Thankfully, there are tools you can use to get rid of distractions and automate repetitive tasks. Think of them as shortcuts that enable you to focus on your work rather than all the superfluous details. 

A report from Forrester found that organizations with digital document processes have 10 times less at-risk customers than companies that rely on paper-based processes.

From the same study, 97% of respondents from organizations that still rely on manual processes are seeing a negative impact on employee productivity.

The finding speaks to the enormous potential for each business or institution to raise employee productivity by equipping them with the right workflow app and collaboration tools. 

So here are some essential workflow apps that can produce the results you want for maximum employee productivity:

• Workflow and Process Automation
• Task Management
• Time Management
• Team Communication
• Document Management
• Note Taking

Workflow and Process Automation

Automating time-consuming workflow processes is the first fundamental step to improving productivity. From purchase orders to invoices, the less time employees spend on paperwork, the more they can get back to work.

The following tools let you do exactly that by tackling all the manual and repetitive tasks that take away from more important work.

frevvo

frevvo is simple workflow automation software that allows you to automate any business process. The workflow tool comes with pre-made templates for commonly used forms, including:

• Purchase orders
• Invoices
• Travel reimbursement
• Time sheets
• K-12 consent forms
• New employee onboarding
• Time-off requests

Install a template to create an automated workflow or build one entirely from scratch. The workflow software is fully visual, so there’s no complex coding required.

Having a low code workflow automation tool allows any end user with minimal technical know-how to build dynamic forms and create custom workflows. With the built-in workflow engine, you can easily define and automate each workflow stage.

With frevvo’s workflow management software, employees no longer have to waste time on routine tasks like filling out forms by hand or chasing approvals. Employees can access the workflow tool and fill out forms from any device.

Zapier 

A highly flexible tool that works with almost all major software apps, Zapier basically connects the apps you use with one another so you can avoid the hassle of switching back and forth, copy/pasting or other time-consuming tasks.

This works by creating “zaps,” which describe a set of automatic actions you can set up. 

For example, if you want Slack to notify you every time you get a new email on Gmail, you can set up a “zap” for this behavior. Another example is if you want to automatically copy a message on your Slack app to your Google Sheet. 

The possibilities are endless and a tool like Zapier enables you to create quick shortcuts for complex workflows so you don’t have to do things manually.

Task Management

Another big function in any team is managing projects. This doesn’t just apply to project managers. Each project or individual task involves communication and collaboration. 

The more you can rely on an app to keep track of all your tasks, the less time you have to spend on chatting and verifying steps with your team members.

Good task management software allows you to easily see what’s happening in each project at a glance, see who is working on what, and organize according to deadlines. It also involves an element of visual, drag-and-drop design for minimal clicks to save time on organization. 

Asana

It’s extremely helpful to have a single location where you can see all the task details. Asana lets you do that through intuitive design. You can invite any team member to a “board,” which you can arrange by project or department (e.g., “Marketing,” “Client A,” etc.).

You can assign each task to the appropriate team member, include all project briefs, info, and relevant attachments to the task, and set a due date. Commenting and tagging team members is easy and anyone can see the task history by clicking on the task.

Notion

A somewhat newer addition to the task management marketplace, Notion is like a combination of both Asana and Evernote. Its aim is to enable people to work through just one app rather than opening several.

You can use Notion as your primary project management software for your team, use it to clip articles from the web or take notes and create to-do lists and spreadsheets. 

With Notion, you can use the Timeline feature to create a Gantt chart and view details like how long a project will take and more.

Notion even comes with a “Lightweight CRM” that lets you input all your customer data and organize according to where they are in the sales pipeline. Basically, it’s an app with all the features you’d find across different applications in one place.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a cloud-based productivity platform built for all types of businesses. It combines multiple applications into one platform, allowing companies to centralize and manage their projects from one location.

Assign tasks to your team, create schedules, collaborate and edit documents in real-time, and track time across your projects.

Visualize your work and track your progress in multiple views, including list view, board view, and Gantt view. You can also track dependencies with the timeline view and manage capacity with the workload view.

ClickUp also features powerful automations, so you can automate routine tasks and streamline your operations. For example, you can automatically assign tasks when statuses change and have reminders sent to the assignee. Build your own or choose a pre-built automation recipe.

Native integrations with apps like Slack, Dropbox, Zoom, and Tableau help you turn this platform into a productivity powerhouse.

Time Management

Time management is a struggle for most people. There just never seems to be enough hours in the way to get stuff done.

But when it comes to time, Peter Drucker was right when he said in his book, The Practice of Management: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

If you don’t have a clear idea of exactly where your time is going, you’ll always be playing catch-up. Knowledge is power in this regard. The following tools help you measure your time so you can improve how you’re managing it.

Toggl

One of the simplest, most effective time-tracking tools out there, Toggl uses a timer to track each project, then compiles the data into a weekly report. Everything is customizable so you can track according to the task, client, project, or whatever field you’d like to assign.

Using the timer is as simple as clicking the “play” button, then the “stop” button to stop tracking. It also takes your idle time into account so that if you forget to turn off the timer while you leave your computer, you have the option to discard those minutes.

You can generate reports according to a date range, as well as project, client, etc. so you can see exactly how much time you’re spending and where. Both desktop and mobile apps are available.

Focus Booster

A study from DeskTime found that the most productive people work for 52 minutes and take a break for 17.

This sounds similar to the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo.

The Pomodoro Technique advocates for four 25-minute work sessions with short 5-minute breaks in between, followed by one long break of about 20 minutes.

There are many apps that replicate the Pomodoro Technique or allow you to set your own preferred stretch of time for working and relaxing. Focus Booster is one of those apps that uses minimalist design to align with its goal of helping people focus.

You can use its mini timer that follows the Pomodoro Technique, or input time manually. The app is available across devices including Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.

Team Communication

Logistics in team communication can eat up a large chunk of time. A study from Adobe found that we spend over three hours a day on work emails.

By using communication tools that set up meetings with a single click rather than through a flurry of emails, you can hopefully whittle down those 2.6 hours to something way less. Here are just a few options available for you to do so.

Calendly

We’ve all been there where we take over five emails just to set up a meeting. 

“Are you available at X?” 

“Sure, let’s do it!” 

“Great, speak to you soon.” 

Then two hours later, you get this message: 

“Actually something came up, will you be available tomorrow at 10 instead?”

“I can do 11, if that’s okay?”

“Sounds good!”

Calendly is an app that lets you pick which hours you’re available on the calendar so that the other party can take a look and set up a time that works for them. No emails, just simple clicks. Once you select a time, both parties get email reminders and an entry on their calendars.

To change the scheduled time, you can access the calendar again and repeat the process. Again, no emails. Just a few clicks and you’re all set.

Zoom

Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing tools on the web. It integrates easily with tools like Google Calendar, Calendly, Slack, and Zapier, so that sending meeting invites becomes an automated process.

Participants will get an email containing a link to join the meeting at the given time. There’s a recording feature so you can make a video of the meeting. It’s a flexible tool that accommodates for different types of video use, from interviews to team meetings to webinars.

Compared to other similar tools, it has a high number of integrations available, which makes it a preferred choice for those who’d like to automate meetings through other apps.

Document Management

Searching for a document that you need to do your work isn’t just frustrating — it takes valuable time away from more productive tasks.

