authorize spending or approve the request. Assume a single-currency process using USD. Before evaluation, require a numeric, nonnegative amount and a supplier status of either approved or unverified. A missing amount, negative amount, different currency, or unknown status produces a validation hold. Do not silently turn missing values into zero.

First matching row is different from first true condition

With a First hit policy, the first matching row determines the result. Every input condition in that row must match. The OMG Decision Model and Notation (DMN) 1.5 specification, section 8.2.11.1, distinguishes First from Unique and other hit policies. It also warns that First tables require care because their meaning depends on row order. Where possible, disjoint rules make a table easier to inspect. This deliberately overlapping example shows why order matters. Evaluate rows from top to bottom. “Any valid amount” means the input has already passed validation; it does not permit absent or invalid values.
Policy v1 — First hit policy; amounts in USD
Order / rule Supplier status Amount Returned route Reason
1 / R1 Unverified Any valid amount SUPPLIER_REVIEW Supplier verification required
2 / R2 Either allowed status At least $5,000 PROCUREMENT_REVIEW Amount threshold reached
3 / R3 Approved Below $5,000 MANAGER_REVIEW Standard review route
An unverified supplier with a $6,000 request matches both R1 and R2. R1 wins because it appears first. Moving R2 above R1 would send that same request to procurement review instead. A visually small row move can therefore change policy behavior. A nonoverlapping alternative would restrict R2 to approved suppliers, removing this dependency for these inputs. A scoring model needs a different specification. “Take the first matching result” does not mean “add every matching score” or “choose the largest score.” If several rules contribute points, define aggregation, missing-input handling, and the final threshold separately. Do not label an ordered routing table a scoring model simply because it contains numbers.

Test the boundaries and the change

Suppose illustrative policy v2 raises the amount threshold from $5,000 to $7,500 while preserving supplier review precedence. R2 and R3 change together. The following expected results form a small regression test set that can be reproduced independently of a particular product.
Input Expected v1 Expected v2 What it checks
Approved; $4,999.99 Manager review Manager review Just below the original threshold
Approved; $5,000 Procurement review Manager review Exact boundary and intended policy change
Approved; $7,500 Procurement review Procurement review Exact new boundary
Unverified; $6,000 Supplier review Supplier review Overlapping rules preserve supplier precedence
Unknown status; $100 Validation hold Validation hold Unrecognized input cannot use a default route
Approved; amount missing Validation hold Validation hold Required data is enforced
Approved; -$1 Validation hold Validation hold Invalid numeric range is rejected
Approved; EUR 100 Validation hold Validation hold Currency assumptions are enforced
The stable workflow is: submit request, validate data, evaluate route, assign review, wait for the response, then proceed or return for correction. A threshold change can leave that sequence intact. If the organization instead introduces a second approval stage, the workflow must change too. Separating rules from processes does not eliminate genuine process changes.

Business rules management: lifecycle and governance

Use a lifecycle that makes each change traceable from a business requirement to a tested release. The sequence below is an editorial implementation checklist. It is not a prescribed standard or a claim about a particular platform feature.
Six stages of a rule lifecycle: author, review, test, approve, publish, and retire, with monitoring feeding the next version.
A proposed rule lifecycle links each version to its rationale, tests, approval, effective period, and retirement decision.
  1. Author: name the decision, owner, inputs, outputs, and policy rationale.
  2. Review: check whether the encoded conditions accurately express the requirement and cover relevant cases.
  3. Test: run expected outcomes, exact boundaries, overlaps, invalid inputs, and representative historical cases that may be used for this purpose.
  4. Approve: record who can authorize the change; separate authoring and approval where the risk warrants it.
  5. Publish: activate a specific version with an effective time and a recovery plan.
  6. Retire: prevent new use of superseded versions while retaining the evidence needed to explain past decisions.

Decide what happens to work already in progress

A request submitted under v1 may still be waiting when v2 becomes effective. Choose a policy explicitly: keep the version selected at submission, or reevaluate at a defined checkpoint. The correct choice depends on the business requirement. Never assume that deploying a new table should silently reroute every open request. Also define which data changes require reevaluation. If an approved-supplier request increases from $4,000 to $8,000 after routing, preserving the original result may be inappropriate. Record the relevant input snapshot, the version used, and any later reevaluation. Versioning rules without preserving their inputs is insufficient to explain a past result.

Monitor decision quality and process performance separately

Track evaluation failure rate = failed evaluation attempts / all evaluation attempts × 100. Count retries consistently and keep infrastructure failures separate from valid manual-review outcomes. Track manual-review rate = requests routed to manual review / successfully evaluated requests × 100, with the included routes named. Neither metric alone proves that the policy is correct. For the workflow, measure elapsed time to complete the review, time waiting for an assignee, and rework frequency. A fast rules engine cannot compensate for an approval task with no owner. Our guide to workflow process mapping explains how to make those handoffs and delays visible.

Do you need a rules engine, a workflow engine, or both?

Start with workflow capabilities when the main problem is coordinating people, tasks, systems, and deadlines, and the branching logic is small and stable. A straightforward approved/rejected branch may be clearer inside the process than behind another service call. Prioritize rules management when decisions change frequently, the same logic appears in several applications, or policy owners need a controlled way to review and test combinations. A shared decision service can reduce duplicated logic, provided its availability and versioning are managed deliberately. Use both responsibilities together when a long-running process depends on changing or reusable decisions. They may live within one platform or across integrated services. Compare the operational cost of the boundary: additional calls, deployment coordination, monitoring, and recovery can outweigh the benefit for a very small decision. During evaluation, ask a vendor to demonstrate a changed threshold, an overlapping-rule test, a missing input, a service failure, and an in-flight request crossing a version change. Then trace the resulting task through rejection and correction. These demonstrations reveal more about fit than a diagram showing only the successful path. For related implementation criteria, see our workflow automation checklist.

A documented Comindware example: dependent field choices

Comindware Platform V6 documentation provides a smaller, concrete example of separating a data-selection rule from the surrounding work. In a business-trip request, selecting a country restricts the available cities. The documented model links countries to cities and uses the selected country to filter the city choices. The baseline would be a city selector that does not narrow its choices using the selected country. The documented change adds that filter. The functional result is a selector limited by the country-city relationship, subject to the documented access rules. This is a reproducible documentation example, not a measured customer outcome; it makes no claim about time saved or error reduction. See the official record-selection filtering example in the Russian-language knowledge base. The V6 expression-editor documentation also describes formulas, N3 expressions, and DMN tables. That supports a specific statement about available editing mechanisms. It does not establish conformance to every part of DMN 1.5 or guarantee every hit policy. Verify the required table behavior in the implementation you evaluate. For a purchasing workflow, apply the same design discipline: define the data relationship or decision separately, then verify how the process uses the result. Explore CMW Lab’s business process automation capabilities and bring a real routing table, its expected results, and its exception cases to a process discussion. That gives the demonstration a concrete acceptance target. How this guide was built: definitions and technical distinctions were checked against the primary sources linked above. The routing table, tests, lifecycle checklist, and diagrams are original illustrative material. Product statements are limited to the cited documentation; no customer performance figures or expert quotations are implied.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a business rules engine and a workflow engine?

A business rules engine evaluates conditions to produce a result; a workflow engine coordinates the work that uses that result. For example, one can select an approval route while the other assigns the review task, waits for completion, and handles rejection. A single software platform may provide both capabilities.

Is a BRMS the same as a business rules engine?

No. A business rules engine executes rules, while a business rules management system includes the surrounding tools for maintaining them. Depending on the product, that environment may support authoring, repositories, testing, deployment, and governance. Evaluate those capabilities individually instead of assuming that an execution engine includes a complete management lifecycle.

Can a workflow engine run without a separate rules engine?

Yes. A workflow engine can handle straightforward conditions within its process design. A separate rules component becomes useful when decision logic is complex, reused, frequently changed, or owned and tested independently. The choice should reduce overall maintenance effort while preserving clear error handling, version behavior, and accountability for the resulting work.

What does first match mean in a decision table?

First match means the first row whose input conditions all match supplies the result. It does not mean the first individual condition that happens to be true. Because several rows can match, their order can change the outcome. Test overlapping cases and consider disjoint rules when they make the policy easier to understand.

How should you test a business rule before publishing it?

Test ordinary cases, exact boundaries, missing or invalid inputs, overlapping conditions, and expected differences from the previous version. Then test how the workflow uses the result, including failures and work already in progress. Keep the expected outputs with the rule version so later changes can be checked against an explicit baseline.

