Workflow Sample

"Too many input fields!"

Dissatisfactions for a Workflow system, many of them are "labor for data input". However, it tends to increase the number of data which is "inevitable to input", for continuing Business Process improvement. Then...

It might seem surprising, but the most efficient burden reduction measures is "to enable to Click-input for some common data". Although nothing is better than to experience actually, the work efficiency becomes very good if one click entry was possible even for five or ten letters. And you will feel so good, if you can input one after another to a lot of input forms that have placed in a row.

The following sample is an altered version of "Button input", which I introduced to you previously, by adding "a button for automatic generation and input of a password". By arranging such a button, you will be able to correspond to a work such as, for example, "issuing a system account" with concentrating.

Reference) Episode 481: Devising of "Button Input" to Input Form

[Test flow for Input Form 2]

We do measure the translation work time, using a stopwatch!

Wonderful! That is too wonderful! They even measure to seconds... Moreover, they give a pause to the stopwatch for "Away Time" and "Interruption time". Yeah, yeah... "Recording of the exact actual work state" is essential for business improvement.

To the people like that, I would like to suggest a configuration to display buttons of "Start", "Stop", and "Clear" on the Input screen. With this configuration, you will be able to measure time easily without a stopwatch (or a Smartphone?). With this configuration, you will be able to measure time easily without a stopwatch (or a Smartphone?).

Above all, it is excellent that it works on the same "Work time" form (String type / hh:mm:ss), to which we used to input manually. That means you don't need to copy the Measurement result.

[Translation flow]

Arranging a button for downloading CSV for MS Excel. (previous post)

From the aspect of a person who has to input data into an Accounting system, the "Download button" is very helpful. It allows to add so-called "Journal slip" data snappy to an Excel file. The business efficiency differs greatly depending on "there is" or "isn't" a button. The difference is to take only five minutes for inputting daily accounts receivable, or one whole hour.

However, it is yet a closed to personal process since it is an operation that "to append to an Excel file". The know-hows, which should be associated to the Step, such as "Where is the latest file?" or "Tips and knacks for the work" or "Technique for the case where minor modifications are required", these are tend to be individualism. (As well as anxieties for omission, or miss-copying or fraud.)

The following Workflow is a mechanism of auto-appending of multiple Journal slip data, which have been generated automatically, to Google SpreadSheet. (Either "MF Cloud-accounting" or "Freee",) throwing data to any of Cloud based accounting software, it is very convenient if "Journal slip" was managed uniformly on the Cloud.

By the way, in the first place, it should be the job for the Workflow system that to aggregate the issues which flowed on the Workflow. "List of Issues", for example, total and average of each property are aggregated. However,in a case where each Issue generates "uncertain number of slips", it is difficult to correspond the needs of demanding an aggregation on the "slips". Another table of "List of slips" should be prepared separately in such a case.

Here, we use the "Sheets API v4", which appeared in May 2016.

[Sales Report-SpreadSheet cooperation]

How do I make "Slip data" federated?

In the Latest post, we succeeded to auto-generate some sheets of "Transfer slip" upon reporting orders. Yet, it doesn't mean a thing if they are not entered to "Accounting software".

Well, should I rather say "Cloud-based accounting software" than "Accounting software", for the coming age?

However, unfortunately there are only few Cloud-based accounting software which allows "API access from external" as of 2016. Therefore, I would like to consider to utilize "File import" feature which is supported in every software efficiently.

(Though, REST API over OAuth will be supported in any software service after a year or two.)

Incidentally, although this Business Process is almost the same as the one in the latest post, it has been added a Step of "Superior's approval" for the sake of more practical use.

[Sales Report-CSV Download]

"Debits? Credits? ... What is that? Tastes good?"

Indeed, there are some programmers who show "Allergic reaction" against "Finance and accounting terminology".

However, these are words which working adults should know. Even in the "Information Technology Engineers Examination", which certifies basic IT skills, these terms appear frequently.

Incidentally, there will be nothing wrong if you call them as "Left column, right column" in practice. Both of the column are merely a "breakdown table of assets". If you consist to describe concretely, it will be sufficient to consider that "Left column: Breakdown of cash and cash-like assets", "Right column: Breakdown of assets which must be paid (debt) and which are not needed to be paid."

So... How each of "Breakdown table of assets" (Balance sheet) will be transitioning, in a case that a Cloud service providing company

sold service provisioning for twelve months
agreed on April 1st, for 120,000 JPY
paid on May 30th

For example...

In April, it can be regarded as "increasing of asset for one month of service worth (10.000 JPY)" since they have already provided their service (not yet paid, though.) It is so-called "Selling on credit". (Account receivable) And it will keep on changing on and after May...

[Sales Reporting]

"I can hardly get rid of mistakes in Catalogue mailing..."

You want to correspond to "Request for a Catalogue", which you have accepted via published web form, as quickly as you can. However, it won't be a joke if you made mistakes in the "Address" or "Company name" that the customer has entered. When creating "Cover sheet" with Microsoft Word by Copy & Paste, for example, made mistake that shifted ane line of the record in the list to be referred, and results in complaint,such as

Our company name is not like this.
There is no employee in the name of this.

In the worst case, it might be a "Personal information leakage incidents".

In the following Business Process, "a personnel in charge of accepting" checks entries via web form

if the address was not inappropriate such as erroneously submitted in the middle of the input?
if the address was not nonsense for mischief purpose?
if it does not contain abbreviations or unnecessary space?

After the check, "Cover sheets PDF" will be generated automatically, then "a personnel in charge of Mailing" will print it out and enclose the Cover sheet with the Catalogue. No manpower be involved, there.

The excellent point is that not a "list" will be created in this business operation. The risk of information leakage will be extremely reduced. And as soon as the sealing job is completed, data such as "company name" and "telephone number" will be automatically added to the Cloud-based database. (Although it is apparent, it is also assumed a flow to ask "Sales representative" in case of receiving a message such as "Want an estimate together".)

[Catalogue Request Correspondence]

I introduced a fully automated Workflow that is

> to update the Workflow platform common "Client Master" by receiving JSON response from kintone API,

in the last post.

In this post, I would like to introduce how to

> Update the "Client Master" in kintone by sending JSON data to kintone API.

More specifically, it is a mechanism that suppliers (customer code and customer name) is added to the "customer master" on the kintone, upon the moment when a start of trading in the "Credit Management Workflow" has been approved.

After all, it is configured that JSON string such as

{
  "app": "3",
  "record": {
    "customerCode": {
      "value": "9999999999999#www.example.com"
    },
    "customerName": {
      "value": "XYZ Inc"
    }
  }
}

POSTed to kintone API at the downstream of the Workflow.

* JSON: JavaScript Object Notation (Mass of data in which the pair of "key" and "value" have been enumerated)

[Credit Management]