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GEDYS IntraWare 7 Workflow -
Workflow management for IBM Lotus Notes

Workflow Management for IBM Lotus Notes: Manage forms, activities, and applications efficiently

Define workflows. Control processes. Make rapid decisions.

GEDYS IntraWare 7 Workflow makes mapping and automating processes electronically within your organisation easy and efficient. Workflow enables you to speed up response times and increase competitiveness in fast-moving and flexible markets.

Common business situations

Hundreds of documents, requests and invoices arriving daily

Entered, checked and processed by different criteria

No workflow included in software

Expensive processing times and costs

High transport costs

No streamlined document handling (copying, filing, searching, distribution)

No optimum distribution of roles, tasks, and authorisations

Delays caused by lack of automatic stand-in rules

Poor response times and error rates

No solution for automating the most important information, checking, and approval processes

Ever shorter product lifecycles – shorter lead times

Global competition, deregulated markets

Typical applications of GEDYS IntraWare 7 Workflow

Virtually all business processes can be improved with a professional workflow management system, because it saves time and money and cuts manual processing to a minimum. With the Workflow module, any Notes database can be made individually "workflow-capable" without modifying the application.

Workflows must be controlled

The Workflow module makes it possible to model and control cross-application processes – simple or complex – and their activities. Any number of organisational structures, relationships and stand-in rules can be mapped and controlled. By managing the workflow from a central location, changes can be introduced for the whole organisation. This enables processes to be automated quickly and easily in electronic form. You simply define the workflows and GEDYS IntraWare 7 Workflow controls the documents required.

Transparent structure

: Structure of the Workflow module

The Workflow module consists of a configuration database for processes and work steps and control database. To access documents in applications, the according databases are published in a central database and used for controlling

Information about groups and/or people can be taken directly from the Notes Name & Address Book (NAB/Domino Directory).

Easy configuration

The workflow definition, relationships and stand-ins aredefined in the configuration database.

The structural organisation makes it possible to assign tasks to responsible users dynamically. In GEDYS IntraWare 7 Workflow, the structural organisation can be maintained in a separate organisational database. Here, organisational units are used to define a hierarchical structure, at the bottom end of which are the so-called "job position" These describe positions held by a person or group, for example the position of «executive assistant» within the "Finance" organisational unit. By assigning activities to a responsible person within an organisation, you can configure processes independently of actual employees and easily change them at any time. You can also allocate a stand-in in addition to the actual responsibility holder. To enable structures in the structural organisation to be used in other applications, groups can be generated automatically.

The procedural organisation describes processes and their associated activities. Basic settings are defined in the process definition. This is where the process manager is defined, who receives special rights to the process configuration and the current workflow process. Automatic initialisations can be run for the process with the aid of the Autostart function. Freely configurable keywords and keys are logged. To evaluate the current processing status of a workflow in an application document, a range of information can be automatically extracted from the workflow log and copied to the document.

The activities are defined by the activity assignees, either statically or dynamically. During the control process, the assignees are assigned the editor access they require for each stage.

The integrated versioning concept within the configuration, which requires new process versions to be created when changes are made to processes or activities, ensures that the correct process and activity definitions are always used for workflow control.

Defining relations enables flexible configuration of assignees. Examples of relations between employees of a company could be "line manager of" or "specialist for." Any number of these relations can be configured, with various characteristics. These relations are used to identify assignees or persons to be notified within the workflow.

Substitution (stand-in) documents are created for people who are temporarily unable to process their tasks, for example on account of absence. The substitution can be configured for a specific time and is then active for this period only. Stand-ins are assigned all the rights needed to process the activities of the person they are substituting.

Automated workflows

Activities to be carried out are sent to the assignee in the form of a notification (email). Any text and links can be sent in this email. Entry and exit conditions are also defined in the activity definition, i.e. when an activity arrives for processing or finishes. You can always run the activity again by automatically or manually resetting to another activity.

The integrated monitoring of elapsed time also ensures that no workflow is forgotten. You can enter different escalation times, after which reminders are sent to the assignee or certain actions triggered.

Graphical visualization

: Graphical visualization of a workflow

The process configurations defined in the procedural organisation can be graphically displayed and validated using a supplied visualisation program. An integrated tool enables the processes to be animated and tested.

Targeted control

The control database is responsible for the actual control of workflows, which it does by accessing the organisational structures and processes stored in the configuration database. It contains exclusively documents of one document type: control/log documents for current and completed workflows. Each workflow is represented by one log document containing all the runtime data and logs. They include the process version, workflow status, activities and their status, run times, assignees, and comments.

The control database and hence the workflow control can be distributed to any number of Domino servers by replication. This ensures that administrative tasks, an overview of all workflows and a ToDo list for every user can be made available and managed centrally. It is therefore easy to create a range of versatile evaluation options for workflows, for example by customer or project.

Ease of use

A standard navigation structure on the IBM Lotus Notes client in the form of a navigation bar provides rapid access to topics higher up in the configuration and control hierarchy, including the structural and procedural organization. Views display processes, activities, stand-ins, etc. in categories. Just double-click on a document to open it.

State-of-the-art technology

The Workflow module is based on IBM Lotus Notes/Domino. It can be used in conjunction with any Notes application, without the need to modify the application logic. A hidden view is all that must be added. Workflows are controlled by agents that can be started automatically or manually on a user’s client.

Easy administration

Administrative tasks consist of installing the module, making IBM Lotus Notes applications ”workflow-compatible”, and defining organizational structures and processes in the configuration database. These can be expanded or changed at any time after the first installation. The interface design can also be modified using configuration documents. Active workflows and individual activities can be terminated by the user in the control database. Processes can be restarted and new assignees determined in live operation.

International deployment

Workflow is a multilingual application, so all employees can use the same application wherever they are based. They simply select the language for their working environment in the settings. Which means it’s easy and quick to create reports even across different countries.

Our new Language Configuration technology allows companies to translate some or even all of an application into any language themselves – without the need for additional programming. International companies find that this increases the acceptability of the software in other national organizations.

The Workflow module in GEDYS IntraWare 7

The Workflow module occupies a crucial function within GEDYS IntraWare 7. On the one hand, it controls all the workflows within GEDYS IntraWare 7 (including in the Office, Service, and Sales modules) and is therefore responsible for the entire process logic. And on the other, it makes available the central structural organization, which is accessed by numerous functions. This enables posts and tasks to be controlled, maintained and easily changed from a central location.