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/business-rules-engine-and-workflow-engine/feed/ 0 Why Workflow Process Mapping is So Important https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/why-workflow-process-mapping-is-so-important/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/why-workflow-process-mapping-is-so-important/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:19:51 +0000 http://blog.comindware.com/?p=3500 Workflow process mapping makes the path from a request to a result visible, including the people, decisions, systems, and exceptions involved. It matters because teams can test whether they understand the same process before changing or automating it. A useful map documents how work happens today, identifies evidence of delays or rework, and provides a […]

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]]> Workflow process mapping makes the path from a request to a result visible, including the people, decisions, systems, and exceptions involved. It matters because teams can test whether they understand the same process before changing or automating it. A useful map documents how work happens today, identifies evidence of delays or rework, and provides a shared basis for designing and validating a better workflow. A purchase request can look simple in a procedure: submit, approve, order. Ask the requester, approver, and buyer to describe the last incomplete request, however, and three different processes may emerge. One person sees an unanswered email; another sees a request waiting for a cost center; the third has never received it. Business process mapping makes those differences discussable. The value comes from what the team learns and changes, not from the number of boxes it draws. This guide explains how to scope a map, document the current workflow, validate exceptions, and turn the result into an improvement plan.

Key takeaways

  • Map the current process before designing its replacement; keep the two versions visibly separate.
  • Show ownership, decision criteria, and handoffs alongside the main sequence of activities.
  • Choose the detail needed for the decision: a scope discussion and an executable workflow need different maps.
  • Validate the map with actual cases, including incomplete, rejected, delayed, and canceled work.
  • Measure changes with consistent boundaries and definitions; a cleaner diagram does not prove a faster process.

What is business process mapping?

Business process mapping is the practice of documenting how work moves from a defined trigger to a defined outcome. A process map is the resulting representation. It can show activities, participants, inputs and outputs, decisions, and the movement of information or materials. Workflow mapping focuses attention on how individual pieces of work move through that process. An as-is map describes current practice, including workarounds. A to-be map describes an intended future process. Neither label establishes that the process is correct: the current map needs evidence, while the future map needs testing. If a team silently replaces an awkward current step with an ideal one, it loses the baseline needed to explain the proposed change. A useful map answers four practical questions: What starts the work? Who is responsible next? What determines the route? What proves that the work is finished? Supporting notes should identify the data and systems involved. A box labeled “Handle request” answers none of these questions; “Buyer checks supplier and cost center” is a more actionable activity.

Key benefits of workflow process mapping

Workflow process mapping as a learning tool

Mapping exposes the difference between a written procedure and the way people complete work. Ask participants to walk through a recent case while showing the records they used. The exercise can reveal an approval performed in a chat, an unofficial spreadsheet, or an exception that only one experienced employee knows how to resolve. That knowledge helps with onboarding and continuity, but the map needs an owner and a review date. A new employee should be able to identify the next responsible role and the correct escalation route. If doing so still requires finding the person who originally drew the diagram, the handoff information is incomplete.

Workflow mapping can lead to optimizing efficiency

A map makes delays and rework easier to investigate. Separate time spent doing a task from time spent waiting for it. An approval may take five minutes of effort while a request waits two days in a queue. Removing a data-entry step will not necessarily resolve that queue. Treat apparent bottlenecks as hypotheses until case data supports them. Annotate the step with the observed delay, the evidence period, and the affected request type. This connects the proposed improvement to a specific problem instead of assuming that fewer boxes always mean better performance.

Improved communication between employees engaged in a process

Handoffs often need more explanation than activities. Specify what the sender provides, what the receiver accepts, and what happens when the information is incomplete. For example, procurement can require a cost center and a delivery location before accepting a request, while the requester remains responsible for correcting missing information. A swimlane process map places activities in lanes for their responsible roles or teams. Crossing a lane boundary makes a handoff visible. It does not, by itself, define access permissions, authority to approve, or accountability for the whole process; document those separately.

Process map, flowchart, BPMN, or value stream map?

These terms describe related tools with different purposes. A flowchart can be a process map; Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) adds standardized modeling semantics. A value stream map emphasizes the flow of materials and information, including the relationship between work and waiting. Choose a technique according to the question you need to answer.
Choosing the level of detail: an editorial decision guide
Technique Best question to start with What to add before implementation
SIPOC Where does the process begin and end, and who supplies and receives its outputs? Detailed sequence, owners, decisions, and exceptions.
Basic flowchart What happens next, and where does the route change? Responsibility, data requirements, timing, and consistent symbol definitions.
Swimlane map Who performs each activity, and where does work cross team boundaries? Handoff criteria, escalation, and decision authority.
BPMN model How should events, branching, and coordination behave? For execution: supported model elements, data, forms, assignments, integrations, and tests.
Value stream map How do material and information flows affect delivery and elapsed time? Reliable timing observations and a plan for the desired future flow.
SIPOC stands for suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers. ASQ’s SIPOC guidance uses it to establish a high-level view and process boundaries before deeper mapping. The Lean Enterprise Institute’s description of value stream mapping explains its focus on material and information flow. The comparison above is a practical selection guide, not a ranking or a claim that one notation replaces the others. For BPMN, use the formal name Business Process Model and Notation. The OMG BPMN 2.0.2 specification defines the notation. For a visual introduction to its symbols, see our BPMN elements and symbols guide. A standards-based diagram still needs implementation details before a workflow engine can execute it correctly.

Start with a process scope canvas

Use this canvas before opening a diagram editor. The completed example is illustrative: it describes a proposed mapping exercise for purchase requests, not a CMW Lab customer implementation. Replace each answer with evidence from your own process.
Reusable process scope canvas with an illustrative purchase-request example
Field Example answer Question to resolve
Purpose Understand why approved requests reach purchasing with missing information. Which operational decision will this map support?
Start An employee submits a purchase request. Does the clock start at first submission or only when it is complete?
Finish A purchase order is issued, or the request is rejected or canceled with a recorded reason. Which terminal outcomes count as completion?
Roles Requester, budget approver, buyer; procurement manager owns the process. Who resolves an unassigned or disputed request?
Inputs and outputs Item, quantity, cost center, location, need-by date; purchase order or closure record. Which fields and documents are required at each handoff?
Systems and evidence Request records, approval messages, purchasing system timestamps. Can the records be joined using a stable request identifier?
Boundaries Order issuance is included; receipt, invoice matching, and payment are outside this map. Where does the next process take ownership?
Measures Elapsed time, returns for missing data, approval-queue age. Are definitions consistent across the baseline and pilot?
The start and finish definitions deserve particular attention. If the baseline includes incomplete submissions but the future-state report starts only after validation, an apparent improvement may simply reflect a later start to the clock.

How to map and validate the current process

  1. Collect actual cases. Include ordinary completions and relevant variations such as returns, rejection, cancellation, and overdue work. Explain the selection period and avoid presenting a convenient sample as representative of every case.
  2. Trace the sequence. Record what each role did, which information was available, and which system or communication channel carried the handoff. Mark uncertain steps for follow-up.
  3. Label decisions with criteria. Replace “OK?” with a question such as “Required request data complete?” Name the yes and no routes and show where each route ends or rejoins.
  4. Separate current behavior from proposed fixes. Capture an undocumented workaround in the as-is map even if everyone agrees it should disappear. Put the change in a separate backlog.
  5. Walk the map with the people doing the work. Use a specific case to check the route, then test an exception. Ask the receiving team whether the handoff shown actually gives it enough information to proceed.
  6. Record ownership and unresolved gaps. Version the map, identify its accountable owner, and document open questions. Revisit it when the policy, system, or operating practice changes.
Validation is more than obtaining agreement in a workshop. Someone may remember a rule correctly while a system applies it differently. Compare the map with available records and investigate the difference. Where evidence is missing, label the uncertainty instead of converting a recollection into an established fact. Keep detailed instructions close to the activity they explain without putting every field and click in the main diagram. A readable map can link to a task specification, a business-rule table, and an exception register. Our workflow diagram guide covers the visual organization of the sequence.

Worked example: an as-is and to-be purchase-request map

Illustrative baseline: an employee emails a request to a manager. The manager approves the spending and forwards it to a buyer. The buyer discovers missing delivery details, returns it to the employee, and waits for the corrected version. Several email threads now describe the same request, and the buyer must identify the approved version before issuing the order.
As-is purchase-request map: approval precedes the buyer’s completeness check, so missing data returns to the requester and repeats review.
Illustrative as-is workflow. The late completeness check creates a return loop; this is a process example, not a product screenshot.
In this as-is sequence, the requester submits, the manager approves, and the buyer checks completeness. Complete requests proceed to order issuance. Incomplete requests return to the requester, then go through approval and the buyer’s check again. The map makes the repeated review visible; case records are still needed to determine its frequency and impact. Proposed change: collect the required information in a single request record and check completeness before budget approval. Return incomplete requests to the requester with a reason. After approval, the buyer checks the approved details and issues the order. A material change to quantity, cost, or scope returns for approval under a defined rule.
To-be purchase-request map: validate required data before approval, then let the buyer issue the order; material changes return for reapproval.
Illustrative to-be workflow. Moving validation earlier changes the sequence; it does not remove budget approval or purchasing responsibilities.
The future sequence is submit, validate completeness, approve, check approved details, and issue the order. Missing information loops back before approval. Rejected or canceled requests close with a reason. Material changes after approval take a separate reapproval route. These rules are part of the design even when the compact diagram summarizes them in a note. The pilot must test more than the happy path. Try a missing cost center, an unavailable approver, a request changed after approval, and a cancellation after the buyer starts work. Define who owns each case and which actions remain allowed. Then compare the pilot with the baseline using the same request types and timing boundaries.

