If you were poling a boat down a slow-moving river, at times you might feel you were going nowhere, just swirling around in currents, bumping into boulders, getting stuck in eddies and sometimes getting stranded on the shore for a while. But someone watching from a bridge above would see that you were actually moving steadily forward toward a destination and the power of the water would eventually take you there regardless of obstacles and interruptions.
The journey of life is like this. So is the journey of documents and images in an office. They get bandied about, stuck in piles and held by people who become attached to them. Workflow software is the hydraulic power that takes these images and documents to their valhalla of ultimate usefulness. It makes sense out of a chaos of images and other electronic files. It pushes files on their journey through reviews, changes and approvals in different departments until they have finally accomplished some business purpose.
Maybe you're processing insurance claims. Maybe you're approving mortgages. Perhaps expenses need to be reviewed and approved. Or maybe you're trying to hire a new person and need several people's opinions and approval of your
candidates' resumes.
For these and many other jobs, workflow software helps. Most workflow products automate standard procedures by imposing a set of sequential rules on the procedure. Each task, when finished, automatically initiates the next logical step in the process until the entire procedure is completed. Workflow software schedules processing, routes documents automatically among departments and tracks document status. It's a slave driver, a courier and a coach. Lower-key ad hoc workflow products are less structured and don't necessarily live by rules. They give you a way to route work around as you need to.
Workflow technology is usually broken into ad hoc, production, administrative and routing categories. Many products fit
into two or three categories. You can also break workflow software products down by what they do and how they're sold.
The first workflow products were the children of imaging and document management systems like FileNET's. FileNET claims to have coined the term workflow. A common way to buy workflow is as a built-in module of a broader product like imaging or document management.
Some component workflow modules focus on portions of imaging and workflow. Image capture software such as Cornerstone's (San Jose, CA 408-435-8900) Input Accel and Kofax's (Irvine, CA 714-727-1733) Ascent offer workflow for the early jobs of scanning and indexing documents. Forms processing companies such as Datacap, FormWare and MTI offer data capture workflow for all the steps involved in pulling information off a form and exporting it to a database.
Workflow is also sold by itself as a standalone software product. In this case workflow acts like a glue or middleware that lets you flow work between applications and departments across the company.
Standalone workflow software might let an employee in the marketing department electronically fill out a purchase order and send that purchase order to the supervisor, then to accounting, then to the purchasing department, etc. until the order has been filled. They could then take the order back to accounts payable for payment and accounted to the marketing department. It may handle travel requisitions, petty cash approval, expense reports and other general business tasks. This type of workflow software has to be open and capable of working with your other applications, databases, file servers and workstations.
A third way workflow is sold is as a taskmaster for a very specific job. Quark's (Denver, CO 303-894-8888) QPS, for example, is a prepress workflow product. These products know how to manage one intricate set of tasks very well.
However they're sold, most workflow products are based on email messages, documents, rules or tasks. Messaging products provide simple routing of work among people. They're good for collaboration on work. They don't necessarily keep track of the work, deadlines and all the steps to completion. They may not realize if a message gets lost as a result of a message database error or somebody's ignoring a job.
Database-centric systems track everything through a database. Thick clients frequently check with the database to see what's going on.
Many popular workflow systems combine messaging with a database. The database keeps track of documents and work. The actual instructions and reminders are sent to people through email. Some are based on the document. They're triggered by the arrival of a document, such as a purchase order, that sets work in motion. They know where the document should go and follow it to its destination. They may include pointers to documents in email messages to people or attach the documents to the emails. Others focus more on the process.
1. Flexibility. People aren't robots. Jobs don't always get done in the perfect order. Like a rigid, Nazi-like managing editor who never permits excuses or changes, workflow software that doesn't allow for exceptions and changes will be ineffective and unpopular.
2. Structure. A free-spirited, ad hoc routing program may work well for certain creative projects. But most jobs go through specific tasks, that's why you can use workflow software on them. Too much flexibility and not enough rules defeat the purpose of workflow. The workflow should be strong enough and intelligent enough to know what should happen when and who should do which tasks. Standard processes like approving insurance claims benefit from a very predictable workflow structure.
3. Easy workflow construction. Many workflow programs have a graphical workflow designer that lets you add and delete processes by clicking and dragging objects on and off of your workflow map. Some don't have a graphical map, but have picklists that you arrange in the right sequence of events. Either way can be fine. You shouldn't have to write scripts or code.
