Stop tracking procedures, introduce workflows!

What do you spend most of your time on? Checking whether this is done, that report was printed, those conditions were met? Telling people how to follow procedures?

Of course, your job can be “running around all day and keep asking the same people the same questions”. Checking: Did you do this? What happened to that? And once in a while you get the answer: “Well, eh, in this case… Eh, that was not done…”. Proving you right checking everything everytime, over and over again.

Is there no way to make things easier? Yes, there is!

Think of introducing workflows, but just a little bit different. On all of the documents in our system (e.g. Receipt, Shipment, Weigh Document) you can use a Status Template. With this template you give directions to get the order done. When processing a document, the user has to follow those directions, there is no other way. There is no way a user sneaked around the procedure – unless in case he dit not do what he told to the system he did do… A fool with a tool still is a fool – Grady Booch.
And then you know: when status 40 is reached, all statuses before have passed. So all handling in these statuses have been done. And while processing the document with RF-scanning for example, also the status will be changed. Giving you realtime insight in the handling by the warehouse employees.

Besides the certainties, you get nice features:

1. You can setup the conditions that have to be met before the order can get to the next state. Examples: all services have to be invoiced, certain fields have to be populated.
2. You can setup actions the system has to do. Examples: print a report, add servicelines, send an email.
3. It will almost be fully tailormade. Although using parts of our standard solution, the workflow will be YOUR organization’s workflow.
4. Add a filter by state to group the orders and get your people focussed on the right things.
5. Show the amount of orders in a certain status in a Cue on your Role Center. Of course you can also try using the Charts or add filters to the Navigation Pane.

Briefly there is a choice:

keep chasing your tail, or make the next step and introduce workflows!

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