What a published CMW Lab process diagram reveals

A real public example on CMW Lab’s BPMN page includes a prepayment decision, an invoice-processing branch, a hard-copy decision, and a delivery check with a 24-hour wait. You can inspect the published process diagram to see those elements. It illustrates a model; it does not provide customer performance results or a complete operating policy. The example is useful because its branches raise concrete mapping questions. What determines whether prepayment applies? Which work proceeds in parallel? Who follows up when delivery remains unconfirmed? The wait is visible, but the diagram alone does not establish a service-level agreement (SLA), an escalation owner, or a maximum number of retries. Gateway choice also matters. In BPMN, a parallel split starts all outgoing paths; a parallel join synchronizes its incoming paths. This behavior is defined in OMG BPMN 2.0.2, section 10.6.4. Before implementation, test that every required incoming path can reach the join. A diagram can look balanced while a particular branch combination leaves work waiting. Our practical recommendation is to review the map alongside a responsibility list and an exception table. For the delivery wait, specify the role that investigates, the evidence that confirms delivery, and the action when confirmation never arrives. Those are questions to resolve for your implementation, not features or policy details inferred from the public image.

Turn the map into an improvement backlog

Give each finding a location in the map, supporting evidence, an owner, a proposed change, and an acceptance test. “Improve procurement” is too broad. “Requests returned by the buyer for missing delivery location” identifies a condition the team can investigate and address. For the worked example, the backlog might contain three distinct changes: introduce required request fields, define which post-approval changes require reapproval, and make aged approvals visible to their responsible owner. Each can be tested independently. A policy clarification may solve a problem before software changes are necessary. When automation is appropriate, extend the map into a specification: record states, data fields, role assignments, decision rules, reminders, integration behavior, and audit evidence. Specify what happens when an integration fails or the same request arrives twice. Use the workflow automation implementation checklist to evaluate that next stage.

Measure the process and check the quality of the map

A map explains the flow; measurements test whether changing it helped. Define the unit of work, timestamp source, reporting period, and exclusions before comparing results. Track open work as well as completed cases so a growing queue does not disappear from the report.
  • Elapsed time: finish timestamp minus first-submission timestamp. Report a median and a tail measure such as the 90th percentile when the sample supports it; explain business-hours versus calendar-time treatment.
  • Return rate: requests returned at least once for missing or incorrect information ÷ requests assessed in the same cohort × 100%. Count a request once even if it is returned several times; report repeat returns separately.
  • Touch time: the sum of active handling time for a request. Do not treat the entire interval between two system events as active work unless that interpretation has been validated.
  • Queue age: measurement time minus the time an open request entered its current queue. Segment by priority or request type when different service commitments apply.
Illustrative calculation: if 30 of 120 assessed requests were returned at least once, the return rate is 30 ÷ 120 × 100% = 25%. If a comparable pilot cohort has 12 returns among 120 assessed requests, its rate is 10%: a reduction of 15 percentage points. These are hypothetical numbers showing the calculation, not CMW Lab customer results or a forecast. Use the following checklist as a practical review aid. It is an original editorial checklist, not a certification standard or a guarantee that a model is executable.
Process mapping quality checklist
Check Evidence to look for Action if missing
Clear scope Named trigger, outcomes, exclusions, and process owner. Complete the scope canvas before adding detail.
Traceable activities Verb-and-object labels linked to a responsible role and case evidence. Walk through a recent case with the people doing the work.
Defined decisions Conditions and destinations for each relevant outcome. Resolve ambiguous rules with the policy owner.
Complete handoffs Required inputs, receiving role, and acceptance criteria. Agree on what makes a task ready to accept.
Exception coverage Returns, rejection, cancellation, overdue work, and failure recovery where applicable. Add a route or a linked exception specification.
Measurable change Baseline and pilot use matching definitions and explain differences in case mix. Fix the measurement design before claiming improvement.
Maintained version Owner, review date, change record, and access to supporting specifications. Assign maintenance responsibility and review triggers.

Common process mapping mistakes and how to avoid them

Drawing the official procedure instead of observed work. Keep discrepancies visible. A workaround may reveal missing system support or an impractical policy; erasing it from the map hides the issue. Using one diagram for every audience. A sponsor needs boundaries and outcomes, while an implementer needs precise decisions and recovery behavior. Connect overview and detailed maps instead of compressing everything into unreadable boxes. Showing only successful completion. Rejected, withdrawn, duplicate, and stalled requests consume capacity too. Define their endpoints and ownership rather than leaving an arrow labeled “Exception” with nowhere to go. Automating an unexplained step. Ask what purpose an approval or data field serves before reproducing it in software. Removing a control also needs an explicit decision from its accountable owner. Treating an AI-generated map as evidence. An AI tool can help organize workshop notes or draft a diagram, but a plausible sequence does not establish how your organization works. Check each activity and rule against records and participants, protect confidential inputs, and retain a traceable version. This is a recommended validation practice, not a claim about any specific product’s AI capabilities.

Frequently asked questions

What is business process mapping?

Business process mapping documents how work moves from a defined trigger to an outcome. A useful map shows activities, responsibility, decisions, and handoffs, with supporting information about inputs, outputs, and systems. It helps teams understand current practice and evaluate improvements, but its accuracy depends on validation against actual work.

How does process mapping work in practice?

Start by agreeing on the process boundaries, owner, and purpose, then trace real cases through the people and systems involved. Draw the current sequence, record exceptions, and validate the result with participants and records. Keep proposed improvements in a separate future-state version and test them before treating them as the new operating process.

What is the difference between process mapping and BPMN?

Process mapping is the practice of representing a process; BPMN is a standardized notation that can be used for that representation. A basic flowchart may be enough to explain a short sequence. BPMN is useful when precise event, decision, and coordination behavior matters, although execution still requires platform configuration and testing.

Which KPIs should a process map support?

Select key performance indicators that address the problem being investigated, such as elapsed time, return rate, touch time, or the age of open work. Define the start and finish events, denominator, reporting period, and exclusions. Use the same definitions when comparing the current process with a pilot, and explain differences in request mix.

What are the most common process mapping implementation mistakes?

Common mistakes include mapping the ideal procedure instead of current work, leaving handoffs undefined, ignoring exceptions, and treating a diagram as a complete automation specification. Avoid them by validating actual cases, assigning responsible roles, recording decision criteria, and testing failure and recovery paths alongside normal completion before implementing the revised workflow. How we built this guide: definitions and notation were checked against ASQ, the Lean Enterprise Institute, and OMG. The CMW Lab diagram is public first-party material. The scope canvas, checklist, purchase-request maps, and calculations are original editorial examples, not reported customer outcomes.

Use the map to make the next decision

A useful workflow map gives a team a shared, testable account of its work. Start with a bounded process, show the difficult cases, and connect each proposed change to evidence and an acceptance test. If your next step is to move from a validated model to an implemented workflow, explore CMW Lab’s BPMN modeling capabilities with your scope canvas and exception list in hand.

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/why-workflow-process-mapping-is-so-important/feed/ 4 Top 10 Benefits of Business Process Management (BPM) in 2025 https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/benefits-of-business-process-management/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/benefits-of-business-process-management/#comments Tue, 18 Jul 2023 01:27:00 +0000 https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/?p=281 Business Process Management (BPM) is a systematic approach to optimizing a company’s workflow for increased effectiveness, reliability, and understanding. You try to improve the systems that run your business so that it works more efficiently and profitably. These days, such understanding of the importance of business process management and more specifically the advantages of business process management is […]

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]]> Business Process Management (BPM) is a systematic approach to optimizing a company’s workflow for increased effectiveness, reliability, and understanding. You try to improve the systems that run your business so that it works more efficiently and profitably. These days, such understanding of the importance of business process management and more specifically the advantages of business process management is crucial for success. By continuously improveing processes, companies can gain a competitive edge.

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Business process management systems are not easy to describe, but their impact is accurate in its focus: To improve operations processes and results, enhance productivity, and increase sales. The focus of this article is on significant positive impacts of BPM integration for companies of every size. This also addresses the core questions – ‘Why BPM?’ and ‘Why business process management in the 2024-2025 era?’ The reach of benefit of BPM software is towards all the facets of the business.

Good business process management delivers tangible business process management benefits like cost efficiency, leading to decreased expenses and increased revenue. But the intangible benefits, realized over the long term, are equally crucial. They empower companies to adapt quickly to changing market conditions, outpace competitors, and thrive.

Let’s delve into the top 10 advantages that business process management technology offers your organization, and how business process management tools can transform your operations. By identifying bottlenecks, companies can maximize the benefits of bpm. Understanding the different types of business process is also key.

