Download - Charisma Workflow

Global City Business Park, Str. Bucuresti - Nord, nr. 10, Cladirea O2, Etaj 8, 077190, Bucuresti-Ilfov, Romania

Tel: +40-21-335.17.09; 335.17.10; Fax: 40-21-335.17.12 E-mail: [email protected]; Web: www.totalsoft.ro; www.charisma.ro

CHARISMA WORKFLOW 2011

The lack of an efficient management of the organization workflows or the existence of delegation and

exception risks occurring during the execution of these flows can disturb the business development. The

need to extend the mechanism of managing each operational or business process has determined the

development and integration of Charisma WorkFlow 2011 solution. For a functional added value in

configuring the programming transactions based on decision hierarchy, Charisma Workflow 2011 is the

standalone solution that can be perfectly integrated with any enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

I. FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL BENEFITS ............................................................................................. 2

II. FEATURES .............................................................................................................................................. 2

III. INTEGRATION WITH OTHER SYSTEMS .............................................................................................. 4

IV. WORKFLOW TEMPLATES .................................................................................................................. 5

V. WorkFlows Case Examples per business divisions ................................................................................ 6

A. Finance Division - Expense Forms ..................................................................................................... 6

B. Human Resources Division – Employee On-Off Boarding ................................................................ 7

C. IT and Engineering Division – Service Desk ....................................................................................... 9

D. Sales / Marketing Division – Marketing Plan Approval ................................................................... 10

E. Compliance / Quality Assurance Division – Risk and Compliance Reporting ................................. 11

F. PR & Communication Division – Complain Management process ................................................. 12

G. Administration & Office Management – Company Directory fill-in process .................................. 13

VI. Easy-to-use graphical interface and fast ROI .................................................................................. 14

VII. Interfacing - SAP integration for Charisma WorkFlow 2011 ........................................................... 15

VIII. Contact ............................................................................................................................................ 16



I. FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL BENEFITS

II. FEATURES

Charisma Workflow 2011 enables organizations of any size

to quickly build complex processes whether by accessing a

Web browser interface or directly in the client system of

the back-office user. At the same time, the solution

enables defining and automating the business processes,

reviewing the task flows and automating the tasks related

to ERP solutions.

Creates new flows only through visual configuration - while the effort of additional developments is removed and responds to a broad spectrum of business needs;

Completely manages all the elements included in the configuration process of the working process - actors, actor groups, entities (documents and tasks), inputs and outputs, interaction and control methods, etc.;

Efficiently sets up and manages ways of avoiding bottlenecks, including delegations and error handling, ensuring the continuity and proper system functioning;

Defines independent workflows specific to any task type within the organization; Generates workflows in hours and days;

Manages and tracks the evolution of To-Do lists by users (actors) or user groups; Includes a multi-user approval feature for various workflow tasks;

Provides decisional support by implementing execution stages, conditioning and time restrictions assigned to the execution;

Includes task management that helps users (actors) interact with the workflow at a certain moment, including the owner, generating flow, documents attached, actions and entities affected, priority and status (stand-by, working, finished, cancelled); the tracking of the actions performed by users is managed through checklists;

Reduces the operational costs by eliminating redundant or manual execution time;

Increases the efficiency of operations through an user-friendly and automated solution;

Minimizes the internal risk due to the increase of control and the introduction of operational

automations.



Automatically notifies each actor within the flow about the steps that were not performed or those that are to be performed;

Automates the usual business processes and tasks related to the applications;

Provides an updated, real-time image, of the tasks within the workflow, as well as the execution plan;

Ensures user and security mechanism management; it also includes the delegation and the transfer of responsibilities and rights from the source users to the target users;

Generates a detailed report at company level;

Measures the performance of a flow or a certain task through expandable indicators, used in

various statistics and reports:

o Number of instances by period (e.g. month) of a workflow;

o Minimum, average and maximum duration of the complete workflow execution;

o Link between flow and task for the indicators: minimum, average and maximum

duration of the execution, task number per user, period (e.g. month), etc.



III. INTEGRATION WITH OTHER SYSTEMS

Improves ERP processes by:

Connecting to external data via SQL, Web Services, LDAP,

XML;

Creation and usage in specific Workflow Foundation

operations;

Interaction via Web Service API;

Expanding and customizing, using the available SDK;

Integration with BizTalk;

Access to Active Directory

Using already existing connectors included within standard

package, supporting development of interfaces with other

systems without advanced integration know-how (Charisma,

Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle Financials, SAP, etc).

