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The automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents,
information or tasks are passed from one resource to another for action, according
to a set of procedural rules. |
Key Benefits of Workflow |
- Improved efficiency - automation of many business processes results in the elimination of many unnecessary steps
- Better process control - improved management of business processes achieved through standardizing working methods and the availability of audit trails
- Improved customer service – consistency in the processes leads to greater predictability in levels of response to customers
- Flexibility – software control over processes enables their re-design in line with changing business needs
- Business process improvement - focus on business processes leads to their streamlining and simplification
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Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work, segregated in workshare, work
split or whatever types of ordering. For control purposes, workflow may be a view
on real work under a chosen aspect, thus serving as a virtual representation of
actual work. The flow being described often refers to a document that is being transferred
from one step to another. |
The following examples illustrate the variety of workflows seen in various contexts: |
- In military planning, a "concept of operations" is a workflow that defines particular mission types
- In machine shops, particularly job shops and flow shops, the flow of a part through the various processing stations is a work flow
- Insurance claims processing is an example of an information-intensive, document-driven workflow
- Wikipedia editing is an example of a stochastic workflow
- The Getting Things Done system is a model of personal workflow management for information workers
- In global software development, the concept of follow-the-sun describes a process of passing unfinished work across time zones.
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A workflow engine is the component in a workflow automation program that knows all
the procedures, steps in a procedure, and rules for each step. The workflow engine
determines whether the process is ready to move to the next step. |
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