What is Workflow?

Given the many diverse corporate cultures that exist today, there are many definitions and interpretations of workflow.  But the bare essence of workflow is this:  Every organization has action requests where PEOPLE need to make decisions on information, as that information moves through an organization.

Here is a typical example of a business workflow process:

In the above example, documents in an enterprise content management (ECM) system, and data in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, are required for a clerk to submit a Purchase Order to their manager for approval.  The manager can approve or reject the request, based on the information provided.

As the request is put to a second decision maker, validations based on corporate best practices - in this scenario, financial thresholds - come into play, and dictate the direction on the request takes.

This example is fairly straight forward, and not very complex.  But imagine if an organization has hundreds - even thousands - of similar examples, as well as far more complex processes, all attributing to the success of an organization. 

Understanding this, Apollo WE was designed so that ANYONE - not just expensive IT resources - can map virtually ANY business process your organization requires.

Typical business process examples where Apollo WE excels:

• Purchase orders, invoice releases, capital expenditures (Finance)
• Employee requests, expense reports, onboarding/discharging (Human Resources)
• Cooperative marketing contracts, budgeting justification (Marketing)
• Price, discount, quote approvals (Sales)
• Quality assurance (Operations)
• Project management, change requests, help desk (Information Technology)
• Budgets, policies & procedures, corporate governance (Executive Management)
• Multi-department processes promoting best practices (Cross-organization)
• Customer Service request forms and customer-facing web forms

For a complete definition of Workflow, and additional information on the subject, please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workflow

For a complete definition of Business Process Management, and additional information on the subject, please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_management