Workflow Evolution in Document Management Systems

The workflow in document management systems may be a manual process or it may be designed by the user and subsequently automated. The workflow is one of the most important and one of the most problematic aspects of document control.

Original Workflow
A “workflow” defined is simply where the work begins, what the work “does” next and where the work ends. In document management terms this translates to where the document begins, what it does next (e.g, goes to someone to be approved) and where the document ends (e.g, archived or destroyed). Companies with complicated workflows may find that their original workflows don’t fit the built-in workflow modules that many document management systems provide. This isn’t always a disadvantage. Many companies, with or without the help of process consultants, have simplified their workflows by shaping them to the prebuilt standards of the document management systems. However, it doesn’t seem right that a piece of software would inevitably determine the course of a company’s corporate workflow.

Rules-Based Workflow Options
Many document management systems have provided or are beginning to provide rules-based workflow functionality that allows users to create rules that determine the basic workflow of a document. However, even document management systems that provide rules-based workflow configurability still control the amount of steps a document can take along it’s workflow (3 or 4 steps for example).

Document Management Systems with Complex Workflow Schemes
Depending on how a document management systems provider has developed their overall software code or modules of code, complex and configurable (from the user’s standpoint) workflows can be provided. Generally, this type of functionality will be proffered by a DMS provider with considerable experience as complex workflow functionality and usability isn’t generally provided within basic document management systems. The complex workflow schemes will allow users to create multiple (even infinite) steps within a document workflow and make the workflow rules-based and completely streamlined. This type of functionality provides a never-ending amount of flexibility to the user but does present the user with the challenge defining the perfect process. After all, when there are no limitations where does one start?

Here’s a few rules of thumb for those companies that choose to invest in a document management system that can support this type of functionality:

1. Think of all the possible scenarios that a particular document could possibly undergo. Forget about the process entirely. What might happen with this document? What could your company do with the document?
2. Write down your ideas and see if there seems to be a common process that might emerge from the steps a document must take to make your written scenarios come to life.
3. Reduce that process to at least three steps even if it seems impossible. You can always make the process more complex but making it simpler forces users to “make” a process fit a more simplistic approach even when it doesn’t seem feasible.
4. If the company can afford to hire a professional process consultant it can be extremely beneficial. A process expert from your own industry can readily determine whether any of your company processes can be simplified.
5. Once a company has done everything possible to simplify processes take each process one step ahead. For example, a three-step process would become a four-step process, etc. (A consultant may also be useful during this step).

Conclusion
There’s a lot to consider when creating a document workflow but it’s important not to shape a workflow to pre-built workflows inherent in document management systems. Make sure that your document management system provides as much flexibility for workflows as possible.

Marci Crane is the Lifeline Publications Editor at MasterControl, Inc. in Salt Lake City, UT. For more information regarding document management systems that control documentation outside the centralized system and integrate with PDM applications, please feel free to contact a MasterControl representative.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/workflow-evolution-in-document-management-systems-1650799.html