4. Openness. Workflow sometimes has to act like middleware or glue that lets you move projects in and out of your other applications. The workflow needs to integrate easily into your other applications. Signs of openness in a workflow product:
Support for basic reporting packages such as Excel and Lotus 123. Pure Standalone Workflow
Companies that focus their products on workflow need to make all-purpose products that work in perfect harmony and cooperation with your other application software. They should be able to work with documents, but not be dependent on documents.
Compliance with standards, an open API and live examples of integration with other software programs are critical. Proven ability to deal with your type of work process helps. Finding a broad workflow product that works with all your applications across all your platforms saves you money. Programmers only need to develop to one workflow software. Train people on one workflow system instead of many. Share file servers among departments.
Action Technologies' (Alameda, CA 510-521-6190) Metro ($25,000+) is a Web-based product that runs on Netscape's Enterprise Server 2.0 and Microsoft's Internet Information Server 2.0. It has three components.
One is a set of more than 20 Internet application templates that work as out-of-the-box applications for jobs like human resources benefits requests and accounts payable. You can extend and customize these templates to fit the way you handle these tasks.
The second component is a workflow application development tool called Process Builder. You map your process on this tool and it automatically generates the right application code.
The third component is an application server and workflow engine.
For those that don't want to deploy completely on the Web, Metro works with email systems like Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange.
Some companies that buy this system already have a document management system with built-in workflow, such as OpenText or Documentum, but need to make it work with other applications. Metro adheres to open standards such as LDAP.
InConcert's (Cambridge, MA 617-868-4700) InConcert version 3.6 workflow toolkit ($500/seat) is "process-centric" workflow installed at 150 companies. This object-oriented toolkit's central point of reference is a chart of tasks and their dependencies on other tasks. When one person has finished their role in a job, it appears on the next person's task list.
InConcert has a document management system with library-like check in and check out of documents. "It's like a librarian on steroids," says Betty Zakheim, director of marketing. "The documents are well controlled and distributed to the right people at the right time."
If a task involves one or more documents, the author or the first person to work on the document checks it into InConcert, which stores it in a central repository. When the first person is done with the job, InConcert knows to set in motion the next task or set of tasks. The second person checks out the document and it appears on his or her desktop. That person can edit it, check it back in and signal to the software that they're done.
InConcert's workflow can also be kicked off automatically. If you're scanning and OCRing forms, the OCR step could trigger a set of workflow functions.
The user interface is an automated to do list that's sorted by priority and that looks like email. Each item on the to do list contains pointers to any documents the person would need to do the task. Communication between clients and the server is not actually through email but through remote procedure calls. The program works with Oracle, Sybase and Informix SQL databases.
InConcert manages and keeps track of every event that happens within a work process. It tells you when a document got checked in and checked out, how long the job took, what the due dates are. "If the task hasn't been started in adequate time to finish by the due date, InConcert sends a reminder by email to electrify the person's seat," jokes Zakheim.
Although this is a toolkit, it's meant
to be used out of the box without programming. It comes with user interfaces and
a graphical design tool to draw the workflow process.
JetForm's (Ottawa, ON 613-751-4800) InTempo enterprise workflow software ($20,000 for 100 users) runs on Windows NT and works with thin clients, such as Web/intranet browsers and network computers, or traditional thick-client applications.
InTempo workflows handle structured data, such as forms, or unstructured information, such as text and images. The software works with messaging systems like Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Mail, Lotus Notes, Lotus cc:Mail and SMTP/POP3. Web browser clients such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Netscape Communicator are also supported.
It has a graphical process design tool. It uses time-based controls. If a particular request has not been reviewed in a certain number of days, InTempo can reroute the item to an alternate approver. It bases workflows on rules and roles that specify who is to participate in a workflow and the levels of actions they are permitted to perform. InTempo supports alternates and substitutes to the assigned people and jobs.
JetForm also offers other workflow products, such as FormFlow, basic forms routing software they bought from Delrina.
Mosaix's (Alameda, CA 510-337-2000) Viewstar 5.0 ($125,000 for 25 concurrent users) has been installed at more than 300 large organizations like banks, insurance companies and large call centers. Viewstar received three facelifts in its latest release, which runs on Windows NT and BackOffice.
First, 5.0 is computer telephony integration enabled. That means that in addition to working with fax and email, Viewstar works with ACDs, PBXs, IVR systems and other telephony devices as part of the workflow process.
Second, Viewstar's been Internet enabled. Users can participate in workflow from a Web browser, from a thin client or from a full Windows client.
