A Workflow for Organizing and Announcing Internal Information During a Crisis

Collecting, sharing and announcing information is an extremely important function within a company. if the team in charge of information merely sends out the information it collects as is, there's no meaning in this team to exist. In other words, this team not only has to collect and send out information, it has to also filter, supplement and organize all the information it gets.

<Tasks>
0. Register Info for Possible Sharing, 1a. First Confirmation (Emergency), 1b. First Confirmation (Regular), 2a. Documentation (Emergency/New), 2a+. Documentation (Emergency/Existing), 2b. Documentation (Regular/New), 2b+. Documentation (Regular/Existing)

[Internal Announcement <IR Info>: "1a. First Confirmation (Emergency)" screen]

A Workflow That Starts From an Alarm System

The Workflow for Procedures in Emergencies was a general flow for emergencies that started with identifying and confirming damages to announcing a state of emergency. But companies that have an alarm system or an information system that can identify crises, this portion of the workflow should be automatic to a certain extent, so they should be able to make faster decisions about whether it is an emergency or not.

Related workflows

• Workflow for Procedures in Emergencies 
• A Report Workflow that Collects Info on Damage Every Morning at Nine

<Tasks>
1. Instruct to Check Damage (& Announce Emergency), 2. Announce Emergency, 3. On-time Instruction, 3abc. Start, 4abc. Report, 5. Confirm Report, 6. Decide to Gather Involved Parties

[Contingency Plan <Auto Send>: "1. Instruct to Check Damage (& Announce Emergency)" screen]

A Workflow for Procedures in Emergencies

The major earthquake in North Japan (*) has been followed by many smaller earthquakes everyday. Japan's economy is under chaos with the earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear plant accidents. We sincerely hope to see things turn around during the next six months or one year. (* The 2011 Off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake)

Today's workflow sample is called a contingency plan. It is a workflow for confirming damages and announcing a state of emergency. When emergency procedures are in place, people will be able to follow them better when something happens. Of course, there should be "practice drills" every six months or so, and the process should be revised periodically. This workflow assumes not only natural disasters such as earthquakes, but also cyber attacks and financial damage caused by rumors or misinformation.

A manager that notices the emergency, thus in charge of confirming damages, immediately begins to grasp the situation, and accordingly gather involved parties. The system automatically records who did what work at what time, so this can be referred to at a latter date.

<Tasks>
1. Instruct to Check Damage, 2. Confirm Start, 3. On-time Instruction, 3a. Start, 4a. Report, 5. Confirm Report, 6. Decide to Gather Involved Parties, 7. Announce State of Emergency

[Contingency Plan <Notification>: "1. Instruct to Check Damage" screen]

A Report Workflow that Collects Info on Damage Every Morning at Nine

In an emergency, companies will want to efficiently assess the amount of damage at each branch. Further measures can be decided only after assessing the situation. As a general rule, having several locations input info in a centralized location, like a Google Spreadsheet (or webform) is often beneficial. This cuts communication costs, because multiple sources can access one resource. (The problem of efficiency depends more on "what kind of items you include in the form.")

The below workflow send damage reports to all employees at 9:00 AM every morning. This allows the entire company to be aware of the overall damage situation, at the same time, and also makes it easier to confirm everyone's safety.

[Damage Report <Fixed Time>: "1. Report situation" screen]

A Workflow for Emergency Instructions

The massive earthquake and tsunami is expected to take the lives of tens of thousands of people. We sincerely hope Japan can come together to provide assistance and revive the affected areas as soon as possible.

Today let's consider a workflow for giving instructions and checking work progress. Instructions on work can easily be made by personal emails, but BPMS systems let managers see the company's overall tasks, and clearly know which employee has and is working on what work.

[Work Instruction : "1. Register/Instruct Work" screen]

A Workflow That Helps Teamwork in a Time of Crisis

Sometimes we need to prepare workflows that won't be frequently used; i.e., crisis response workflows. Think contingency plan! We need not explain why.

This workflow is for server emergencies.