Cloud BPM solutions allow workers to access data, forms, documents, and more from anywhere and any device. This remote workforce capability is helping to streamline business processes, increase profitability, improve customer service, and reduce the costs associated with printing and delivering documents. Many companies are recognizing the value of mobile BPM solutions as well as the benefit of capturing secure e-signatures with electronic signature technology to further reduce expenses and expedite document processing.

Process Director and Electronic Signature Technology

Companies who see the benefit of reducing paperwork with electronic versions are reaping multiple benefits including:

• Reduction in costs associated with printing, such as ink, paper, and copier maintenance.
• Reduction in shipping/delivery expenses. Fewer documents means a decrease in postage costs and no delivery fees. The customer has their invoice, quote, or purchase order in their e-mail with their e-signature included.
• Fewer errors and redundancies as well as less filing and mail/document processing.
• Faster document processing, including approval processes to close orders and get paid faster.
• Sales cycles can be shortened through business process automation and electronic signature capture.
• Approval-based workflows are simplified with no guessing or accidentally allowing something to slip through the cracks. Process Director allows you to set up alerts when signatures don’t happen in the expected timeline.
• Enhanced security and back up. Process Director allows data to be securely housed online, protecting it from fire, flood, or theft. Back-ups of documentation and the e-signature are maintained for records and audits.

Find Success with Process Director

Paperwork can be lost, misfiled, damaged, or even simply thrown away. However, e-signature software allows businesses to quickly and easily capture legally binding signatures, streamline approvals, create accountability, and build an audit trail while also keeping digital records.

Not only are digital records easy to search, making them easy to find, they eliminate the need for filing and physical storage space. Web based back-ups mean important documents are stored securely without fear of onsite weather, fire, or theft concerns.

Furthermore, this electronic signature technology can be used with vendors, suppliers, customers, and even employees. Consider the accountability created with purchase orders, product delivery, contracts, and policy manuals when e-signatures become part of the business process. Signatures state the information is verified and approved, thus reducing miscommunication and creating a contract of understanding. Electronic signature technology truly give management another tool for enforcing expectations and standards.

A Case Study in eSign with Process Director

Memphis Light, Gas and Water recently began using Process Director with e-signature and has reported some incredible results such as a significant decrease in approval times due to improved routing and document review processes supported by mobile applications, improved accessibility to documentation, making audits simpler and quicker, and more consistency in form completion with automation in place among other things.

Whether you need the security of digital signatures, the accountability of electronic signatures, or remote based e-signature capture, Process Director BPM software offers the electronic signature technology you need to reach your goals. Contact us today for a demonstration.

What is Business Process Governance?

What is business process governance, you ask? It has the goal of optimizing business processes and workflows related to governance, compliance, and risk management, whether internal, external, or both. Priorities are set, tools are implemented, and leaders are put in place to create more effective processes. Governance creates a system of continual improvement by setting in place a team or teams who oversee what is and what is not working within an enterprise. These teams can include frontline staff, management, IT, and others to create a robust feedback loop.

Why is it Important?

Ever-changing regulations in today’s highly-competitive business climate means Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) must be treated in a proactive way, as audits and fines take up valuable resources.

Some companies have separated governance, risk and compliance solutions from business process management, which is ill advised. Business process management software, or BPM software, is designed to streamline the critical processes in every type of business to create more consistency, better user experiences, accountability, increased profits, and efficiency. GRC solutions should work alongside all other business processes so the organization can align its strategies and policies to external regulations. Doing so creates healthy, long-lasting business governance, and, when done alongside BPM, will yield financial gains as well.

Often, regulatory compliance and business governance fails due to a lack of buy-in from those responsible for the managed tasks. As a management tool, and an incredibly profitable one when used properly, it helps businesses:

• Better manage roles and responsibilities
• Create accountability
• Aid in decision making
• Collect data and generate meaningful reports/analysis of that data
• Account for management metrics

So, while management may be pushing back on Goverance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), when informed of the benefits, they may take a different viewpoint.

What is Business Process Governance to BP Logix?

What is business process governance to BP Logix? We look at it as an opportunity to provide a holistic approach to organizations with governance, risk and compliance automation solutions so organizations are in control to today’s unpredictable business environment with changing regulatory requirements. BP Logix’s  BPM software, Process Director,  is a complete GRC software solution that offers:

Audit Trails. Form field audits track changes in form data and searchable fields make finding information easy. User permissions and mandated fields create accountability and consistency, creating more complete and robust data. External audit logs manage multiple versions of documents, events, and actions.

Security. Digital signatures, field signatures, strong password enforcement, and multi-factor authentication create secure data submissions to meet compliance regulations. Encryption and more strict default permissions can also be put in place for enhanced security.

Customizable: Easily integrate with other programs to avoid double entry redundancies and errors. Configure settings to meet your organizational goals, key performance indicators, and internal workflows while maintaining the agility needed for changing regulatory conditions.

Learn more about BP Logix’s Process Director for your business process governance needs by contacting us today to request a free demonstration. One of our BPM experts will learn about your goals and requirements and tailor a demonstration to meet your specific needs.

Image Credit - trustarc.com

In a previous healthcare BPM post, we talked about how BP Logix works with large healthcare organizations like MultiPlan and the National Eye Institute to implement BPM healthcare solutions for improved process efficiency across departments including finance, IT, regulatory, and purchasing among others.

Today, again, we’re looking at additional BPM healthcare examples and case studies to further illustrate how pivotal Process Director can be in improving processes, saving time, and reducing headaches.

The National Institute of Mental Health Creates a Telecommuting Workforce with BPM

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the largest scientific organization in the world dedicated to research focused on the understanding, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders and the promotion of mental health. The mission of NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.

THE PROBLEM: As the organization grew, tracking and managing the sheer volume of forms, approvals, and documents associated with their administrative business processes became an administrative challenge that needed to be addressed. They wanted a BPM healthcare solution that could interface with their other systems, offer multiple scenario workflows, and be searchable. They also wanted to be able to create a designated telecommuting workforce.

THE SOLUTION:  Within 60 days, the IT team had created and implemented their initial healthcare BPM workflows and database connectors that integrated with their back-end systems. They quickly created teleworker authorization and remote access forms, travel requests, waiver process/security exception requests, budgetary funds request, and IT purchase requests.

Learn more about National Institute of Mental Health here.

Whittier Health Network Streamlined Benefit Enrollment with BPM Healthcare

Whittier Health Network provides quality, comprehensive medical care to its residents in a compassionate family care setting. The network is comprised of acute rehabilitation hospitals, sub-acute rehabilitation and long-term care facilities, management services, an institutional pharmacy, a home health care agency, and an adult psychiatric hospital.

THE PROBLEM: Their annual benefit enrollment process was grueling,  with 2,500 employees who needed to be processed in a three-week time frame. The volume of documents to process was overwhelming and they wanted an easier way that automated more of the process. The goal was to find a product that did not require a lot of expenses for training.

THE SOLUTION: They began with a smaller process of online applications and when that was successful, they went onto to use Process Director to implement the full employee benefits enrollment process. Rather than scanning forms of information and gathering signatures and approvals, the full process was automated with healthcare BPM improvements. Less challenging, less painful, friendlier, and more effective, Process Director took a complicated enrollment process and simplified it.

Is a BPM healthcare solution right for your organization? It can be a solution for medium- and large-sized healthcare institutions processing volumes of paperwork on a daily basis. Contact us today for a free demo and to speak to one of our BPM experts.

Make Construction Project Management Easier

Construction project management includes the oversight of budgets, timelines, workers, consumer communication, and more. With all the moving facets construction project management entails, tasks can easily be forgotten causing missed deadlines and/or costly budget changes. Construction workflow software assists to create intelligent automation to reduce the chances of project steps “falling through the cracks”, as well as create accountability.

