Workflow automation is a relatively new technology, and is rapidly gaining believers. It’s supposed to dramatically improve organizational productivity, and while vendors habitually make inflated claims, well-done workflow automation can help streamline a company’s operations. Ultimus Inc. [http://www.ultimus1.com/index2.htm], a provider of some of the more popular workflow solutions, has assembled a list of what it’s seen to be 10 of the most popular myths about this new and still not well-understood practice. This is the first of a series of articles examining these myths.
Myth #1: Workflow automation equals re-engineering. Workflow automation is not, repeat, not business process re-engineering. If you want business process re-engineering, stop talking to anyone who tries to sell you a workflow automation, and vice versa. Yet it’s easy to see how people think this is the case since, as Ultimus points out, “almost every press article, conference, or seminar dealing with workflow automation includes a discussion about business process re-engineering. People talk about them in the same breath.”
It’s common for analysts to include business process re-engineering in discussions about workflow automation because it gives people something more controversial to talk about rather than just plain technology. The media include business process re-engineering in news stories about workflow automation, Ultimus says, “because vendors like to show off examples of their product which changed the way a customer does business.” Plus there are currently lots more books and articles about re-engineering than about workflow automation.
Ultimus defines the difference thus: “Workflow automation is purely a software technology which provides a means of automating a business process. Re-engineering is the act of analyzing the business processes of a company and changing them with the goal of improving them in some way.” Organizations can automate business processes using workflow automation software without re-engineering. Likewise, Ultimus says, “they can re-engineer without any workflow automation.” Workflow automation is a technology to improve productivity, just like word processing and spreadsheets. Business process re-engineering involves changing the way organizations do business. They’re complementary and related, but not Siamese twins.
Myth #2: There are hundreds of workflow applications. Delphi Consulting Group and the Patricia Seybold Group, two leading consulting organizations that follow the workflow industry, publish lists of over a hundred workflow vendors. Industry analysts will cite a long list of products with workflow capabilities. There are many products in the market that advertise “workflow” features in their marketing literature because the subject and technology are hot right now.
Yet the catch, Ultimus says, is that “workflow is not the same as workflow automation. Routing a document is a far cry from workflow automation.” Differentiating between “workflow-enabled” and workflow automation software, they say that “true workflow automation software must provide a number of features and capabilities for automating business processes which go far beyond simple routing of documents. Some of the essential features of workflow automation are graphical workflow maps, simulation for testing workflow applications, role-based routing, automation agents for using third-party applications, task queues, seamless interface with databases, automatic workflow installation and maintenance and exceptions handling.” Only “a handful” of the products styled “workflow applications” have all the features necessary to qualify, they say.
Next week: More myths.
