Where Did the Paperless Office Go?

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Why Haven’t More Companies Made Paperless Progress?

Here we are, in 2016, and the Paperless Office topic is still key in many business owners minds.   But why the lack of progress?  In an AIIM Paper Wars study, there were some pretty amazing statistics:

1.  44% of organizations cited they are only 10% of the way towards paper-free process
2. 23% cite they have yet to achieve any progress towards the Paperless Office
3. 17% are making progress of 5 or more processes per year

So why are we only inching our way towards the ultimate paperless goal?  Checkout the chart below:

As you can see, there are a wide variety of barricades preventing progress, many of them are people/culture based.  So how do you tackle these paperless blockades?

1.  First off, management support is absolutely critical, and it starts from the top down.  If there is no commitment to your paperless office initiative at the executive level, it will fail.
2.  I cannot tell you how many times I have heard, “My staff just wont buy into that.”  This quote is common place, and indicative of a broader cultural issue.  Use of paperless technology is not optional once there is a commitment, and management needs to make that totally clear.
3. Dispelling myths about legality and physical signatures can be a challenge, and there is a lot of misinformation out there.  The fact is, electronic signatures have been utilized for many years now, and there is complete and total legal precedent for their use.
4. The paperless landscape, and the technology available, can be quite overwhelming, and examining document capture/scanning software, digital/electronic forms products, workflow software and business process management software can be a daunting task.   Having a great technology partner that can guide the way is critical.
5. There are a wide variety of solutions, and cost is really no longer an issue.  Paperless solutions have come down so far in price, that any size organization can get started today.  Whether you want to print to PDF with an iSeries Forms solution, or create a digital workflow, there are affordable solutions in the market.

Want to learn more about paperless office strategy and products that can help you revolutionize the way you do business?  Contact inForm Decisions today.

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Going Beyond SharePoint Workflow

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Next Steps In Your SharePoint Business Process Journey

More and more customers are looking to expand beyond SharePoint Workflow and Forms (And those products that rely on the underlying engine) .   There is definitely a long BPM journey that organizations seem to take, regardless of whether they realize they have embarked.  This journey almost always leads to expanding beyond the confines of SharePoint Workflow, as well as a growing need for more complex workflow and forms capabilities.    Here are some of the common trends we see in organizations looking to take their business process management to the next level:

• The Requirement for Complex Workflow Patterns (With No Code) – simple serial workflows can only take you so far, and organizations quickly realize that rework steps, and moving to previous steps in any process is an absolute necessity in common business flow.  Having a workflow and BPM platform that integrates with SharePoint lists and libraries, and provides support for all types of workflow patterns can provide immense value, and eliminate the need for complex custom code and management of state.

• Wanting Reusable Access & Integration – Accessing external data in SharePoint can be challenging, and I find many companies are looking to simplify the integration with external business systems.  The tiresome process of setting up Business Connectivity Services/External Lists in SharePoint, and maintaining them can be problematic.   A reusable model, as seen in K2’s smartobjects, can provide agility and reduce the overall time required to configure forms, workflow and reports.  The “create once” and reuse theme provides power and flexibility.

• The Need to Surface Forms and Workflows Outside of SharePoint – SharePoint is a great tool, but should every form and workflow live  within its user interface?  More and more, we are seeing organizations that want to have business apps (forms, workflow, data and reports) that live outside of SharePoint and can stand alone.  This is especially true when it comes to mobility, and the need to support various device types with web-based forms.

• The Need for A Broad Set of Design Tools – BPM in any organization is a broad undertaking, and usually involves a wide variety of individuals, with varying skill sets.  With Business Process Design, one size does not fit all, and organizations are looking to support power users, business analysts and developers.  See this post: BPA, BPM and Design.

So, in summary, if you are looking to step outside of the SharePoint workflow engine and its forms capabilities, take some time to evaluate your next step in the journey and focus on at least these 4 points.   For some additional considerations, see the below post:

10 Key Features In 3rd Party SharePoint Solutions

Comments?  Thoughts?  If you are interest in taking your SharePoint Workflow to the next level, contact us today.