Workflow

Intranet Expenses Control Leasing Front Office eProcurement ...



IV. WORKFLOW TEMPLATES

Charisma WorkFlow 2011 includes standard workflow templates that can be used out-of-the-box, as

soon as the action of defining a new workflow is selected. The templates include business divisions

specific workflows that could serve as the basis for the creation of the new workflows and reduce time

in analysis and development of requests from business users.



V. WorkFlows Case Examples per business divisions

A. Finance Division - Expense Forms

Charisma WorkFlow 2011 can be used to automate their expenditure approvals process.

When an employee needs approval for an expenditure of any type, they add an item to a simple list in

their SharePoint portal. Charisma Workflow 2011 then automatically finds the cost centre and approver

appropriate to the expenditure, taking into consideration that approver's maximum approval limit and

remaining budget.

Approval is then given or denied by the approver by responding in plain English to an automated email.

Remaining budget is adjusted, notifications are sent to the relevant parties and, if the purchase involves

other departments, they are contacted as well.

In some cases, the approval of an expenditure kicks of another automated business process. An example

of this would be when the expense of hiring a new employee is approved and the Charisma Workflow

2011 responsible for recruitment is started. Another example would be when a large piece of equipment

is approved and the purchasing and acquisitions workflow launches to handle supplier choice, stock

levels and the like.

RESULTS

Before the solution was in place, expense requests involved a deceptively large amount of

administrative overhead. Between the initial request, identifying the available approver and their limit,

ensuring the cost centre had budget left and the correspondence and follow-ups between all parties,

each expenditure request was incurring a significant amount of administrative overhead.

In addition, budgets were often over- or under-spent as a result of inconsistent information. In some

cases unneeded purchases were made due to a failure in the approval process.

After the solution was put in place, administrative overhead for the process was reduced by 90% and

budget expenditures were in-line with what was predicted. Most importantly, nothing was ever

purchased that wasn't fully justified by a business stakeholder.

BENEFIT TO THE BUSINESS:

Smarter, more accurate spending for lower costs.

90% reduction in time spent on expense requests.

OTHER POTENTIAL WORKFLOWS WITHIN FINANCE: Hire Expenditure Process, Procurement and

Payment Management, Disputed Invoice Process, Financial Compliance Approval, Travel Request, etc.



B. Human Resources Division – Employee On-Off Boarding

A large company could adopt an automated workflow solution for managing the processes incurred

when an employee joins or leaves their company.

Now, when a new employee joins their business, information is gathered from an electronic form that

Human Resources fill out. A workflow then notifies multiples branches of the company requesting

related work to be complete. Examples include requisitioning a new laptop, entering the employee on

the payroll and ordering the necessary uniform.

When the employee leaves, the process is essentially run in reverse.

Additionally, this solution passes information to other workflow solutions such as the company's

automated employee directory and their expenditure requests system.

RESULTS

The employee onboarding/off boarding solution showed a major financial benefit. It now costs the

company far less when they bring on a new employee or see one leave.

Before the workflow solution was used, all of the information regarding employees was stored in

disparate systems: some was held in the payroll system, some in network user accounts and some was

even in paper-based formats. The administrative overhead involved in making sure all of this critical

information was consistent was significant. The IT department also had to be involved to setup network

assets like hardware and login accounts. Complexity of the process could sometimes result in significant

delays within the employee onboarding process.

When an employee left, this whole process had to be carried out again in reverse.

Now, all of the relevant information is stored in a central location and then populates the disparate

systems automatically. Someone in the Human Resources department fills out one form, and the rest is

automated: the relevant company departments receive the notifications they require, the network

account is created automatically and the financial data's accuracy is assured.

BENEFIT TO THE BUSINESS

90% reduction of administrative effort and cost for all internal hires and departures, internationally.

OTHER POTENTIAL WORKFLOWS WITHIN HUMAN RESOURCES: Recruitment Process, Employee Review

/ Feedback, Leave Requests, Absence Manager Approval, Job Requisition, etc.



ONBOARDING WORKFLOW DESIGN (EXAMPLE)



C. IT and Engineering Division – Service Desk

Charisma WorkFlow 2011 solution can be easily used to build an easy-to-use service desk solution for

any company’s IT department.