How Can Process Director Construction Workflow Software Help Me?

Approval Process Management

Approvals can be time consuming but are important for budget, timeline, and customer satisfaction. Automating the approval process can simplify it by automatically sending the needed paperwork to the correct party and notifying them if they don’t meet a deadline or are approaching one. You will no longer need to check emails over and over searching for approvals, forwarding documents and awaiting responses. Workflow management software can automate the approval process and save time within the overall construction project management timeline.

Simple Field Forms

Electronic forms are easy to create and allow users to enter specific information while they are in the field, whether or not they are online. This information can quickly be communicated to the office, or appropriate parties, so the next action can be taken.

Quickly conduct inspections, receive easy to read data, and even attach images or documents for a robust file of information.

Accountability

Our construction workflow software allows users to grant specific permissions to different users to create accountability and security. Only the needed information is provided to the client, subcontractor, supplier, or other personnel making it clear where a project is in its workflow and who is responsible for which tasks.

Reporting

A single point of data is created through the cloud based construction workflow software which allows reports to be generated, printed, saved, or emailed from any computer. All information is in real-time and can track the information you need for better management. Process Director can also alert management when tasks are expected to miss a deadline to allow for correction and reduce downtime.

Document Workflow Management System

A document workflow management system allows for the scanning of documents and images so all documents and information are in one area. Changes can be tracked to create audit trails, and data can easily integrate into other systems, such as payroll, job costing or other financial management tools.

Request a Demonstration

Avoid redundancy, decrease costs, and increase profit within your construction project management timeline by allowing automation and integration to work in your favor with our construction workflow software solution, Process Director. Contact us to speak to a BPM expert and schedule your free demonstration today.

Inspectors want a way to more easily track and enter their work in the field. The inspection process, including audits and field visits, can be optimized and better managed with mobile BPM solutions. Recently, The City of West Allis was able to improve their mobile inspection process with Process Director from BP Logix.

West Allis, located in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin is an industrial and suburban city with a population of nearly 63,000 residents. The city is responsible for overall government including public safety, housing assistance, water distribution and disposal, public works, and recreation. One of the problems they were looking to solve was that of new business permit inspection process.

Businesses who wanted to operate in West Allis were completing redundant applications because the multiple departments who needed the information weren’t able to share the data, and when they did, they often discovered missing information. This made renewals difficult and left huge holes in the process that delayed businesses from opening, or allowing them to open without all the permits and licenses they needed in place.

The city wanted to redo its entire licensing and business occupancy permit inspection process to be more efficient by allowing new business owners to apply for permits with less paperwork, and the information to be complete and seamlessly flow to all needed parties.

After reviewing several BPM software options, they chose Process Director because it addressed not only their specific needs, but because of its overall capabilities which expanded into 86 other business process solutions.

The Process Director Mobile Inspection software allows management to:

• Gain greater visibility and transparency of their field workers
• Have custom configurable forms and workflows unique to your business
• Automate workflow triggers when inspection data is submitted
• Streamline the way CAPA (Corrective and Preventative Actions) are handled
• Create permissions on data so it is available to all and only the appropriate users
• Know real time geo-locations of all inspections and their status
• Search and view all past inspections, audits, and field visits
• Create form templates with mandated fields to create consistent data
• Use eForms to capture, track, document, and integrate information whether on a mobile device or desktop via cloud technology
• Have seamless integration with current applications such as ERP, HRIS, and more

Process Director Mobile Inspection Process Improve software allows field inspectors to:

• Easily track and enter data via their mobile device, without returning to the office
• Enter data once, rather than in multiple locations or on multiple forms
• Connect messages, video, and/or pictures to the forms easily
• Streamline data sharing with the appropriate office personnel
• Have a simple daily schedule of locations with complete geo-tracking information
• Have the ability to complete forms whether or not there is an internet connection
• Get driving instructions via Google Maps to minimize down time/drive time
• Obtain approval signatures directly on their mobile device
• Tag, time-stamp, and location-stamp attachments

Process Director can help you connect with employees in the field quickly, with no developer or code required. Learn more about the award-winning BPM software and see if it’s right for you with a free demo today.

As your business evolves and expands, so do your technology needs. A one-person shop likely needs little more than a phone and computer; however, an enterprise may need high-speed cable, networks, and even a help desk. A laptop and landline simply won’t do. However, we find clients who have complex workflows with multiple steps who are using SharePoint workflow solutions to handle their requirements.  What ends up happening is, they tend to find out (months or more later) that this tool is not designed to handle their specific needs.

Why? Because it is a hard job to identify and evaluate the right IT solution for a project. Even just considering custom workflow solutions can lead down can rabbit trail and become convoluted when considering the additional needs from other departments, personnel or even customers. SharePoint vendor information can be confusing, and when performing a side-by-side comparison, it looks too similar to create real understanding. What usually ends up happening is that the process becomes tedious and overwhelming. Decision fatigue sets in and can create a delay in decision making, or worse, it forces a quick decision to be made, which creates a short term, ineffective, and incomplete fix to the problem.

Benefits and Limits of SharePoint Workflow Solutions

SharePoint offers workflow software capabilities, but it can seem very linear and limited. It offers modeling and process functionality to address basic internal portal and intranet operations, and the Microsoft Office platform is widely recognized. Expansion of its capabilities seems like a logical step, however it isn’t able to handle intelligent decision-making processes, document management, and automated business rules, especially when they require human intervention, such as approval processes. A true BPM software solution must be able to adapt to the constantly growing needs of the enterprise.

Furthermore, while SharePoint workflow solutions are good for content and data management, it doesn’t do a good job at managing governance and compliance requirements. Additionally, it requires dedicated developers to create the needed customization for businesses. In the end, it becomes expensive and slow to implement, hard to customize and expand, and not fully effective.

While the company is searching for streamlined processes, increased agility, and cost savings from a BPM solution, they’ve created nearly the opposite result with a tool designed for much simpler applications.

An Alternative To SharePoint Workflow Solutions

BP Logix Process Director is a SharePoint alternative. An award-winning BPM solution, Process Director uses rapid application development and no-code implementations to seamlessly link legacy programs with management tools that streamline data, manage documents, automate processes, and create audit trails for compliance, governance, and accountability. Customers currently using SharePoint workflow software can leverage their existing SharePoint investments by implementing eForms, lists, tasks, and data connectivity to create the real decision-making and cost saving capabilities BPM was designed for.

Whether searching for a robust, flexible, and easy-to-implement BPM solution, or wanting to better leverage current programs, including SharePoint workflow solutions, BP Logix has solutions to support your business process management goals. Contact us today for more information or schedule a free demo of Process Director with one of our BPM workflow experts.

Conventional BPM software has focused on higher process efficiency through better business process management and filling the need for appropriate controls. These are critical, and yet they fail when the component of time is added. Therefore, BP Logix created Process Timeline, a proprietary workflow timeline software with business process automation technology, to bring this important factor into the BPM and workflow model.

The component of time offers businesses additional control by allowing integrating predictive elements, allowing for human intervention if a task isn’t expected to complete on time. This ‘early notification’ is only available when time is a factor. Typical workflow processes may include an approval step, but fail to communicate when the task or full process will complete. The Process Timeline software is a timeline-based workflow engine that changes that.

Traditional Workflow Flowcharts and Linear Process Failures

Of course, it is important to know that tasks are getting completed and goals will be met as a result, but it is also important to know what is currently happening in real time. For example, in an approval process we know that Dick, Jane and Joe need to approve of a project, in consecutive order, but we don’t have a way to track the lag time or completion time to see when that approved item can go into the next process. By creating automation steps into the process, we can see real time and predictive outcomes.