The Top 10 BPM Benefits for Your Business:

  1. Cost Efficiency: Streamline Operations and Boost Profitability

cost savings

Simply cutting budgets is no longer a sustainable strategy. Businesses must ensure that costs already incurred and revenues produced by them are efficiently utilized. BPM drives cost efficiency by streamlining business operations, automating routine work, enhancing product quality, and reducing corporate risks.  In 2025, BPM is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for companies seeking to maintain a competitive edge. Companies need to increase efficiencies.” The advantages of process management cannot be overstated.

For example, implementing BPM software can automate invoice processing, reducing manual labor and human errors. 

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  1. Business Agility: Adapt and Thrive in a Dynamic Market

A key trend in BPM is the development of nimble processes that respond to organizational learning in the marketplace. Flexibility is a primary business process management goal, alongside cost efficiency. This demands ultra-flexible business process management tools that are easy to design, change, and deploy. Understanding business process management use cases is crucial for maximizing value. Business process management advantages include the ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.

Business agility incorporates several key elements:

    • Process Management: With CMW Platform, process management comes in the form of visual workflows that you can change on-the-fly. You can re-use workflows wherever you need to and customize them as you go.
    • Rule Management: Staying governed, visible, and compliant in an unstructured, collaborative environment.
    • Integration and Automation: Seamlessly connecting tasks, cases, and projects within a business process management system.
    • Continual Optimization and Scaling: Implementing quick wins and scaling BPM incrementally, which enables businesses to reach new heights.

With agile BPM implementations you can quickly adapt to new regulations, market trends, or customer demands. [Provide a specific example of a company using BPM for agility here. This often involves creating effective process maps.

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  1. Compliance Ease and Visibility: Stay Ahead of Regulations

real-time visibility

Changes in legislation can lead to unforeseen costs for companies without a flexible compliance system. BPM systems allow companies to build compliance into their business practices by integrating department-specific applications with the organization as a whole. This allows for automated reports demonstrating compliance in a cost-efficient way. In order to gain efficiency from a business process management system, companies need to understand its core benefits.

For instance, BPM can automate data collection and reporting for GDPR compliance, reducing the risk of fines and penalties. [Source: Link to relevant compliance documentation/article] This helps reduce errors and ensures regulatory adherence. The advantages of business process automation are substantial in this area.

  1. Customer Focus: Exceed Expectations in the Web 3.0 Era

Savvy customers demand proof-of-concept processes that demonstrate how their needs will be met through self-service capabilities. Business process management helps organizations combine people with technology to acquire and retain satisfied customers by personalizing interactions and providing easy access to information. This is made possible by workflow management.

Leverage BPM to map customer journeys, identify pain points, and design streamlined processes that enhance the customer experience. [Source: Link to customer experience statistic or article]. This leads to more informed decisions. By understanding what are the benefits of business process management in this context, companies can create exceptional customer experiences.

  1. Staff Satisfaction

staff satisfaction

With clear and automated workflows employees tend to avoid manual tasks and instead focus on other activities that require more attention. This leads to increased job satisfaction and reduced employee turnover. [Source: Link to statistic about employee satisfaction and process automation] This is one of the key benefits of business process automation.

  1. Efficiency and Productivity

BPM is a major contributor to the productivity and efficiency objectives of business enterprises relative to their goals. It is important to appreciate the role of process management in this regard. Measuring and monitoring processes, establishing process excellence, and optimizing workflows leads to greater process efficiency. The ability to quickly identify and remove tasks that bring little value boosts productivity overall. Understanding the importance of process management in this context is critical.

By using BPM to automate the approval and routing of documents, the time needed for each task to be completd is greatly reduced, which increases the overall productivity of the group.

  1. Reduced Micromanagement

BPM eliminates the need for micromanagement by providing clear documentation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and assigning responsibilities. Employees can complete tasks confidently without constant supervision.

  1. Single Digital Environment

A good BPM tool serves as a unified environment for data fetching and pushing to vital software platforms like ERP and CRM. This integration reduces manual entry errors and grants access to the company’s fundamental operations to all employees (while ensuring proper access control for security purposes). This fosters better collaboration and decision-making across the organization.

  1. Measurable Results

Evaluate the results of new processes using BPM. Estimate time saved, determine if improved processes save money, and monitor these findings in real time. Use these findings to further direct your internal processes.

With effective BPM analytics, track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the impact of your process improvements. This enables businesses to make data-driven decisions.

  1. Improved Responsibility

Implementing BPM in your organization empowers employees to take ownership of their work. Dependency on the IT department minimizes, and processes can be built and completed faster by non-technical users. This places the power in the hands of any employee who sees a bottleneck and wants to bring value.

Conclusion: Is BPM Right for Your Business?

Could your organization benefit from improvements in the following areas? What are the benefits of process management overall for your specific business?

  • Increased customer satisfaction and shorter time-to-market for products and services
  • Greater efficiency (and cost savings) with existing applications and processes
  • Greater team satisfaction as collaboration and best practices are improved
  • Full transparency of all activities across the team and organization

If so, then take advantage of work management software, which delivers a full set of tools and services that apply workflow structure to information and workers so that processes are streamlined and performance is improved. Business Process Management (BPM) is a core subset of effective work management. Don’t confuse BPM with BPMN; BPMN is a modeling and notation standard that facilitates effective business process management. It’s important to understand what does bpm services mean.

Some companies already have BPM systems. However, after a year or two, professionals often find it difficult to change processes and discover that colleagues use “work-arounds” for unstructured projects. When formal business processes cannot be changed easily, or when the team isn’t using the formal processes for all work, visibility, agility, organizational learning, and market response times all suffer. Low-code BPM software enables non-technical users to change business processes easily, ensuring that staff don’t need “work-arounds” for projects and remain effective! Choosing the right automation tools is also critical. Why business process management is important? Because it allows companies to stay competitive.

You should also explore learning BPM services to improve your business practices. Understanding the purpose of business process management is key to unlocking its potential.

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Kamille Nixon is Senior Manager, Product Marketing for Comindware.
A former newspaper reporter, Kamille specializes in database applications, researching how developments in graph databases help organizations reach their goals. Kamille has an MBA from St. Mary's College of California, Global Business.

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/benefits-of-business-process-management/feed/ 4 4 Workforce Related Processes That Can Be Automated In Any Business https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/4-workforce-related-processes-that-can-be-automated-in-any-business/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/4-workforce-related-processes-that-can-be-automated-in-any-business/#respond Fri, 26 Nov 2021 15:14:47 +0000 https://blog.comindware.com/?p=5671 With new technologies steadily emerging, the way workforce processes are managed by businesses has evolved. Technology adoption in business processes has often been motivated by an aim to increase efficiency and productivity while reducing operating costs. When done right, this can simplify and optimize the workflows of almost any business. Known as Business Process Automation […]

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]]> business processes has often been motivated by an aim to increase efficiency and productivity while reducing operating costs. When done right, this can simplify and optimize the workflows of almost any business. Known as Business Process Automation (BPA), BPA is the use of software or a computer to automate the execution of tasks. It is an umbrella term that encompasses both human-driven automation and robotic process automation (RPA). BPA systems often automate time-consuming, repetitive, and manual tasks in order to make them more efficient. For example, Chargebee’s subscription management software automates the recurring billing process, freeing up valuable resources and reducing manual efforts for businesses. In this article, we take a look at 4 workforce-related business processes that can be automated in almost all sectors.

4 Business Processes That Can Easily Be Automated

Team Communication and Management

Keeping team members, customers, and business partners up to date on important information is essential for any organization. With the number of stakeholders involved, it is easy for information to get lost or to forget passing the right information over to the right person. In its simplest form, automating your teams’ communication can be as easy as setting up repeat meeting reminders or staff alerts. Furthermore, if your business deals with digital files or document transfers, most aspects can be pre-programmed, such as permission levels. Yet, many businesses still rely on traditional pen and paper or excel sheets, especially for roster management. By default, managing employee schedules is a tedious and resource-draining task for your human resource department.  If you are looking into optimizing and streamlining this process, you should try employee scheduling tools which will tremendously reduce the workload while boosting your efficiency. Key takeaway: 97 percent of employees feel that a project or task’s outcome is greatly impacted by a lack of alignment. Automation can improve collaboration and enhance team synergy.

Recruitment and Employee Performance

Workforce recruitment is a multi-stage process that requires a lot of time and labor to be effectively performed. A report by Capterra reveals that 75 percent of recruiters make use of a recruiting or applicant tracking software (ATS). The same report highlights that 94 percent of ATS users report an improvement in their hiring process. Along the same line, another area that is known to drain resources in monitoring employee performance. Evaluating how your staff performs over time is not only time-intensive but may also be met with biased opinions. This in turn may lead to poor employee engagement, which directly impacts your business productivity. Instead, relying on automated solutions to manage new recruit and employee data helps you save on resources and safeguards against potential bias. Implementing automated solutions for tracking employee hours not only streamlines the evaluation process but also eliminates potential biases that may impact employee engagement and overall productivity. By relying on objective data collected through tracking employee hours, organizations can make informed decisions and ensure fair treatment of employees. This approach saves valuable resources, promotes transparency, and contributes to a more productive and equitable work environment. Key takeaway: Automating employee data management makes decision making easier and brings more insights on hard-to-calculate figures, such as staff turnover cost.