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Making the Right Choice: 5 Top Business Processes to Automate

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Where do you start with workflow and BPM?

With so many processes to automate, companies often struggle with picking the right process for a pilot project when examining workflow/BPM.   Organizations often choose the most complex, critical process as their first project.   While these “whales” can drive massive return on investment, they are also filled with many minefields for an organization that is just starting to digitize their processes through workflow software (More on this topic here: The Whale or the Sardine?: BPM ROI).

Understand that with digital transformation, it is often the adaptation of the people side of the process, and the “digital” cultural change that can be an inhibitor to success.  Often, it is a key strategy to start off with several smaller initiatives that can have a big impact.  Here are some great use cases that are usually simple to implement, and can provide great efficiency and productivity gains:

1. Document Approvals – Look at any company, and they currently have an untold number of document approval processes throughout every single department.  Documents are built and routed, usually through email, to be finalized and approved.  With workflow software, you can easily automated this process.  Many Business Process Management Suites offer templates that can get you up and running quickly in any approval process (See K2’s Workflow Product).
2. Ad Hoc Tasking – How many times have you received an email from your boss asking you to do something?  Maybe you are on a team and have had several project tasks assigned.  Managing and monitoring task process can be a major challenge for any organization.  Providing a centralized and manageable system to assign, track and consolidate workflow tasks can have a tremendous impact on productivity.
3. HR Onboarding – HR workflow is often laden with documents, tasks and cross departmental communications.  Think of everything that is required to get a new hire assimilated: payroll, computer, benefits, building access, etc.  Being able to get people on board and working quickly is often a key target for a first workflow/business process project.
4. Contracts – Every organization deals with contracts in some way shape or form, and eliminating a paper-based process, and moving to digital can glean great benefits.  Many of the BPM suites now offer integration with electronic signature technology, which keeps the whole process digital.
5. Mobile – Mobile application development is expensive, even for the simplest of tasks.  Leveraging a business process automation platform with mobile form and workflow capability can provide immediate ROI on any mobile app project.

So, this was just a handful of key use cases where workflow and digital forms can provide great benefits.

 

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Other keywords: iSeries check printing, iseries document management

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The Gears of Process: Making Sense of the Business Process Acronyms

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Definitions for BPMP, BPMS and iBPMS

There is quite a bit of confusion within the Business Process Management (BPM) world, and much of it revolves around acronyms, and actually what defines a platform, a suite and intelligence.  As companies look to bring workflow and process technology into their business operations, it can help to actually understand how the market is defined, and where to look for the right set of features and functions that will provide the required outcomes.

So, to start off in simple terms, there is a hierarchy of capabilities and features, that goes from basic to advanced.  It starts at the ground level with the basic Business Process Management Platform, and climbs to the Suite, and then the Intelligent Suite.  Below are some basic definitions and attributes:

What is a Business Process Management Platform?

The basic BPM platform is a set of tools (workflow, forms, data, reporting) that allows an organization to create digital process, and transform their businesses and compose process-centric applications.  It provides a graphical design environment, and allows you to build out your processes.  It includes storage for process metadata, and also an engine for executing process and managing business rules.  An example of this type of application would be iWorkflow.

What is a Business Process Management Suite (BPMS)?

The BPMS lays a foundation for business and IT to collaborate throughout the design and execution of process.  It houses all the features and benefits of the Platform, but the Suite adds a full compliment of  tools and features to improve process and increase business agility.   The Suite focuses on transformation and innovation, and typically adds no/low code application composition, as well as the ability to handle routine and non-routine work (case management).  It provides robust reporting on process to create a feedback loop for continuous improvement.  K2 fulfills this niche, as well as the next level.  See K2 Workflow and BPM.

What is an Intelligent Business Process Management Suite (iBPMS)?