Advanced Solutions Using a Workflow Timeline Software

Benefits of Business Process Management (BPM) With Process Timeline Software

1. Our award-winning BPM software stores every aspect of your processes for internal or external audits for improved compliance and robust data storage needs.
2. Automate without having to use code for multiple processes. Simple models create fast workflow timeline processes where each activity has a duration estimate to create predictive results.
3. The workflow timeline displays entire process as well as sub-processes that can be seen easily in real-time for proactive responses and early intervention on potential delays at glance.
4. Process Director’s predictive nature triggers actions in response to changing circumstances to overcome obstacles before production halts or missed deadlines for improved management.
5. Traditional as well as intelligent BPM processes work side by side to create more of an agile BPM solution while meeting a variety of business process management needs, all without the need for extensive IT resources, coding, or training.

Process Timeline is a workflow timeline solution with business process automation technology designed to capture the benefits of traditional BPM benefits with the added intelligence of time progression. This workflow timeline software solution maximizes both repetitive processes and unique, unpredictable processes with human decision making into one. Want to learn more?

Contact us today for a free demo from a BP Logix business process management expert and learn how to speed your workflow, communication and decision-making processes with a BPM and workflow software solution.

What Is A BPM Suite (BPMS)?

A BPM suite (BPMS) is a set of business process management tools that are implemented in order to improve business processes. Benefits include increased productivity, more streamlined procedures, less downtime waste, better customer and/or employee experience. This leads to more complete and consistent data in which to make more accurate decisions.

BPM software has evolved from simple process automation into a more robust management and engagement tool. Process Director business process management suite from BP Logix has balanced this complex functionality with easy to integrate solutions to get the most benefit, without the elaborate, expensive, and frustrating need for IT resources and coding.

Digital Transformation With A Business Process Management Suite

What is it? Overall, digital transformation allows your business to stay ahead of the curve by putting technology in place to allow for continued growth and expansion. The most powerful technology, in our opinion, is that of a BPM suite.

As business process management suites have morphed to handle increasingly complicated tasks and processes, the need for simplicity has become more crucial than ever before. BPM technology advances, such as low code rapid application development, has bridged this gap, allowing for both complexity and simplicity in one dynamic software. The cloud based platform means it stays as agile as your business, with updates to create continuous improvement.

Overall, Process Director business process management suite (BPM Suite) can make your job easier.

Business Tools Designed For The User. In the past, everything was code driven. A solution was implemented and users where trained on how to use it, that is, until something newer and better came along, when then the process had to start over again. With Process Director BPM suite, we turn this old thinking on its head and start with the user first. The tools are easy-to-use and focused on results and needs of the user in a way they already understand.

Structure Based On Projects. Outdated traditional BPM platforms depend on linear, first-second-third type processes, designed for manufacturing type systems. Today’s businesses need more than that and Process Director business process management suite does this by structuring BPM to focus on projects in small segments that allow for easier automation and faster ROI.

Proving A Valuable View Of Business Processes. Real-time data and analytics, as provided in an iBPMS such as Process Director, means better management. The users define not only the processes but also key performance requirements, resulting in relevant, accurate and concise decision making.

Customizable reports, alerts, e-forms, permissions and automated responses keep and build accountability, accuracy and information storage with more efficiency and effectiveness.

Process Director BPM suite is a robust yet easy-to-use solution that combines the automation of both repetitive processes and unique, unpredictable processes and human decision making into one. Want to learn more about Process Director business process management suite? Contact us today for a free demo from a BP Logix business process management expert and learn how to speed your workflow, communication and decision making processes with our award winning platform.

Image Credit: http://blog.snapinspect.com

Process Director Business Process Management Software

Process Director business process management software is designed to support the multiple processes that make a business run. It works to improve workflow processes by automating, reducing redundancies and outdated practices, streamlining document based procedures and more. Agile BPM software like Process Director can meet specific needs unlike enterprise software of old, making it the new solution for a variety of applications to increase businesses’ bottom lines.

Intelligent Business Process Management Software (iBPMS)

Business Process Automation: The process of automating redundant tasks removes redundancies and increases efficiency for better output.

Social BPM: Social media can make or break credibility with today’s consumer. Social BPM watches consumer behaviors and takes specific actions to provide more dynamic online engagements.

Mobile BPM: BPM software is ever expanding through the use of apps. Rapid app development means solutions for field workers to reduce lag time and increase consistency.

Electronic Forms: Create consistent data entry and rules around who can access what information, for a more robust and useful knowledge base. For example: Memphis Light, Gas & Water.

Analytics: By creating benchmarks to track and adjust, managers can be more predictive and responsive to data driven information and make better decisions.

Simple Integration: Web-based software means it is easy to access from anywhere and reduces the risk of on-site back-up failure. Integration between enterprise software is easy to integrate and reduces the need to learn new software.

Alerts and Rules: Automating linear and complex processes with rules and alerts keeps things moving forward without “babysitting”. Approval processes become easier to manage and paperwork isn’t lost or buried in a desk in-box.

Rapid Application Development: Easy to use forms, dashboards, reports and more can all be created quickly through rapid app development, without coding.

Compliance and Security: Document workflow management allows you to stay compliant and organized by storing, securing, managing and searching content across multiple arenas of business. User permissions allow tracking, security and collaboration.

Process Director Award Winning BPM Software

BP Logix is proud to offer Process Director BPM software. Award winning, customer focused and agile, Process Director BPM is ready to take your business to the next level. Process Director is also in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Intelligent Business Process Management Software (iBPMS).

Ready to learn more? Contact us today or schedule a free demonstration to learn more about how our iBPMS can support your objectives.

At BP Logix we understand the amount of time and research it takes before you choose the right BPM solution for your organization. BPM use cases and workflow automation examples help play a role in the decision-making process by offering a glimpse at the software that BPM vendors provide. These BPM use cases and workflow automation examples are one way to help you determine if their software meets your organization’s specific requirements.

Process Director BPM software has helped  introduce enterprise workflow automation technology to several companies which has led them to digital transformation as manual workflow processes have been upgraded to automated ones. Below are a few BPM use cases and workflow automation examples and case studies of how Process Director has been employed.

Multi Chem HR Enterprise Workflow Automation

Today with the execution of Process Director, the company Multi-Chem is able to better enforce Human Resources workflow policies and has uniform business processes which are more effective and efficient. A more structured environment for form submission was implemented with better monitoring and auditing to create additional accountability. An approval process system is now used to push required documents to the appropriate people automatically, while forms are used to mandate required field to capture all needed information.

Learn more about this BPM example

Festival Foods Business Process Management Use Case

Instead of building a resource intensive in-house program, Festival Foods looked at Process Director in part because of its low code BPM integration and ease of use. This was a plus as this functionality didn't require tying up the IT department thus keeping them from other important tasks.

After the implementation of award winning BPM Software, Process Director, Festival Foods eliminated errors caused by manual input in the inventory process. This improvement allowed them to scale their business to expand the number of guests they could serve in additional locations.

Choosing Process Director allowed them to make better use of company data and more efficient use of internal applications, as well as more effectively manage based on real-time business monitoring and predictive analytics. Simplified, automated processes created the ability to expand and grow while reducing errors.

Learn more about this BPM example

National Eye Institute Managing Regulatory Compliance

National Eye Institute leveraged Process Director to demonstrate its BPM compliance to regulatory and legislative mandates. Improving their document management and retention process and procedures was a way to demonstrate their fiscal responsibility and decision-making to their supporters as well as their ethics in reporting.

