Low Code Development: Workflow
Download as PPTX, PDF1 like566 views
This document discusses low-code development and workflow automation. It begins by explaining that workflow automation can improve processes by making them more efficient and reducing mistakes. It then provides advice for developing workflows, such as starting simply, reviewing and revising processes iteratively, and structuring workflows into stages to make them easier for users to understand and adjust. The document argues that the best approach is to create individual forms for each step in a workflow, rather than putting all the logic and rules into a single form. This allows the workflow to scale more easily as processes become more complex.
Low Code Development: Workflow
- 1. Low-Code Development Part 1: Workflow Vadim Tabakman Technical Evangelist Nintex Vadim.tabakman@nintex.com @Vadim_tabakman
- 2. Vadim Tabakman Nintex Email : Vadim.tabakman@nintex.com Twitter : @Vadim_tabakman LinkedIn : vadimtabakman • Presales, Software Developer and Blogger • 9 years at Nintex • 18 years developing and designing software • Past lives in development and IT security
- 4. Part I: The World of Workflow
- 5. What in the world is workflow?
- 6. Preserving Reusing Improving and Organizing 1 2 3
- 7. What kind of work do we want to make flow? OR
- 9. Distract. Magnets for mistakes. Occur anywhere. Company lifeblood. Add up. Often ignored. Everyday processes
- 10. A much greater chance of success. They’re often less complex. They train users how to think about workflow solutions. Benefits of automating everyday processes 1 2 3
- 11. Do more good. Focus on your mission. Get more done. Expand impact. Expand scope. Work most on what matters. What happens when work flows?
- 13. Part II: Advice and Guidelines
- 15. Failure is (sort of) fine
- 16. Consensus Probably Doesn’t Exist
- 17. The Process Will Change
- 18. Exceptions Will Be Ignored
- 19. Initial Failure as a Winning Strategy • Create an initial workflow just to show how awful (or incomplete) a process is. • Only then can you change it.
- 23. Reach users where they are
- 34. It’s not about forms.
- 35. It includes forms, but it’s not about forms.
- 37. If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if
- 38. If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if
- 39. If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if
- 40. If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if
- 41. Form-Only App Problems • Logic either hidden or disconnected • Security • Complexity without code
- 45. All forms have processes
- 46. Better Example: Workflow on a Form
- 56. Problems That Remain • Form rules still needed • Form & workflow must be kept in sync • Workflow has many extra steps
- 57. This is not 1 form with 31 pages
- 58. This is 1 workflow with 8 forms for 3 people
- 59. Best Example: Workflow with Multiple Forms
- 60. One Form Per Step • Content Submit (list item or form library) • Workflow Start (manually-executed workflows only) • Workflow Task
- 71. Why this is good • Forms stay simple • Forms are specific to tasks • Workflow is simpler • Data can live anywhere • Easier to secure • It doesn’t fight the platform
- 73. Use a Repeating Section with a Workflow
- 74. Stages are Your Friend
- 75. Sequential workflows get messy – quickly
- 76. Example: Press Release • Author • Management • Legal • Publisher
- 77. You may think it looks like this… Start Publisher deploys to public web site End End End Manage r approve s Yes No Lawyer Approv es Yes No
- 78. Or perhaps this… Start Publisher deploys to public web site End End Author Revis es Yes No Manage r Approv es Yes No Lawyer Approv es Yes No
- 79. We can make it messier… • Professional editorial review • Lawyer with question for management
- 80. How About This Instead? Author Manager Legal Publisher
- 81. How About This Instead? (re) Submit? Author End Manager OK? Manager Author Legal Choice Legal Author ManagerPublish Publisher Manager Publisher
- 83. Who Understands All of This? Start Publisher deploys to public web site End End Author Revis es Yes No Manage r Approv es Yes No Lawyer Approv es Yes No
- 84. Who understands this part? This person. (re) Submit? Manager Author Legal
- 85. Who understands this part? This person. (re) Submit? Author End Manager
- 86. Easy User Participation • Any user understands his/her part • Few people understand everything • Process = sum of stages
- 87. Easy to adjust
- 88. How About This? (re) Submit? Author End Editor OK? Manager Author Legal Choice Legal Author PublisherManager Publisher End Publisher(re) Submit? Editor Author Manager
- 89. Without stages… • A lot of If-Then-Else conditions • A lot of looping • Very confusing diagrams • “GoTo” statements
Editor's Notes
- #6: We sometimes take it for granted that people know what workflow is. It turns out it the word can mean many things to different people and in different situations. We’re here today to demystify the topic of workflow. To speak in clear, simple terms about what workflow is, how Nintex approaches it, and why it matters to you.
- #7: In the course of a person doing her-or-his job, in the course of a company’s day-to-day operations, things happen. Decisions get made, Directions, or instructions, are provided – and hopefully followed, Content, data, and other assets are located, and… Activities are conducted. Workflow is all about preserving those decisions, instructions, locations, and so on… and reusing them over and over again. If you figured out how to get something done last time, and it went well, you shouldn’t have to do that all over again next time. Best of all, workflow is about looking at those best practices and improving them. Finally, it’s about looking at all of these different things and organizing them so you can look across all of your processes. You have to work on many things at once, so you should be able to organize them in one place. How about we give you some examples?
