"When", "Who", "What"...Recording them is very important for a company.
Needs for operation recording is not a company request of today. Looking back a decade, even a century, we can say that we have continued to seek appropriate amount of recordings on the balance of 'cost for recording' and 'worth of the record'
But today, demands for "More detailed operation record" are growing for following two major points of view
Smartphone, tablet device, laptop computer, it is not uncommon to use multiple information devices in one person now.
In particular, Android phone and iPhone and other smartphones are not only to display information, as well as to record "still picture" and "video" or "Location (GPS)", so that we can call them Highly Practical Information Devices.
And traditional Information Security Policy of a company that simply "to prohibit taking information devices out of company" is out of fashion. In other words, we are in the situation that must engage "using the system from outside" or "business use of private devices" under some sort of policy.
Today, more accurate, more reliable "trail record" has been required under the flow of Internal Control (Sarbanes‐Oxley act) and Personal Information Protection.
In paper work processing (so called "Stamp flow"), route mistake and documents lost happens at settlement processes which handling concentrates. When using paper document for decision agreement, in realistic, some people might dishonestly fill 'past date' for adherence to their business regulations.
e.g.:
"The events in the company" should be recorded precisely and automatically, by computer. That means breaking away from "environment with tampering and frauds".
There are varieties of types of operational record. In which perspective should a company design its information system?
To compare above two, 2 is far more cumbersome. For example, it is not enough that only "the decision on the proposal" to be recorded, "who was the originator and when the during approval was given?" need to be recorded as well. Not enough saving "Complaint sentence and respondents to it", need the record of "who made the primary response and where stacks were?"
It sure is not easy to manage business process.
Especially, when the first time engaging in Business Process management, there are troubles to overcome, such as 1.to verify the current workflow, 2.to draw a chart of how an operation should flow (Workflow chart), 3.to determine person in charge for the process (allocation rule), 4.to think input and output of each process, 5.each processing to be recorded.
Standing in the medium term perspective, however, maintenance of these business processes and business rules is the only activity that leads to major improvements. To speak figuratively,
To flow operations on default Workflow and to record them automatically is the only when "improvement" can be possible. That means that it is possible to sublimate the business process itself to the source of "Competitiveness".
So far, to modify the information systems according to the changes in business processes required system engineer's effort for programming. However, "Model Driven Architecture (MDA) Technology", which makes it possible to modify business system with Drag & Drop, requires no programming knowledge to do it. That is, autonomous "improvement" on business system by field supervisor themselves within company, become possible.
Today, a paradigm shift is occurring, from the age that In-house system operating (on-premise / licensed maintenance) was standard, into thinking it naturally about cloud based information system. In particular, companies using Lotus Notes workflow which with multi-function is shifting to more easy operation system, because of the large cost for operating and customizing. BPM tools, which costs very small for the modification of the Workflow, is expected as substitution.
BPM tools which widely absorb the company's information also collect "information that should be stored in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Data Base Management System (DBMS)". It will be able to store more accurate and reliable data by making the system that ERP and DBMS gets required information from data which BPM collected, rather than developing separate interfaces for input and update to ERP and DBMS. And it also provides cost reduction when changing Workflow and in-house operation of information system , because it minimizes the influence to the DBMS and ERP.
workflow, business process management, saas, bpmn, software
