Businesses require consistency and predictability. Without those essential factors, an organization is forced to operate with uncertainty and a lack of reliability, neither of which are conducive to business sustainability. However, attaining consistency and predictability within a business is not easily done, which is why any business concept, that helps achieve that, must be actively considered. Business process flows are an excellent example of such a concept. They are a practical way of ensuring that two essential things are achieved in any process: focus and consistency.

This article will provide an overview of the definition, the principal benefits of business process flows, and the simple steps to create successful business process flows. 

Process Flows in Context 

At its simplest, a business process flow is the sequential representation of a process and the various components thereof. These components can include operational factors such as actions required and the people and resources needed to achieve them, as well as applicable timelines. It helps define and layout all the aspects of a business process, so that said process is easily understood. One could say that a process flow provides a ‘snapshot’ overview of a given process. It allows employees to have a good understanding of how a business works. 

Importantly, a process flow can be devised for any type of work or process in any type of organization. Therefore, a process flow can be as effectively used to describe how a purchasing order should be processed by the finance department, as it can be by a sales team to pitch a new product to potential customers. Process flows are used by industries as diverse as software development, auto assembly, and healthcare management. Below is a standard template for a process flow that can be used by a company’s to automate HR-related processes like the onboarding case: 

As can be seen in the process flow diagram above, a business process flow provides a breakdown of the various inputs and outputs within a process. Each of these workflow components is usually denoted by means of shapes, typically ovals, diamonds, and rectangles, with each being connected by lines that indicate the possible paths. The ‘flow’ within a business process flow and workflow design usually follows an A to Z logic, i.e. from commencement or start of a process to its logical conclusion or end-goal, whatever the latter might be. 

Benefits of Business Process Flows 

There are many benefits to having process flows, including process mapping, the principal ones of which include: 

• Communication: everyone can understand a specific process, and be trained accordingly. 
• Standardization: processes can be reliably replicated. That is why they should be an integral and invaluable part of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Comprehensiveness: process flows can be established across all verticals and at all levels within an organization. 
• Maximization:  all resources can be used to their full potential. 

 There are also systemic benefits to having business process flows in place: 

• Cost minimization: understanding exactly how processes work means that cost efficiencies can be implemented where possible. 
• Risk management: understanding your process means being able to identify potential risks and better able to mitigate them. 
• Agility: process flows should ensure fewer (or no) bottlenecks, errors, and duplications, making for a more Agile business. 
• Continuous improvement: knowing each step of a process means being able to improve processes as needed. 

These benefits are applicable to process mapping itself, which is the actual diagrammatic compilation (i.e. mapping) of a process and its various components. 

Simple Steps to Create Process Flows 

The beauty of process flows is their simplicity, however complicated or technical the actual process might be. As such, simple steps can be taken to ensure that your process flow will be effective: 

Step 1: Name it – the process flow should be specifically named according to the naming conventions used by your organization. 

Step 2: Give it a purpose – what is the intent of the process flow? Why is this specific process flow in place and to what end? 

Step 3: Scope it – give the process flow the needed extent of the scope by asking a simple question: what inputs and outputs should be included and excluded? 

Step 4: Map inputs and outputs – go through each stage/phase/level of the process and identify the required inputs and outputs for each. Be specific in the inputs and think of possible variables for outputs. 

Step 5: Provide direction – a process flow should comprise a series of directional arrows based on ‘Yes/No’ or ‘What If/What Then?’ questions posed that help connects inputs and outputs (i.e. components within the process flow). 

Step 6: Assign duties and responsibilities – where needed in the process flow, applicable responsible people or line management should be indicated. 

Step 7: Make it visual – a process flow should be mapped and its diagrammatic representation/workflow diagram to be readily available to any person who may need to understand the process and its objectives/intent. 