Research from International Data Corporation (IDC) found that employees spend an average 3.9 hours a week searching for documents. That equates to a little over 200 hours annually.

Keeping track of critical documents is becoming increasingly important as more companies go paperless. A good document management system allows you to easily organize and share files in one place. Here are some apps that you can use to manage your data.

Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud-based storage platform that supports a wide range of file types. Every account comes with 15 GB of free storage, but you can pay for more storage depending on your needs. 100 GB of storage will cost you $1.99 per month.

Store your files in one place and access the documents you need from any device.

Google Drive also comes with Google Workspace — a suite of productivity apps that include Docs, Sheets, and Slides. These applications enable you to share and collaborate on documents in real-time with your team.

Don’t have your files organized? Google Drive is powered by the company’s search technology, enabling you to quickly find what you’re looking for.

Dropbox

Dropbox is an easy-to-use cloud-based and collaboration platform. Like Google Drive, it provides a central location where you can store and manage your files.

When it comes to file sharing, Dropbox offers more granular control than Google Drive. You can set passwords and even expiration dates on shared files.

Dropbox also integrates with the Slack app and other communication tools, allowing you and your team to collaborate directly from the interface. While Dropbox supports electronic signatures, you’re limited in how many documents you can send a month.

Note Taking

You can write notes on just about anything — a scrap of paper, the back of some junk mail, a Post-It note, etc. The problem with this approach is you have bits of information in many different places.

Note taking apps make it easy for you to capture all types of notes and sync them across different devices. They also let you share your notes and collaborate in real-time with your team. 

The following are note taking apps that you can use to organize your notes from one place.

Evernote

If Asana is geared more towards team collaboration on tasks, Evernote comes in handy for personal organization. It functions as an online notebook where you can save all your notes and files on-the-go.

Use a personal organization system to keep your own files and notes together, and gather ideas for future projects.

While it’s possible to share “notebooks” or “notes” and collaborate with team members through its chat feature, Evernote is most useful as a place where you can gather all your ideas and images for ongoing projects and tasks.

Come across something useful online? Evernote’s “Web Clipper” allows you to save any page on a website automatically to your notebook so you can refer back to it later. The app also comes with a to-do list function so you can check off tasks as you complete them.

Another handy feature is the ability to take photos of your written notes with a mobile device and import them into your notebooks. Evernote can even turn your handwriting into searchable text.

Google Keep

If you’re already invested in Google’s ecosystem, you don’t have to look far for a simple and intuitive note-taking app. Google Keep is also free to use, just like Google’s other productivity apps.

With Google Keep, you can create notes and sync them across your devices. Share notes with other collaborators by simply adding their email address. However, one downside is the lack of access control. Any users you add to a note will be able to edit or delete entries.

Google Keep integrates with Google in a number of ways. If you’re composing an email in Gmail, you can slide over the side panel and view recent notes. You can also turn a note into a Google Docs file.

While Google Keep may seem rather simplistic on the surface, it offers a surprising number of useful features for taking notes.

Conclusion

With process automation software, it’s easier than ever to eliminate manual tasks from your workday. By getting started with these tools, you’ll see an immediate improvement in productivity. 

Once you’ve set up these processes in place, you can come up with even more ways to make life easier for you and create room for more important, creative tasks.

Ready to start automating your workflows? Get started with frevvo today by signing up for a 30-day free trial. 

The post 12 Workflow Apps That Will Maximize Employee Productivity appeared first on frevvo Blog.

When paperwork is filled in manually, and approvals are sought by hand, it’s easy for fraudulent activity to go undetected. 

Invoice automation is a great way to combat this since it minimizes the human element of the process. Plus, it accelerates invoicing workflows, cuts out errors, and reduces processing costs.

Read on to learn all about invoice automation, how it can benefit your organization, and how to implement it today.

Click the links below to head straight to the section which interests you most:

• What’s Invoice Automation?
• What Are the Benefits of Invoice Automation?
• 8 Ways to Automate Your Invoice Processes
• Example of Invoice Automation in Action

What’s Invoice Automation?

Invoice automation uses workflow automation software to automate manual invoice processing to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Invoice processes are a vital part of a company’s procure-to-pay workflow. 

When sellers or employees raise an invoice, they create and submit a commercial document to request payment for goods and services. Depending on your process, this may happen before or after services have been provided. 

An invoice will outline what goods and services have or will be provided and how much they cost.

Invoice processing refers to all the activities your organization completes to receive, deal with, approve, and record this payment. 

The workflow, which is usually handled by the accounts payable (AP) team, starts when the invoice is received and ends once it’s been paid and filed to records.

Traditionally, processing has been done manually. Manual processing usually looks something like this:

1. Receive invoice
2. Manually verify invoice details by matching them to a PO and/or receipt
3. Record invoice in internal financial system with manual data entry
4. Give invoice to the approver by hand
5. Approve invoice by hand
6. Update supplier that the invoice was approved for payment
7. Pay the invoice manually (e.g. issue a paper cheque and mail it)
8. File all paperwork

Not only do half of all organizations admit that their manual process is inefficient, but manual workflows are also prone to error and vulnerable to fraud. In fact, 16% of organizations confess that they’ve had fraud issues associated with manual invoicing.

Automated invoicing removes many of these vulnerable steps and curtails human intervention to reduce susceptibility to error and fraud. Plus, it’s much faster. 

Automated invoice processing looks more like this:

1. The digital invoice is received from a supplier
2. Invoice is automatically routed through the invoice approval workflow
3. Confirmation of approval is sent to the supplier automatically
4. Payments are made digitally

What Are the Benefits of Invoice Automation?

Invoice automation software like frevvo can speed up the accounts payable process, reduce fraud vulnerability, and lower costs.

Here are seven of the top benefits of implementing an invoice automation solution.

1. Quicker Processing

Conventional practices for processing invoices mean the workflow is slow. This is usually due to the tediousness of manual data entry and delays caused by errors. 

When humans have to fill out forms by hand or enter data into Excel spreadsheets, it takes a lot of time and frequently results in typos and mistakes. 

Plus, there are often delays in the invoice approval process where approvers don’t get around to signing a document, or it gets buried under paperwork on a busy manager’s desk.

An automated process is far quicker. In fact, an AP automation solution can speed up the workflow by 73%.

Automation of data entry cuts out repetitive tasks and accelerates processing. Automatic validation of incoming invoices verifies data to reduce error-related delays. According to 64% of organizations, automated routing and automatic approval notifications expedite the approval process.

2. Fewer Errors 

A manual invoice workflow is error-prone. 

Not only are you at risk of mistakes from manual data entry, but there’s also a high chance of a paper invoice going missing, duplicate invoices being produced, and discrepancies between invoices and purchase orders. 

A third of companies admit that they have problems with lost or missing documents in the invoice process, while a quarter of businesses confess to duplicate invoice and payment issues. Another quarter says that they experience discrepancies in the paper trail.

These obstacles lead to late and incorrect payments, compliance issues, and extra expenses to remedy the problems.

Invoice processing automation solutions automatically validate data to prevent errors from blocking the pipeline later and causing these headaches.

3. Lower Processing Costs

Manual invoice processes are expensive because data entry takes a long time, resulting in high labor hours. Not only that, but continuous errors mean that the staff has to spend more time rectifying problems, leading to even higher labor costs.

Plus, delays in the pipeline mean you’ll miss out on early discounts. It can also result in fines for late payments.

