Workflow isn’t a word; it’s a variable. Think about it; just how could you define workflow in a way that has any more substance than a politician’s promise? What constitutes work, and thus workflow, is as varied as the jobs that people perform. And in order to encompass that variety, workflow can’t really be a word in the normal sense, because it is defined by whatever people are doing that they define as work.

As an example, consider the job of serving food in a restaurant. A customer of a restaurant, who may be completely ignorant of the nuances of serving, could state that the workflow of a server is simply to take an order and then deliver the food. Meanwhile, the restaurant manager and the servers themselves know that serving food entails many more steps than just those two, and thus a more complex workflow, to keep the customers happy.

Keep It Flowing

No matter how simple or how complex the workflow, there are some basic components that can be found in any application: record-keeping, information transfer, notification, discussion, and approval. These components can appear in any order and sometimes more than one at a time. Although not every component is found in every workflow application, you will seldom encounter a workflow that contains fewer than three components. Of these three components, two will almost always be record keeping and notification. The actual workflow of a restaurant server could be the following:

1. A server greets the customer.

2. The server records customer’s order in detail—number and kind of dishes, desired preparation, drinks, side dishes, table number—on a ticket that has some kind of tracking number on it (record-keeping).

3. The server transfers the ticket to the cook (information transfer).

4. The server may also notify the cook that there is an order waiting (notification).

5. The server may converse with the chef to clarify the order (discussion).

6. The cook reads the order and either prepares the food or notifies the server that the order cannot be filled because the restaurant is out of the ingredients needed for that dish (approval or notification). If one of the items cannot be prepared, the server advises the customer to order a different item, records this revision on the ticket, and transfers the ticket back to the cook (notification, information transfer, record-keeping).

7. When the food is prepared, the cook notifies the server and transfers the ticket back to the server (notification, information transfer).

8. The server takes the ticket and delivers the food to the customer.

9. When the customer has finished and paid for the meal, the server records the payment on the ticket and transfers it to a repository (usually a spindle on the counter), where the manager will later retrieve it for reference and bookkeeping (record-keeping, information transfer).

Streamline Your Workplace

How does a workflow application fit into today’s workplace? The benefits of an efficient workflow are numerous. Establishing a workflow can reduce the volume of paper and the number of phone messages involved in a project, which speeds up communication and processing methods. The results will be increased efficiency and productivity for a company. A good workflow promotes accountability, as it provides employees with a clear description of their roles in a project. A workflow application provides a central repository for information that is generated, utilized, revised, and communicated. It also allows for parallel processing, by which many people can have access to information and work simultaneously.

So what isn’t a workflow application? A workflow application is not a miracle tool. Projects that formerly took three weeks to get done will not get done in one day with a workflow application, no matter how great the application is. A workflow application is not a substitute for decision-making. If it is designed well, a workflow application can give you the information you need to make an appropriate decision, but remember, you, not that box on your desk, are supposed to be in charge. A workflow application is not a replacement for employee management; you’ll still have to get up and growl at the employee spending too much time at a fantasy football Web site.

When is a workflow application appropriate? A workflow application must be preceded by a definition of the work to be done. Going back to the example of a server at a restaurant, if the workflow were defined as “take the customers’ orders and bring the customers their food,” a workflow application would have been a waste of time and money. But once the workflow for service in a restaurant is broken down into nine steps, the workflow is far more specific and an appropriate application can be built.

When is a workflow application inappropriate? As I suggested, workflow applications are useless if the workflow is not well-defined. An application is also inappropriate when the workflow changes so radically from project to project that the workflow must be redefined each time. As far as I am aware, there is no software application that can allow for such flexibility.

Making Workflow Work

Here is a simple, more-or-less realistic example based on my experience designing workflow applications for engineering firms. Consider the fictitious Abbot X Hydraulic Motors Company. First, a company must look at its existing workflow, complete with

bottlenecks, before a workflow application can be implemented. For Abbot X Hydraulic Motors, the existing workflow is ineffective:

1. A customer contacts an Abbot X sales representative working at a remote office 300 miles away from the main office. The customer wants 10,000 hydraulic motors manufactured to his specifications by a certain date. He stopped doing business with his previous supplier in the middle of production, so he is looking for a supplier that can meet contract deadlines.

2. The sales rep takes the information and phones one of the engineers to find out if this is feasible.

3. The engineer is away from his desk, so the sales rep leaves a phone message.

4. While waiting for a response, the customer starts checking with other hydraulic motor companies.

5. The engineer returns to his desk after spending 5 hours at the plant working out a problem. He gets the phone message and calls the sales rep back to get the specifics (bottleneck).

