Automate Workflows That Start With Forms

by Lowell Rapaport

Too many business processes are still tied to paper-based forms, but according to Campbell, CA-based Movaris, that doesn't mean they can't be automated. Movaris' Platform 4.0 offers a PDF forms-based workflow management suite that uses field validations and lookups to ensure more accurate and complete information from the start.

Platform 4.0 includes three components: Movaris Process Builder, a Windows application used to create and edit workflows (or processes as Movaris describes them); Process Server, which monitors and manages forms as they move through processes; and Movaris Dashboard, the user interface that provides access to forms in process.

Movaris Process Builder is designed almost exclusively for PDF forms (although there is an option to integrate Javascript forms using Movaris' SDK). These forms can have attachments, and you can export form data in XML, Excel and text formats.

Movaris says it chose PDF because many users are still tied to paper, and PDF forms can always be printed out and filled in by hand. PDF forms can also be saved to disk and filled out electronically while a user is offline. This option offers flexibility to complete forms in multiple sessions or working from remote locations.

When developing a process, users decide whom to include in each process and under what conditions. Each process is guided from participant to participant based on user-defined business rules. Even the forms themselves are subject to business rules. Different parts of a form can be activated or deactivated based on user input. Form processing can be delayed until specific conditions are met, such as when an approval signature or necessary data is added to the form.

"Since most enterprise users are familiar with business rules, we feel this approach is more intuitive for them than a more programmer-oriented flowchart process development tool," says Yancey Smith, Movaris' director of product marketing.

While workflows are relatively easy to set up, one feature missing from the Process Builder is parallel processing, meaning simultaneous input from multiple users. "Parallel processing is supported by the Process Server and our software development kit (SDK), but it is not yet implemented in the Process Builder," says Smith, adding that he expects the feature to be added in the next release of the software due out in August.

Data validation is one of the more significant features added in Platform 4.0. Constrained input forces users to match predefined data formats, and lookups check the entered data against databases to ensure valid entries. Both of these features can be used to ensure that you have accurate, complete data before a workflow even begins.

The Process Builder also features version control. Each time a process is modified, the change is saved and marked with the developer's name. Because the processes created by the Process Builder are saved as files, they can be managed by a document management system or e-mailed as attachments.

Once the development of a workflow is completed, the process is then published to the Process Server, which is written in Java 2 Enterprise Edition and can run on a variety of server hardware. The Process Server offers built-in integration with SAP, Peoplesoft and generic databases though Java Database Connectivity (JDBC). This portability allows Movaris Process Server to import and export data between forms and back-end software. It can also invoke other processes based on entered data. In this way, one form in a process can trigger another process when a certain business rule is met.

The Web-based Movaris Dashboard is compatible with most browsers. Through this interface, users can invoke workflows published to the Process Server, check processes in progress and look for work that may be waiting. The version of Movaris we examined relied on the security built into back-end systems such as databases to prevent users from manually invoking processes they aren't authorized to use.

"Enterprises can separate processes by user group by deploying multiple Process Servers," Smith says. "We have a mode that will allow companies to set up multiple divisions off of one server." Since Movaris Platform 4.0 pricing is strictly based on the number of users, there's no cost penalty to running multiple servers other than the extra hardware.

Load balancing is accomplished through a simple process queue. A process can send forms to a group of users, any of whom can select any form from the queue. This approach lets you spread the workload across several users who share a single task.

Movaris' forms-based approach was chosen by Corporate Express, a national office supply company based in Broomfield, CO, to streamline the company's process for setting up high-value, $1 million-plus national accounts.

"Setting up one of these national accounts starts with a 'Client Requirement Information Packet'," says Carol Zezeski, manager of strategic accounts. "The single biggest problem [we've had] is making sure the packet is complete. It can take as long as eight days just to make sure all the information we need is in and correct."

The packet for larger accounts can be as long as 30 pages, and Zezeski says her company typically handles 230 such applications every month. The longer and more complicated the form, the more likely there would be errors and delays in processing.

Corporate Express was attracted to Movaris' data validations and lookups, approval processes and automation. "We've reduced the time it takes to get the Client Requirement Information Packet filled out from eight days to just one," says Zezeski. "The [PDF] form now tells us what information is needed rather than our discovering the missing data [in a paper form] as it goes from user to user. [The system] has also made salespeople in the field more aware of the information they need to ensure that their customers' accounts are set up quickly and correctly."

It took the company four months to develop and implement a PDF version of its Client Requirement Information Packet with all the associated formatting, rules and lookups, but Zezeski admits "it was partly our fault it took so long. Where other companies may start with a simple form and try to scale up, we started with our largest and most complex form."

Corporate Express is now refining the PDF-based Client Requirement Information Packet and integrating it with the company's back-end systems. "The system is simple enough for workers to ... make changes to individual business rules," Zezeski says, "but to change how a form is routed around the company requires a developer with a thorough knowledge of the software."

With its PDF-based forms and Web-based Dashboard interface, Movaris Platform 4.0 allows workflows to be accessed and invoked from anywhere within an enterprise or on the Internet. While the choice of PDF locks this system into a paper document model, it also supports online or offline use and data formatting and validation for better accuracy.

Movaris is aimed at ad hoc processes rather than high-volume production environments. The biggest weakness we spotted was the lack of built-in security features, but the company says this problem is being addressed in an interim update that should be available by June.

For businesses with processes that revolve around forms, Movaris offers control over data accuracy, online and offline form filling, continued support for paper-based processing and, best of all, a low average cost of just $200 per seat.