Constant industry changes meant they needed a solution with enough flexibility to adjust annually to new laws while not overwhelming staff, their budget or the IT department. Process Director now handles document management including disposition, storage, and retention while also maintaining the security required within the medical industry.

Learn more about other BPM use cases and workflow automation examples here.

More Information

• Read BPM success stories from our customers
• More on Process Director enterprise workflow automation solutions
• Ready to learn more about the value Process Director BPM software can support your goals? Contact us today for a free BPM software demonstration from a BP Logix expert.

Likely, if you are considering a BPM solution, it is because you have heard about the benefits of business process management tools that BPM software provides. Those companies who have already implemented Process Director BPM tools are seeing a 75% reduction in data entry, improved process efficiency, and faster decision making.

What is Business Process Management (BPM)?

Business process management (BPM) is the act of managing a single or multiple workflow processes. BPM software helps with business process management because it's equipped with a series of business process management tools that improves process efficiency which leads to more profit.

Business process management tools can organize simple, complex, and even one-off or ad-hoc processes. Intelligent and flexible in their use, BPM tools can work in a variety of situations such as mobile, applications, forms, automation and more.

What are BPM tools?

If BPM is the act of managing business processes, BPM tools are a variety of strategies to accomplish the end goal. Each BPM tool can accomplish a specific result through automation, optimization/reducing waste, and/or performing analytics. The tools connect the dots between the resources needed and the person who needs them, while also creating metrics in order to continually improve and refine the processes.

The tools can be used together to create a customized solution that is agile enough to grow with the business, integrate new processes and work with existing enterprise systems, faster and easier than ever before.

Business Process Management Tools of Process Director BPM Software

The BPM tools of Process Director offer versatility to create the custom process management you need with less time and expense than former software development and coding allowed. These business process management tools include:

Extensible Software: Process Director is BPM software solution that extends your workflow application with custom features and easy integration with other programs already in place. Innovate and grow faster than ever before.

Application Integration: Provides built-in workflow and BPM application integration with many third-party and in-house applications and databases. No learning curve for new programs. Keep what works for you now and integrate, systemize and automate with ease.

Process Timeline™: This patented workflow engine allows you to construct, manage, optimize, analyze and manage, and modify business processes with ease.

Web-based and Mobile Friendly: Field service personnel, vendors and even customers aren’t tied to a desk, and your business shouldn’t be either. Process Director provides field service management software solutions for employees on-premise and out in the field..

eForms Software: Create electronic forms without coding to create consistent input and reduce data entry. Track changes easily, retrieve the most up-to-date content, and establish user permissions.

Document Workflow Management: Process Director's document workflow management system approval-based workflows, form tracking, compliance, task lists, and browse document folders to search for specific items .

Schedule a Demo

Contact us today for a free demo from a BP Logix BPM software expert and learn how to accelerate and improve service, oversight and customer satisfaction.

What is Digital Transformation?

Simply put, digital transformation is the leveraging of technology to improve efficiency and provide more value in your business. Reaching this goal can be much more complicated than the definition given here may suggest, however, it can radically change business processes, activities, customer relationships and even value propositions.

Technology To Help With Digital Transformation

Considered disruptive in nature, digital business transformation has executives in nearly all industries on alert to changes in the industry. They watch in order to get a glimpse into the future to see how they can integrate new technologies to grow revenues, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction, improve differentiation, and increase their speed-to-market. In essence, forward thinking executives are looking at ways to use technology to refine, and accelerate their businesses.

“The best companies…combine digital activity with strong leadership to turn technology into transformation. This is what we call Digital Maturity. Companies vary in their digital maturity, and those that are more mature outperform those that are not.” MIT Sloan Management Review

Therefore, the goal of a digital transformation platform is to create a more agile business to keep up with the constant flux of technology advancements, environmental changes, and customer demands. The additional benefits are more streamlined business processes, reduced waste, and increased productivity and efficiency.

What Is Digital Transformation To BP Logix?

Well, all aspects of business process management (BPM) – its functions, tasks, processes, and assets are interconnected. A BPM platform pulls all these items together and in that process eliminates redundancies and inefficiencies, increasing profitability and improving the user’s experience. BPM software, such as Process Director, additionally serves management with business process automation solutions offering predictive analytics to allow for immediate intervention and correction, further reducing down time, costs and ineffectiveness. Consider for a moment the main drivers for using a BPM platform and digital transformation:

Technology Advancements: Changes in technology means things are moving faster – production, delivery, demands . A big problem in the past has been in the interconnectivity of legacy programs and new technology. Constant updates to new programs leads to employee frustration, and a loss in productivity due to training and implementation. However, low code BPM with rapid application development allows seamless integration between programs to reduce “learning curve” challenges that come with new product deployments.

Basically, digital business transformation platforms, or BPM, allow for a level of customization never seen before without the high costs, significant time investments and specialized coders.

Environmental Changes: Changes in supply chain, regulations and compliance law, competition, and even the economy can have an impact on businesses and are mostly unforeseen. Agility, through the use of Process Director digital transformation platform, helps accelerate the transformation of workflow processes to allow the business to make adjustments as needed and set themselves apart as market leaders.

Digital business transformation allows changes to be integrated quickly through low code, rapid app development technologies.

Customer Demand: Along with technology advancements comes the changes in demand and expectations of customers. Businesses who are digitally mature have the ability to provide a better customer experience, resulting in increased revenue. Imagine if a customer is able to engage with your company, find exactly what they are looking for, and make a purchase within minutes instead of hours or days. How could this increase your revenue growth?

Process Director makes this possible through predictive analytics, custom forms and mobile apps.

Process Director Is Your Digital Business Transformation Solution

Digital business transformation is upsetting the old way business has been done. Innovation, disruption, agility, and a constantly improving environment is the way business will thrive in years and decades to come. Executives are tasked with change management as a way to unlock revenue streams, reduce waste, and gain competitive advantages by creating outstanding customer experiences.

Process Director BPM software provides business process automation solutions that allows your company to develop more agility and innovation, streamline systems, and create people-oriented processes quickly, easily and at less cost than in the past. The ability to move faster in response to demands, forecast challenges, and adhere to compliance and regulations leads to better decision making, healthier management, and an improved customer/supplier/staff experience.

Process Director from BP Logix is a versatile digital business transformation platform designed to support forward thinking businesses looking to improve efficiency, manage workflows and compliance, and create a valuable experience for all those engaged with them. For a demonstration of Process Director and to see how automating processes with BPM software can help you with your digital transformation strategy, contact us today.

We live in an Information Technologies era that has seen mobile innovation and software-as-a-service (SaaS) progress in leaps and bounds - and with that, field service management software has seen a corresponding expansion in popularity and deployment. According to marketsandmarkets.com, the field service software market is expected to grow from $1.78 billion in 2016 to $3.61 billion by 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 15.1%.

What Is Field Service Management Software?

Generally speaking, this software is designed to coordinate a mobile workforce and the field operations they perform. This can include a wide variety of functions including consulting, scheduling, dispatch, vehicle tracking, job completion status, time tracking and related functionality. Field service software systems typically have hooks into back-end systems that support field operations such as accounting, inventory and billing as well.

Who Uses Field Service Management Software?

This software is rapidly becoming an operational and economic necessity for industries that provide mobile and on-premise services. This is by no means a complete list, but to cite a few examples:

• Manufacturing and Construction Services – Planning, scheduling and overseeing multiple jobs for mobile workforces including scheduled and incidental maintenance, regulatory compliance and construction workflow management.
• Utilities – Scheduling, dispatch and tracking of field technicians installing and repairing telecommunications equipment and infrastructure, deployment of engineering personnel to confirm and repair gas leaks.
• Local Government – Managing and monitoring field assets, intelligent scheduling and reporting.
• Healthcare – Tracking and support for mobile medical personnel such as nurses who provide in-home care for the elderly and disabled.