A final point: consider workflow automation powered with RPA and AI/ML capabilities of your business flows: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is already being used by many businesses to enhance and automate repetitive process flows. RPA software can be used in order to choose which processes in a business should benefit from automation. Sales ordering process, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer service, and payroll are just four examples of typical processes that can benefit immensely from Robotic Process Automation. 

Conclusion

In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, organizations are constantly looking for ways to increase their efficiency and reduce costs. Business process flows are a critically important means by which a business can give itself the structure and sense of purpose needed to succeed. Process flows can help foster transparency, enhance collaboration, and create business intelligence.

Comidor workflow automation platform allows users to design any type of business process flow, automate and optimize workflows end-to-end, and incorporate intelligent automation functionalities, like RPA, AI, and Ml. There are many benefits associated with Comidor. It can help organizations save time by automating tasks, enhance customer service, and improve company culture through transparency.

In closing, value-adding performance by management and employees alike don’t just magically happen. It is the culmination of intelligent automation decisions made and actions put into practice. The real magic is in being able to ensure that business processes are created appropriately and work as planned again and again. 

Author bio
Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO of Limble CMMS. Limble is a modern, easy-to-use mobile CMMS software that takes the stress and chaos out of maintenance by helping managers organize, automate, and streamline their maintenance operations. 

Are you tired of struggling with various tasks and multiple processes? Do you know what is workflow management? Workflows can be described as roadmaps that define, execute, and automate business processes and help them run smoothly and on schedule. Such processes involve passing tasks, like information and document handling, from one person to another, while following a set of procedural rules. 

Workflow diagrams and charts make visualizing your processes just a little easier. So, as you work to get a process done, consider a workflow as your roadmap to do so effectively. With that said, let’s take a look at how to create a workflow and why this is such a beneficial part of completing your business processes.

How to Create a Workflow:

1. Start At The End

The first step in how to create a workflow is to NOT start at the beginning. You heard right! DO NOT start at the beginning. Instead, think first about the end. When you start, having the end in mind allows your team to focus on the end goal and purpose of a workflow. When you know how you hope your process will end, you can better create a workflow that matches that intention. So, in hindsight, you’ll be working backward. 

As you work your way backward, you’ll figure out the right path to get to where you need to go. Once the right path is noticeable to both you and everyone else on your team, you’ll eventually determine a suitable workflow. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

• Which are the systems required to reach the endpoint? 
• What processes and activities need to be performed in each stage? 
• What kind of workflows are necessary? 
• Are there any best practices needed to reach your goal? 
• Who and or which team will lead the entire process, as everyone follows the established workflow roadmap?

If desired, you can create a checklist on what’s needed and what priorities come first. Your checklist should also note who will be partnering or grouping with (if applicable), to ensure that every single task is assigned to the right user and finally completed. 

2. Define a Workflow

When it comes to how to create a workflow, you’ll need a purpose. To begin with, your workflow purpose tells people in the team why the process or project matters to them. 

For example, the purpose is to launch the best product for your clients, right? Additionally, it lets your team know what role they play in the workflow. A workflow doesn’t work unless every member understands their part. Here are three steps for defining a purpose, as you create a workflow:

Workflow diagram. First, create a workflow diagram that realistically shows the proposed workflow. The workflow diagram should depict all the tasks each team member will perform to complete the process (i.e. roles and responsibilities). Plus, the roles and responsibilities must be defined in a way that everyone on the team is aware of them. Remember: All roles and responsibilities must be realistic and doable or else you won’t be able to move on to the second step. Not sure how to create a workflow diagram? No problem — Comidor has you covered with our BPMN 2.0 Comidor Workflow Designer!  

Team consensus. Have each member of the team agree to the proposed workflow. 

• If not everyone on the team agrees to the proposed workflow, then go back to the first step and revise it. 
• If everyone agrees to the proposed workflow, have them sign off on it, and then adopt the plan. 