Employee Payroll and Benefits Management

Regardless of the size of your business, managing employee payroll and benefits is a time-consuming process for any HR department. This is mainly because payroll and benefits management often involves multiple manual steps, such as salary calculation or clock-in monitoring. According to the PayStream Advisors’ 2018 Payables Insight Report, around 55 percent of organizations still process their accounts payable (AP) manually. Similarly, managing staff benefits can be very resource-intensive, especially if you have hundreds of employees. Laws and policies vary drastically depending on the geographical location of your business, and maintaining compliance can be tough. Automating benefits management makes billing, tracking, and reconciliation easier and saves your business valuable resources, and leads to more accurate accounting. Key takeaway: Automating employee payroll and benefits management ensures fewer human errors and mitigates compliance risks.

Claims Processing

Claims processing is another very time-consuming and expensive exercise for businesses that handle it completely manually. This process is often an arduous one for the claimant, the HR department, and the insurance company. Moreover, the process often leads to frustration for the different parties involved, since these claims are traditionally processed one at a time. For these reasons, many organizations are turning to robotic process automation (RPA), a technology that enables them to automate their claims processing by connecting computers to systems such as e-signatures, spreadsheets, and document management systems. Turning to RPA speeds up claims processing and requires minimal human intervention. A study by McKinsey reports that businesses opting for RPA systems can see up to 200 percent return on investment (ROI) within the first year of implementation. Key takeaway: Using an RPA for claims processing takes the pressure off the claimant and enables organizations to handle multiple claims and transactions at the same time.

Off you go

Business process automation appears to be an essential component of long-term sustainability. With 78 percent of business leaders stating that automation can increase productivity, we may soon see mass adoption of BPA technology. Whichever industry you are in, automation can increase efficiency and help save resources. Moreover, automating your business processes can give you an edge on the competition through greater savings on labor costs, increased customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.

Derek Jones spearheads key initiatives at Deputy, a global workforce management platform for employee scheduling, timesheets and communication. With a focus on workforce, Derek helps business owners and workforce leaders simplify employment law compliance, keep labor costs in line and build award-winning workplaces. Derek has over 16 years’ experience in delivering data-driven sales and marketing strategies to SaaS companies like MarketSource and Griswold Home Care.

The post 4 Workforce Related Processes That Can Be Automated In Any Business appeared first on CMW Lab Blog.

]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/4-workforce-related-processes-that-can-be-automated-in-any-business/feed/ 0 What is Visual Workflow Management and How Can It Help Your Business? https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/what-is-visual-workflow-management-and-how-can-it-help-your-business/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/what-is-visual-workflow-management-and-how-can-it-help-your-business/#respond Mon, 08 Nov 2021 10:18:59 +0000 http://blog.comindware.com/?p=3652 Visual workflow management is a technique, and it is adaptable to any organizational setup. One essential component of visual workflow management is developing processes that can be visualized from a “top view,” so that all steps in a process can be seen at once. It’s similar to how a flowchart works, but better because you […]

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]]> Visual workflow management is a technique, and it is adaptable to any organizational setup. One essential component of visual workflow management is developing processes that can be visualized from a “top view,” so that all steps in a process can be seen at once. It’s similar to how a flowchart works, but better because you can build automated steps into visual workflows.

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By taking the time to make workflows visually-oriented, you lay a foundation for better information exchange, faster resolution of conflicts, easier near- and long-term planning, and an overall more productive and effective team.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. Benjamin Franklin

Business process management isn’t like a task with a defined start and end date. To get the best results in growing and adapting your business, you need to continually improve your business routine.

So lets’ dive into visual workflows and see how they can help your business.

Visual Workflow Management Demands Outstanding Visualization Tools

Business meeting - manager discussing about visual workflow management Transparency in workflows boosts efficiency and morale.
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Don’t think of a visual workflow designer as just another way to create flowcharts. While visual workflow management used to involve flip charts and handwritten lists, today it may communicate actions step by step and incorporate various rules to change what happens next. For example, a rule may state that if an invoice total is above a certain dollar figure, it must gain the approval of the department head. And the right visual workflow software will automatically determine that the invoice total is above the threshold and route it to the correct person. A visual workflow offers authorized users a “snapshot” of project status and progress at any given time and lets everyone know what the next steps are.

How your team can benefit from workflows:

  • Get your team organized
  • Simplify your processes and keep the projects on track
  • Check project status
  • Get more tasks done in less time

By implementing a visual workflow, you are creating a solid ground to improve communication, data exchange, short and long-term planning. It will obviously result in increased productivity.

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A Visual Workflow Is a Workflow That Makes More Sense

When a workflow is visualized using a visual workflow designer, it’s easier for all project or process participants to see not only what they need to do, but where it fits into the overall project. Suddenly, steps that may have seemed to have no purpose make perfect sense. Modeling and visualizing workflows is typically done in a web-based interface that allows the non-technical user to drag and drop workflow elements and steps into place and incorporate business rules where necessary when decision points are reached in the process. Ideally, your visual workflows should be mobile-friendly for the increasing number of people who use tablets on the job.

What is Visual Workflow Management and How Can It Help Your Business? Example of a workflow scheme

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A visual workflow empowers managers to evolve the workflow and improve it on the fly. It has a high level of adaptability and ensures that a workflow has the maximum possible sense for business.

The Right Visual Workflow Designer Gets Everyone on the Same Page

Three business professionals working together Visual workflows help everyone see their contribution to the overall product.

When everyone involved understands the game plan and strategies, processes and workflows take place with far more precision and efficiency. You don’t want team members feeling as if they’re nothing more than a cog in a complex machine, repeatedly completing certain tasks without ever knowing how they affect the final product. Visual workflow management gets the entire team on the same page, so to speak, and that alone can be great for motivation and morale. Furthermore, visual workflow management allows both management and front-line employees to detect problems and inefficiencies, so they can be rooted out and addressed promptly.

Maybe you have tried a bulk of project management methodology and some of them have made your projects even more complicated for a team – then visual workflow management might be the solution. Visual workflow designer is all about simplicity and makes it a snap to build a simple process, avoid mess and get more tasks done in less time.

Monitoring Workflows Is Easier with Visual Workflow Management

i

What is visual workflow management?

It is an efficient project management approach and technique. Key feature: it makes use of visual cues and flows to aid project implementation and management.

What is visual workflow modeling?

A design feature that allows non-technical users to drag and drop the sequence of events and steps in a workflow along with the various business rules to be met.

Learning the status of even one aspect of a project used to require unacceptable levels of time and effort, but visual workflows help change all that. Has an electronic approval form been completed and forwarded to the approving authority? The right visual workflow automation designer shows you instantly whether it has. Who was the last person to edit a section of the annual report? Visual workflows make it easy to find out. When you can monitor workflows easily, you can identify bottlenecks and problems before they can fester. If a step in a process needs to be modified to make it better, visual workflow management software should allow you to do so easily.

Standard Features and Functions of a Visual Workflow Designer
Features Functions
Global template creation Creating and assigning actions or tasks
Process overview Collaboration on tasks
Visual consistency due to standard toolset Creating parent and child processes
Automatic line and shape drawing Implementing business rules
Linking to switch between tasks and processes Low-code design with drag and drop functionality

Build Your Visual Workflow Foundation Quickly

For those struggling to lay a solid foundation for improved business process, communication, information exchange, rapid problem solving, and boosted productivity it is vital to get a visual workflow foundation built within days or a couple of weeks, not months.

Building visual workflows are logical and easy with CMW Tracker — workflow software. The workflow builder lets you create and manage every step of a business process while incorporating any necessary data and forms. And you don’t have to be a programmer or an IT expert to use it. Simply drag and drop steps into the workflow creator and connect them using data, forms, and business rules. With easily-visualized, logical, repeatable workflows, your organization will be more efficient in its use of time and money and will set the stage for a more engaged, motivated workforce.

Visual Workflow Management
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Artem Kulik is responsible for PR & Content creation for Comindware. He currently explores product development trends, contributes to www.cmwlab.com and provides tips for better use of Comindware BPM-software

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/what-is-visual-workflow-management-and-how-can-it-help-your-business/feed/ 0 How to Deal with a Bottleneck in Business Process https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-a-bottleneck-in-business-process/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-a-bottleneck-in-business-process/#respond Tue, 05 Oct 2021 14:06:44 +0000 https://blog.comindware.com/?p=5644 A bottleneck is a frustrating and troublesome element that many businesses will face. Basically, a bottleneck is a part in a business process where, for whatever reason, there is a delay in the progression of the process. Not only does this mean less efficient operations, but it can also cost the business money. It is […]

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]]> A bottleneck is a frustrating and troublesome element that many businesses will face. Basically, a bottleneck is a part in a business process where, for whatever reason, there is a delay in the progression of the process. Not only does this mean less efficient operations, but it can also cost the business money. It is easy to see why avoiding and quickly addressing bottlenecks in business operations is so important.

