Use Costpoint Workflow to define the activities in a particular business process, the staff involved, and how and when information flows from person to person.

With Workflow, information and transactions are automatically routed to each person in the process. Electronic inboxes replace physical ones. Automatic routing rules replace manual copying and distribution. Processes and activities are documented and workload is automated and measured. Workflow can be applied to virtually any business process that impacts the accounting, contracts, purchasing, or HR departments of your company, such as setting up a particular type of contract, hiring an employee, approving a purchase order, and month-end close procedures.

Define the Workflow

Because you probably already have approval processes and routing procedures in place, it is simply a matter of establishing these same rules in the Workflow system. Within Costpoint Workflow, you will use the functions in the Design menu to define the case labels, filters, and roles for the workflows. You will then use the Define Workflow Models screen to describe the flow of activities. For each Workflow process, you can define the activities that play a part in the completion of the goal and you can identify the order in which users should accomplish these activities. For instance, when you hire a new employee, you must add the new employee information to Costpoint. This may involve entering information in the Basic Employee Info and Salary Info and History screens in Costpoint Employee, and then printing several reports. For each activity, you may define a Costpoint function to complete the activity, descriptive data, and routing information. The routing information includes whom to notify to complete the activity and whom to notify when the activity is completed. You can print the Workflow Definition Report to view this information.

Initiate the Workflow

After you have defined the Workflow, you can kick off the Workflow whenever external events require it (e.g., an employee is hired). You can do this by using the Initiate Case screen in the Initiate menu or the Maintain Case screen in the Monitor menu. Once the Workflow is in progress, users will be automatically notified when they should start and complete activities. The activity flow and routing stems from the previously entered Workflow definition.

Workflow Notifications

Users will be notified through the Activity and Message Inboxes screen. Within the inbox, users will be able to start activities, such as other Costpoint functions. Users may also receive messages notifying them that activities were completed.

Users can also get notification of Workflow activities and messages through their e-mail system. You can set up e-mail by completing the e-mail portion of the System Settings screen in Costpoint System Administration. In addition, you must activate e-mail on a user-by-user basis in the Maintain Users screen in Costpoint System Administration.

In previous Costpoint versions, WFMLIST.EXE, WFMLIST.LNK, or WFMLIST.BAT was attached to the workflow activity e-mail. This gave users access to the Activity and Message Inboxes screen when they double-clicked the attachment. However, as a result of increased e-mail security in Outlook 2002, and because many office environments no longer permit e-mail attachments with .exe, .lnk, or .bat extensions, the WFMLIST attachment will no longer be sent.  (For more information, see Workflow Special Topic WF-2, Accessing Your Inbox from Outlook.) The system will still send an e-mail to the user notifying him of a new workflow activity. When the workflow activity has been completed, however, the user must go into Costpoint to activate the Activity and Message Inboxes screen.

Workflow Activities

Whenever you enter a Costpoint screen through Workflow, the Workflow menu is enabled on the Global Toolbar. While on the Costpoint screen, you can launch the Activity Instructions function from the Workflow menu to help you identify the case labels and values associated with the Workflow and view the activity instructions. When you complete the activity, select Complete Activity in the Workflow menu. Completion of the activity will be audited and users will receive notification of the completed activity. The next activities will be routed to users' inbox (and e-mail, if available).

Automatic Activity Routing

The automatic routing of activities through Workflow should increase the productivity of workers and improve the quality of work. With Workflow, you can create a methodology that employees can easily follow. New employees become productive earlier. Experienced employees become more efficient because of the reduced lag time between activities. There is better communication between workers. Consistency increases because employees are automatically prompted to complete activities and procedures are not overlooked.

Workflow Management

One of the most important aspects of Costpoint Workflow is the benefit to management. When you complete business processes using Workflow, there is a historical record of activities. The audit trail allows managers to check the status of particular Workflow cases and examine trends in work productivity. Managers can increase their control over procedures, determine bottlenecks, redesign workflows, and check employee efficiency. Several Costpoint Workflow functions deal with the management of Workflows. Use the Monitor Status screen to track individual Workflow cases and determine their status. Standard reports print Workflow case status and an audit summary. The Audit Inquiry screen provides drill-down information so that you can review system usage, event trends, user productivity and efficiency, and bottlenecks in Workflows. Use the Purge Historical Data function, which maintains Workflow routing and reporting performance, to delete obsolete data.