Tool functionality. Finally, match the accepted workflow process to a tool functionality, so that the tool selection depends on the defined workflow.  Matching processes to tools allow people to make the right choice on which tools to use for each task. In other words, the selection of tools won’t drive the process, unless team members discuss what tools they’ll need in advance. 

Selecting the Best Tool for Workflow Automation 

Workflow automation tools enable organizations to implement automation to create an effective flow of information among teams that are responsible for any business operation. Keep in mind that the best workflow automation solutions offer a graphical interface with drag-and-drop functionality in order to visualize your processes, a form designer to create digital forms with dynamic user fields, role-based access control, and a wide range of automation features and smart capabilities. 

3. Test Your Workflow

After you’ve defined your workflow, it’s time to put it to the test. This is where you’ll see just how your workflow functions in your workplace. Errors and bottlenecks may occur despite your detailed planning, and it’s best to catch these from the start to improve your workflow.

You’ll want to ensure that there is ample testing time, so you may need to try out your workflow for a few weeks before you fully understand where improvements need to be made. From there, it’s back to the drawing board with your team to brainstorm solutions and implement new steps into your workflow.  

Comidor’s Workflow Simulator allows businesses to test different scenarios and generate predictions and projections about process outcomes. With the Workflow simulator, users can also spot errors that would not otherwise be able to identify in the initial steps of workflow designing. 

4. Optimise And Analyse a Workflow

Once you’ve tested your workflow and are content with how it works, you’ll need to optimize it by implementing workflow automation. Automation helps you streamline the internal workflows by canceling out any manual data entry and request handling. Moreover, it lets you track the status of workflow tasks (i.e. completed, pending, or in-progress). 

In addition, automation software help teams stay on track. In fact, automation will let you and your team know of the following: 

• When task status is prone to delay or there’s a deadline approaching, automated notifications are sent to the team member responsible for that task. 
• When a task is completed, you and your team will be notified, too. 
• The transition from one task to another is also made easy with automation. 

Plus: Intelligent workflow automation and RPA offer advanced automation capabilities since these technologies automate complex tasks and projects. Find out the role of RPA in Project Management. 

After optimization, it’s important to analyze your workflow to identify new trends and bottlenecks. Consider the following factors: 

1.  The performance of your workflow 
2. The performance of the teams and team members involved 
3. Process redundancies and ways to eliminate them 

Automation platforms, like Comidor, allow you to virtually map and track any organizational process through their workflow-designing functions. Process automation tools should be able to help you navigate and modify existing processes, or create new workflows using a feature that lets you drag and drop your options. In many cases, these tools also offer business applications like project management, case management, sales, and marketing automation.

Why Create Workflows? 

You know how to create workflows, but what exactly are the benefits of having these in place? There are quite a few, including: 

• Increased productivity.With repetitive tasks being streamlined, your team has more time in the day to focus on larger projects and focus on customer relationships.  
• Visible accountability.Everyone has a designated role in a workflow. By creating a visual workflow diagram or chart, there will be increased transparency and accountability as projects move through the process.   
• Improved collaboration.In addition to accountability, team collaboration can soar with workflow automation. Leave notes, send notifications, and see where projects sit in real-time for better collaboration within your team.  
• Business process improvements.Last but certainly not least, your processes will see a tremendous improvement with workflows. You’ll be able to clearly see where bottlenecks occur and create automated solutions to keep your work moving through the pipeline.  

Comidor Workflow Automation 

Creating a workflow doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, four steps are all you need! 

Remember: One of the best ways to start using more workflows is to be more conscious of the steps that you take each day. That means, whenever you’re going through a process, look at how everything is running. As you do so, keep in mind these questions:

• Is everything running smoothly? 
• Who is responsible for what? 
• Is there any friction in any areas of the process? 
• What happens next? 

As you keep in mind the above questions, you’ll soon develop an effective workflow that will not only help you get your project or process off the ground but will also help your team stay on course. Now, while some workflows won’t work for you, others will. All you have to do is A/B test your options and see which ones best fit your work.  Remember: Each change to your business is an opportunity to create workflows, refine them, and make them better. 