How Is Field Service Management Software Deployed?

It can be deployed as an on-premise installation or as a cloud-based system. The concept of cloud based field service management software deployment is growing in popularity as it allows companies to reduce or eliminate upfront and system maintenance costs by utilizing a subscription model. Instead of incurring the cost of an expensive site license and IT infrastructure, subscribers can opt for a monthly fee to utilize cloud-hosted software.
This model allows smaller companies to compete with larger, deeper-pocketed enterprises and also makes possible greater mobility because it can be accessed by any internet-connected device.

The Benefits of Process Director BPM Platform As A Field Service Software Solution

According to an Oracle® white paper entitled “The New Rules of Field Service Management”, enterprises that use field service management software have seen an increase in jobs completed per day of up to 47%.

Additionally, companies using Process Director BPM platform for their field service management software solutions have seen benefits in some, if not all, of these areas:

• Enhanced Workforce Management and Visibility – Mobile tracking capabilities help keep fleet managers, dispatchers and customer service personnel on top of vehicle location and job status.
• Lower Fuel Costs – Through route optimization and dynamic, real-time scheduling, drive distances and fuel consumption can be dramatically reduced.
• Faster Job Completion and Success – Access to BPM tools, back-end systems, manuals and troubleshooting documentation that gives your workers the tools they need to do great work.
• Improved Contractor Management – Process Director gives you real-time control of order scheduling, time tracking and field asset inventory, permitting you to close the gap between your brand and your clientele and ensuring that they receive timely, relevant service.
• Better Accounting and Data Reporting – Reduction in errors inherent in paper-based reporting methods. It lets your employees and contractors record job details, track time and close service requests while they’re in the field, increasing accuracy and timeliness while eliminating redundant data entry.

Process Director BPM platform is a field service management software designed to support your mobile workforce communication and function more effectively with non-mobile staff.

Request A Free Demonstration

Process Director sets the pace for your BPM and digital transformation. Request a free demonstration of Process Director and discover for yourself how this unique BPM platform empowers you to innovate, respond to market demands, and delight your customers. Or, contact us to learn more about how our business process management software have helped our customers conquer their digital challenges.

The best mobile inspection software is easy to use, simple to integrate with systems already in place and accomplishes the bottom line goal of improving process efficiency. Choosing inspection software that can meet these objectives is best done by seeing the product working in real life scenarios.

Process Director is a BPM platform that saves you time and money and speeds up the inspection process. Let’s take a look at each objective, how Process Director accomplishes that goal and the real life examples of how.

Easy-to-Use

• Using Process Director, inspectors are able to complete forms in the field consistently including adding pictures, videos and messages all from their mobile device.
• The forms used in the inspection process are automatically sent to the relevant office personnel for handling, including customizable alerts, autoresponders or other workflow triggers.
• Dashboards are searchable based on desired criteria including location, inspector and more.
• The mobile inspection software also creates an audit trail for better management.

Simple to Integrate

• Mobile inspection software applications integrate with existing software to reduce the need to learn new programs. Automations work seamlessly with current workflows and create streamlined information for searching.
• Customizable templates capture form information from a mobile device, creating consistent tracking and documentation and back up to a centralized database with unique and custom user permissions.

Increase Process Efficiency

• Daily schedules can be given to inspectors to maximize routes, including driving directions by integrating with Google Maps. Real time geo-tracking records all inspections for better management.
• Mobile inspection software offers custom forms to create consistent data entry and can be completed on or offline, including collecting signatures in the field.
• Real time transmission of information streamlines and speeds up the inspection process by not requiring trips to the office to complete repetitious work.

Real World Application of Process Director

The City of West Allis, Wisconsin, was receiving building permits faster than the staff could process them. This was a big problem, because they wanted the business and didn’t have a good way to manage it all. Paperwork was falling through the cracks as multiple departments struggled with staying on top of the inspection process and approvals.

Using Process Director intelligent BPM software, they were able to not just save time and money with the building permit process, but also other monotonous processes.

“Our goal, when business owners apply for new business permits, is for all the information to flow between departments and eliminate as much paper work as possible — making it easier and more efficient for both the business and the city.” - Jim Jandovitz, Director of Information Technology for City of West Allis

After Process Director’s workflow tools were implemented for the inspection process, they discovered they could use the same system for other areas they wanted to streamline. Among the additional uses were code violation processes, billing, creating vendor work orders, and HR including recruiting, onboarding, orientation, ID cards and more. In the future they are looking to implement a mobile solution for dog licensing that connects with the police database.

To learn more about BP Logix’s Process Director as a mobile inspection software and how it can help you, request a demonstration. We will contact you and learn about your goals and requirements so we can tailor the demonstration to meet your specific needs.

Business process management and workflow automation began within the manufacturing arena but have spread into other industries due to the many benefits of business process automation they offer. Automating processes, managing documents, and meeting compliance regulations have become the concerns of growing enterprises looking to technology based BPM software.

What problems are businesses looking to resolve with business process management software? What are the benefits of business process automation with BPM software? Here’s what we know:

4 Benefits of Business Process Automation With BPM Software Implementation

• • Benefit 1: Eliminate inefficient manual processes

One of the major benefits of business process automation with BPM software is the automation of paper heavy or manually driven processes in order to streamline the processes. Many workflows follow the same patterns, so automating them can make them more efficient and reduce errors. For example, using responsive dynamic electronic forms creates consistency in reporting. These eforms can be filtered into searchable databases with varying permissions accessible by the user. This means less double entry, less potential errors, and searchable consistent reports.<

• • Benefit 2: Make management decisions based on real-time data

By automating processes with BPM software, management can see what’s happening to workflows in real time. This means they can easily discover bottle necks in the process and even intervene, if needed to keep things running smoothly. Process Timeline, Process Director’s patented business process automation technology, allows for the use predictive data to capture and correct issues faster, avoiding down time.

• • Benefit 3: Accountability when it comes to compliance

Industries faced with compliance demands must have systems in place to keep consistent records, and have them archived and searchable. Compliance automation can allow for built in accountability, user permissions to access specific information, alerts/notifications, reporting capabilities and document history. Process Director’s compliance automation features allow you for enhanced audit support and enhanced authentication help organizations operate fluid dynamic processes ensuring they are in compliance with regulations and auditors.

• • Benefit 4: Become agile and adaptable to customer demands

BPM allows a business to be more agile and adaptable to customer, supplier and even employee demands. Rapid application development, social BPM and cutting edge digital process automation technology that seamlessly works with existing business IT structure is critical for allowing quick changes, increased personalization and the innovation to stay ahead of the curve.

Request a Demo

Process Director from BP Logix is a versatile BPM software solution designed to support forward thinking businesses looking to improve process efficiency, better manage workflows and compliance, and create a better experience for all those engaged with them. To see how the benefits of business process automation can help your organization, contact us or schedule a free demonstration of Process Director today.

The process of creating a document, sending it out for review and approval, for as many times as it takes before publishing it, can be a nightmare. The more eyes on the document, critical the material, and personalities involved, the higher the probability of delays and stalls in your project(s). Many solutions have been created to address this problem, but we think the best approach is through document review process automation.

The Problem

Documents, for the sake of this article, can be anything from internal policies to sales flyers. They can be printed documents, electronic documents or even web pages. The workflow for these documents include a series of steps that happen in sequential order, or concurrently, and they include 5 stages, namely: create, review, approve, update and publish. For example:

Concurrent Review Process: John writes a policy and sends it to Jane in HR, Chris in Operations, and Paul, the GM. The three reviewers make independent edits and send it back to John. He makes the changes and resubmits the document to the three reviewers. They all approve, sending it back to John who then publishes the document.