Employees log their support requests in a simple form, specifying details such as severity, department

and nature of the problem. When IT staff takes ownership of an incident, workflows are triggered that

start a sequence of reminders and notifications based on the severity of the issue.

Service Level Agreement metrics can be used to establish a baseline for the incident close-rate and a

workflow can automatically populate a report for managers to view performance ratings.

RESULTS

The Charisma Workflow 2011 solution is in the end not only simple and cost-effective, but can use

existing SharePoint technology and can happily live on the company’s Intranet.


Higher business efficiency through timely, reliable end-user support.

Formal SLAs tracked with managerial reporting.

OTHER POTENTIAL WORKFLOWS WITHIN IT / ENGINEERING DIVISION: Project Budget Approval, Project

Issue Escalation, Project Team Site, Asset Tracking and Management, Create and AD Security User /

Group, Mail Enable Account, etc.



D. Sales / Marketing Division – Marketing Plan Approval

Charisma WorkFlow 2011 solution can be easily used to automate the marketing plan creation and

approval process.

The process could start manually upon manager decision or could automatically start based on a

predefined schedule (quarterly, yearly, etc.). The initiator fills in the generated form and, following his

input, a list of automated tasks is generated for each business owner that needs to interact with the

system (budget owners, product managers, product marketing managers, sourcing, etc.).

The system automatically notifies each user towards expected action and tracks process evolution

versus predefined deadlines. It also generates notifications to users / managers, should any of the

deadlines be broken (or near to be broken).

Once the users deliver their input, the system can automatically assemble the final document and start

the approval submission process, by also generating the list of tasks for each responsible, should the

plan be approved.

RESULTS

Creation and submission of Marketing Plan duration could easily decrease significantly by also keeping

track of each deadline and required action within the process. It also ensures smooth process execution

and log of each required action and result.


Better transparency in the marketing plan submission process

Avoiding delays and miscommunications within involved parties

OTHER POTENTIAL WORKFLOWS WITHIN SALES / MARKETING DIVISION: Vendor Creation Process,

Marketing Literature Creation and Publication Approval, Marketing Plan Execution, Lead Activity

Process, Special Offers / Campaigns Approval, Customer Credit Approval, Lead Management, etc.



E. Compliance / Quality Assurance Division – Risk and Compliance Reporting

An international company implemented Workflow solution to ensure they met their risk and compliancy

requirements.

This risk & compliance solution is a combination of InfoPath forms and Charisma Workflow 2011. Each

month senior members of the management Team are required to submit a Compliance Report and/or

Risk Change Report to ensure the company meets their legal obligations. They submit the reports using

the forms and Charisma Workflow 2011 actions the data.

In the case of a breach of compliance or a change in the risk status a workflow process is kicked off and

the Compliance Manager is notified of a potential problem. SharePoint and InfoPath are used to meet

the UI and security requirements of the solution, while Charisma provides the workflow. The workflow

includes an approval process and updates the security settings of each item to maintain privacy.

RESULTS

Now that the solution is in place, the company is meeting their compliance and risk requirements much

more easily. Since all of their related processes are now managed automatically, every output meets

their standards.

This means that, in addition to saving time and money, their end product is of higher quality.


Less financial and legal risk to the company.

Higher quality products produced.

OTHER POTENTIAL WORKFLOWS WITHIN COMPLIANCE / QUALITY ASSURANCE DIVISION: Document

Archival, Document Approval, Quality Management Compliance, Safety and Control Audit, etc.



F. PR & Communication Division – Complain Management process

One large customer used a Charisma Workflow 2011 solution to streamline their tracking system for

complaints. The system is based around official complaints which would flow through various channels

of authorisation, throughout different levels of the organisation, whilst including any notes or change

requests for modifications.

The workflow could require different parallel input and authorisation actions from various respondents

within a specified deadline. Once the deadline is reached, inputs and authorisations would be collated

into a single notification to the Author. The key to this was that if not all respondents replied by the

deadline, the workflow needed to continue without stalling waiting for a response.

By using Charisma Workflow 2011, this complex SharePoint workflow task was recast and solved by a

very simple solution. Charisma Workflow 2011 provided an effective way to leverage the core

functionality of Workflows in SharePoint by using a simple yet extensive GUI to complete complex

requirements.