On top of the cost of staffing, businesses have to fork over costs for office supplies and document storage. 

Accounts payable automation can lower the cost of processing invoices by up to 81%. 

What’s more, a third say they experience fewer costs from late payments, while a quarter agree that automation allows them to take advantage of early discounts.

4. Better Audit Trails

Manual record-keeping can be tricky. 

Not only does manual data entry take a long time, but when the staff forgets to update records or files away documents with errors, it can lead to compliance issues down the line.

Plus, storing paper documents can be extremely expensive and takes up a lot of space.

Part of an automated invoice process is automatic record-keeping. 

By switching to electronic invoicing, AP automation software can validate that invoice information is correct when submitted. Once invoices are processed, they’re automatically uploaded to the digital system, so audit trails are always complete, correct, and up-to-date.

5. Fully Compliant

30% of companies agree that invoice processing automation helps with compliance.

Where manual invoices are so prone to mistakes, audit trails are usually full of errors. Plus, the tediousness of manual data entry often means that staff forgets to keep records up-to-date. Both of these things result in your business being non-compliant.

Since automatic invoice workflows validate data and update records automatically, you’re always fully compliant.

6. Enhanced Stakeholder Relationships

Manual invoice processes are vulnerable to delays and lost paperwork, so suppliers and vendors often have to submit repeat documents or wait longer than planned to get paid.

This upsets your relationship with these stakeholders.

Automating these processes cuts out delays and obstacles, which strengthens relationships with your stakeholders. Nearly a third of companies agree that automating invoice processes boosts supplier relationships.

7. Less Accounts Payable Fraud

Accounts payable fraud is more common than most companies realize. A fifth of organizations experience procurement fraud, while almost a third of companies are victims of accounting fraud. Over 80% have experienced payments fraud.

This is because manual accounting processes are easy to manipulate. Half of all reported losses of over $100 million were due to fraudulent activity by someone inside the company.

Automation makes it harder for fraud to occur as it cuts out the human element where data can be manipulated. Calculations are automated, data is automatically validated, and a digital audit trail helps improve accountability.

8 Ways Invoice Automation Software Improves Your Invoice Processes

Invoice automation software like frevvo is the ideal solution to automate your accounts payable workflow. 

Here’s how to automate the different stages of your invoice process.

1. Populate Digital Invoices

Entering data can be one of the most inefficient aspects of a manual workflow. Not only is it slow and labor-heavy, but it’s also easy to make mistakes.

With frevvo, you can connect your financial systems and SQL databases to pull relevant information into your digital forms. That way, you can save time filling out forms by automatically populating them using the data that already exists in your other systems, such as contact information, goods and services descriptions, and costs.

What’s more, you can program your digital forms to show only relevant information to each stakeholder as the form routes through the process.

For example, a supplier filling in the form will only see the fields they need to fill in, while an approver later down the line will have a box to sign the document electronically.

2. Validate Digital Invoices

Avoiding the inaccuracies associated with manual data entry, invoice automation software will automatically validate the information in your digital invoices to ensure it’s correct. If the information isn’t right, you can’t move to the next stage of the process.

The software will validate personal data and information about goods and ensure that calculations are correct.

This prevents incorrect data from entering the workflow, avoiding delays and compliance issues further down the line.

3. Route Invoices

In manual invoice workflows, invoices must be sent via email or moved through the pipeline by hand. This often leads to misplaced paperwork and delays. That’s why 37% of finance departments agree that manual invoice routing is their biggest pain point.

Automation invoice solutions like frevvo electronically route your invoices through the pipeline based on dynamic business rules without the need for humans to forward emails or figure out approver chains. 

Not only can you route forms through a simple workflow, but you can also create conditional routes that divert invoices to different stakeholders depending on the information in the forms.

4. Notify Approvers

Instead of leaving invoices to sit on an approver’s desk, automated invoice software will notify approvers automatically, so they know that an invoice approval is pending.

Automatic notifications let approvers know that there are documents for them to sign electronically. If approvers fail to sign the documents on time, the system automatically sends reminders or escalates to a supervisor to prevent further delay.

5. Communicate with Stakeholders

Transparency with stakeholders can help to build strong relationships. Communication is the key to this.

By automating your invoice process, you can set your software to send automatic messages directly to stakeholders and update them on the approval status of their invoices. 

If they want, suppliers can also electronically check on the status of an invoice at any time via a built-in audit trail.

6. Generate PDF Documentation

Automated invoice tools like frevvo allow you to automatically generate PDF documents to upload to your systems, thus helping you keep more complete records.

You can also send these PDFs directly to stakeholders so that they have a copy to keep for their records.

You can automatically generate PDFs from the information within your digital forms or electronically transfer form data to your own custom PDFs to conform to business standards.

Generated PDF documents also incorporate digital signatures so approvals are also properly recorded.

7. Record-keeping 

To keep your invoice process compliant at all times, you need to make sure your records are kept up to date.

Integrate your automated invoice workflow with the record-keeping system that suits you.

When using frevvo, you can integrate most document management systems, SharePoint, Google Drive, and many other financial systems so that all documentation is automatically updated. Invoice documents and supporting attachments are automatically saved and indexed for future retrieval.

frevvo also has its own built-in repository for storing documentation if this suits your company better.

8. Track Performance

To ensure that your invoice processes are performing to maximum efficiency, you’ll want to track your workflows.

Using frevvo’s built-in reporting system and workflow analysis dashboard, you can track the speed and effectiveness of the invoice process to identify any bottlenecks that are slowing it down or causing delays.

This system also helps you monitor payments so that you don’t lose track of outstanding invoices.

Example of Invoice Automation in Action

Cricket Australia offers one of the best accounts payable automation examples.

Before implementing frevvo, Cricket Australia was suffering from very slow invoice processes because the tool they were using was outdated and clunky, requiring lots of manual steps.

There was a lot of back-and-forth to check data and get invoices approved, which caused serious delays. 

By switching to frevvo, Cricket Australia has cut its invoice turnaround time by 50%.

Invoices are now sent digitally and are automatically routed to the right approvers and stakeholders who can sign these documents online. 

Not only is this far quicker and easier, but Cricket Australia is also now able to successfully process hundreds of invoices every month while freeing up staff time for more productive tasks.

Automate Your Invoice Processes Today

It’s not just that manual invoice processes are slow, cumbersome, and costly. They’re also vulnerable to accounts payable fraud.

Automating your invoice processes removes the human element, which accelerates the workflow, protects against thieves, and helps you achieve operational excellence.

frevvo makes it easy to switch to automatic invoice processing thanks to its easy low-code software. Try frevvo’s free trial today to see just how simple automating your invoice processing can be.

The post The Complete Guide to Invoice Automation in 2021 appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Most teams have now “progressed” to using Excel and email. While it’s better than physical paper, email-based workflows are still manual and inefficient.

The good news is that modern, cloud-based software is putting the power of automated, digital processes in the hands of non-technical business users.

In this piece, we’ll look at exactly how to create a workflow without any coding or I.T. 

Click the links below to navigate to the section you want to learn more about:

• What is a Workflow?
• Why Create Automated Workflows?
• Automated Workflow Use Cases
• Steps to Creating a Workflow
• Example: Creating a Purchase Order Approval Workflow

What is a Workflow?

A workflow is a series of defined and repeatable activities carried out to accomplish a goal, according to a set of procedural rules.

