From process documentation to process execution

Written by Timotheus Kampik | 2 min read
Published on: August 5th 2016 - Last modified: November 13th, 2020
Process mapping value pen with notepad image

Traditionally, business process execution engines are software frameworks aimed at developers who use them as the basis for creating custom enterprise applications.

Consequently, process execution is associated with huge IT budgets, squads of software developers and ultimately missed deadlines, exploding costs and failed projects.

 

In contrast to traditional business process execution engines, a zero/low code approach, as supported by Signavio Workflow, enables a bottom-up, agile and business user-friendly approach to process execution. It doesn’t require an in-house software development team.

This blog post sheds light on the true benefits of zero code process execution with Signavio Workflow.

Starting with business process documentation

Let’s go through a simple scenario:

Paula manages a business unit and wants to use BPM to continuously improve performance and customer satisfaction. Recently, Paula and her team used the Signavio Process Editor to document their unit’s business processes and even modeled better alternatives (future state processes) for some scenarios.

 

Her team of knowledge workers noticed that many daily activities, such as regular reminders, document forwarding and archiving and data exchange between enterprise systems were handled manually. They concluded that these simple tasks would take less time and lead to more reliable results if they were handled by an IT systems instead.

Moreover, Paula sees that new people on her team have problems complying with the processes and would like to increase process awareness and enforce process compliance.

 

However, Paula neither has the authority to start a custom software process execution implementation project, nor does she think her boss will approve such an expensive and risky endeavour.

Kicking off business process execution

Instead of giving up, Paula identifies Signavio Workflow as the perfect solution for her problem. Paula doesn’t even need to get the small additional software budget approved by a superior, thanks to the software-as-a-service subscription model.

With Signavio Workflow, Paula and her team can kick off their business process automation initiative without the support of a development team.

Many of the processes the team has documented with the Signavio Process Editor need only minor adaptations before they can be transferred and executed in Signavio Workflow. New team members will be process-aware right from the start, as Signavio Workflow’s intuitive user interface guides them through the process exactly as planned, while Paula can track their progress and performance in real-time.

For some of the processes that seem to be sub-optimally configured in their ERP system, Paula and her team develop improved workflows as prototypes in Signavio Workflow to showcase them in a future meeting with management.

Process execution benefits

To summarize, zero code process execution with Signavio Workflow enables you to

  • empower knowledge workers to be in charge of automating their own business processes,
  • kick off your process execution initiative without a comprehensive IT budget,
  • prototype and validate workflows that may or may not be deployed to a traditional workflow engine later on,
  • rely on Signavio as a proven user experience champion when bringing your processes to life.

For information on how to get started with process execution, read Getting process models up and running.

Published on: August 5th 2016 - Last modified: November 13th, 2020