RESULTS

Before the company automated this business process, the government office suffered delays waiting for

authorisations and follow-ups. In addition, more man hours than they liked were spent on

administration and document management. Of course, customer satisfaction was a KPI that required

fast improvement.

Now that the solution is in place, the company tracks its complaints and executes their responses in far

less time.

NET GAIN TO THE BUSINESS:

faster authorizations, quicker business processes

man-hours reinvested in key business activities

significantly increased customer satisfaction

OTHER POTENTIAL WORKFLOWS WITHIN PR & COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION: Event management &

execution, Legal Papers tracking, Newsletter creation & dissemination, Internal Communications

Approval, etc.



G. Administration & Office Management – Company Directory fill-in process

A large company used Charisma Workflow 2011 to populate their company directory and employee

details.

When an employee is first hired, an electronic form must be filled out by the human resources

department. Charisma Workflow 2011 pulls the pertinent information from the form and automatically

populates Active Directory with it, recording employee address, role, geographical location, phone

numbers and other fields.

This detailed, standardized information is then automatically synchronized with Outlook. In addition,

certain events within the company trigger prompts to employees to update their personal information

using the same automated process.

The company-wide address book within Outlook has since become the company directory - available to

every employee, whether offline or online - and maintaining an unbeatable accuracy rate.

RESULTS

Although it was helpful to be able to find everyone's contact details at a moment's notice, the real

benefit was having up-to-date employee records.

Because Active Directory becomes the "single truth" for staff information, more than one critical

business application benefitted from having improved employee records.

Having more complete, searchable information stored in the Active Directory user accounts also made it

possible to deploy other powerful workflows. An example of this is a workflow looking up an

employee's manager in order to direct their expense request to the appropriate approver.

BENEFIT TO THE BUSINESS:

More effective internal communication

More efficient business applications

Significantly higher accuracy rate of directory data

OTHER POTENTIAL WORKFLOWS WITHIN ADMINISTRATION & OFFICE MANAGEMENT: office supplies

request, documents registration desk & submission process, office relocation request & approval, fax

sending automation, etc.



VI. Easy-to-use graphical interface and fast ROI

Charisma Workflow 2011 adds a drag-and-drop workflow designer, connectivity and advanced workflow

features to the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 platform. Business users and IT Professionals alike will be

empowered to quickly and easily automate business processes; from a simple leave approval request, to

complex integration across external applications and data sources.

Draw it, not code it:

Intuitive easy to use, browser based drag and drop workflow designer

Empower all SharePoint users to automate their own processes in minutes

Measure and manage:

See real-time status of workflows

Measure and improve business performance

Design once, use many:

Reusable templates and modules

Share and align business practices across teams

Built on SharePoint for SharePoint:

Simple deployment and management, no client software required

Protect your SharePoint investment

No additional infrastructure costs

Rapid ROI:

Efficiency gains and reduced processing costs

Reduced IT burden



VII. Interfacing - SAP integration for Charisma WorkFlow 2011

TotalSoft recognized many businesses face challenges integrating their Line of Business applications

across their enterprise. TotalSoft partner’s connectors combine Charisma Workflow 2011, SharePoint

and specific web parts to make automating business processes across SAP and other data silos easy and

cost-effective. The connectors allow solution architects, developers and even power users to combine

and reuse SAP business entities with user friendly workflows to quickly build and enhance SharePoint

based solutions.

RESULTS

Many customers were spending a lot of time and money trying to get SharePoint and SAP to talk to each

other. Some had even given up entirely and leaving the two systems completely isolated from one

another. This meant their business processes were often disjointed and one system could not leverage

the data from the other.

Now, connectors have cured the pain. Business processes can be managed in SharePoint with Charisma

Workflow 2011 and can use data held in SAP. Now, SAP can kick off business processes that are pushed

through to the user in SharePoint.

BUSINESS BENEFITS

Lower cost of managing data between SAP and SharePoint

Business processes fully streamlined across the enterprise: higher efficiency

Better Quality Assurance through automated risk management



VIII. Contact

Please feel free to contact us for any further additional information:

Bogdan Ionuţ Popescu

Sales Manager - BizApp

E: [email protected]

M: +40 745 183 506

P: +40 213 351 709

F: +40 213 351 712

W: www.totalsoft.ro

Andreia Stavarache

Sales Manager – Business Applications

E: [email protected]

M: +40 720 999 278

P: +40 213 351 709

F: +40 213 351 712

W: www.totalsoft.ro