A workflow is normally part of a larger business process. For example, purchase order approval and invoice payment are specific workflows within the overall procurement process.

Automating these workflows ensures that information is routed to the right people at the right time and that business constraints are properly enforced.

Why Create Automated Workflows?

Much of what gets done in any organization can be attributed to processes like approving purchase orders and onboarding new clients. But doing things manually isn’t practical.

Here’s a look at why you should automate your workflows.

Improves Operational Efficiency

Knowledge workers spend 60% of their time on “work about work” — activities that contribute little value to an organization. Examples include locating documents, chasing approvals, and confirming details.

(Image Source)

So much time gets wasted on “work about work” activities because organizations don’t have workflows in place for them. 

Automated workflows help reduce or even eliminate these tasks. For example, you can create workflows that automatically route documents to the right individuals.

Increases Workplace Accountability

Tasks can fall through the cracks because of poorly managed workflows. This can lead to processing delays and higher operational costs.

Automated workflows increase accountability by providing greater insight. A workflow chart provides visibility on what task each team member is responsible for and when they need to finish by.

Another benefit here is that managers don’t have to micromanage their employees when a workflow process is clearly laid out. This allows teams to fully focus on the task at hand.

Reduces Human Error

Manual processes are prone to errors — an employee may incorrectly fill out a form, send a document to the wrong person, or forget a task entirely.

Spreadsheets aren’t necessarily immune to errors either. Emerson, a construction company, came up $3.7 million short when estimating a contract bid because one cell wasn’t included.

Automated workflows combined with dynamic forms that perform calculations automatically reduce the risk of human errors.

These are just some of the key benefits of automated workflows. Others include increased productivity, better collaboration, and improved compliance.

Now, let’s look at the business processes that you can apply workflow automation to.

Automated Workflow Use Cases

Manual processes can quickly become bottlenecks and hinder productivity as your business grows.

Here are some processes that you can build automated workflows around.

Employee Onboarding

A strong employee onboarding program is key to improving productivity. But it’s a lengthy process that often gets bogged down by paperwork.

With an automated workflow, you can digitize the onboarding process and let new hires sign the necessary forms before their start dates.

Check out this case study of how Yves Rocher used workflow automation software to transform their employee onboarding process. 

Yves Rocher previously relied on a paper-based process that frequently resulted in major delays in bringing on new hires. Now, their HR department can quickly onboard new employees instead of wasting time on mailing forms back and forth.

Expense Reports

Expense reports are typically completed by employees to itemize expenses. These forms are important to track business and project spending.

But a slow turnaround time bogged down by a manual process means that employees may not receive reimbursement for weeks at a time.

Automating this process with workflow software reduces time spent on paperwork and ensures employees get reimbursed in a timely manner. 

Purchase Requests

Purchase requests are forms that employees use to purchase goods or services. They typically require approval from a manager before the finance department starts the purchasing process.

But filling these forms out by hand and chasing approvals is extremely time-consuming. This is an example of a business process that can be digitized and automated.

See how OESJ Central School District digitized their purchase request workflow with dynamic forms. Teachers can simply fill out an online form and it automatically gets routed to the administrative office — no need for them to chase down signatures.

Incident Reporting

Workplace incidents can happen in any organization. The exact nature can vary from an employee who gets injured to a piece of machinery that gets damaged.

With an automated workflow, employees can log incidents when they occur and escalate them to the right department for further investigation and corrective action.

Contract Approvals

Contracts generally move through multiple departments before they’re finally approved. Sending paper contracts back and forth means a lot of time gets spent (and wasted). Such slowdowns can prevent a project from moving forward.

With workflow automation, you can digitize contracts, collect signatures electronically, and have them routed to the right individuals for approvals.

Check out this case study of how Initial Saudi Group completely digitized and automated their contract approvals. Automating this process helped them reduce cycle times for contract approvals from two weeks to a few days.

Student Admissions

The admissions process is often fraught with extensive paperwork, which can be frustrating for students.

An automated workflow might consist of having students fill out online forms and routing those documents to the right admissions officers. Then, students can be automatically notified as the status of their application changes.

Support Tickets

Customer service is another area that can benefit from automated workflows.

For example, you can build a workflow that automatically routes support tickets to the customer service department. Customers can then receive a notification once the issue is resolved.

Managing Loan Devices

Having workflows in place for devices like computers and phones allows employees to get the equipment they need to do their work. 

With an automated workflow, an employee can submit a request for a loan device and have it automatically routed to I.T. for assistance.

Steps to Creating a Workflow

1. Start small but start now.
2. Identify stakeholders and document who does what and when.
3. Create a workflow diagram.
4. Implement the workflow using simple automation software.
5. Test the workflow. 
6. Deploy the workflow and train users.
7. Solicit feedback and iteratively improve.
8. Analyze and optimize. Communicate success.

Read on to learn more about these steps, or jump right to a specific, real-world example of creating an automated workflow with no coding.

1. Start Small, but Start Now

Don’t try to automate everything or get bogged down in I.T. committees. Find one business process and get that first, quick workflow creation win. Ideally, the first automated workflow you create will be repetitive, reasonably frequent, and have simple routing rules.

Along the way, you’ll learn what it takes to successfully create and deploy workflows in your organization, and you can incorporate those lessons into your approach.

2. Identify Stakeholders and Document Who Does What and When

Once you’ve picked a target workflow, it’s a good idea to understand and document in detail how it’s performed today. 

You want to detail things like:

• What exactly is the workflow doing?
• What’s the exact sequence of steps? Are any of them optional or dependent on business criteria?
• Who are the people involved at each step, and what decisions must they make?
• What content is created or modified?
• How long does each step typically take?

The best way to get a solid understanding of the workflow is to interview actual users. They’ll tell you what’s working and what’s not in the current setup.

3. Create a Workflow Diagram

Document a workflow diagram so the team can easily visualize each workflow step and provide feedback. Use standard symbols and terminology to design your workflow diagram, so it’s easy to understand.

In most situations, there’s no need for specialized software — you can simply use PowerPoint or Google Slides to create a workflow chart.

Share the workflow diagram with your stakeholders and consult with them. When they feel like valued partners, they’ll not only help validate your flowchart, but also be more likely to actively support a successful implementation.

4. Implement the Workflow Using Simple Automation Software

Now, it’s time to digitize the workflow. In the majority of organizations, I.T. resources are severely constrained, and available programming talent is scarce.

Fortunately, modern, low-code workflow automation systems like frevvo are highly visual and easy to use. Business users can automate workflows using simple drag-and-drop tools in the workflow editor.

Even relatively small organizations can eliminate manual work and automate everyday tasks thanks to affordable, cloud-based solutions.

5. Test the Workflow

Testing is about more than finding and fixing bugs. Obviously, it’s important to ensure that the digital workflow does what it’s designed to do without errors.

In addition, a couple of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) cycles will help you pinpoint problems and deploy something that your team actually wants and likes. 

UAT ensures that the people who have to use the new system have a say in how it’s designed. That way, they’re more likely to adopt it.

6. Deploy the Workflow and Train Users

Once tested, it’s time to roll out your new workflow. With modern platforms, this is very straightforward — often as easy as clicking a button.

Your workflow may function smoothly, but it won’t achieve anything unless people actually use it. You’ll likely encounter some resistance — most people don’t like change and are reluctant to let go of the current way of doing things.

