REQUEST MANAGEMENT

Many organizations use paper forms or email to process requests from employees, customers and prospects. The problem with this approach is that it is often not clear what the status of the request is and who is supposed to respond. The request managementmodule enables you to define a specific request workflow for each request type. Tasks are automatically assigned to people and managers can track the status of a request to ensure that service level agreements are observed.

The module can be configured for each user group by setting access rights to fields and functions. You can also define your own processes for modifying or creating data by defining custom workflows. Specific functions for your organization can be implemented on request. The standard functions of this module include:

Roles: Workflow tasks for a request can be assigned to user groups such as facility manager or sales manager. When people are assigned to a user group they will automatically receive tasks belonging to that group. This way you do not have to change the workflow definition when people change functions or if they are no longer active in the organization.

Tasks: Recipients of a task are notified by email and can review all open tasks from their personal home page. Managers can review all open tasks or overdue tasks. You can define how many persons that have a certain role should perform the task.

Overview: Submitters can review all their outstanding request from a central location. Bij clicking on the request the current status in the workflow is displayed in a diagram. Managers can review the status of all requests in the organization to ensure compliance to service level agreements.

Attributes: The standard fields can be augmented with an unlimited number of custom data fields called attributes. Attributes can be of various types such as text, enumerations, integer, floating point number or reference to another object. Attributes can be editable, read-only or hidden depending on the status of the workflow and user group access permissions.

Process diagram: At any stage the recipient or submitter of the request can view the status in a graphical process diagram. The current status of the workflow is shown in black and the previous and next phases are displayed in gray.

Escalation: Time-based triggers can be assigned to stages in the workflow. For example, if a certain stage in the process is not reached at a certain time the workflow engine can send a reminder or generate escalation tasks.

Parallel paths: The workflow engine support parallel paths, for example when a request is received one path starts a procedure for getting more information from the requestor while another path starts the internal evaluation. The various paths can be synchronized at a milestone stage, which checks the status of all paths that are started up.

Sub workflows: Workflows can be nested in other workflows. For example if there is already a workflow for a purchase approval this workflow can be used for approving a computer purchase in a new employee hire workflow.

Decision rules: Workflows can have multiple decision points that can have simple or complex decision rules. For example, a decision rule can specify that if the total invoice amount is more than a certain amount and the person is not a manager it needs to go through additional approvals.

Documents: Documents can be uploaded and attached to the request. For example, when handling a customer complaint the original fax from the customer can be attached for reference.

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