Rather than waiting for bottlenecks to occur, it is helpful to have a more proactive plan of action for dealing with bottlenecks. One of the ways you can do this is to use workflow management software such as Comindware Tracker to evaluate and better streamline processes to avoid future bottlenecks in the workflow. This puts you in control and helps ensure that you don’t suffer from unnecessary delays which can be frustrating for employees and consumers alike.

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Using Workflow Software to Detect Bottlenecks

Using tools to analyze your workflows is a great way to avoid or address bottlenecks at any point in your business processes. If you notice that there are unpredictable areas of your workflow, these need to be addressed. It is in these areas where a bottleneck is most likely to occur. You can use the tools to identify bottlenecks and find effective ways to address them.

You can use visual tools in workflow management software by using things like checklists or task cards. Using these tools makes it easy to see where exactly work is piling up. This will show you where your bottleneck or potential bottleneck is and you can then address it.

You can also use this software to visually map activities and elements of a business process. Having these steps laid out in the form of a map or diagram can make it easier to understand how all the steps work together and can make it easier to locate areas where a bottleneck could occur.

What to Do If You Find a Bottleneck

It is all well and good to find areas where a bottleneck might occur and to address it before it happens, but this isn’t always possible. Say, for example, you notice an area in your business process where work is continually piling up. Failing to address this could cause a ton of additional problems you might not expect. It is best to address a bottleneck as soon as possible, otherwise, you could have a cascading effect.

If you find a bottleneck, you may need to rethink how your business process is designed. What is causing one area of the process to get so bogged down as to cause delays in other steps? Perhaps you need more people working on this step or you need to rethink the order a process is completed.

Using batch processes can also be an effective solution. Some things are connected or can easily be bunched together for a batch processing session. This can be a good solution to help avoid unnecessary delays and bottlenecks.

A workflow will continue to change and adapt, just as a business will. It is a huge mistake to think any business process is a set it and forget it kind of thing. They need to be monitored and updated as issues arise or changes need to be made.

Having a visual representation that includes the detailed steps and approvals that are required in a given process makes it far easier to see where potential problems may occur and will allow you to determine where in a process a bottleneck is taking place. You can then take a look at that visual representation to think of ways to redistribute work or to change the order of a process to reduce the chances of bottlenecks in the future.

Bottlenecks Comindware Tracker makes it easy to visualize your workflow, automate it and keep track of possible bottlenecks.
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Timeliness

One of the things that workflow management software like Comindware Tracker can do is make it incredibly easy to locate and deal with a bottleneck. When it comes to the world of business, time is money. You want to be able to address any bottlenecks as quickly as possible and part of this is quick identification. Workflow management software allows you to easily track a wide range of processes and can alert you to any bottlenecks or areas where a bottleneck could possibly occur.

It cannot be overstated how important it is to quickly identify and address a bottleneck before it causes issues with other processes. Delays in on part of a process can quickly cascade into bigger problems in other areas. Using this software makes it simple to keep track of your processes, identify, and address, any bottlenecks that might come up along the way.

In Closing

Bottlenecks, or delays caused by work piling up in a given area of a process, can cause huge headaches for any business. Not only does it reduce the efficiency of your business operations, it can also cost the business money in terms of additional labor and dealing with unhappy clients. This is the last thing a business needs, especially in today’s competitive business world.

Using workflow management software can make it easier for you to identify where bottlenecks are occurring or may occur. This information can then be used to restructure the process to reduce the burden on certain areas and reduce the likelihood of future bottlenecks.

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-a-bottleneck-in-business-process/feed/ 0 Top Workflow Management System Trends and Features https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/workflow-management-system-trends-features/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/workflow-management-system-trends-features/#respond Mon, 01 Feb 2021 09:23:01 +0000 http://blog.comindware.com/?p=3384 New year has come and we believe it is the right time to get insight into workflow management system trends shaping 2022 and suggesting valuable ideas for improving your business effectiveness. Recent years it has become common for CIOs to delve into workflow management through the lens of digital transformation, which is all about ensuring […]

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]]> common for CIOs to delve into workflow management through the lens of digital transformation, which is all about ensuring your business is ready to welcome the future and succeed. In 2022 having focus on digital transformation, Gartner and other research and consulting companies predict the next logical step, which is expected to improve the quality and the efficiency of digital experiences for both businesses and customers. In a word, the next step and a large IT trend is hyperautomation. In this article below, we’ll dive into the key workflow management trends with respect to hyperautomation context and bring to recollection 2018-2021 trends which are still actual.

Hot Workflow Software Trend in 2022

Hyperautomation is a business-driven, disciplined approach that organizations use to rapidly identify, vet and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. It involves the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools or platforms. Gartner
Hyperautomation, which is a huge 2022 trend, brings together technologies like Artificial intelligence (AI), Machine learning, Robotic process automation (RPA) and a vast range of decision, process and task automation tools. It’s hard to imagine a future where all these technologies still operate independently and low-code platforms with advanced workflow management features don’t play a crucial role – they definitely will. In 2022 a powerful workflow management and BPM (business process management) systems become the control center of your successful hyperautomation strategy. A workflow system orchestrates all of the employees and technologies that complete that entire sequence of tasks autonomously and make sure all the resources work together effectively. So, you can easily deploy any of the hyperautomation technologies mentioned above at any waypoint in the workflow and be sure that the entire process will keep generating expected results. So, in 2022 a low-code workflow software, like CMW Tracker, is the beating heart of your hyperautomated, traceable and effective business.

The Key Workflow Software Trend in 2021

In 2020 we highlighted that businesses are switching to a new document management approach and prefer to handle data in document cards instead of getting stuck in scan copies or Word files. This trend stays actual in 2021 as surely as the trend of migrating to an integrated digital business platform instead of standalone applications. The key workflow software trend in 2021 worth your attention is the technology “democratization”. This trend emerged in the 20th century when Apple introduced the Macintosh with a radically new user interface. Do you still remember that at the dawn of the personal computer era users controlled the machines via text commands? Since then, everyone’s got a device that can even respond to your voice commands and help whenever you need it to. Nowadays low-code and no-code technology democratization expands and empowers non-IT professionals to discover and effectively apply specialized skills beyond their expertise. Right now, low-code platforms are a basis supporting the democratization trend to put the power of digital tools into the hands of non-technical users (often named “citizen developers”), so they could develop and design business apps, gain knowledge from expert systems, and do even more. For instance, technology democratization would enable employees to automate workflows without having programming skills. They would instead rely on a low-code / no-code platform like CMW Tracker to generate the business app and ensure proper workflow operation. The synergetic effect of the recent technology democratization and integrated digital business platform adoption trends is rapidly bringing us into the new world:
Smart spaces build on the people-centric notion. A smart space is a physical environment in which people and technology-enabled systems interact in increasingly open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems. Multiple elements — including people, processes, services and things — come together in a smart space to create a more immersive, interactive and automated experience. David CearleyDavid Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. Specializes in emerging and strategic business and technology trends and explores how these trends shape the way individuals and companies derive value from technology

Workflow Software Trends in 2020

Documents Without Documents

The paperless office mantra has made executives’ mouths sore and a significant number of them claim that their companies started heading toward digital transformation and became paperless or lowered their paper footprint. It brings tangible benefits, but many executives report that changing paper-based documents to digital versions in MS Excel or Word doesn’t make enough difference for business. On the way to the much quicker document approval processes businesses tend to consider modern workflow management systems capable of processing data effectively during the approval process, obviating the document exchange steps. For example, in CMW Tracker you can create a document template with all necessary data fields and get the document automatically generated when all data is reviewed and approved by a proper person. Such an approach dramatically improves and speeds up the approval process and fuels digital transformation.

Switching From Standalone Solutions to Platforms

workflow management platform The ongoing digital revolution brought up a whole bunch of new technologies – Big Data and IoT (Internet of Things), neural networks and artificial intelligence, RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and additive technologies, natural language processing, chatbots, and counting. The new technology pilot projects look promising for digital businesses and are expected to bring even more benefits when scaled in the enterprise environment. All these technologies are also perfectly combined with workflow management systems –there are more and more examples of synergy in recent years. Integrated platforms will be implemented, allowing us to consolidate a wide range of digital technologies and get even more benefits from their synergy. Gartner names this new type of platform a Digital Business Technology Platform and encourages CIOs to consider building such a platform to get their companies ready for obstacles and continual change, all while integrating systems and adding new technologies. Experts note that workflow management systems and BPM systems efficiently working in convergence with numerous technologies are expected to be a reliable core of an integrated digital business platform. The above workflow management system trends are emerging, and it’s worth considering them together with the notable 2019 trends that are gaining momentum.