In addition to teaching people how to use the newly-automated workflow, a training program that clearly articulates how it benefits real users will go a long way. 

For example, explain how the new system will reduce tedious paperwork and free up time for more productive tasks.

7. Solicit Feedback and Iteratively Improve

Successful workflow management involves regularly revisiting your automated workflows to uncover issues or opportunities to improve efficiencies. 

Once the team has used the new system for a period of time, they’ll be able to identify what’s working well and what needs to be improved. 

Take the time to go back and ask these key questions:

• Are you doing less manual work?
• Do you genuinely have more time for things you care about?
• How can we improve?

After collecting this feedback, make sure you address issues as quickly as possible. Otherwise, people might abandon the system even though you got 90% of it right.

8. Analyze and Optimize. Communicate Success

Gather hard data about the time and cost savings of the automated workflow and compare it to the time and cost of the project itself. How much money will you save, and when will you recoup the investment? 

Using the workflow analysis features built-in to your automation software, analyze your workflows to find internal bottlenecks and improve efficiency.

Finally, share consequential success stories and recognize the efforts of the team. It’ll help bring real change to the organization and will always be appreciated.

Example: Creating a Purchase Order Approval Workflow

Purchase order (PO) approval is one of the most common workflows performed by practically every organization. It’s typically frequent and not too complex, so it’s a good candidate for your first workflow automation project.

Document

First, document the steps. 

A common PO approval workflow might be:

• An employee fills out the PO form, perhaps in Excel, and emails it to their manager for signature.
• The manager reviews the Excel, prints it out, signs it, and scans it back.
• If the amount exceeds some threshold, the manager emails it to a VP for secondary approval.
• The VP prints, signs, scans, and emails to the finance department.
• Finance issues a formal PO and emails it back to the original requesting employee.

Diagram

Create a workflow diagram of this process. Using frevvo, you can simply create the diagram in the workflow editor. Share a screenshot or PDF of the diagram with stakeholders to make sure it’s accurate.

Implement

Now, you’re ready to automate. With frevvo, you can drag-and-drop to create your PO form and add things like electronic signatures, dynamic behavior, conditionally-visible sections, and business rules.

Similarly, you can add conditional routing to your custom workflow, configure notifications, and set up reminders without writing any code.

Test

frevvo’s portal feature gives users a convenient way to test out the workflow as it will be used in real life. Remember to ask your users to test the workflow on their mobile devices.

User feedback is very easy to incorporate with frevvo. You can make changes and deploy them in real-time so users can immediately see the effect of those changes. 

Deploy and Train

After testing is complete, deploy the workflow.

Training users is usually very specific to your organization. It’s so important that, at frevvo, we offer customers a proven playbook aimed at teaching users how to use automated workflows.

Solicit Feedback 

After the team has had enough time to adopt and regularly use the new workflows, reach out to learn what’s working and what you should improve. We recommend using frevvo’s built-in survey feature. 

As before, incorporating feedback is easy and can be done in real-time. We still recommend going through a testing cycle before deploying the updated workflow.

Analyze and Optimize

Use frevvo’s built-in reports and workflow analysis tools to identify bottlenecks, discover errors, and optimize performance.

Conclusion

Creating a workflow that’s automated and efficient is no longer a complicated process. You don’t need a whole slew of expensive programmers.

A low-code workflow platform like frevvo empowers your team to automate workflows and improve business processes without coding.

Get started with a free 30-day trial to see how easy it is to create your own automated workflows.

The post How to Create an Automated Workflow Without Coding appeared first on frevvo Blog.

They’re doing this to reap the many benefits of automation technology. These benefits include reduced operational costs and increased productivity, as well as increased availability, reliability, and performance. In turn, this results in more satisfied customers.

Failing to automate your workflows comes at a cost. The average employee spends 20-40% of their time searching for documents and loses around 40% of their productivity to task switching. Meanwhile, CEOs reportedly spend some 25% of their time on tasks that can be easily automated. 

Every company has different goals and therefore different automation needs and priorities. For instance, a manufacturing company that frequently purchases raw materials might benefit from automating purchase order and invoice approval workflows. A temp agency that constantly recruits and onboards new employees may wish to invest in HR workflow automation to make the hiring and onboarding processes more seamless. 

In this post, we’ll dive into eight powerful examples of workflows at the workplace and discuss how to make the most of each workflow for optimal performance and workflow efficiency. With the right business workflow automation software, you can automate these processes – and much, much more. 

8 Essential Everyday Workflow Examples

Below, we’ll look at eight examples of common business workflows and discuss how optimizing each workflow can give your business a competitive advantage while saving you time and money.

1. Sales Order

Sales orders play a crucial role in every business, and efficient order processing is vital to profitability. And yet, many businesses continue to rely on email, Excel sheets, and paper forms. Even in cases where the sales order process has been digitized, physical signatures are often still required, which can cause significant delays and bottlenecks.

In today’s increasingly digital business climate, manual paperwork slows customer service and risks the viability of your business. This is particularly true if your competitors are offering an intuitive digital ordering process.

An automated sales order system reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings, errors, and omissions. By automating your sales order workflow, you can remove physical paperwork from the approval process completely. With mobile-friendly digital forms and electronic signatures, customers can sign the order anywhere and at any time — leading to faster order processing.

While each organization’s workflow is unique, here’s what a typical sales order process might look like:

1. Salesperson creates the order.
2. Manager approves it.
3. If the discount is more than 15%, the VP must also approve it.
4. Client (external to the company) signs it.
5. Billing invoices the client.
6. The client pays the invoice.
7. Fulfillment delivers the product(s).
8. Documents are filed away for record-keeping.

READ MORE: How Sales Order Form Templates Help Improve Business Efficiency

2. New Employee Onboarding

How you onboard new employees sets the tone for their entire time with your organization. In fact, studies have shown that employees are more likely to leave companies when they had a negative onboarding experience. 

Manually onboarding new hires is inefficient and prone to mistakes and skipped steps. It also frequently places the focus on getting paperwork signed instead of helping your new hire to understand their role and build connections. 

If you want to improve your employee onboarding, set up a workflow that delivers a standardized and consistent experience. With dynamic forms, you can kick off the onboarding process sooner and process employee information forms and compliance documents before the new hire’s start date. 

Workflows help to organize the many different forms involved in onboarding and minimize the number of mistakes made along the way. Mistakes made during this process can be costly and difficult to fix.

Automated employee onboarding software can help you simplify this process and make it more reliable. Create a breakdown of every step of the onboarding process — from their first day through their first project and first month. This helps new employees feel welcomed into the company and creates a space that encourages them to produce high-quality work. 

A detailed employee onboarding workflow should look like this:

1. Prepare materials.
2. Employee completes relevant forms.
3. Discuss roles, projects, and responsibilities.
4. Create work-related accounts.
5. Prepare a benefits package.
6. Assign training materials.
7. Assign first project.
8. Plan check-in meetings.
9. Discuss long-term goals and expectations.

3. Purchase Orders

Every business relies on purchase orders (POs) to manage and control spending in their procurement processes. POs are extremely important because they make sure the buyer and supplier are on the same page.

Companies that automate their POs benefit from huge cost reductions, greater financial visibility and control, reduced overspending, and significant productivity gains. 

Emailing PDF documents around may have worked in the past when print-sign-scan was the norm. However, email is no longer considered an efficient way to send information throughout the company. 

