Anyone can design their own original workflows, from scratch or based on a sample from our abundant sample collection. Workflows are editable on browsers (*), so the processes can be managed by separate people. (*) Requires Flash player (Adobe Flash Player version 10)
(*) Data types: text, numeric, select, date, date & time, file, user, discussion board.
Complex workflows that include loops, split conditions, flow changes according to specification, concurrent processing, etc., are easy, too. (We predict a complex workflow with around 10 steps would take about one hour…)
Once a process model is defined, merely pressing the “activate” button puts it right into the operating workflow system. No need to commission a programmer or system manager. And of course, users can also as easily and immediately implement changes in rules or procedures.
Workflow definitions can be exported and saved outside the system, to be used in other departments or as templates.
A workflow can be designed to send out automatic emails at a specified point. The process data (inputted data) can be included in these emails, so they can be used for internal as well as external notifications.
Timer Start events are convenient if you want to, say, make all employees submit a “monthly review of expenses” by the third of every month. This will make it easy to spot employees who haven’t sent it in yet.
Also, the Message API can be used to start processes from an external source. See the Message API page for details.
BPMN: An international standard for defining process models (workflows). The standard maintains definitions of task and event icons. Today, workflows in the SOX Act are more often written in BPMN. Up until BPMN 1.2 the official name was Business Process Modeling Notation, but was changed to Business Process Model and Notation with the BPMN 2.0 upgrade (January 2011). [Click here for details]
Offer: To offer work to a prospective employee. Not all work automatically has a pre-specified employee. When it is not yet clear which team member will be in charge of a task, the task is first “offered” to all members and waits to be accepted. [Click here for details]
Process Data: The set of data that is handed down through each process model (workflow). These are things like “purchased items,” “billed amount,” “comments on approval,” etc., and are passed along from upstream tasks to downstream tasks. Each employee’s position and authorization establish the limit of how much process data he/she has access to. [Click here for details]
Process Model: The definition of a workflow, or the overview of a sequence of tasks. Workflow overviews generally include three types of information: (1) Flow, (2) Person in charge, and (3) Handled data. The flow is usually conveyed by a diagram and split conditions. (Also called business process) [Click here for datails]
Business Process Rules: Rules regarding workflow processing and that can be verbalized. There are numerous types of business process rules; some involve how to handle a certain data (e.g., “an expense that is approved by section head and exceeds 10K USD has to be approved by department head”), some concern depend on the environment of a process (e.g., “in case a new employee is in charge of the job”), etc. Many business process rules influence the flow’s path. A process rules engine is a tool for managing internal rules and making sure all rules are reflected in a company’s processes. Questetra BPM Suite is equipped with a process rules engine.
workflow, business process management, saas, bpmn, software