The iBPMS is at the apex application of the process world.  Take all the benefits of the previously mentioned categories, and add enhanced and predictive analytics, process intelligence and enhanced process insight.  The main purpose of the Intelligent Suite is to drive rapid improvement and process enhancement to achieve top levels of efficiency and productivity.  The iBPMS also provides dynamic functionality to change process “on the fly”, for non-routine work.  K2 meets all these needs: See K2 Workflow and BPM.

 

Inform Decisions carries both products, and can help any type of organization carve out their process needs.  See our software here: Workflow Software.

 

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Other keywords: AS400 reports, iSeries spool file

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Workflow Software: What is it?

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Workflow: Just What Does It Mean?

Workflow.  Walk into any organization today, and ask for a definition, and you will get a ton of different responses.  Blank stares.  Long explanations.  It gets even fuzzier when you cross between business and technical folks.  So to get a level set, here is Google’s definition of workflow:

Seems simple, huh?  So, in technical terms, there is a sea of acronyms and terms  surrounding applications that encompass workflow, as well as other technical functions.

So let’s get simple.  Workflow, in the physical world, is just the way we get work done.  The means to an end, or the path to a successful business activity outcome.  In the past, that would have been:

1. Bob fills out the paper order form.
2. He drops it in the sales order inbox at HQ.
3. The order is manually routed to Joe, the sales manager for review.
4. Joe give it to John the mail clerk to take down to fulfillment.
5. And on and on.

But the most important part today, in our technical world, is the interface between people and technology to facilitate new and efficient business processes.  So with that said, in the modern workflow software application, there are typically 4 components:

1. Digital Forms – the paper forms have now been replaced by digital forms, or intelligent user interface (UI).  The UI is now dynamic, and is used in many cases to kick off the whole workflow process.
2. Process or Workflow Engine – the engine facilitates the movement of tasks and information throughout the organization.  It is the “digital mail clerk” and much more.  Notifying, delivering and controlling the entire work process from start to finish.
3. Data – the modern organization now houses its information in digital systems, most focused on specific areas.  This is the foundation layer on which all workflow occurs, and stores the information required to facilitate a successful process.
4. Reports – As work is being completed, information about the process is made available in the form of reports.  It is this insight that provides the ability to incrementally improve process or the flow of work.

Confusing workflow and BPM?  See our post: Gears of Workflow: BPM, BPMS and iBPMS

Thoughts?  Additions?  Comments?

 

Other keywords: AS/400 spool file, AS 400 Excel

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Build Your Own Apps – Webinar Recording

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

BYOA: Build Your Own Apps for the IBM AS400 and DB2 – Webinar Recording -K2 Webinar by Stephen Boals of K2.

With K2, companies have all the necessary tools to build no-code, powerful business apps that leverage IBM i and all of the other business systems throughout your organization.

In this webinar, view a demonstration of how K2’s four-pillared approach integrates different business systems opening up access to data that is currently difficult to access. Learn about the new trend in Build Your Own apps and how it will help you improve efficiency and productivity.

Contact us for more information on all these applications at 800-858-5544.

Webinar request

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COMMON – Annual Meeting & Exposition, Anaheim, CA. – Booth 114

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Sunday, April 26 – Wednesday, April 29, 2015 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM MST COMMON – Annual Meeting & Exposition, Anaheim, CA. – Booth 114 Register here.

Register Now for the 2015 Annual Meeting and Exposition:
April 26 – 29, 2015 – Disneyland® Resort in Anaheim, California.

The Annual Meeting is COMMON’s largest educational event of the year, with four full days of in-depth IBM i, AIX, and Linux-related education that includes all-day pre-conference workshops, open labs and a wide variety of regular-length sessions. It is the annual meeting of the COMMON membership and the largest gathering of the Power Systems user community.

It will kick-off with the Opening Session on Sunday, April 26, 2015, followed by four days of leading-edge IBM i, AIX, and Linux-related education, closing with the fun and exciting Closing Reception on Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Of course, as is expected from all COMMON conferences, there will be plenty of social and networking events taking place throughout the week.