In today’s fast-paced – often remotely managed – business world, manual processes that rely on email and printing are simply too slow. Delaying purchases because your PO is sitting in someone’s inbox waiting for approval can set back your product timeline and result in lost investments and business. 

Electronic purchase order workflows save valuable time, save employees from making easily-avoidable mistakes, and let them focus on work that matters rather than chasing paperwork. Instead, the PO is automatically routed to the relevant person(s) for approval according to the rules you built into your workflow.

A simple purchase order workflow might look like this:

1. Employee creates PO.
2. Manager reviews and approves it.
3. Depending on business norms, a VP reviews it, e.g. if the amount exceeds $10,000.
4. Send PO to the supplier (external to the company).
5. Receive goods or services.
6. Receive the invoice from the supplier.
7. Authorize invoice, pay supplier.
8. File documents for recordkeeping.

4. Vacation Requests

Vacation requests usually require approval from a manager. An electronic paid time off workflow automatically routes the employee’s request to the right party for approval. It also tracks the process, sends approval reminder notifications, and automatically updates the relevant stakeholders about the request’s current status. 

This makes the PTO request process quick, efficient, accurate, and easy to use. The employee avoids the stress of requesting and tracking their forms, and they don’t have to worry about paperwork. 

The manager receives the vacation request – with all the related documents – within seconds of submission. The manager can approve and sign the form from any device, so there’s no reason their being out of office should affect employees’ vacation. 

Automated workflows drastically decrease the PTO request turnaround time compared to performing this process manually. 

Again, each organization has its own way of doing things, but here’s how a simple workflow might look in your vacation request system:

1. Employee fills out digital vacation request form.
2. Employee sends the form to their manager electronically.
3. Manager approves request.
4. Employee plans their vacation and blocks off time.
5. They then list tasks that must be completed before leaving.
6. Employee hands over tasks if necessary.
7. Employee plans transition time back into the office.
8. The employee takes a stress-free vacation.

5. Travel Request Authorization

Organizations frequently need to authorize travel requests and handle mileage reimbursements for business travel. These are especially common in universities and K-12 schools, where faculty and staff often travel to conferences or for training purposes.

A manual travel authorization process allows too many opportunities for mistakes and abuse. Employees can overestimate their travel costs and file for more reimbursement than necessary. 

Or, employees who really do misplace their receipts can lose their reimbursement opportunity. Both situations are not ideal and completely avoidable with electronic workflows and automated travel request software in place. With the ability to upload photographs of receipts, employees can track their travel expenses on-the-go using their mobile phone camera. 

Here’s a typical travel request workflow that a university might use:

1. Employee fills out travel request form to attend a conference, includes estimated expenses.
2. Their Department Head approves.
3. Employee travels to the conference and keeps records of their expenditure.
4. Employee reconciles actual expenses with approved expenses.
5. If actual expenses are higher, the Department Head must approve again.
6. The Business Office reimburses the employee.

6. Expense Claims

In most companies, the finance department is rife with outdated manual processes. For example, generating expense reports is time-consuming and employees who file them manually have to sift through far too many papers and Excel sheets. This wastes time on unnecessary paperwork that could instead be spent on more productive and engaging tasks.

Automating the expense approval process reduces unproductive time and makes the process more consistent. Expense report forms can be configured to have mandatory fields and attachments, reducing back-and-forth. With automated expense approval software, it’s easy for managers to approve certain parts while asking for revisions on others. Employees can also track the status of their expense claims at any time.

A simple expense claim workflow would look something like this:

1. Employee submits an expense report.
2. Manager views and approves it.
3. Finance reimburses the employee.
4. Finance also enters data into the accounting system.
5. Expense report documents are filed away for later retrieval.

7. Recruitment

Talent is the most important determinant of business success in the 21st century. Attracting and retaining world-class talent has, therefore, become critical to the organization’s future. This has never been truer than right now while the US is facing a critical skills shortage in multiple industries.

Automation can improve the quality and reach of job listings, increasing your applicant pool, and boosting your company’s chance of finding the right candidate for the job. It can help sort and filter applicants and shorten the application-to-offer timeline. An automated recruitment workflow streamlines and standardizes the entire hiring process. This prevents small but important steps from being missed, and improves the candidate experience – which increases the chance of them accepting your offer.

Better recruitment workflows lead to companies assessing candidates’ skills more accurately. This can save you from accidentally passing on qualified employees, and hiring candidates that are not a good match for the role or organization. Recruitment automation can also help create a fair hiring process that is free from implicit bias. 

Automation provides a clear step-by-step process that is followed every time to make sure you’re finding the right match for your company and that no potential candidates are missed.

A detailed recruitment workflow would look something like this:

1. A job description is drafted and approved.
2. The listing is circulated.
3. HR receives application.
4. ATS identifies best candidates.
5. Review and evaluate resume/CV.
6. Plan interview.
7. Conduct interview(s).
8. Make and send job offer.
9. Negotiate contract.
10. If accepted, start onboarding process.

8. Incident Reports

Any process that involves multiple teams is ripe for automation. Incident reports, by their very nature, need to be submitted and dealt with as quickly as possible to resolve issues as quickly as possible. They usually have to be evaluated by different teams to see which corrective steps must be taken.

Manually, this is much harder, because all too often, employees are waiting for information. However, when incident reports are sent electronically and routed to the relevant party automatically, information is received in minutes. This minimizes wasted time and allows employees to address issues faster.

A typical incident workflow might look like this:

1. Employee reports incident.
2. First team assesses incident.
3. First team sends information to Department Head.
4. Identify solution.
5. Create and assign response team.
6. Team implements solution.
7. Iterate until the incident is fully resolved.
8. Perform compliance/risk assessment to avoid the incident recurring in future.

Final Thoughts

Businesses that choose to invest in automation accrue significant long-term benefits over those that stick with manual processes (business-as-usual). Manual work slows you down and exposes you to the risk of being replaced by more agile competitors.

In today’s world, there’s no reason to delay automation. Modern automation platforms are easy to use, cloud-based, and extremely affordable. Using easy workflow software like frevvo, anyone can automate everyday workflows so that there’s no longer any need to manually route tasks between employees; the software does it for you.

Electronic workflows are easy to set up and monitor (without help from I.T.) and allow businesses to analyze electronic data and continuously optimize processes through workflow analysis.

In the end, workflow automation software will make your company smarter, more efficient, more productive, and more profitable. 

The post 8 Workflow Examples to Get You Started Today appeared first on frevvo Blog.

They’re similar enough that they’re often used interchangeably, which creates quite a bit of confusion — even among experts in the field. 

So let’s define “workflow” and “process” in a way that’ll help you precisely and clearly communicate your ideas around BPM at work.

Read more: The differences between BPM and workflow and how to choose what’s right for you.

Click the links below to jump straight to the section you want to learn more about:

• Workflow vs Process: What Exactly Is the Difference?
• Example of a Workflow and a Process
• Workflow Automation: A Key Aspect of Process Management

Workflow vs Process: What Exactly Is the Difference?

Workflows and processes may seem similar, but there are subtle yet significant differences between the two. 

Understanding what these differences are will help you identify areas of improvement and ultimately improve business operations as a whole.

What Is a Workflow?

A workflow is a series of activities that are carried out to accomplish a task according to a set of procedural rules. 

