Workflow Sample: Episode 552: "Idea Soliciting" is Important for Work Style Reformation

Operation：Soliciting Improvements from in-house

It seems that the Japanese government seriously wants to make "work style reform".

Certainly, there are "creating documents that no one sees" or "inefficient exchanging" also inside our company. I would like to think about a method more actively to absorb concrete "improvement idea", such as "introduce cloud service for certain work" or "utilizing IoT". For example, "mid-career employees" and "temporary workers" are grumbling while they are drinking... It is really wasteful if it just ?ended up in vain.

However, even if the president cried out that "Improve the business process and increase productivity!" at the morning meeting, specific "improvement proposal" will not come up.

Oh, yeah. First of all, let's ask "Internal Audit Office" to accept "idea submission" like the image of the so-called "suggestion box".

And let them operate a Workflow such as let it advance to 'on-site hearing step' and 'president reporting step' about good ideas. And let them operate a Workflow which make it advance to 'on-site hearing step' and 'president reporting step' about good ideas. (Business Improvement Idea Reception Process)

Challenge: Form that anyone in the company can post to

However, all the workers do not have "login ID" to the Workflow platform.

If "login ID" was required for idea posting, temporary workers and part-timers are not able to post. (I suppose the inefficiency of the work-floor could be surely being pressed on to part-timers and temporary staffs...)

Thinking carefully, it needs to secure some degree of "anonymity", as well.

I would like to endorse bold idea such as, for example, "Improvement idea to lower manager's fraud risk".

Hmm, it seems that soliciting questionnaires on "a completely opened webform on the Internet" is one of the way, but it makes me feeling nervous somehow. (The URL might be exposed, or people who have nothing to do with might make suggestion...)

[Business Improvement Idea Reception Process]

Solution: Restricting access source IP

By placing "Form Start Event" at the beginning of the Business Process, a "Web form" that is open for public is created.

It is easy to construct "a mechanism to start a Workflow if there is a posting", but if with the setting as it is , it will be a mechanism that anyone (who knows the access URI) can post "ideas" from anywhere.

In this example, setting of [IP Address filtering] is assumed separately.

As a specific setting, for a request whose URI path part begins with "/System/Event/MessageStartForm/999/0/", the range of connection permission (Allow directives) is set to "130.54.45.0/24" (means 130.54.45.0 To 130.54.45.255), and so on. (To make this setting, system administrator privileges to manage the entire Workflow platform is required.)

As a result, idea submission is limited to access from "in-house personal computer" and "smartphone connected to in-house WiFi", etc. So, "Form that anyone in the company can post to" will become realized.

* "HTTP ERROR 403" (You do not have permission to view this page) is displayed for access from an IP that is not permitted.

Discussion 1: Aggressive internal publicity is important

An attitude that "Please do not hesitate to post small ideas" is important for soliciting improvement ideas.

In some cases, you may also need to embed a link onto "in-house portal" or distribute "flyer". Alternatively, it may be effective to post posters on the wall of "hallway" or "toilet", and indicating "QR code" or "short URL" of the access URI on them.

Discussion 2: What is the IP address of your company?

As for the request from within the company, you will need to ask the internal network administrator "What is the source IP address?"

(If you know the overview of your company's Internet contract, you can conjecture it by just checking the IP address in [System Log])

If there is only one "fixed IP address" for a small company, you set like "130.54.45.188" (← 130.54.45.188 only). Also, if it is a large company with many IP addresses, you may need to specify more than one network address.

* "IP address Filtering" does not provide absolute security. Please use it understanding the risks of cyber attack by IP spoofing, etc.

[Business Improvement Idea Reception Process: "Suggestion box" screen]