Sequential Review Process: John writes a policy and sends it to Jane. Jane requests edits, returns it to John. John sends it to Jane who approves it and sends it to Chris. Chris approves it and sends it back to John. From there, John publishes the document.

The sequential document review process can also include external users (clients, vendors, suppliers, etc.) into the workflow. Some examples of processes that includes external users are proposals, contract review and acceptance, and content review and approval.

The problem is when the  review process gets stalled, it becomes inefficient, due to multiple copies of the document being circulated, a lack of collaboration, a lack of timeliness and/or accountability, confusion as to the reviewer’s comments, etc.

The Solution

When it comes to automating a document review process, the most effective approach is to use a cloud based solution that offers a variety of workflow automation capabilities and user notifications.

We suggest Process Director workflow management software. Process Director streamlines the review process by providing:

• The reviewer’s comments to be immediately available to all parties to reduce redundancies
• Searchable tracking of changes, including reviewer name, date of change, etc.
• The ability to apply annotations such as virtual sticky notes, highlighting and free-form drawing tools
• Automatic conversion of source documents into viewable formats
• The ability to set permissions for different users to protect specific documents
• Suggested changes overlaying the documents and stored separately for author to accept or reject the edits without compiling multiple documents or versions
• Notifications and alerts to create accountability and/or trigger the next action to be completed
• The ability to toggle all reviewer comments or only one at a time
• The creation of forms to pre-define how content is submitted
• Scalable workflows that define the task, participants and rules that govern how the process advances
• Archives of the original document, as well as tracked changes for future reference

Overall, Process Director takes the best of both offline and online document review process strategies to allow participants to collaborate more effectively in real time. To learn more, contact one of our process management specialists for a free demonstration of Process Director.

Forward thinking companies look at cloud-based technologies for improved business process management, but now, they are also looking at ways to leverage that for more customer engagement via social media. According to Statista.com, approximately 78% of Americans use social media, and nearly 2 billion people use social worldwide. (Source: 2016 Social Media Profile Stats)

With rapid application development, businesses are finding low code BPM platforms easier than ever to improve business processes, and are now including social BPM (social business process management) into the mix.

What Is Social BPM (Social Business Process Management)?

Social BPM is a strategic business process management tool that focuses on customer engagement, customer service and customer retention within your workflows connected to social media channels.
It allows you to activate a specific workflow behavior or series of behaviors based on a social media based triggering event. This means that a potential or current client could post a Tweet or Status Update (a triggering action), causing an alert, auto-response or even a service ticket to be created.

Leveraging social BPM software allows companies to engage with customers where the customer is: online.

The New Customer Has High Demands

Are you meeting today’s customer’s high expectations? Customer loyalty today is highly wrapped up in their ability to engage with a business 24/7/365. They are wanting fast resolution, and if they don’t get it, they have access to numerous competitors who can.

Brick and mortar businesses are now competing with online retailers. Service providers must be accessible to those who are looking at precisely the time in which they are looking. And, they are demanding fast responses, and likely even social proof, which comes through social media engagement. How do you then engage simply and immediately? Social BPM tools.

Examples

An airline passenger uses Twitter to communicate a maintenance concern to the carrier. The airline carrier in turn is notified and opens a maintenance ticket so the reported issue can be addressed as soon as possible and also provides an almost immediate human response to the passenger delivering outstanding customer service. This BPM intelligence (iBPMS) builds loyalty and rapport.

Social business process management is more than an auto-responder. In fact, auto-responders can hurt the customer experience if they don’t assist in solving the problem in a tangible way. The customer wants more than that. The bigger picture here is that the human behind the process can intervene quickly and build engagement and rapport for the client. This personalized engagement is the new expectation of today’s consumers.

Request A Demo

Ready to see for yourself? Contact us for a free Process Director demo from a BP Logix BPM software expert.

There are a lot of workflow tools out there. Call us biased but we think Process Director is the ultimate workflow tool for businesses. Why? Because it’s all encompassing. If you have a used workflow tool and thought, “Gee, I wish it could do this,” or “Why does it do that?!?!” You can trust that so have we.

Process Director workflow management software was born out of a need for something that worked exactly the way we needed it to in the workplace. Over the years, we’ve continued to innovate and create workflow solutions for workflow challenges, both yours and ours. The result is an all-encompassing workflow tool we are proud of.

What Process Director Can Do for You

Put simply, Process Director is a workflow management software with workflow tools that powers workflow and connects all of your organization’s systems and processes. Because it is uniquely intuitive, web-based, and robust, it can automate your processes, predict potential delays, eliminate programming, and integrate easily into existing applications.

Companies in advertising, education, financial services, government, health care, manufacturing, and more rely on Process Director workflow management software to:

● Drive growth
● Increase efficiency
● Boost visibility
● Reduce expenses
● Mitigate compliance risk
● Minimize redundancies

Process Director’s workflow automation software allows you to work smarter and faster by automating all of your organization’s critical processes and allowing you to continuously evaluate and improve them over time.

How is Process Director Different Than Other Workflow Management Software?

Unlike other BPM softwre, Process Director isn’t just for the IT department. It was built for not-as-tech-savvy employees, managers, and business owners in mind. You get automated smartforms, workflow management, document management, application integration, reports, and more, all without the hassle of:

● Coding
● Complex flowcharts
● Surprises or excuses

Unlike any other workflow tool, Process Director workflow management software tools are intuitive and dynamic, so you can count on:

● Total accountability. Every action taken by process participants is recorded.
● Greater efficiency. Process Director workflow management software directs you to the activities within your process that are consuming the most time. This allows you to focus your process improvement efforts where they will have the most impact.
● A bird’s-eye view of all of your processes. Review information about any activity, past or present, and see how different actors have performed within a given task.
● Real time analytics. Reset analytics at any time to understand what’s happening right now.

What you get is faster time-to-value, greater flexibility, and deeper insight into your business than any other BPM software.

Process Timeline

We developed an advanced BPMN modeling and business process automation software technology behind Process Timeline to work exactly how we wanted a workflow tool to work, but we didn’t stop there.

We have continued to add features to Process Timeline that enhance the user experience and allow you to manage your workflow more efficiently or more enjoyable all the time. Here are some of our favorite workflow tools integrated (and sometimes optional) into Process Timeline:

● Email notifications. Receive custom notifications that keep everyone up to date and on task in real time.
● Due date management. Process Director will alert you when a task is nearly due, overdue, and even when it’s predicted to be late. No other workflow tool can offer you this innovative, patented technology.
● Sub-workflows and business process segments. Manage more complex workflows by easily creating sub-workflows.
● Workflow management task lists. Create customizable task lists for groups and individuals.

Try it for Yourself – Request a free workflow software demo now.

Governance, Risk and Compliance Solutions With BPM Software

The goal of GRC software solutions is to reduce cost and risk. Compliance burden is specific to particular industries but one of the most common business process governance challenges come from the issues with SOX (The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), which requires certain business records be accessible to auditors for a given period of time. With heavy consequences ranging from fines to imprisonment, companies are looking for safe, easy governance, risk and compliance solutions in the form of GRC software to meet the need without breaking the bank.

Government regulatory agencies such as OSHA or the FDA, or even industry self-regulation organizations, add additional governance, risk, and compliance issues to the long list of requirements. The need for governance, risk and compliance solutions that are industry specific has some businesses looking at business process management software solutions that integrate customizable applications for the specific regulations they want to stay on top of.