A common workflow across many businesses is expense approvals. That’s where an employee fills out an expense form and submits it to a specific recipient (usually a manager) for approval.

This workflow has a set of defined rules and practices that govern a series of activities to complete the task. There are also clear start and endpoints. It starts when an employee fills out an expense form and ends when they’re reimbursed

Well-defined workflows streamline repetitive tasks and increase productivity. They provide a blueprint that employees can follow to accomplish a task, whether it’s creating a purchase order or processing product returns.

What Is a Process?

A process is a sequence of repeatable activities that are designed to achieve a specific organizational goal. 

For example, a company might standardize its processes for customer service to help meet its goal of achieving 95%+ customer satisfaction ratings.

Processes occur at all levels of an organization and vary across industries. Companies in the agriculture industry follow different processes than those in financial services.

Business processes are important because they standardize how work gets done and lead to more consistent outcomes. Standardization ensures employees perform a task the same way each time.

72% of organizations agree or strongly agree that BPM practices like modeling and optimizing processes have improved overall efficiency. 

You can divide processes into three categories:

1. Operational processes: Operational processes directly contribute to a company’s value chain — the activities involved in creating a product or service. Examples include manufacturing and distribution.
2. Supporting processes: Supporting processes don’t directly contribute to the value chain, but they’re still necessary for companies to operate. Examples include document management and equipment maintenance.
3. Management processes: Management processes monitor and control activities related to various business systems. Examples include strategic planning and capacity management.

In short, a workflow is a series of steps that make up a task, while a process is a set of activities that help organizations accomplish specific goals. Both are essential for getting things done.

Example of a Workflow and a Process

A process may encompass multiple workflows. Consider the procurement process. An organization might take the following steps to procure needed supplies:

1. Identify the best vendor
2. Create and approve purchase requisition documents
3. Generate and send a purchase order
4. Receive one or more invoices
5. Take delivery of the ordered items
6. Reconcile and pay the invoices
7. Maintain records for audit purposes

Within this process, there are several workflows — approving purchase requisitions, creating a purchase order, getting invoice approval, maintaining financial records, and more.

Optimizing this process is often a key organizational goal. Improving the procurement process means faster turnaround and even cost savings. Improvements can include purchasing from sustainable sources, strengthening vendor relationships and automating individual workflows.

That last point is worth a closer look.

A whopping 94% of employees say they perform repetitive tasks. Some of these include data entry, document creation, and copying data between applications.

That’s not all. Employees also spend their time on frivolous activities, such as hunting down documents and chasing signatures.

Workflows not only bring more structure to your processes, but they can also help you identify bottlenecks and uncover ways to fix them.

Consider the workflow for purchase orders in the procurement process. 

Purchase orders enable your company to procure necessary goods and services. But manually performing each step in this workflow is both tedious and time-consuming.

Workflow automation software like frevvo lets you map out each step of a workflow and automate repetitive tasks like document routing.

Here’s an example of an automated workflow for purchase orders:

The process builder is fully visual and doesn’t require any complex coding. You can easily add or remove steps to the workflow diagram and even add conditional rules.

For example, the workflow above includes a rule that only routes purchase orders to an executive for approval if it exceeds a certain value. This helps increase overall efficiency and prevent a backlog of work.

Mapping out a workflow is a valuable exercise, as it allows you to visualize each step from start to finish. This makes it easier to detect redundancies and reduce waste.

Workflow management, where individual workflows are automated, increases efficiency by eliminating delays due to unnecessary bureaucracy. 

It also reduces procurement risks by ensuring strict adherence to business norms and discouraging maverick purchasing.

Workflow Automation: A Key Aspect of Process Management

Workflow automation is just one aspect of business process optimization, but it’s one of the first things most organizations should tackle. 

Employees frequently struggle with the efficiency-killing issues that routinely affect manual workflows — lost documents, missing or error-ridden information, signatures that have to be chased down, missing or delayed approvals, plus more. 

Each might seem like a small thing, but, taken together, they lead to frustrated employees who are neither as engaged nor as productive as they could be.

Using workflow automation software to shift from paper or email to fully automated workflows saves valuable time and improves productivity. It also means better customer service, higher business agility, and happier employees.

Sign up for a 30-day free trial of frevvo’s powerful workflow automation software to automate your workflows and make your processes more efficient.

The post Workflow vs Process: Understanding the Difference (+Examples) appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Nowadays, 72% of organizations use at least some digital document management processes to streamline workflows and increase efficiency.

Unlike your manual documentation workflow, a well-organized automated workflow built with robust software is fast, accurate, and reliable. Not only that, but you can guarantee compliance and streamline remote working.

If you’re unsure how to optimize your business’ documentation workflow, you can follow this step-by-step guide and enjoy quicker, more streamlined document processing.

Click the links below to head straight to the section which interests you most:

• What’s Document Workflow Management?
• Why Is It Important to Streamline Your Documentation Workflows?
• How to Optimize Your Documentation Workflow to Speed Up Business Processes
• 3 Examples of Businesses That Successfully Optimize Their Documentation Workflow

What’s Document Workflow Management?

Document workflow management is a system that lets you electronically create, approve, sign, modify, store, and retrieve documents related to your business processes.

Most businesses rely on hundreds or even thousands of documents to function. Think purchase orders, insurance claims, medical records, invoices, leave requests, and student records. 

These documents are usually passed between departments, employees, patients, vendors, and students for approvals, signatures, and changes.

Once the processing is complete, they’re either printed and filed away in a cabinet or stored electronically in an electronic document management system for later retrieval.

Digitizing these document workflows can dramatically improve the efficiency of your operations, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction.

Why Is It Important to Streamline Your Document Workflows? 

Managing documents can be difficult without the right processes in place. 

Unfortunately, paper documents and manual processing can lead to errors, delays, and increased costs.

Improve Accuracy

By streamlining your document handling processes, you can increase accuracy in your workflows. Mistakes delay a workflow process, appear unprofessional, and lead to knock-on errors further down the pipeline.

Not only that, but continued errors result in disgruntled staff, suppliers, and customers who have to correct the mistakes or experience delays. 

Optimizing document workflows can help to reduce these mistakes, which improves these relationships. In fact, 40% of business leaders link increased customer satisfaction and a boost in employee productivity to the switch to digital document processes.

Increase Compliance

Digitizing your paper forms and automating your document workflows also makes record-keeping easier. 

By cutting out administrative errors and automatically uploading documents to your digital document management system, automated workflow automation software like frevvo keeps your records in order and your audit trail up-to-date and compliant.

In fact, 36% of business leaders agree that digital document processes ensure data security and compliance.

Accelerate Processes and Increase Productivity

Streamlining document management will also speed up processing.

Manual document processing is tedious. Plus, physical data entry, handwritten paper documents, and manually uploaded paperwork are so prone to errors that processing is often delayed due to remedial work.

55% of business decision-makers agree that digital document management processes can accelerate document processing. 

This allows staff to focus their time on more important tasks than administration, leading to greater innovation and growth.

As 69% of employees put it, automation would allow them to focus more on their primary job duties rather than wasting time on paperwork.

Lower Costs

What’s more, faster workflows with more productive staff and fewer errors are cheaper.

Manual document processes are often expensive, as you’ll need to pay high labor costs to cope with the data-entry demand. Plus, mistakes lead to extra costs for remedial work. 