Ready to create your own workflows? Check out Comidor’s workflow automation technology to get started. The BPMN 2.0 Comidor Workflow Designer allows you to visualize your workflows in a whole new way. Create, test, and implement your new workflows in one convenient location.  

 Good luck! 

The article has been co-written by Comidor and Kristin Herman. Kristin Herman is a writer at UK Writings. As a marketing writer, she writes articles and blog posts about the latest trends in digital advertising.

With Comidor BPMN 2.0 designer, you can map and optimize every process that takes place in your company. Comidor provides a plethora of workflow components such as basic, integration, data, RPA, and code components to cover every possible need. Easily drag and drop any component, connect the elements between them to draw the alternative paths, and add any automation features like an automated email or an automated document creation.

To access Workflows, click on App Factory Icon > Process Automation > Process Designs.

Open a record, and click on the tab Design.

Workflow Components

Basic Components: 

Comidor offers the following BPMN 2.0 basic workflow components:

• • Tasks and escalations
  • Subprocess
  • Email
  • SMS
  • Notification
  • Timer
  • AND/OR/XOR gateways
  • Annotation
  • End

Integration Components: 

Additionally, designers cover their integration needs with the following workflow components:

• • RESTful Web Service
  • OpenAI ChatGPT
  • Message Queue
  • Teams integration
  • Google integration
  • Zoho projects API
  • Zoho leads API
  • Freshdesk API
  • Salesforce API

Data Components:

Designers use low-code data workflow components for data input and output.

• • Comidor DATA (insert/update/delete)
  • Shell Command
  • File Reader
  • Export Data
  • Convert Data
  • Digital Signature
  • Document Creator
  • QR Generator
  • Table Extractor
  • Excel Processor
  • Graph Creator
  • Blockchain

RPA Workflow Components:

Other workflow components can be added within the workflow design to enhance automation in business processes with RPA and ML/AI. Those components are:

• • RPA Caller/ Receiver
  • Sentiment Analysis
  • Document Analyzer
  • Text Classification
  • Predictive ML
  • Selenium RPA
  • Image Classification
  • Web Scraper

Code Components: 

Users without development skills can add the following workflow code components into the workflow designs to replace commands and queries:

• • Set values
  • Existence check
  • SQL Creator
  • String Utilities
  • JSON Array to Excel
  • Deserialize JSON
  • Custom Component

 

Let’s zoom in on each workflow component.

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Find out more on how to create and manage workflows step by step.

Comidor can virtually map and track any organizational process through its Workflow unit. Through this business process workflow documentation we will provide you with important information for Comidor Workflows and Workflow Automation.

Workflows fully exploit the organizational structure to provide unprecedented process design and action monitoring. Through Workflows Designer, the user can navigate and modify existing processes or create a new one using BPMN 2.0 with drag-and-drop functionality.

By attaching Workflows in a Process users are able to see in real-time the Workflow stages (Processes or Tasks). When changing the state of a workflow step (e.g. once a certain task is completed), the process goes to the steps that follow and the workflow stage is automatically updated.

• Most importantly, User fields and User Forms can be matched at any step of a workflow, to help departments add meaningful information in a process with custom fields.
• Workflows can be either connected with an Application, Process Template, Scheduling or be driven manually by creating a Process (of any type).
  • If a workflow is linked to an App, it cannot be used in other Processes.

 

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Workflow connection with Process

From the Modules Menu Button, navigate to a “Process” type Unit e.g. Generic Process. Click on the “+” button to create a new entry and in the “Workflow” field, search for the workflow name. The following cases refer to workflow connection with a Process:

• A Process (of any type: Generic Process, Project, Opportunity, Event, Training, Issue, Ticket, Topic, Job Posting, Campaign) connected with a Workflow. When the state is “Running”, the Workflow will start.

