Workflow Sample

By "Daily Brief" we mean letting the boss know what you're doing and what problems you are facing each day. This is particularly beneficial for departments where each member works independently (e.g., sales, business planning, R&D, etc.). Writing down what you accomplished today and what you plan to do tomorrow helps you organize your own goals, and reporting this info can lead to helpful advice.

This may be something that doesn't have to be turned into a workflow, but if it automatically appears in every member's task list, it might help remind them to keep their bosses informed. In this workflow each process automatically starts at 9:00am every weekday, to every member. (This is called a Timer Start Event in the international standard BPMN.)

We all want to avoid business problems. Collecting payment from your debtors suggests a whole lot of other negative ideas. But no world is without its problems. Whether we like it or not, there will be clients who don't pay. (We all go through these things. It's all part of the growing up process.)
What we want to do today is suggest a workflow that quietly moves things forward in these situations.

Agreements between organizations are bothersome yet necessary. At some companies they are an everyday duty, especially when they involve outsourcing. Veteran salesmen may be able to roll out agreements easily with a little bit of "nemawashi," but what would an ideal workflow for acquiring internal consensus be like?

If the integrity of a company is dependent on the top management's character, dishonesty within the company must mean there is something wrong with top management...(?)
One of man's eternal questions is, "Is it the people or the system?" It's our job to stop making excuses and think of workflows that just don't allow dishonesty. We could consider a system for processing large orders, or for concealing scandals. A public body might need a good process for hiring personnel. Let's start with a workflow for reviewing submitted papers and giving the final yes/no.

You deliver a product and issue the invoice, all in time and properly. But the customer forgets to pay...
This "Process order – Issue invoice – Confirm payment" procedure is a basic business duty that tends to get sloppy as the scale of business escalates. Reconciling invoices is a particularly bothersome task.

Do you know how many quotes you're waiting a reply on? And how much is the total amount of all of those quotes?
Having a good estimate/quote system is one of the perks of having a workflow system. It may be BPM's biggest purpose. But in reality sales reps often don't worry too much about quotes... Can we blame them? Orders and contracts take up more of their attention, and they sometimes have to create a quote for a case that obviously won't come through.
So here's a workflow that lessens the sales rep's burden and satisfies upper management.

More companies are changing their expense reimbursement process from a once-a-month to an at-all-times system. This is beneficial for employees because they will be less likely to forget.