By transforming your process flow, 50% of organizations agree that you can lower costs and reduce labor demands.

That’s not to mention all the costs associated with manual administration, such as printing, scanning, and storing documents.

According to 37% of business leaders, you can significantly reduce printing and storage costs by switching to digital document systems.

Facilitate Remote Work

Finally, optimizing your document workflow process can improve remote working capabilities.

If you currently rely on email or physical paperwork, your staff probably needs to sign and scan documents manually to send them to each other remotely. This is painstakingly slow, and there’s a lot of room for error.

Instead, digital document processes and workflow automation can streamline these workflows and incorporate electronic signatures so that your business can operate at full capacity even if your staff aren’t in the office. 

As 72% of business leaders put it, digital document processes enable business continuity in unforeseen circumstances.

How to Optimize Your Document Workflows to Speed Up Business Processes

To create a streamlined workflow for handing your documents, you need to move away from manual processing. 

Here are six ways you can optimize complex workflows to improve your document systems. 

1. Map Your Current Document Management Process 

A process map works like a flowchart to show each step that’s involved in your existing workflow and the connections between the steps. 

Create a process map to show every task that’s completed at each step, the people who are responsible, the resources and material needed, and the next step in the document workflow.

When you create workflow maps to show how current document processes work, you’re able to better identify areas for improvement.

2. Benchmark the Performance of Your Existing Document Processes

Identify the metrics that you’ll track to measure performance improvement.

Metrics could include the speed of processing, the frequency and number of errors, the staff hours needed, or the return on investment (ROI) of your workflow.

Benchmark current performance so you can compare once you’ve made changes.

3. Analyze the Bottlenecks in the Process 

Analyze your existing process to find common bottlenecks in the workflow activity.

Try using a fishbone diagram to identify issues in the method, equipment, material, measurements, labor, and environment.

A fishbone diagram will help you to see what’s slowing down the process, where frequent mistakes occur, and any unnecessary steps. 

Perform a root cause analysis to dig deeper into the problem. This helps you see past the symptoms and visible problems to pinpoint the root cause.

4. Model the New Document Management Process

Now that you know which parts of the process you are going to automate, create a document management process model.

This should show what will happen at each step of the workflow, where documents will be routed to, what documentation needs to be completed, and who needs to approve the paperwork. 

5. Digitize and Automate Document Management

To truly streamline your document workflows, reengineer the process by digitizing and automating as many of the steps as possible.

If you’ve modeled your workflow with a low-code workflow software like frevvo, you can easily deploy your model as a fully automated document workflow. 

Using the 100% visual, dynamic form builder, it’s easy to switch to digital forms. This allows you to quickly auto-generate customized forms that only show relevant information to the correct parties at the right time in the workflow.

When connected to your SQL database or other internal systems, these forms auto-populate, saving time on data entry. Forms also automatically validate to cut out errors. 

Create a dynamic automated workflow that automatically routes documentation to the correct workflow participants. Real business workflows have complex routing and approval chains – a system that automatically determines the proper routing based on business norms dramatically reduces wasted time due to incorrect forwards and lost documents.

Incorporate your document approval process into your workflow by letting approvers sign off on paperwork using digital signatures. That way, there’s no need for users to manually print, sign and scan documents so they can be forwarded to the next approver.

Approvers are automatically notified of pending approvals. If an approval is not completed before the deadline, the system can automatically send a reminder or escalate to a supervisor. 

To improve record-keeping, you can automate the generation of required PDFs and set these to send to the relevant stakeholders. For example, a new hire onboarding workflow might generate a large number of PDF forms such as a Government W-4 and I-9 and other regulatory forms.

Choose where you want to send documents to automatically update all records.

6. Integrate Your Electronic Document Management System

To make record-keeping easier, you can integrate your electronic document management system (EDM) with your frevvo workflows to make sure you have up-to-date and correct record keeping at all times.

frevvo integrates with systems such as Ricoh DocuWare, Xerox DocuShare, M-Files, DocuPhase, SharePoint, Google Drive, and more. By integrating with your EDM systems, your documents are automatically uploaded, saved, and indexed into your existing system for later retrieval.

Take Living Innovations, for example.

The healthcare organization uses frevvo to produce electronic documentation for new hires which automatically feeds into its EDM, DocStar, for record-keeping.

Alternatively, consider how University of Saint Francis (UCF) integrates frevvo with Jenzebar and SharePoint.

Students can easily access forms using a familiar interface, while all documents are automatically stored to the system for perfect record-keeping.

7. Track Performance and Adjust Accordingly

Once you’ve rolled out your process changes, you need to regularly check on your workflow functionality to make sure it’s outperforming your previous setup. 

Using workflow analysis software, track your performance to see what’s working and if there are any new bottlenecks or knock-on effects that you hadn’t planned for. 

Tracking your performance will also help you to identify areas for future improvement. 

3 Examples of Businesses That Successfully Optimized Their Documentation Workflow

Wondering what this looks like in action? 

These three businesses optimized their process workflow tasks for more efficient document management. 

1. Initial Saudi Group

Initial Saudi Group was struggling with extremely slow contract processes that were highly error-prone. 

Contracts took between seven and ten days to complete because they had to be manually approved by multiple parties situated in different locations. Contracts were often misplaced, so the whole process had to begin again.

By switching to frevvo, Initial Saudi Group managed to cut back on processing time by 92% — contracts now close in under six hours. 

Digital contract forms automatically populate and validate. They’re sent to the right approvers based on custom logic. Approvers can sign these contracts remotely with digital signatures. 

There are no more lost contracts, and deals are finalized far quicker. 

2. Bushcare

Environmental services company Bushcare was finding it difficult to manage and delegate daily tasks to its workers. 

Daily work orders were given out in paper form, as were essential herbicide permission forms. Staff had to submit work records by hand at the end of the day. 

Not only did staff frequently miss their work orders, forms often weren’t filled out — leading to compliance issues — and job records were often incomplete. 

By switching to frevvo, Bushcare was able to implement a three-step automated workflow engine. 

Now digital work orders are created and routed to workers automatically. And, herbicide forms are generated and routed to the correct approvers for herbicide distribution. 

Lastly, work updates are completed digitally and automatically forwarded to the right supervisors. Thanks to the seamless Google Drive integration, all work submissions are uploaded to the G:Drive automatically.

3. La Cité

Previously, La Cité College was using a very inefficient manual system to process student registration documentation.

Students had to queue for 20 minutes to hand in paper registration forms that were checked and scanned by hand. Not only was this process slow, but lots of staff were also needed to validate that forms were correct. 

By switching to frevvo’s workflow software, students can now fill out registrations using mobile forms online. These forms automatically validate, cutting out the need for staff to check forms. These forms also automatically route to the right approvers.

As frevvo effortlessly integrates with DocuShare, all documents are automatically uploaded to the electronic document management system without manual input. 

It’s not just that this system is faster and cheaper. It’s also led to a 700% increase in registrations. 

Optimize Document Processes Now

Manual documentation processes slow your team down. Instead of focusing on their main job roles, your team has to spend time completing administrative tasks.

To combat this, you need to streamline your documentation workflow by digitizing and automating the process. 

It’s easy to do this with frevvo. Try a free trial today to see just how much time, money, and stress you can save by switching to an automated documentation workflow.

The post How to Streamline Your Business’ Document Workflows appeared first on frevvo Blog.