Third, Mosaix has added a fifth database to the product. This is a customer database. The workflow engine approaches other databases and pulls certain customer information from other databases into this Viewstar database. This way, when a customer calls for the seventh time about a problem, call center reps can see what happened in the first six calls. A telemarketer can find out a customer's history and what additional products to pitch the person.
Viewstar supports all host mainframe databases as well as Oracle, Sybase, Informix and NT SQL servers. It works with other applications via ActiveX and OLE links.
Staffware's (Bedford, MA 617-271-0003) Staffware product is for installations with at least 200 users. It's running on 4,500 servers and 200,000 seats. The company says this product has a fast deployment time and is easy to use.
Sysgenics' (London 011-44-181-296-9091) e-work for Windows NT starts at $1,000 for a workflow engine, a graphical workflow designer and three clients. This software is database-based. It ships with a Microsoft SQL server. It runs on a TCP/IP network.
A graphical workflow designer lets you create workflows by dragging and dropping objects and drawing lines between them. There are four types
of objects.
One is a user action that prompts a user to do something such as review a form and press a button to approve it.
Another is a timed action where something happens after a predefined interval -- for example, three working days after the folder arrives here if nothing's happened, the software will escalate it to another person.
A third is a conditional action that branches to different tasks. You could set it so if an executive requests a business class ticket, it goes to a supervisor for approval, but if he requests a coach ticket it goes straight to the travel department for processing.
A fourth is a flagged action that lets two other procedures integrate with each other. It could let another application such as document management raise a flag that creates a new folder in a procedure. It could stop a folder halfway through a procedure and wait for a flag to be raised before moving on. The flag itself is typically an OLE or DICOM message.
The database holds the workflow sequence. The workflow engine, which may or may not be on the same server as the database, acts as the interface between the client and the database. The workflow engine updates the database when a task has been done. It makes sure each item adheres to the business rules and goes to the right person at the right time.
Electronic folders of work are passed from person to person assigned in the work process. The folders can contain forms and files, including TIFF, Word and Excel files. When a worker receives work, their to do list is updated. There's also a general watch list posted that shows the status of the work in the workflow. That way if you've started a workflow process, for example ordering plane tickets to Boston, and two days before you leave they haven't arrived, you can look at the watch list and see who to hurry along. Use e-work to create an audit trail that records who did what tasks when.
Workflow for Imaging and Document Management
The three big, long-time contenders here are Eastman Software (formerly Wang and before that Sigma), FileNET and IBM.
Eastman Software's (Billerica, MA 508-967-8000) OPEN/workflow for Windows NT works with its OPEN/image and OPEN/coldplus software. The entire system starts at $34,000 for 10 users. The latest version offers enterprise catalog visibility and locking, unified log-on with NT server, global workflow variables and user worksets and workflow history access.
OPEN/workflow's distributed architecture lets you store files in multiple archive bins and use one master catalog to track all the files.
A RouteBuilder module lets you create new workflows for automated production processes -- defining rules, routing, data, applications, variables and conditions without having to write code.
OPEN/workflow can be linked to other applications through an OLE automation interface or a mainframe interface.
FileNET (Costa Mesa, CA 714-966-3400) is a workflow pioneer. They've been selling workflow for imaging since the early 1980s. Visual Workflo and Ensemble were both created for imaging and document management. Both can be used independently of other FileNET software components.
Visual Workflo (client software starts at $500/user) is object-oriented workflow for production applications. Tasks and entire business processes are reusable. It's used in highly structured, high-volume and often regulated processes such as insurance claim processing and loan origination that don't change every day. You don't have to be a programmer to create the workflow process -- a business analyst can go in and change the workflow when something comes up.
Visual Workflo uses OLE and ActiveX controls. Use them to develop applications through your weapon of choice: Visual Basic, PowerBuilder
or C++.
Work can be branched to
different people or departments depending on conditions in Visual Workflo. A supervisor may get claims for more than $10,000, a clerk may get claims that involve less than $5,000.
Ensemble ($1,000/five-users) is email-based workflow for highly collaborative processes such as getting a press release out the door. It runs on Windows 95 and Windows NT. Workflows can be created by the people who best understand the process. Generally they aren't business analysts or IS people. This product is written for the end user. It works with Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise.
When a user initiates a workflow, Ensemble creates a MAPI form that's sent to the next person in the work chain. It tells them what to do with instructions, deadlines and attachments. When a deadline approaches, a pop-up reminder dialog appears on the person's "workflow center" -- a filter that pulls out all workflow items out of their email. Each worker has a "daily directory" -- a data folder that tracks the workflows they're participating in.
