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Real-World Wizards
for Process-Driven Organizations
from
Wordware’s Knowledge and Process Management Platform
Table of Contents
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The WorkScript Knowledge and Process Management Platform addresses three key corporate
problems:
1. Process Improvement. It helps in-house staff design, capture, streamline and maintain
business processes and their associated organisational know-how.
2. Task Management and Job Support. It automatically creates a Wizard with easily followed,
interactive steps for each process, to enable staff to complete each task as competently as
the expert.
3. Performance Management. It provides timely, credible operational metrics that can be
used by management to make a difference to the performance of the business.
The WorkScript Knowledge and Process Management Platform has other advantages beyond
those set out above. It allows an organization to codify and centralise its hard-won knowledge in a
concrete and easily transferable form, so it stays put when the experts move on. Wizards can
teach newcomers, in part by explaining the individual steps that lead to a given choice, but more
importantly, by guiding them through the step sequence required to produce the organisation’s
desired outcomes. It is also faster than people alone, immune to fatigue and gives staff more time
to work on the real value adding task: thinking.
For process owners, loading WorkScript with your processes is quick and simple. WorkScript not
only creates easy to use, web-based wizards, it enables you to track and analyse the processes,
audit and test for gaps. Each wizard is supported by full audit trail, data capture and performance
measurement, and role based workflow notification and routing. Depending on the complexity of
the process, an in-house analyst can use WorkScript to map, test and release a typical wizard
within a few days, by:
• Using the Visio-based Process Map Designer (PMD) to create each process flowchart;
dragging steps, interconnections and supporting resources (content and applications) onto
the mapping page. The PMD then automatically creates the wizard.
• Testing the page for logic, handover controls and correct links to resources and
applications, and reworking as appropriate.
• Releasing it for use.
For users, WorkScript wizards simplify the performance of even the most complicated business
procedures, so that results are consistent and errors are eliminated or dramatically reduced.
It does this by taking each user through each scripted step in a process.
• Each wizard provides the user with fully scripted process, complete with in-context support
for the task being performed. Wizards access the relevant forms, tools and supporting
information automatically to enable the user to perform the task as well as an expert.
• All tasks are routed via a powerful workflow engine. This approach ensures that each task
is completed by following agreed steps, using nominated tools. It also reduces the amount
of rework due to errors and increases compliance while providing a detailed transactional
audit trail of every process performed.
For managers, the WorkScript is a valuable management-reporting toolkit for:
• Defining process goals and deliverables
• Measuring the process performance
• Analysing and determining the cause(s) of defects and errors
• Improving the process by eliminating defects and errors
• Controlling future process performance improvement.
The critical success factor in most business process improvement initiatives is not how well the
process has been improved (which is a relatively simple exercise), rather how effectively staff
behaviour has been changed to follow the new process. WorkScript is a powerful agent for
promoting behavioural change because it creates an interactive environment that makes the new
process the easiest way to do the job. Staff buy-in is high because their ongoing contribution to the
evolution of the process directly influences the way they work.
Figure 3 shows the use of PMD to define process performance parameters. The Case Report inset
shows the level of detail available through the process analysis tools. This type of information may
be used for process auditing and SLA and KPI compliance monitoring as well as competency
testing.
Task steps
About Wizards
Wizards contain task dialogues that each user follows to complete a task (just as an actor follows a
play script). It sets out in sequence the steps to do the job. A Wizard can be a series of
instructions, questions requiring a simple yes/no answer, multiple-choice selections or ‘type-in’
responses.
Once a Wizard step is completed, it:
• Moves directly to the next appropriate step based on the response
• Processes the user’s typed-in response to determine the next step to be displayed
• Electronically flows to the next person in the task queue (workflow routing).
Each wizard step has linked to it the support documentation (training, hints, guidance, business
rules and IT tools) relevant to the specific step in the process (task, transaction). In other words,
irrelevant information is sifted out reducing the amount of unnecessary ‘noise’ for your staff.
Interactions with IT tools (software applications) are live and in real-time, so changes are effective
immediately, giving the user instant response and immediate feedback to enquiries.
Inform Me: provides instant access to reference material, e.g. policy, legislation, business
rules, and compliance rules, etc.
Inform Me: also provides instant access to people through individual profiles (that are
treated like any other resource by the system).
• Formats:
¾ Numerical (HTML, MS Excel, etc.)
¾ Graphical (charts, histograms, box and whisker, etc.).
Typically, the measures monitored and reported through WorkScript are designed to support
management at two levels:
Supervisory level reports (usually live data about current cases). For example, the status of
cases, staff resourcing, workload and task levels, etc. (see Figure 9). Supervisors use these
reports to:
• Identify and prioritise workload and bottlenecks
• Evaluate the quality of process actions and outcomes
• Identify outliers and trends*
• Review the health of the processes they are responsible for. For example by identifying
persistent delays at particular steps or from suggested process improvements, feedback or
knowledge base changes from staff, clients, etc. (via the Annotations facility).
Management level business performance reports (usually historical data about completed
processes or process groups). For example, case statistics (see Figure 10), summaries and details
by month, by state, audit trails, delegations, staff resourcing, workload and yield levels (see
Figure 11), etc. Managers use these reports to:
• Support the evaluation of process changes
• Identify outliers, shifts, and trends
• Identify and prioritize improvement opportunities.
Watch Lists. The Watch List enables users to keep track of tasks that they own (i.e. that they
created or had allocated to them) but are not the current user. This enables each user to monitor
the progress of each task that they own or have an interest in, without having to do task searches.
