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6 months ago

Back to glossary overview

Workflow Management System

A Workflow Management System (WfMS) is a software application designed to facilitate the coordination, automation and monitoring of workflows in an organization. Such a system helps in organizing tasks, assigning responsibilities, exchanging information and tracking progress within a workflow.

What is a Workflow Management System (WfMS)?

A workflow management system (WfMS) controls all workflows in the company and offers at least three essential functions:

The WfMS enables the graphical representation of complex workflows for better handling. Before modelling, the workflows must be recorded, divided into sub-sections and accurately described. The system supports during modeling with visual representations, including structure tree, branching and conditions. Once the workflow model has been completed, it can be tested through simulation to verify fault-freeness and functionality.

To run workflow models, the WfMS instantiates precise operations for specific cases. It has an idea of what data, people, and applications it can interact with. The system determines the appropriate editors and programs for each sub-step and executes the workflow with the corresponding programs.

A central feature of the WfMS is the monitoring of ongoing work steps and the analysis of already carried out processes. This helps in error identification and provides a basis for optimizing workflows. In addition, it enables the creation of meaningful reports and statistics for the sustainable improvement of the workflows in the company.

A workflow management system consists of these components

A workflow management system consists of three main components: design, execution and monitoring. The design models business processes and defines responsibilities and resources. Execution is carried out by a workflow engine that coordinates and monitors tasks according to defined processes and rules. In monitoring, workflows are analyzed to identify potential for improvement and make improvements. These components enable efficient design, execution and optimization of business processes.

In this phase, business processes are modeled. The planned process is defined by the sequence of work steps, rules are defined and responsibilities are assigned to specific individuals, roles or teams. In addition, the relevant documents and IT systems for the execution of the work steps are defined.

The modeled processes are executed by a workflow engine. According to the predefined rules and order, tasks, documents and information are forwarded from one process participant to the next. The workflow engine monitors compliance with the process steps and initiates new work steps upon completion.

Another important component is monitoring. With the help of this feature, comprehensive analyses and comparisons of the individual processes in the workflows can be performed. As a result, improvement potentials can be identified, which serve as a basis for the optimization of the original process model and provide the team with the new, improved workflow.

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What are the goals of a workflow management system?

Processing invoices or approving vacation requests are typical workflows. The main goal of workflow management is to coordinate a large number of employees and teams working in different locations in the execution of individual work steps and to monitor the flow of deployment planning.

The aim is to plan the process as efficiently as possible in order to ensure a smooth workflow and to minimize errors during execution. While a workflow aims for a specific outcome, such as processing an invoice, workflow management aims to achieve better results in terms of specific objectives, such as increasing throughput.

Why is workflow management important?

Viewed from a comprehensive point of view, workflow management systems act as a bridge between management’s strategic business planning and business objectives on the one hand and operational process management on the other. Ideally, both levels are continuously linked through reports and analyses from the workflow management system. At the operational level, a WfMS improves collaboration, makes it more transparent and efficient.

The benefits of workflows are diverse:

  • Ensuring process reliability by observing the order of the work steps
  • Providing relevant information to all stakeholders
  • Creating transparency
  • Automated assignment of tasks to the appropriate stakeholders
  • Simplified monitoring of processes
  • Easier identification of problems and vulnerabilities

Although digital workflow management systems drive standardization, modern systems offer dynamically customizable workflows and ad hoc workflows that greatly simplify and streamline enterprise workflows and project management.

What are the functions of a workflow management system?

  • Graphical process modeling to define workflows in different modeling languages
  • Automation of business processes directly from modelling
  • Use of software robots to reduce manual work
  • Efficient task management through system-controlled processes
  • Notifications for workflow adjustments and assignment of new tasks
  • Comprehensive collaboration opportunities for process participants
  • Integrated document management system with data import and export
  • Individually configurable access permissions
  • Comprehensive process control through comprehensive monitoring for continuous improvement
  • Seamless integration into the existing system landscape and ability to integrate third-party systems such as ERP systems

These functionalities make it clear that a workflow management system is a technologically sophisticated tool whose specific design can vary depending on the solution and provider.

How can I integrate a workflow management system into my IT infrastructure?

When choosing a workflow management system, it is important to ensure that it can be seamlessly integrated into the existing IT landscape and that the functionalities meet the specific requirements and application case. The software should be adapted to the corporate design and can be linked to other systems. In addition, interfaces to other systems are required to import existing resources, as well as the ability to export data from the system to other applications.

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How do I choose the right system for myself?

When choosing the right workflow management software, consider the following:

Ease of use and quick availability

Cloud-based workflow management software should be easy to understand and quick to deploy to enable users to work efficiently.

Global availability in the cloud

A cloud solution should be globally available and ideally offered on a leading cloud platform, such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This ensures that the software is operated in highly secure data centers and is accessible worldwide.

Advantages of a global provider

Compared to a vendor with its own data center, global vendors such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google or Oracle offer better performance, security and availability. In addition, they enable the integration of other solutions that can optimally interact with the workflow management system.

FAQ to Workforce Management Systems

A workflow management system enables the control, monitoring and analysis of digitized and automated business processes through a software solution. These systems can be implemented as SaaS via the cloud or on-premises. They offer pre-configured options for standard processes as well as the implementation of complex individual processes.

A workflow refers to the processes and processes we encounter in different areas of work. Involved persons, timelines, roles, rights and technical aids are defined.

Workflow management systems are used not only to control work processes, but also as an architecture of integrated information systems. They enable the precise definition of the starting point, flow and end point of a workflow to optimize and structure recurring processes.

A business process involves a sequence of activities in a logical temporal context, while a workflow describes the coordination of individual workflows. However, the analysis from process management can serve as a basis for defining workflow tasks.

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Martin-Schmeißer-Weg 15 44227 Dortmund

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