Workflow Software Trends – 2019

A workflow may be a simple sequence of work activities or a complicated collection of processes that take place in parallel. During the past few years, executives realized that workflow automation is vital for business competitiveness, and the BPTrends Report confirms this fact. Year after year businesses report that integrating a workflow management system capability within the company’s methodology can bring tangible and even impressive overall efficiency gains and cost savings. No surprise that companies report their intention to increase spendings on business process management and workflow automation:
How do you expect our organization’s investment in BPM technology is going to change over the course of the next two years?
2017
Increasing by more than 100% 9% 16
Increasing by less than 100% 46% 84
Unchanging 40% 73
Decreasing by less than 50% 4% 7
Decreasing by more than 50% 2% 3
Totals 100% 183

The State of the BPM Market – 2018 BPTrends Report

In recent years the business world has been inundated with talk about the benefits of innovative features needed in the right workflow management solution. In 2019, workflow management matured. Now businesses stop thinking in terms of features when choosing a workflow management system and instead focus on strategic advantages a solution delivers. More businesses are looking to embrace digital transformation, which means blending digital and physical business while improving operational efficiencies and performance. If you’re among the businesses working to reimagine and enhance existing processes, open the door to dynamic, agile workflows and build a digital strategy. Here are the strategic workflow trends to consider in 2019:

Trend 1 – Transforming Customer and Employee Experience

Unarguably, when a person gets used to the convenience of mobile apps for hotel, ride, or flight booking they will never accept the old experience. Expectations from interfaces and overall service experience rise. So, serving customers the usual way would kill your company’s competitiveness. Meanwhile, 84% of organizations working to improve customer experience report an increase in revenue (Dimension Data). Not surprisingly, Gartner surveys confirm customer experience is the new battlefield, with 89% of businesses expectedly soon to be competing mainly on customer experience. In the meantime, employee expectations rise too, and serving employees in an old-fashion way will ruin their loyalty, resulting in high employee turnover and related costs.
New employees who went through a structured onboarding program were 58% more likely to be with the organization after three years.

SHRM Presentation” by The Wynhurst Group

Taking into account new employee expectations, many companies build an automated onboarding process supported by workflow management software to streamline and speed up the employee assessing, hiring, training, and onboarding workflows. It is also worth noting that in addition to a modern onboarding process employees expect to have a one-stop shop for IT-, HR-, procurement and other internal services. So, there’s a trend to converge user-friendly interfaces, easy access from various devices, customer mapping, artificial intelligence, and many other features in concert to serve customers and employees in an ever-improving way. When choosing a workflow management tool, make sure that it is capable of supporting your service improvement initiatives. CMW Platform banner

Trend 2 – Synergy of RPA and Workflow Management

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is gaining momentum as bots can be leveraged quickly and can displace humans in low-level and redundant work. According to Deloitte Global RPA Survey, 53% of respondents have already started their RPA journey and the benefits of RPA adoption are significant across multiple dimensions including:
  • improved compliance (92%)
  • improved quality/accuracy (90%)
  • improved productivity (86%)
  • cost reduction (59%)
Meanwhile, it is important to remember that bots can’t work with implicit processes while humans can. So, in 2019 many businesses use both technologies together: RPA and workflow management. The tasks to complete a workflow are done by bots or humans, while task assignment and flow control are managed by a workflow management solution. This approach becomes more popular and there may come a day when you need humans and bots to work together. So, ensure that your workflow management software has an open API for easy integration with RPA systems and supports human-bot intimate cooperation.

Trend 3 – The Shrinking IT Department Role

In the digital era, the IT department still plays an important role in every company. Meanwhile, according to Gartner Research, the modern IT infrastructure is very different from the one used in the 90s. As more business solutions, including workflow management tools, run in the cloud, have more user-friendly interfaces, and allow no-code changes to the solution business logic, there’s no longer a need to rely on the IT department for all the IT tasks. Modern workflow management software is expected to ensure that employees with basic IT skills can address most of their issues and build workflow applications quickly. A 2017 low-code adoption survey shows that in three-fourths of companies at least some business apps are developed by the civil developers, not the IT departments.

Conclusion

CMW Lab is the company behind one of the most powerful no-code workflow software on the market. With CMW Tracker, you can easily create workflow graphical models, define role-based access, and design workflow patterns with tremendous flexibility. Furthermore, you get features like form pre-filling, easy-to-use status views, and powerful reporting, all in a cloud solution that takes away the worry of on-site server and software maintenance.
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Look ahead by looking back

Below you will find a retrospective look at our evolving understanding of the must-have workflow solution features, which have progressed as new technologies have matured.

Workflow software features you needed in 2018

1. Easy-to-use Graphical Workflow Builder The first step to understanding and potentially streamlining a process is to create a graphical model of the process. It is a formal description or a diagram that defines the process steps and each step’s results. Intuitive visual modeling is one of the most valued workflow management software (WMS or WfMS) features. With a graphical model, you can see the process and activity definitions, resources, individual and department roles, along with the expected outputs from all process steps. By capturing and depicting the process flow, you get all team members on the same page and help everyone understand why they’re doing their tasks. Here is an example of a workflow created in CMW Tracker with simple drag-and-drop:
Easy Graphical Modeling of Processes in Workflow System

The right workflow management system keeps everyone in the loop and makes tracking complex projects easier.

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2. Access Control Based on Participant Responsibilities The fact that modeling and transparency are desirable workflow management system features doesn’t imply that anyone should be able to alter the process or access workflow phases in which they’re not involved. Your workflow management software should allow you to define who is supposed to do what. People with various process roles should be able to update their status but shouldn’t have access to the entire workflow. At the same time, a project or workflow manager should be able to reassign roles when needed. Administrators should be able to do this quickly, and with ease. 3. Flexibility of Workflow Patterns Some workflows are simple sequences. Some consist of multiple sequences working in parallel. And some workflows contain several process tiers that must be accomplished in a particular order or a mixture of process types. (What is a workflow?) The flexibility to design and model workflows in different ways is one of the features workflow management software should not skimp on. Ideally, a workflow management system should define and guide processes, but not constrain them. Every organization has particular workflows, and workflow management software shouldn’t stand in the way of creating the exact patterns and workflows that are necessary. To support the execution of workflows in a restless world with shortening cycle times, workflow management tools must provide reliable support for flexibility in easy and simple ways. CMW Tracker ensures benefits in the long run and delivers dynamic, adaptive, and flexible workflows thanks to the support of on-the-fly changes to workflows, forms, and data with visual tools and without coding:
workflows and change them on-the-fly

Create your workflows and quickly change them on the fly and without coding using a visual workflow builder.

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4. An Option to Pre-Fill Forms This may sound like a nice convenience, but once you use workflow management software that allows pre-filled forms, you won’t want to go back to doing it any other way. One of the greatest workflow management software benefits is being able to automate repetitive processes, and pre-filled forms can go a long way toward accomplishing this. When data is entered once, it can populate multiple forms, cutting down duplication effort significantly and helping keep error rates down as well. Pre-filled forms may not sound like a big deal, but it is one of the most important features workflow management systems can offer.
Electronic Forms Workflow in Workflow Management Software

Pre-filled forms go a long way toward streamlining work processes.

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Workflow software features you needed in 2017

1. Easy-to-Interpret Task Status Visual Representation Workflow management software (WMS or WfMS) should let project or workflow participants check on task status at any time. Features like automatic email alerts, which can tell the next person in a sequence that the process is ready for their input, help keep things on track. But being able to check at any time whether a particular step has been accomplished can save a lot of time and phone calls to project participants asking the step statuses. Knowing where everyone is in a workflow helps your team members plan their activities effectively, for maximum efficiency in executing the workflow steps.
Visual Representation of Task Status in Workflow Management System

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2. Visual Form Builder Every workflow is expected to be associated with a proper web form for convenient and reliable data collection. And nowadays it is difficult to accept a scenario when you have to rely on IT guys with programming skills whenever you need to add a new form field. In 2017 it is common to have a workflow management system that delivers a drag-and-drop form builder to create your perfect forms and correct them on the run without coding skills.
Graphical Form Builder with business rules

Create as many fields as needed, add tables, group related fields into sections, and empower your forms with business rules.

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3. Reporting Features Workflow Management Software Should Have Reporting features, particularly when coupled with strong workflow analytics, are among the most valuable workflow management software features. Automated workflows are designed to make it easy to understand the performance. But when reports can be generated easily to show who is doing (or has done) what, when the next step is likely to be accomplished, and what workflow participants are still waiting on, everyone has a better understanding of their accountability. Plus, it’s empowering to look at a workflow report and see the actual results of your work. Look for a workflow management solution that offers a dashboard interface that facilitates easy report creation.
dashboard of workflow management system

A role-based dashboard of your workflow management system adds value

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4. The Cloud Hosting Convenience While there are still some businesses that need their work management software running on their on-premise servers, most businesses can take advantage of the many benefits a cloud-hosted solution offers. Cloud solutions are cost-effective, easy to scale up or down, and offer employees the flexibility of working from any number of devices and locations. If you have work team members located elsewhere or telecommuting, a cloud workflow management system is the only way to go. Cloud systems ensure the latest patches have been installed by the vendor, and that everyone working on a project is using the latest version of the workflow management system at all times. Give a try to a workflow management software by CMW Lab and make sure it is as user-friendly and flexible as this digital era demands.
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Helena Haidu is an Online Marketing Manager at CMWlab. and a passionate advocate for empowering executive managers onward to workflow automation and running their businesses efficiently.