• A Process Template connected with a Workflow. If Process Template’s initial state is “Running”, the workflow will start automatically, as per Process creation. Alternatively, it will start by manually changing the Process state to “Running”.
• Scheduling is connected with a Workflow. The workflow will start automatically, as per Process/App creation based on the defined repetition plan.
• Alternatively, link a workflow with a process-enabled application in App Builder. Note that if you link a workflow with an application, you cannot use the aforementioned options.

When a new Process with a linked workflow is set as “Running”, the first workflow step is triggered. Then, while the states of Workflow steps range between completed/failed/canceled, the workflow moves on to the following steps, and so on.

In each process record, the end-users can check all workflow tasks that have been triggered automatically based on the workflow design, their state, assignees, dates started & ended and duration, in the respective button.

Users can also check the run diagram, which will highlight the path that was followed; in green are displayed the completed steps and in blue the pending ones. In case of a workflow design error, the step with the error will be highlighted in purple colour.

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Workflow creation

To access Workflows:

1. Click on App Factory icon > Process Automation > Workflows.
2. To create a New Visual Workflow, simply click on the “+” icon.
3. Now, add the details of the Workflow.

 

1. • Give the Visual Workflow name as Title, select User group which has the accountability of the process.
   • Click on the 3 dots to add more info.
     • Choose the maximum duration of workflow in days, set the pre-defined minimum priority status.  You can also set a prefix that accompanies all process instances, e.g. if you create a new process with a workflow whose prefix is DOC, then the code of the first process that will contain the respective workflow will be DOC1, the code of the second one will be DOC2, the code of the third one will be DOC3 and so on.
     • Do not forget to give access and change rights to specific users and/or groups and add a short description.
     • Define the Business Owner of the process/workflow by choosing a user from the list.
     • In the Link with UserApp field, you can see if this workflow is being used in an application.
     • If you wish the workflow to be only completed automatically (when the active path reaches the end) leave the option “Allow Manual Completion” unchecked. Check it only, if you want the users to make a manual change to the state of the process(e.g. cancel, fail, pause, etc). Keep in mind that if a workflow is completed/failed/canceled manually, the paths cannot be re-activated.
     • Add a Category to your workflow design, to group all similar workflow designs. With this filter, you can display this workflow design in Enterprise Canvas.
     • Define if this design’s Status is Prepared or Not Prepared. This field is used as a filter in Workflow reports.
     • Describe the Controls,  Policies, and SPP information of this process/workflow.
   • Give the Description, Scope, and Purpose of this process/workflow.
   • Then, click on the “Save” button.
2. Alternatively, you may import a BPMN 2.0 Workflow by pressing the “Actions” button and selecting the related option.BPMN 2.0 files that you exported from Comidor or another product can now be imported into Comidor. Each BPMN2.0 file import is unique and does not overwrite other BPMN2.0 files from prior imports. Specific functionality includes:
   • Ability to import a BPMN2.0 file into Comidor.

• • Group mapping is available in order to correlate the parties involved in the imported workflow. If there are already assigned parties in Comidor, they will be identified by the platform.
  • You can correlate the involved parties, by typing their name or choose from the pre-defined options in the drop-down list. The group mapping is available for:

• • • Groups
    • Users
    • Roles
  • Hover your mouse above the info icon to see in which task each role, user or group is used.

 

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Manage a Visual Workflow Design

After the Workflow creation, the system directs you to the Workflow Summary interface, in order for the user to either edit details or start designing! Click on:

1. Summary “Pencil” button to edit initial details.

2. “Actions” button options:

• Delete the Workflow.
• Copy / Version the current workflow design.
  • Give a Title to the copied Workflow design
  • Or click check on the Version option
  • Keep in mind that the DB must be reloaded.
  • Click on the Versions tab to see all versions that you have created.
  • Schedule the date range of the version you want to be active.

