How is an Open Source Workflow Management System Helpful?

Try PIM Cost Calculator

insight
Blog
By: Sagar Sharma

How is an Open-Source Workflow Management System (WMS) Helpful for Your Business?

A positive transformation in project management in recent years is helpful a lot for everyone in the competitive business sector. Experienced and smart business people and project managers avoid obsolete systems by avoiding expensive, cumbersome, and confusing things. You can research the basics of the open-source workflow management system (WMS) and make certain how such a system helps a lot your business.

What is an Open-Source Workflow Management System? How does it work?

Workflow management is all about the process of coordinating different tasks collectively that makes up the work an organization or a team does. It is a sequence of tasks as well as subtasks associated with a project. The main objective of the workflow management system (WMS) is to ensure that achieved results are by the defined goals. You can prefer and use this system as per your needs.

It is an appropriate time to understand the basics of the workflow management system (WMS) and ensure an easy way to achieve the project goal. The complete workflow represents a management discipline that focuses on the structure within an in-house or remote team or an organization that works and collaborates.

The overall visibility level from workflow management practices plays a leading role in the improvement of the business process. This discipline needs a software solution that makes it easy to keep track of the work as well as automate different parts of it.

Importance of Open-Source Workflow Management System (WMS)

The complete workflows have to be automated whenever possible for several reasons, especially fast operations, increased accuracy, and improved efficiency. Workflow management is very important as such a thing emanates from maximum task efficiency and lets personnel of the company work on other non-automated tasks.

Workflow management is useful to save costs and increase productivity. The automation process is transparent further when the workflow mapping is properly implemented. It gives the business a top-down view of its workflows.

Effective workflow management enhances communications especially when visibility is increased. It provides better than usual customer service by automating responses to all customer complaints.

The workflow management system (WMS) has the potential for increasing customer engagement as customers respond quickly using automation tools. This system can be enhanced as increased and mapped-out visibility of the overall workflows.

If you wish to identify and get rid of redundancies in any task, then you can prefer and use the workflow management system. This system improves the overall end product and assists its users to make certain that human error is taken out of the equation.

You can use the workflow management system and track the digital workflow which lets the business review how well its business operates.

Notable Features of Open-Source Workflow Management System

In today’s market, you can witness numerous WMS; among those picking the right time, will give you the true value of money. The same thing is applicable even if you prefer open-source WMS, here choosing the right system will deliver exactly what WMS promises to deliver.

Here are a few essential features that everyone should make sure the chosen WMS has so that it can keep up with your business operation and improve your productivity.

Code-free Workflow System

A great workflow management system should be simple and makes you think of linear loops. However, all the complex business operations should be carried out in the background. This ensures the WMS delivers the business workflow by having all those key steps of business operations like input, approval, and denial in a straight line.

WMS Should Work On Basis Of WYSIWYG

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) is a feature that ensures, the system delivers exactly what it promised or was supposed to deliver. The design of the WMS should be simple and intuitive so that an owner doesn’t require any consultant or mediators to navigate the system.

Cloud Integration

Seamless Integration is one of the essential features of a workflow management system. Business workflow depends upon various processes from various departments, so cloud integration will ensure smooth flow and incredibly easy to streamline workflow operation. Also, the power of cloud technology will allow WMS to integrate with various tools.

KPI-based Reports

In today’s market, you can find various workflow tools which allow you to create a simple business workflow strategy. However, to achieve a significant level of productivity increase, you should have a solid reporting feature.

This is where the robust KPI (Key Performance Indicators) based reporting feature comes to play. It enables owners to identify the bottleneck areas and where to focus to improve productivity.

SLA Status Indicators

Having a prolific WMS will act as a one-stop-shop for streamlining all your business processes. A workflow management system (WMS) may run multiple workflows at a time, but viewing all those on a single dashboard will be a hard thing to do.

In scenarios, SLA indicators enable you to identify which tasks require special attention and which one needs to wait until other tasks get completed. Also, SLA indicators will use color codes for easy identification of the most pressing tasks.

Role-based Access Control

Almost every business workflow includes sensitive information which can’t and shouldn’t be shared with everyone. So, WMS should have the feature of access control for its users based on their role played in an organization.

It ensures business owners can ensure business information is safe and protected. This customization on WMS facilitates making quick changes in the workflow without affecting or breaking business operations.

What Benefits An Open-Source Workflow Management System Can Offer?

Having a good workflow management system (WMS) will eliminate the chaos from the business operation and business processes are carried out in an easy and streamlined way. This section will give you a clear picture of the benefits of using an open-source workflow management system (WMS) for your business.

Yes! Of course, by using an open-source workflow management system (WMS) you don’t need to spend money. Apart from that, it provides a range of benefits, take a look.

1. Significant Reduction Of Errors

Operating and managing a business workflow with zero errors is nearly impossible. At the same, it doesn’t mean your workflow should have significant errors in it. Introducing a proper workflow system will eliminate the risk of having high errors by automating the workflow process.