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/workflow-management-system-trends-features/feed/ 0 5 Ways Workflow Analysis Helps Your Business https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/5-ways-workflow-analysis-helps-your-business/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/5-ways-workflow-analysis-helps-your-business/#respond Tue, 29 Dec 2020 08:32:40 +0000 http://blog.comindware.com/?p=3551 Technology, markets, and customers change, and workflow monitoring is necessary so that business processes continually meet the needs of a competitive marketplace. The first step in accomplishing this is workflow analysis, so you can accurately evaluate current workflows. Workflow analysis basically includes continuous workflow monitoring, analysis of individual steps in workflow automation processes, and how […]

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]]> workflow monitoring is necessary so that business processes continually meet the needs of a competitive marketplace. The first step in accomplishing this is workflow analysis, so you can accurately evaluate current workflows. Workflow analysis basically includes continuous workflow monitoring, analysis of individual steps in workflow automation processes, and how those steps are connected to each other. Sometimes a single change in one part of a process can accelerate (or slow down) subsequent parts of a process. Workflow analysis benefits businesses in numerous ways. Read on for 5 of the most important of those ways.

CMW Platform banner Workflow analysis benefits businesses in numerous ways. Here are 5 of the most important of those ways.

1. By Increasing Overall Efficiency

People tasked with improving a workflow analyse each aspect of a work process and look at the entire process mapped end to end. What steps can be automated, or changed from paper-based to network-based? Workflow analysis tools assist with taking a fresh look at the many individual steps that make up a workflow so that inefficiencies can be identified and technology upgraded as indicated. The result is an organization that runs more smoothly, wastes less time and money, and is poised for better revenues.

Process Gas Welding At Plant For Production Of Bridge Structures
Whether you make steel beams for bridges or wedding videos, efficient workflows are essential.

2. By Optimizing Utilization of Physical Space

It’s possible today to use workflow analysis tools to help facilities managers make the absolute most of an organization’s physical space. Are printers located too far from the people who use them most? Could rack servers be replaced by micro-servers to keep the size of your data center under control? Workflow monitoring tools make it easier on facilities managers when it comes to assigning office space, locating major office equipment, and making decisions about how to implement changes when necessary.

3. By Making Customers Happier

Workflow analysis ultimately results in happier customers, if it’s implemented properly. For example, a workflow analysis could be used to better understand the operations of your contact center. Then, when choices need to be made about hiring or technology, they’re made on a foundation of strong workflows and designed to improve workflows even more. When your customer base feels understood and knows that assistance is just a phone call, email, or live chat away, they’re more likely to remain loyal to your business.

4. By Making Regulation Compliance Easier

Audit Button On Keyboard for start Workflow Analysis
If you’re ever audited, you’ll be glad you invested in workflow monitoring to ensure all necessary workflow analysis steps are taken to ensure compliance.

Workflow analysis tools can be put to work ensuring that all steps that are necessary for compliance with applicable regulations are completed, logged, and reported as necessary. The healthcare industry and the various financial services industries are bound by numerous regulations and reporting requirements. By building accountability and the logging of steps into affected workflows, audit trails can be created on demand, you always have information to reassure you of compliance, and creating annual reports is far easier.

5. By Boosting Employee Morale

Nobody likes feeling like they’re locked into antiquated, inefficient work processes. Some people may actually propose technology or work process changes, and then feel as if nobody listens. But workflow monitoring reassures both front-line workers and management that inefficiencies can be identified, causes for them determined, and changes made to remedy them. When an employee knows that his or her area of responsibility is being carried out efficiently, with minimum risk of error, workplace morale increases.

What is the First Step in Workflow Analysis?

You are likely to ensure convenient monitoring of the automated workflows. Take into account that workflow analysis approach is unique for every business and usually change in course of time, so there is no workflow analysis example or best practice that would fit all. So, spare neither efforts nor time and ensure that workflow software you choose is flexible enough and can be easily adjusted to your new approaches and business needs. Get ready to your long and fruitful workflow analysis and improvement journey and ensure success. We designed a super flexible workflow software for those who need reliable and easy tools on their way.

Why workflow software by Comindware?

Rare is the workflow that can remain static in the face of changes in technology, market forces, and the customer base, but workflow monitoring reassures organizations that they’re keeping up and staying competitive. Understanding, fine-tuning, and monitoring workflows helps prevent organizations from falling into inefficient processes, which is especially important in industries where regulation is heavy and constantly subject to change. Comindware Tracker is designed so that non-IT personnel can map, assess, improve, and monitor workflows, whether in a single department or across the entire organization, and can make all the difference when it comes to remaining competitive.

5 Ways Workflow Analysis Helps Your Business
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Helena Haidu is an Online Marketing Manager at CMWlab. and a passionate advocate for empowering executive managers onward to workflow automation and running their businesses efficiently.

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]]> https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/5-ways-workflow-analysis-helps-your-business/feed/ 0 Business Process Analysis: From Definition to Examples https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/business-process-analysis-from-definition-to-examples/ https://www.cmwlab.com/blog/business-process-analysis-from-definition-to-examples/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2020 14:55:04 +0000 https://blog.comindware.com/?p=5284 Business process analysis is an important and not well-understood aspect of business management. The term refers to a set of methods used to track and learn about the efficiency of various business processes. It is a means by which one can determine how well their strategic planning is working and how well they are meeting […]

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]]> Business process analysis is an important and not well-understood aspect of business management. The term refers to a set of methods used to track and learn about the efficiency of various business processes. It is a means by which one can determine how well their strategic planning is working and how well they are meeting any set goals.

Without a good business process analysis, there is a lot of wasted time, inefficiency, and delays when it comes to meeting specific goals. When you have a good means of business process analysis, you can easily see how well the business is working towards goals, where inefficiencies may lay, and even determining potential problems and how they might be addressed.

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What is business process analysis?

It is important to understand that there is a difference between business process analysis and business analysis. The latter refers to overall business operations and macro issues, whereas business process analysis refers to steps within a specific process. This is typically used on the core functions of any business and can help troubleshoot, solve problems, as well as improve various parts of the process. How well does the process meet the needs it is designed to address? How can it be improved? These are questions that can be answered with business process analysis.

Some key ways business process analysis can help:

  • Determining aspects or areas causing issues or delays
  • Learning what does and doesn’t work in a given process
  • Deciding whether to scrap, change, or completely redo a business process
  • Determining whether the process is as efficient as it can be

There are tons of great choices when it comes to business process analysis software and much of it, such as that we offer here at Comindware, helps to automate and dramatically increase the efficiency of this process, providing untold benefits to businesses large and small. One can see the myriad of benefits that can result from using this software and it is a great way to troubleshoot processes that seem to be running inefficiently or regularly causing issues, errors, or delays.

Business Process Analysis
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With software like this, you can work to identify where delays are occurring, what aspects of the process are running slowly or inefficiently, what processes need to be revisited or edited, and more. A good, thorough analysis can be helpful for employees or other people involved in the process that are struggling to visualize or understand a given process.

Business process analysis examples

While it can be easy to understand the value of business process analysis conceptually, it might be a bit more difficult to figure out in the specific context of the work you are doing. There are several common business process analysis examples that are regularly used by businesses large and small that we will briefly touch on here.

Root cause analysis: this type of analysis is used to determine what caused a process not to work and what aspects can be addressed to fix it.

Observation: as the name implies, this allows you to simply watch a process and see how it plays out to determine whether there needs change. There is also a subset of this that is often called experience observation, which entails watching and talking to those involved in the process being analyzed to get their input and see what issues they have noticed.

Value-added analysis: this lets you determine whether a particular process or aspect within a process adds value and if it doesn’t, it may be removed.

Gap analysis: this allows you to determine whether there are aspects, functions, or tasks in a process that are missing so they can be fixed.

These examples show how this software can help streamline, improve outcomes, and give warning that a process is not functioning optimally. It provides for greater transparency and sharing of information between parties within the organization. It allows one to see how a process is performing, troubleshoot, and even provide better new employee training and guidance.

In closing

It is vital to ensure that any process your business runs is performing the function it is designed for in an efficient and meaningful way. Business process analysis refers to looking deep into each aspect of a process to determine whether it is the most efficient means of achieving a goal or not. Analysis also helps you find and root out inefficiencies or issues within a given process that could be slowing the entire process down. Process management and analysis software provides invaluable ability to improve the effectiveness of strategic planning and make it easier to achieve the desired goals.

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Helena Haidu is an Online Marketing Manager at CMWlab. and a passionate advocate for empowering executive managers onward to workflow automation and running their businesses efficiently.

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