6. The sales rep is busy with a different customer and can’t answer the phone right away, so the engineer leaves a phone message (bottleneck).

7. Finally, the engineer and the sales rep contact each other and the engineer gets the customer’s manufacturing specifications.

8. The engineer reviews the specs and decides the project is feasible from an engineering standpoint; then he calls the production manager at the plant.

9. The production manager reviews the requirements and, after numerous interruptions, phones the engineer 2 hours later to report that the project is feasible.

10. The engineer phones the sales rep to report his findings.

11. The sales rep relays the message to the customer, who faxes detailed specifications to the engineer, but the office fax machine is out of paper (bottleneck).

12. The customer calls the sales rep and tells him he can’t fax his requirements to the engineer. The sales rep contacts the main office about the problem, and the receptionist tells him the problem will be checked (bottleneck).

13. Three hours later, the fax machine finally gets loaded with paper. The customer isn’t able to fax the requirements until the next day.

14. The engineer gets the requirements and makes a copy, which he sends through interdepartmental mail to the production manager. The engineer also calls the production manager to arrange a meeting two days later, as neither are available until then (bottleneck).

15. Two days later, the engineering and production staff get together and create their estimate for the customer.

16. Engineering overnights the estimate to the customer. Because it was sent too late in the day for same-day delivery, the customer doesn’t receive it until the next day (bottleneck).

In the end, the customer finds another supplier who is able to get an estimate back more quickly, so the customer no longer needs the services of Abbot X Hydraulic Motors. It takes a total of 16 steps and about four days to complete this workflow, with six bottlenecks slowing the process immensely. Here is the revised workflow, created using a workflow application such as Lotus Notes:

1. A customer contacts an Abbot X sales representative working at a remote office 300 miles away from the main office. The customer wants 10,000 hydraulic motors manufactured to his specifications by a certain date.

2. The sales rep takes the information and also asks the customer to email the complete list of specifications and requirements.

3. The sales rep fills out a manufacturing request document in a Notes database with the customer’s name, address, contact number, email address, and basic request information and then attaches the customer’s complete specifications to his Notes document (see Figure 1, page 41). The sales rep leaves a voice mail message with the engineering group.

4. The sales rep then replicates this database with the main office.

5. When the database is replicated, the system sends out email messages, with the customer’s specification file attached, to all five members of the engineering group, as specified in the Notes Public Address Book. The production management team receives the same email.

6. Two engineers are at their desks when the email is transmitted. One of the engineers decides to handle the file, follows the doclink to the manufacturing request, opens the file attachment, and reads the complete customer specifications. The engineer notes his approval on the manufacturing request, and when he saves it, an email is automatically sent to the production manager.

7. The production manager reads the specifications. The production manager also receives notification that the engineer has approved them.

8. Instead of setting up a meeting, the engineer and the production manager exchange emails from within the manufacturing request database. The emails are automatically saved within this database and with the manufacturing request, as illustrated in Figure 2 (page
41).

9. Production marks its approval on the manufacturing request.

10. Engineering produces a detailed estimate and emails it to the customer.

11. The customer receives the estimate within the same day.

This workflow application cuts five steps and reduces the manufacturing request process by one or two days. It eliminates several bottlenecks, including those resulting from gaps in phone communication and the reliance on paper-based communication methods such as interoffice mail and overnight services. These delays are avoided in the new workflow, which provides parallel lines of communication for Abbot employees. In the first workflow scenario, if one employee cannot be contacted, others must wait. Through the revised workflow system, several people can be contacted at the same time, and the probability of one being available to immediately respond is quite high. Scheduled

meetings are not necessary, as everyone has access to all information and can communicate via email.

Additionally, the workflow application increases the speed of the whole process by eliminating the sales rep as the primary channel of communication once contact is established between the customer and the main office. The sales rep is now free to focus on generating more sales. Perhaps the greatest advantage to the new workflow application is that all the information is stored in a secure and easily accessible place for reference and updating.

The short and sweet of it is that a good workflow application starts with a detailed knowledge of your existing workflow and then improves it. Not knowing your workflow is like not knowing who is writing checks on your bank account. Just like no amount of software can fix your bank account if you don’t know who is writing checks on it, no amount of software can fix your workflow if you don’t have a detailed knowledge of the workflow the application is for.

Figure 1: All the information needed for this project is recorded in one secure, yet easily accessible, place.

Figure 2: A user can double-click on any one of these items and view the full text of a person’s input.