Workflow Manager makes it easy for you and your colleagues to quickly manage tasks like invoice authorizations. To help you make the most of your DocuWare system when using workflows, we’ve put together a few best practice tips.
For example, Workflow Manager can help three colleagues look at portions of an invoice within seconds, and then initiate payment once everything is authorized. So it’s helpful to understand what makes this quick processing possible:
The workflows have their own database, which is separate from the file cabinet data and a document’s index data. So, in the example mentioned, authorization decisions are not written into the index data, but rather are placed in this special database belonging to Workflow Manager.
So how does this impact the speed: to process these tasks, the actual document doesn’t have to be opened. So that all system resources which would otherwise be committed to a document can be used for other processes. This is also how Workflow Manager is different from Task Manager – in case you had previously worked with this module.
If you are tackling a certain task with Workflow Manager, in prinicipal you don’t even have to open the document involved. It’s enough to open the task with a single click in DocuWare Client and make your decision in a form provided – for example, to authorize partial payment. It’s only when you double-click on the task that the actual document will open.
Never Change Index Entries Again
With Workflow Manager, you can let a workflow basically work on its own. Values taken from a document’s index data are incorporated into your workflow by using Workflow Designer -- you can assign index values to these variables, just one time. To learn how to set up these variables, click here. You can then access these variables for every workflow task and every step, and then work with them as needed. This is also true for email, for which you can use variables to incorporate the name of a recipient and parts of a subject text or email body text.
Transparency for Decisions
The best way to trace decisions made in a workflow is to use the worklow history option, which can be viewed with a quick click. It shows you in one spot what happened with a certain document and when. It’s possible to use stamps in workflows, but not really necessary.
Who Sees a Task...and When?
Tasks can be assigned to users, by roles or for substitution plans. So what does this mean exactly – who sees a task, for example, when a role has been assigned? It’s easy:
- When a task has been assigned to a user, then only this user will see the task.
- If a task has been assigned a role, then all users who fit this role will be able to see the task. As soon as one of these users opens and completes this task, it will disappear from everyone else’s task list.
- If a task has been assigned by a certain substitution rule, then the first user in the substitution chain will be assigned the task. Only if this user appears as "Not in Office," will the task then be forwarded to the next person in the list. In the substitution plan, the users or positions who can complete certain tasks, and in which order, has already been predetermined.
Additional best practice information can be found in the DocuWare Knowledge Center