Task Calendar. Managers and authorised users may define a schedule of tasks to be performed
by staff at fixed dates and times, or regularly over weeks, months or years, using the Task
Calendar. Once defined, the tasks appear in the user’s In Tray on the day and at the time
nominated. If the user is not logged on to WorkScript at that time, the Wizard sends the user an
email with a live link to Step 1 of the task.
Users and managers may view their calendar at any time and print monthly reports that summarise
their workload for that period.
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Workflow The workflow functionality in a BPM system allows companies to automate
many portions of processes that previously took place on paper or via phone,
email and face-to-face interactions.
WorkScript delivers powerful, process-centric, BPM workflow functionality.
Workflow is used to manage the administrative and operational aspects of a
business, track project-related action items and track issues and resolutions.
Workflow features include:
• Serial workflow: after one person signs off on a request, it goes on to
the next signatory in the process sequence.
• Parallel workflow: a request can be sent to more than one person at a
time.
• Event-based notification: often e-mail-based, but can include other
forms of communications such as SMS messaging.
• Voting: conditional branching based on the responses of a number of
parallel reviewers, for example, if a certain number of reviewers
respond appropriately, the process is finalized
• Graphical interface: for viewing and changing workflows.
• Integration with existing legacy systems.
Alerts and The WorkScript Alerts and Messaging function provides a simple messaging
Messaging system for users to send and receive messages and tasks to and from other
users. It is also used to facilitate the workflow functionality of the system by
notifying users of system related events such as a task assignment or hand-
over.
The Alerts and Messaging feature integrates with standard SMTP e-mail and
via SMS gateways, allowing users to receive alerts via their standard e-mail
client and via SMS.
Events The Calendar Events and Scheduling feature provides an extensible
Calendar and framework for triggering tasks (via email) and integrating with external systems
Task where actions are triggered based on a calendar of events or tasks within the
Scheduling Wizard. It is also used extensively by WorkScript itself for processing
asynchronous and time-based activities.
Web Forms WorkScript’s Forms and Task Data feature provides a means of creating
simple and composite web-based forms for collecting and displaying data.
The data collected via these forms can be stored in the Task Data repository
that maintains data specific to the task being undertaken.
The forms and task data are used to replace paper-based equivalent forms
completed prior to data entry into back-end systems.
Annotations One of the Wizard’s key success factors is its ability to capture user-generated
feedback and suggestions by way of its Annotations facility. This allows a
system user to annotate a process task or step. The annotation may be a
suggestion on how to improve the process, guidance to other users, notes
about a client, etc. The process owner is notified of new annotations and can
update the process map or resource information accordingly.
Application A key driver of the system is its ability to integrate with an organisation’s
Integration existing tools. It is not possible to provide packaged integrations for every tool
available; therefore WorkScript has an extensible interface via the WorkScript
Application Programming Interface (API).
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The WorkScript Knowledge and Process Management Platform is a powerful, do-it-yourself
Business Process Improvement tool that:
• Does not mandate major capital outlay
• Can be deployed quickly (3-4 weeks)
• Supports disruption-free, constant process improvement
• Delivers a full return on investment within the first few months and
• Continues to provide increasing bottom-line benefits for years to come.
Fast Implementation
WorkScript is quick to learn and fast to implement. In around three to four weeks, your staff and the
processes they work with can become dramatically more effective, and more importantly, they can
continue to operate confidently and effectively as circumstances change.
System set up involves the one-off installation of a WorkScript server (Windows) and technology
linking, where interactive links are established between the wizard and relevant databases and
applications in the enterprise. The WorkScript server acts as an Intranet that delivers the wizard
technology and resources, in the context of each process, to all users.
The WorkScript Knowledge and Process Management Platform can be likened to Computer Aided
Software Engineering (CASE) tools. These types of tools have graphical front-ends that end-users
(people with the knowledge of the business) can use to draw business processes at the lowest level
of details (i.e. steps in a procedure) with all the business rules and governance constraints. The
tool is then used to validate and simulate the process end to end. Once the business process
owner is satisfied with the new process, the CASE tool is used to generate code that can be run on
a computer without manual intervention.
WorkScript works in the same way. Visio is the user-driven front-end design interface and through
its Process Map Designer (PMD) the executable production-ready Wizards are generated. This
method can be likened to implementing a business system through the configuration of an ERP
package without modifications.
User-friendly
If you know what ‘click, drag and drop’ is and you understand your business processes, you’ll find
WorkScript extremely fast and easy to set up to deliver your processes.
Additions, changes, up-dates and delegations to processes can be made within minutes of a
decision being made, using the PMD. This level of flexibility means that the system information can
be kept current and meaningful to the organisation’s employees.
Users can get up to speed on using the wizards within a couple of hours. This has obvious benefits
in an environment where temporary staff or new employees are required.
Benefit Metrics
WorkScript performance improvement metrics based on measurements for other clients include:
• Broader span of management control
• Compliance up 80%
• Classroom or face-to-face training down 80%
• Work inaccuracies down 90%
• Performance at all levels up 22%
• Deployment rate of new products, services, policies and processes up 30%
• Cost and time in the deployment of new or altered processes down 80%.*
Getting Started
Prove the value of WorkScript to your organisation by conducting a proof-of-concept trial with the
system in a critical or complex area of your business. A proof-of-concept trial is inexpensive, and
may be one of the most important decisions you make about the future of your business.
For more information, contact Wordware at the address on the website: www.wordware.com.au.