Process Director Business Process Management Software

Some benefits of Process Director business process management software is that it is cloud based (no need to back up data), low code (no need to hire a programmer), and agile (no need to keep updating software as needs grow). This highly customizeable BPM software meets the need for businesses searching for GRC software solutions to reduce costs while also reducing risk.
Managers of regulated businesses and/or departments are looking for governance, risk and compliance solutions that will:

• Allow them to hold individuals accountable to regulated actions
• Handle governed documents accurately while maintaining an audit trail
• Produce accurate policies, documents, and real-time information

Process Director BPM software helps the organization stay compliant, as well as streamline business processes for a more effective and efficient organization by tracking documents, managing processes, enforcing accountability, reducing errors by eliminating redundant manual input, preventing lost documents, providing reports, and more. Adherence to policy is the most important component of governance, and fortunately, GRC software solutions like Process Director BPM software makes sure organizations with highly regulated processes are tightly protected and that every transaction is tracked in a way that can be retraced by auditors and regulators.

Government, Risk and Compliance Solutions That Minimizes The Pain of an Audit

There is no magic pill that will keep your business fully compliant or audit free. The business must have a culture of compliance with strong ethics and clear procedures, policies, and accountability in place. GRC software, however, can support a business in creating that environment and creating the practices that hold it in place.
Governance, risk and compliance solutions can take some of the sting out of an audit by addressing the auditor’s biggest concerns: Are their policies compliant? Are their processes consistent? Are they following the processes? Process Director business process management software answers these questions with:

• Managing processes and documents and in a searchable way (data is easy to retrieve)
• Maintaining records of actions taken (creates an audit trail)
• Managing electronic forms (links actions to at-time-of-event documents)
• Providing accountability with electronic signature technology and/or other user identity-tracking methods

Overall, GRC software solutions like Process Director BPM suite allows organizations to create and maintain a systematic and consistent method of overcoming challenges with governance, risk, and compliance, whereby risk is managed, costs are reduced, and processes are simplified and organized.

The use of a BPM solution allow all GRC actions to be compiled into dashboards for better analysis and information about your organizations business processes which leads to better management and accountability. The future will continue to require complex governance and risk management while also facing increases in regulatory burdens. Businesses must have a scalable and cost effective way to manage this burden, and Process Director BPM software will fill the GRC software needs organizations are looking for and so much more. Want to learn more? Request a free demonstration today!

There may be some confusion between low code BPM and low code platforms and it’s important to understand the differences, especially when searching for solutions for improved business process management. Let’s clear it up.

What are Low Code Platforms?

Low code platforms are a growing and changing technology to reshape the future. These platforms replace the need for coding by using form builders, drag-and-drop features, object mapping, and the like.

Low code platforms are designed to allow web applications to be made quickly by people with little to no coding experience. They are a solution for both professionals and laypeople who are looking for fast and scalable “templated” products that scale and grow with the business.

A variety of built-in services give these low code platforms the ability to be agile in a changing marketplace by automating workflow processes and streamlining data for multiple users. These platforms allow organizations to have quickly developed IT solutions to help meet their needs.

What Are Low Code BPM Platforms

Low code BPM platforms replace the BPM software development of old — that slow, expensive process of creating a solution that may outgrow itself upon release. Rapid application development (RAD) allows businesses to design IT solutions that enhance efficiency and performance without the help of IT specialists.

Being able to act quickly and provide agile BPM solutions on the spot allows a business to be more efficient in day-to-day tasks as well as keep the business on the cutting edge of customer fulfillment by staying in line with marketplace trends.

Low Code BPM Platform Solutions

Recently, PC Magazine put several low code/no code BPM platforms to the test. In their example, they had seasoned developers use the drag-and-drop tools to create a scheduling application that could:

“...add a new event (name, date/time, duration), invite users to the event, a save button to create the event, and the ability to view a list of events in calendar view or chronological list.” Source: PC Magazine, "Building an App With No Coding: Myth or Reality?"

In this test, all the developers were able to create results in less than an hour, some in as little as 10 minutes. These business process management capabilities create low-cost solutions for businesses looking to streamline business processes and better manage them.

Process Director BPM Platform

Process Director is a low code BPM platform that can support businesses with quick application solutions to streamline processes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. Create workflow and business process management solutions and implement changes before your competitor even begins to write code, even without a programmer!

With Process Director’s Process Timeline feature, you will have a patented workflow engine that updates on the fly. Respond to the most accurate information available with data at your fingertips — including alerts to when deadlines are likely to be missed and when a customer triggers a specific event. Electronic forms make handling even complex data entry a simple process that can be used with suppliers, customers, and employees.

To learn more about how Process Director BPM Platform can help your business, contact us today.

BPM vs Workflow. There can be some confusion about the differences between BPM and workflow, partly because they are used interchangeably by some professionals. The confusion is understandable. Early business process management (BPM) solutions focused on the coordination of processes--they were focused on workflow. Today, workflow is a component of a good BPM, but they are not the same.

What Is Workflow?

Simply put, workflow helps organizations to see an overview of a process to monitor results, reduce inefficiencies and incorporate automation. At its best, it serves to align the processes with the business goals and systematize how documents and tasks are completed and executed for quality and/or compliance.

Workflow software is a tool for automating the process. It can provide support for steps in the business process and can trigger alerts for the appropriate users to take action. It is a single process within a more complex system.

As an analogy, it would be the steps for making the crème in a Twinkie, but not the entire creation, assembly or packaging of such.

What Is BPM?

BPM is a larger system of processes that incorporates multiple workflows, automation tools and human capital to optimize them all. It is a system that gets all the cogs working together in harmony to create an ideal end result.

All companies use business processes to produce the end result, and BPM software streamlines those processes to create a more agile and efficient business.

“BPM has been defined as a method of efficiently aligning an organization with the wants and needs of its customers, both internally and externally.” --Jay O’Brien, CTO BP Logix, Inc.

[embed]https://youtu.be/HduhwGtEMKI[/embed]

How Does BPM Software Work?

BPM software looks at the current state of the business and its processes and works with the management team’s goals to identify future objectives. In the most ideal situations, this team would create an ever evolving feedback loop and a continuously improving process that grows with the business. Automating workflow to make it faster, more efficient, and more consistent creates a measurable result on the company’s bottom line, while at the same time improving the organization’s compliance capabilities.

The structure of BPM incorporates policies, procedures, methods, metrics, human tasks, software tasks and IT to manage and optimize all levels of business functions.

Overall, BPM monitors, evaluates and even activates processes for better management. This allows businesses to serve more customers, have a better workforce and profit margin, just to name a few of the benefits.

BPM vs Workflow Bottom Line

The need for streamlining and automatization tools come from the increasingly competitive nature of business. Eliminating wasteful practices and procedures to achieve optimal performance allows businesses to control quality and costs and can be the difference between success or failure. So instead of thinking it as BPM vs workflow, think of it as BPM and workflow operating together to improve efficiencies. However, BPM takes it a step further by allowing multiple workflow scenarios, across multiple channels, to run in peak way. Simply put, BPM improves at the organizational level.

To learn more about BP Logix BPM tools and how they can help you, request a demonstration. Before the demo, we will contact you to learn about your goals and requirements so we can tailor the demonstration to meet your specific needs.

Process Timeline Workflow Engine

BP Logix is the only company to offer a BPM software solution (Process Director) with Process Timeline technology-- a workflow engine that incorporates the dimension of time all the way from model to execution. Traditionally, BPM software has been driven by two key factors:

1. Better outcomes from higher efficiency processes.
2. The need for appropriate controls.

However, many BPM solutions have neglected the element of time. Time allows businesses to obtain additional control over processes by allowing for prediction elements, or business process intelligence, to determine timeliness.

Imagine if your BPM software included an automated solution that could alert you when the timeline for a specific task wasn’t met, or if future tasks are at a risk of not being met? How could that change efficiency for your organization?

