The *Inspirational* Workflow!

"Dude, I just had the best idea ever!"

Everyone has that moment when they are graced by the touch of inspirational genius. (Too much?) There have been many an R&D researcher who thought of the greatest ad copy while sitting on the commode, and many a sales rep who came up with the ideal function that would boost sales of their company's product while driving. In fact, there are probably numerous ideas in your company's employees' minds right this moment. Unfortunately, most of these ideas die a lonely death. Let's think of a system that can pick up these ideas.

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.

A General Workflow for General Requests

Emailing is one of IT's greatest inventions, but it does have its own problems. One is that it is hard to differentiate between emails that need to be answered and those that don't. Especially if there are long-term deadlines, like "Please reply within 1 month," which tend to get lost in ever-overcrowded inboxes.

You may want to consider a general request workflow.

Grading Workflow Results Could Lead to Increased Knowledge Reuse

Websites whose members number in the millions usually have a system for reissuing passwords. This is the "forgot your password?" button that auto-sends a reissued password to your registered email address.

But if your company has only a few hundred members, and you are trying to make a name as a provider of great customer service, you will want to handle each case with attention. (And to record each incident.)

When No One Accepts the Tasks You Request

Let's say your team has to produce five proposals until the next plan meeting. The theme has already been announced so you sent requests to your team members to create proposals. One or two of the more diligent members send you their drafts for review, but it stops there... And the meeting is the day after tomorrow. You get worried and check the state of the late processes, and notice that they were not even accepted!

A Strong Order Process Can Become an Intercompany System

One way to scare your suppliers is to boast of the relentlessness of your procurement division.

From the buyer's point of view, though, it's better to centralize procurement processing, which can be a frequent task. It's costs effective, too, when simply considering economies of scale. And when it comes to ordering production materials, this directly impacts the company's profit (obviously).

Timer-Start Tasks and People Who Like to be Free and Unfettered

Organizations with volunteer workers have a hard time moving their processes forward.

Take monthly reports; these can be bothersome tasks for coordinators who have other work to get done. But the accounting team needs the report in order to settle each month's expenses, so it has to be done…

In this case the Timer Start Event—an event that automatically starts the task on, say, the first day of every month—can come in handy. (Hurray to the inventor of BPMN!)