IBM's (White Plains, NY 914-431-7676) FlowMark is installed in 200 companies. The basic server software is $10,000, clients are $700 each with volume discounts. It runs on Windows NT, AIX, HP-UX and OS/2 platforms.
FlowMark offers out-of-the-box integration to Lotus Notes. About two-thirds of its sales have been with IBM's ImagePlus imaging software. The rest have been integrated into other application software. FlowMark links to NT applications through OLE automation. For OS/2 IBM has a technique called service broker that links applications together.
The graphical workflow design model can be configured by anybody with a technical leaning. It works with an object relational database.
Cyco's (Atlanta, GA 404-634-3302) AutoManager WorkFlow ($900/one license, discounts after that) provides document management and workflow for more than 200 types of files including images and AutoCAD files.
This product helps you manage engineering drawings along with other types of documents in a workflow over the Internet or a company network. It runs on Windows 95, NT, 3.1 and DOS and works with Novell Netware, Windows NT and other networks.
Keyfile's (Nashua, NH 603-883-3800) Keyflow ($3,500/server, $200/seat) is a collaborative workflow based on Microsoft Exchange. It's BackOffice certified and runs on NT.
Email systems like this make it easy to link different departments. Two or more departments can then work on a feasibility study of a proposed new product through email. It's easy to grow the system throughout a large enterprise. Email hasn't traditionally been used for mission-critical workflow applications, but the technology is getting more powerful.
"We're not the Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield application of a quarter million dental claims a day," says Roger Sullivan, Keyfile's VP marketing. "We're doing 5,000 to 10,000 items or flows per day. As a messaging platform, Exchange can handle over 200,000 messages per day per server."
Documents can be dragged and dropped onto the graphical workflow map. Or they can simply be attached to Exchange messages. Any OLE or ActiveX object can be an attachment to a workflow and those objects or documents can be linked to external data sources such as mainframe records or spreadsheets to help people make decisions.
New tasks arrive in users' Exchange inboxes. Exchange has inbox wizards that let you segregate different types of messages, such as purchase orders or travel requests, and put them in separate folders within the Exchange directory services. This way you don't mix email chitchat and your daily joke with mission-critical business processes.
This product ships with sample code for simple tasks like inventory checks, credit checks, assigning salespeople to territories and making decisions based on authority levels. Using Visual Basic, you can create your own specialized tasks.
Keyflow has an object oriented database that takes SQL queries.
Lava's (Toronto, ON 416-236-5282) Lava 5.0 document management and imaging product has a graphical workflow designer that the previous version didn't have.
Lava 5.0 has a library of reusable workflow functions, such as a generic approval process. A department head who needs to get his expenses approved drags the approval object onto his screen, drops it into the right place, links it to the row
of potential people who need to be involved in that approval, and he or she has a workflow.
Lava's workflow can trigger actions, searches, document creation and email messages in other applications. It has a certified interface to SAP. It can handle document-intensive applications and provide messaging and collaborative workflow regardless of whether there are documents involved.
A purchase may start with someone having an idea for a book they need and telling the requisition department. Later there may be an invoice and a receipt that needs to be routed around. Lava can handle both stages. It works with Microsoft Mail, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus cc:mail and others.
Optical Image Technology's (State College, PA 814-238-0038) WorkFLOW SQL ($15,000) lets you automatically route scanned documents, COLD reports, faxes and PC files in Optech's imaging and COLD software.
WorkFLOW SQL works with Optech's cascade structure of pointers to files and documents. Any item in the Cascade file tree can run through the workflow.
The workflow designer lets you set up flows that look like flowcharts. The software handles three types of steps.
First, it maps out the direction of the business process, deciding who gets what and whether it's branched or linear. Second, it has steps that do a little decision-making to decide what tasks need to be done. Third, inside the workflow are user steps. When an item reaches a user step, the workflow server assigns that item to a particular person and the user specifies what task needs to be done on that item by that person. A time allotment queue notifies a manager or supervisor if a step is not completed in the time allotted.
The workflow server application can run on any server in a network. It works with any SQL database.
Optical Technology Group (Bethesda, MD 301-897-1400) offers Step 2000 Process Manager ($900/concurrent user) to provide workflow, document management and application development for its imaging and storage software products. Step 2000 was created by UDMS (Cincinnati, OH 513-583-0500).
Optika's (Colorado Springs, CO 719-548-9800) PowerFlow 5.0 software lets business analysts quickly and easily build workflows. It provides standard applications for processes like accounts payable and claims processing. It's scalable from a workgroup to an enterprise.
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