The Critical Element of Time and the iBPM

The element of time management is crucial to planning and oversight. Intelligent Business Process Management (iBPMS) allows for human intervention when a workflow process gets off track, or can trigger a different event in the process. Traditional BPM focuses on quality and business process governance, but adding a workflow engine with business process automation capabilities along with the predictive element of time gives the user the ability to see how later process stages will be affected by the previous ones. This adds huge value to the managed process by allowing the earliest possible notification of potential delays to allow intervention before timeline problems arise.

In workflow processes, there is a review and approval step in place, but it doesn’t answer the questions:

“When will this task complete?”

“When will this entire process complete?”

These questions are of great importance in management, because while it may be great to know you are on track to hit a specific goal, it is still important to know what is currently happening. It is similar to comparing the act of looking at a transactions in a register to discover errors, rather than simply looking at a monthly profit and loss statement.

Flowchart Model Failures

Time efficiency is achieved often through business process automation, with cost savings as the most obvious goal.

Example of Process Timeline Workflow Engine with Predicted Timelines

Outside of automation, these savings come about by removing process redundancies  and streamlining business processes, usually through the support of BPM software. More efficient use of time, less paper consumption, and business process automation can certainly tighten processes and reduce expenses, creating a higher ROI. Reduced risks and lowered costs of non-compliance issues also effect the bottom line.

A flowchart will say, “What happens next,” while Process Timeline's workflow engine will more importantly ask, “What must be completed before this step begin and how long will it take?”

The two benefits of BPM software, process efficiency and process governance, are now improved on by incorporating the critical element of a time-focused process technique, found only in BP Logix Process Director. Process Director BPM platform includes Process Timeline workflow engine, which results in even greater benefits.

Benefits of a BPM Software With A Business Process Automation Solution

1. Simple models allow businesses to go from discovery to full automation faster. Each activity is listed with its duration estimate, to create fast workflow processes. Activities can run at the same time, without complicated coding to configure parallel behavior.
2. The status of the entire process, as well as sub-processes can be determined at a glance, allowing for proactive response and the earliest notification of potential delays to allow for quick intervention.
3. Predictive nature “sees” future problems and can trigger actions to the changing circumstance so obstacles can be overcome before deadlines are missed or production halts. Process Timeline records predicted execution versus actual time, every time the process runs and adjusts the time estimates for even better management.
4. Process Director stores every aspect of the process for audits, internally or externally, for improved compliance.

BP Logix developed Process Director BPM software and the workflow engine, Process Timeline, in order to address the critical element of time in business process management. Process Timeline equips businesses to build robust process models without the need to develop code, making it a preferred BPM software solution. And because flowchart workflow automation is appropriate for some processes, Process Director has integrated both models, allowing traditional and intelligent processes to work together to create complex and manageable processes for optimal effectiveness, quality, and compliance needs. Contact us to learn more and schedule a free demonstration of Process Director today.

The evolution of the business process management (BPM) of old. Intelligent BPM or iBPMS, is about taking BPM software and incorporating new technologies, predictive analytics and process intelligence that businesses want, need, and demand to create organizational process efficiency. That’s why top software companies are making BPMS more intelligent by including mobile and social technologies as well as incorporating more analytics and data.

“What if” process simulations and business process insights have been part of what business process management software offer, but intelligent BPM suites (iBPMS) add human collaboration and human intelligence. It allows for real-time decision management that goes beyond simply processing data and activating an automated response.

Intelligent BPM is found specifically in analytics, mobile, and social applications.

Analytics

Analytics create benchmarks in order to track and adjust. Data-driven decisions allow for more accuracy and help businesses make decisions based on fact rather than gut. This is particularly important for optimizing processes and providing predictive and/or responsive components for both workers and customers.

Mobile

Recent developments in mobile BPM technologies are allowing field employees, such as those in logistics and energy installations, to have better streamlined processes in order to create consistent, measurable, and efficient tasks.

Social

Social BPM tasks includes watching certain behaviors, particularly those by clients and potential clients, to determine what actions should be taken in order to provide a more effective and dynamic engagement.

 "Tomorrow's business operations will integrate real-time intelligence," said Janelle Hill, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "This will require a new approach…” SOURCE: Gartner Says iBPMS are the next step for BPM Programs

All this leads to optimization of tasks, processes, and systems, while allowing more flexibility and human guidance to create truly intelligent business process management that assists you in not just in creating efficiencies but also better meeting customer demands.

Process Director, Your Intelligent BPM (iBPMS) Solution

• Composition of intelligent process-centric applications
• Continuous Process Improvement (CPI)
• Business transformation
• Digitalized processes

Process Director intelligent BPM offers cloud based single-tenant and multi-tenant deployments, which provides flexibility for both small and robust business requirements. Because BP Logix Process Director gives key insights into each behavior of the process, it can take direct action.

For example, if a future task is in danger of running late, the system can notify the process owner. This way, the case manager or other responsible party can address the issue manually. Process Director BPM software is flexible, allowing ad hoc and improvisational tasks to be added to a process or dynamically linked via rules or established predecessors.

Process Director from BP Logix will empower your organization to do more and get better results all the while experiencing a more consistent and personalized user experience.

Ready to see for yourself? Contact us for a free Process Director demonstration from a BP Logix business process management expert.

What is Rapid Application Development (RAD)?

Rapid application development is a software methodology that allows for minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. Back in the day, engineers created RAD because they were frustrated with how slow it took to design software. Often times, you’d release a program only to find it was already out-of-date.

What Rapid App Development Looks Like Today

Rapid app development is now an integral part of business process management (BPM). BPM helps a company to understand and restructure information and activities used to achieve business goals. BPM process designs are used to drive process re-structuring and software development.

Standard BPM gives a business the ability to communicate and understand their internal procedures in a more graphical manner. This, in turn, allows them to more quickly and easily adjust to new circumstances, both internal and external.

Benefits of BPM and Rapid App Development

Obviously, having a BPM solution that acts as rapid application development platform is a definite plus. It brings IT development and operations staff together. Integrating into a DevOps approach improves collaboration and streamlines testing. Best of all, it results in a beneficial software that pays for itself.

What is Rapid Application Development to BP Logix?

What is rapid application development to us? It means that customers can create customized enterprise applications and BPM solutions without the need of tying up company IT resources. BP Logix created Process Director, a business process management (BPM) software solution with an easy-to-use interface. Process Director allows you to search through documents, oversee task lists, and look-up specific items without difficulty. This workflow management software is extremely customizable and allows you to modify every step of the process without the need to know code or bring in a programmer.

Most conveniently, all aspects of Process Director BPM software can be accessed from any web browser or mobile device. This smart BPM platform collects all the necessary elements of a project and makes it easy for you to access data, update information, and coordinate with other departments.

Process Director has many useful features unique to BP Logix, most notably Process Timeline and Smart Forms. Process Timeline is a patented business process automation software technology that automates business processes. Charts and data are automatically updated as the process runs, which allows for accurate, up-to-date information to be viewed with ease.

Smart Forms makes it possible to use only electronic forms throughout an entire company. The software connects the company to both suppliers and customers, so the handling of electronic documents goes smoothly. BP Logix BPM software makes handling even the most complex electronic forms a simple process that most any business user can handle.

No Programmer? No Problem.

Let’s say you need to create a new functionality within Process Director. You can do that without knowing code and without the assistance of a programmer thanks to rapid app development!

Your goal is to deliver data digitally…and fast. With Process Director, you can focus on solving business issues instead of creating software to do so. BPM that relies on low-code/no-code is relevant to business users today.

To learn more about Process Director’s business process management capabilities, which includes rapid app development (RAD), contact BP Logix.