• Option Export BPMN 2.0 document, saves the Workflow as a BPMN2.0 file to your computer for future import activities.

 

3.  Process Mapping: Comidor allows users to add process mapping in HTML, including enriched text and pictures. You are able to apply styles, fonts, and other format options. Just click on the respective tab and then on the “Pencil” button.

4. Business Process document allows users to export the full workflow design and architecture including all components, resources, and stakeholders involved. The export is in PDF format and the document includes Business process diagram, Process elements in detail, Personnel allocation, Workflow Controls Contents, Workflow Policies Contents, and SPP Contents.

5. Business Process Guidelines: Comidor platform gives you the ability to view the end-users’ simple interface and get informed about the actions needed to be taken.

Click on Business Process Guidelines tab and you will see the following:

• a flowchart with the start and end points, stage and description (work practices) of every work practice of the workflow
• linked process policies to the workflow
• linked process controls to the workflow
• linked process SPP to the workflow

To display the start and end points, stage, and description per workflow stage, go to the design, click edit on the respective element (e.g. task), and add the respective information. (those three fields are by default hidden, choose “Show more options”: Yes to view them)

6. Link your workflow design with:

• Controls
• Policies
• SSP

Click on the respective tab, then on the “+” icon, and select from the existing list of Controls, Policies, and SPP records.

See how to create new Controls, Policies, and SPP.

7. Click on the Design tab or Design preview “edit” button to start creating the workflow.

With Comidor BPMN 2.0 designer, you can map and optimize any process that takes place in your company. See step-by-step all elements in the Workflow Designer.

8. User fields can be used to add custom fields, which can then be included in a user form that will be attached later in the workflow stage.  User forms can be used to add a custom form,  where you can drag-and-drop system or custom fields and then attach it in a workflow stage (activities: tasks or subprocesses). Also, you can apply Field Rules to show or hide certain fields in forms, based on rules you set.
Learn more at User Fields and User Forms.

 

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Workflow Analytics

Navigate to each Workflow in the Analytics tab, to get insights on each Workflow usage.

• Set Analytics Filters to get the results you wish.
  • Choose between Total or Delayed Tasks to be displayed.
  • Monitor the Duration and Cost of each step.
  • Narrow your results to tasks that were assigned to a specific user or group.
  • Select the period of time you are interested in.
  • Click on Refresh.
• Pinpoint the total and delayed instances and tasks that were created within one workflow. Cost is calculated based on the duration of each task multiplied by the cost rate of the user that completes each task. See more in the Services unit.

• See your results in a table view, graph, or pie chart. All types of graphs are printable and downloadable.

• View workflow analytics with the “Delayed Task” Filter to measure the scheduled time and the actual time it took for a task to be completed. This feature enables users to identify bottlenecks.

• View workflow analytics with the “Total Task” Filter to measure how many times every task is executed in total. This will identify your “critical path”, your process “optimal path” and ultimately help identify where the focus should be for better resource management.

 

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Workflow Change Tracking

Comidor platform gives you the ability to track and monitor the changes that are incorporated into any workflow.

You can track changes applied in specific tasks of the workflow as well as compare different versions of the same workflow.

Audit Trail Log

1. Access a workflow you would like to modify from unit Workflow Designs.
2. The necessary changes can be applied in Design. For example, change the name of a task’s title.
3. Once you have saved all changes, select Update Log so as to see who applied the change, when as well as the old and new values of the updated field.

Workflow version comparison

Comidor users are able to compare the different versions of a workflow.

• • From the “Actions” button, select Compare Versions so as to choose the versions you would like to compare.

• • Insert the numbers of the versions you would like to compare and then click Ok.
  • A new tab with the workflow information appears. This includes the two workflow designs as well as a description of all applied changes. New elements are given in green, deleted elements in red, and changes in existing elements in orange.

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Click here to view some Workflow Examples.