Apart from that, WMS allows you to pinpoint the exact location where errors occurred and rectify it easily. This enables you to overcome such errors.

2. Improves Connectivity

Apart from preventing repeated errors and improving business workflow, a WMS helps to build strong connections between employees and software. Integrating software is a critical thing to do, it requires seamless IT infrastructure.

A good WMS connects multiple people from different entities, and software just like employees using communication tools.

This enables employees to share and distribute data easily and make sure a smooth workflow runs between them. Well-connected employees in an organization will take productivity to the next level.

3. Increases Productivity

In addition to the connectivity among employees, a WMS improves business productivity through automation. The automation feature of a WMS saves a significant amount of time for employees, by skipping various routing operations like sending emails, waiting for approval, updating tools, and so on.

This enables them to concentrate on other business aspects and to stay in the business workflow loop to improve business productivity.

4. Increases Trusts & Transparency In business Operations

Implementing workflow management will reduce the necessity of micromanagement. Apart from that, the WMS provides clear instructions on the roles which every employee should do, along with the defined goals. This removes the burden of managers to keep informing what employees should do.

The introduction of workflow automation will eliminate the presence of shadow tasks, and all business operations & workflow happen out in the open. This enables business owners to have more control over the business operation and more privileges on accessing data than before.

5. Improves Business Work Culture

Many companies around the world prefer to work remotely through technological aid. In such a scenario, organizing and tracking business workflow will be a hectic task for managers.

Also, employees with more collaboration to achieve goal-driven results will be at risk. Here comes the workflow management system, it plays a key role in organizing business workflow & processes along with tracking features.

A good workflow management system has the potential to shape a companywide practice and deliver good results. This eventually engraves the company’s work culture and provides a solid, well-streamlined business process to achieve business goals much faster.

To leverage all the above-listed benefits, it is equally important to have a correct system in the palace. To build the right workflow management system don’t miss to visit How an Open Source Workflow Management System (WfMS) Beneficial For Businesses?

Whether Open-Source Workflow Management System Suits Well For Your Business?

The workflow codebase system is existing for the end-user or buyer to copy, edit, and use as they observe suitably. This open-source workflow solution is helping a lot to develop the business in the best possible ways.

This is worthwhile to review what precisely your workflow management requires looking like and you have to look into the complete solutions of open-source workflow. Do not forget to bear in mind what distinction they provide from packaged software as a service solution.

Individuals who are aware of the main difference between open-source workflow management and managed workflow system can clarify their doubts and decide on how to develop their business further.

They place the open-source workflow management system alongside packaged workflow solutions and find such differences and keep in mind how they get on with meeting the overall requirements of users.

All users can invest a one-time licensing fee with an open-source workflow system. This license gives them the right to enter the app’s codebase. You can start creating a solution that works with any application you use.

A managed workflow solution requires a recurring fee and provides only packaged integrations with well-liked applications as well as tools demanded by every user. The complete packaged workflow solutions are inadequate in the application integrations as well as the personalization they support.

All the managed workflow tools are offered based on recurring pricing where every buyer must go into an agreement and register for an annual or monthly payment to use the tool. However, the open-source workflow system is either free or usually charges a fixed price which gives the buyer long-term access to the software.

In packaged workflow solutions, you must do anything the developer provides. In open-source workflow solutions, you can access the codebase. You can begin a step for customizing the system as per your wishes and manipulating it to solve any problem you may perhaps have.

Individuals who focus on the main features and benefits of the completely open-source workflow systems can make a well-informed decision to such systems as efficiently as possible.

You have to know and bear in mind that open-source workflow solutions are cheap and designed to offer robust personalization and an infinite integration with so many tools in the stack.

The latest open-source workflow systems are designed for integrating with different tools where you have to handle other parts of the processes and systems as efficiently as possible. It is an easy thing to make both information and resources flow through after it is set up.

However, managed workflow solutions can be only included to the point where qualified developers have successfully built them up to. Thus, you may decide on an open-source workflow solution on time and build around it when you use maximum in-house tools which do not integrate with packaged software as a service tool.

Open-source workflow systems are designed to serve as the foundation for developing and personalizing your requirements. They allow you and your team of IT experts to build whatever you require from scratch.

To build the right workflow management system it is essential to have a detailed analysis of your business requirements. Don’t miss to read Why Corrective Action Plan Needed For Efficient Workflow Management System? to develop an efficient WMS.

Conclusion

All new and regular users of an open-source workflow system get remarkable benefits and make certain an excellent enhancement in their business. You can focus on everything about the workflow management system and keep up-to-date with the successful method to use such a system as per your requirements. You will get the most expected benefits and succeed in your business sector as expected.

PIM Cost Calculator

Wondering about the investment involved in implementing a PIM solution? Get an estimate to plan your budget effectively with our PIM Cost Calculator.