The Annual Meeting and Exposition is the premier educational and networking event that you and your team will not want to miss. Be sure to schedule time to browse the world’s largest Power Systems Exposition, encompassing over 80 exhibitors, including IBM. The COMMON Exposition provides a one-stop source of up-to-the minute information and ideas for the IT industry. Discover what’s new in the IBM i and AIX world and give your company ways to reduce costs and improve productivity. Also, since many different technologies are on display, you can compare alternatives and determine what’s right for you.

There is still time to register and attend!

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K2 Webinar by Stephen Boals – BYOA: Build Your Own Apps for the IBM AS400 and DB2

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Tuesday, April 21, 2015 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM MST -K2 Webinar by Stephen Boals of K2 – BYOA: Build Your Own Apps for the IBM AS400 and DB2, a Register here.

K2 provides a powerful business applications platform that can enable workflows, forms, data and reports across your Enterprise Line-of-Business (LOB) systems, including IBM, Oracle, SQL, Salesforce, SharePoint, CRM and many others. Our no-code, drag and drop designers can ease the pain of integration, and drive efficient business solutions. In this webinar, we will present the following:

-How K2’s patented data technology, SmartObjects, allows LOB integration across a variety of system, including IBM AS400 and DB2, with no code.

-How K2’s browser-based forms, workflows and reports can provide powerful insight into DB2 data, and provide cross system applications.

-An introduction into K2’s ability to replace legacy applications on Lotus Notes.

Sign up today, as there are limited seats available.

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inFORM Decisions launches IBM i document workflow solution, iWorkflow

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, February 5, 2015 – inFORM Decisions, a leading provider of IBM i document & payment automation solutions, announces iWorkflow, a document workflow solution to improve digital business processes.

iWorkflow expands on inFORM’s document automation solutions to improve efficiency by offering a solution that allows users to electronically route internal or external documents, apply business rules, manage targets, analyze, annotate and approve reports and documents for paperless operational efficiency. Integrate with inFORM’s archive and retrieval solution, iView, to verify and approve documents before archival.

Document workflows can be configured in a variety of ways to provide the flexibility to use the solution in a multitude of business processes. This includes launching the workflow process based on a predefined trigger from another source, such as from the IBM i, or from an external webform which can be triggered manually or automatically.

With the iWorkflow webform functionality, companies can collect, display, interact, and prompt for user data which can be used within the workflow process. This information can be used to trigger other events, data knowledge for further steps in the workflow process, and general accumulation of information for process tracking and historical retrieval.

Creating a workflow application is as easy as picking up items from the iWorkflow object’s pallet and snapping the objects together on the workflow canvas. Object configuration gives administrators a wide variety of flexibility to use iWorkflow in different scenarios within an organization’s business processes.
“Document workflow solutions provide companies with significant labor and paper savings efficiency by taking the manual processes out of internal document routing and approvals. With iWorkflow, our range of document automation solutions handle the complete process of document management and automation,” says Dan Forster, President of inFORM Decisions, Inc.

For more information on iWorkflow and inFORM Decisions’ document automation solutions, contact inFORM Decisions at 800.858.5544. Visit www.informdecisions.com.

About inFORM Decisions
inFORM Decisions (www.informdecisions.com) provides IBM i document management solutions to address the costs and inefficiencies of paper based business workflow. IFD solutions have been implemented worldwide in a multitude of open platform environments from small to Enterprise Fortune 100 sized organizations. inFORM’s paperless solutions include, forms scanning (capture), storage and workflow; variable data laser form merging and printing; laser MICR check printing and electronic payment solutions; and IBM i spool file report bursting, sorting distribution and management in various formats including Excel, PDF, Word, Text, XML, CSV and Zip formats.

Contact:
Dan Forster
949-709-5838
dforster@informdecision.com

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Mailroom Automation: Reducing the Pain

Written by Ken Kramer. Posted in Blog

Scan and Capture Your Inbound Mail

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