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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWorkflow BrochureAn organization's success is closely related to the efficiency of its everyday business processes. Yet too many organizations continue to rely on outdated, manual processes that hamper productivity and interfere with effective decision making. In today's increasingly-complex global environment, it's more important than ever for organizations to streamline operations and to help staff focus more of their time on revenue-generating activities. Laserfiche® WorkflowT" is a flexible, easy-to-use framework for automating and optimizing business processes organization-wide. A key component of the Laserfiche platform, Workflow enables you to automatically route documents, spreadsheets, e-mail messages and other types of content among staff members. Because staff have instant access to the information they need, they work more effectively, complete projects more quickly and make better-informed decisions. These productivity gains rapidly translate into lower overhead costs, more responsive customer service and a stronger competitive edge. Workflow at a Glance • Using an intuitive interface, you model your organization's current processes and transform them into digital workflows. Each workflow can involve as many steps as you need, and you can trigger a workflow at any stage in a document's life cycle. • You can execute any number of actions on an item as part of the workflow, from changing its security access to automatically assigning meta- data to it. This automation helps you simplify complex processes and reduces the amount of time staff spend managing information-leaving them with more time to act on it. • To improve task management, you can configure Workflow to automatically e-mail users when an item requires their attention. Workflow can also notify supervisors of user action or inaction, as well as reroute items in the event of user inactivity. • To promote greater transparency in your organization's business processes, Workflow includes detailed reporting functionality so that you can quickly determine which workflows are running and where a particular item is located in a workflow. • Ultimately, the value of a business automation solution lies in its ability to optimize processes involving multiple systems and departments. Workflow is built on the Windows® Workflow Foundation (WWFJ engine provided with the .NET 3.0 Framework, which opens a number of possibilities for integration with your other line- of-business applications. Integrate Your Content with Your Business Processes Simplify Complex Processes Workflow enables you to translate even the most complex processes into a series of precise steps, each involving the users and activities you specify. Because business processes can vary significantly among industries, we've also designed Workflow to be as flexible as possible. For example, nearly any event in Laserfiche can trigger a workflow, and you can configure the system to perform a number of activities on a document as part of the workflow process, from moving it to a new location to changing its security access to assigning new metadata to it. Design Workflow Rules with Ease The Workflow Designer is an easy-to-use, graphical interface where you build a workflow and define the conditions that must be met in order for a document to move from one step to the next. The Designer's streamlined layout and intelligent design help you work quickly, while its intuitive "top-down" structure makes it easy to identify each step in the workflow. To minimize time spent troubleshooting build-related issues, the Designer automatically alerts you when a workflow is not configured correctly. Once you're satisfied with a workflow, you can activate it with the click of a button. You can also save a workflow as an XML-based file that you can load into other Workflow 8 installations. Minimize IT Support Workflow is not only easy to use, it's also easy to deploy and maintain. The Workflow Server can support multiple Laserfiche repositories-although you can also use multiple Workflow Servers to support a single, large repository. This flexible architecture helps you design a system that both fits your existing IT infrastructure and helps you optimize system performance. Also, a separate Windows service, known as the Workflow Subscriber, monitors the Laserfiche repository and notifies the Workflow Server when specified events occur. To make the best use of your current hard- ware, you have the option of installing the Workflow Server and Workflow Subscriber on either the same or different machines. Realize Rapid R01 Many work processes involve multiple line-of-business applications. Because Workflow is built on the Windows Workflow Foundation, you can create a workflow that involves both Laserfiche and your organization's other software systems. For example, you might script a step in a workflow that automatically brings e-mail messages into Laserfiche from the Microsoft® Exchange Server and then archives these messages in a certain folder, routes them to a particular user or takes another action. No matter how complex your business processes may be, you can manage them from a single location- the Workflow Administration Console. Because this console is a Microsoft Management Consoler"' application, you can snap it into the same enterprise console you use to manage all your organization's Windows-based applications. In this way, Workflow not only helps you automate business processes, but also makes them more transparent, providing you with a singular location from which to monitor and refine your organization's operations.