- #8: What kind of work do we want to make flow? As you can see from those examples, workflow automation can and should affect any process—big or small—within your business. And that’s a fundamental philosophical difference between how we at Nintex and other folks approach workflow automation. To build the most efficient business possible, many organizations focus on processes like this. They go big and go straight to the most complex, most critical processes they can identify. More often than not, these require a tech-heavy solution that takes a lot of time, talent, and cost to develop and get right. In fact, by the time a process is perfected, the world can look a lot different and the process may need to change again. Those are important. Nintex gets used for these kinds of processes. But it’s not ONLY used for these. It’s used AT LEAST AS MUCH for other things. Processes that most of the other guys simply ignore. They’re often – but not always – smaller in scale, and look more like this.
- #9: We believe every process and every person deserves the benefit of workflow automation, including so-called “simple” processes like these. How about making sure safety inspections are easily made, that details aren’t forgotten, and that they get escalated if something’s a problem? How about submitting expense reports and routing them to the right approvers – and making both steps painless? How about having a second pair of eyes review a posting to a company’s Twitter account or website just to make sure nothing was accidentally stated in an embarrassing way? There are obviously many more, too. We call these…
- #10: …Everyday processes. They originate from anywhere in the organization. They represent the lifeblood of procedures that make the company run. Many people perceive them to be processes that distract from “real” work. Because of this, they receive less attention to detail and they’re often where most mistakes are made. Taken together, they add up to a significant amount of time and money. And yet, they’re ignored, rarely considered worth the time of traditional business process optimization because they’re not considered “central.” When you begin to better manage everyday routines, it adds up to more productivity, a stronger bottom line, happier people, and opportunities for teams to focus on more strategic and inspiring endeavors.
- #11: It’s a shame when they’re ignored, because There’s a much greater chance of successfully automating them. There are fewer stakeholders, so no committee effects. They’re often less complex, taken one at a time. This increases the chance of the person responsible for the process being actively involved in its automation, rather than it being farmed out to a developer and requiring a lot of explanation/communication in both directions. They train users—and your entire business—how to think about workflow solutions, and provide excellent preparation for addressing more classical “core” or “elaborate” processes the organization faces.
- #12: But it’s not ONLY about ROI. When you tackle everyday processes, things happen: You can get more done. In less time and with less hassle. You can expand the impact of every team. You can do more good. You can focus on your mission. You can expand around the corner or around the world. You can work on the things that matter. And that’s why we got into this business. We make automating workflow quick and easy, so you can do more of what you do best.
- #16: Fail first, fail quickly, fail forward
- #17: Consensus, Commitment, Scope You get them after a screw-up or happy accident
- #18: You want this
- #19: Rarely is this considered in advance Rarely does everyone agree Ignored exceptions lead to bypass
- #25: When you model a workflow…
- #26: You inevitably reach a point where you need to ask a person to do something. A decision, some input, an acknowledgement, whatever.
- #27: This usually means the creation of…
- #28: …a SharePoint task. That can require the user to remember to check task lists. And in SharePoint, that’s a lot of lists. We can help: DEMO: SHOW HOME PAGE WITH “MY TASKS” AND “MY WORKFLOWS” WEB PARTS – ONE PLACE TO CHECK The SharePoint team liked that idea so much they copied it – in part – in 2013. Now, that still requires the user to remember to monitor at least one list. That’s tolerable for some people For other people, we can send them reminders in email, for example. The can click on a link to get to the task. There are bad and good experiences when that happens. DEMO: RETURN TO THE HOME PAGE AND TO THE “MY TASKS” WEB PART – LOGGED ON AS BRETTC OPEN A LEAVE APPROVAL TASK AND SHOW TASK+LIST ITEMS MIXED IN ONE FORM Providing this kind of thing shouldn’t be hard work – and it isn’t. You get everything you need in one place, to reward you for that single click.
- #29: When a user gets a task…
- #30: …we can send them an alert. That could be over email, but It could also be using an instant message. But sometimes the best user interface is no user interface, or no extra work at all. How about we let the user complete the task without jumping around from app to app? DEMO: LAZY APPROVAL OVER EMAIL LAZY APPROVAL OVER LYNC The user didn’t have to come to us at all to do that. We brought the task to them.
- #31: Some users might not even be part of your organization. There’s elsewhere. They’re in the cloud – or at least they’re not in your data center. Being able to let people participate in processes everywhere is a big deal for us. DEMO: CREATE FORM AND PUBLISH TO NINTEX LIVE INVITE THE AUDIENCE TO COMPLETE THE FORM
- #32: Sometimes it’s not a person you need, but a group, and that group may be loosely defined. Social media works this way quite often. That’s no problem for us. We can assign work to a community. DEMO: REVIEW REQUEST HANDLED USING YAMMER Let’s keep going with this idea of putting the work in the place the users are…
- #33: Nintex believes that work should follow the user, not the other way around. If we send a task to the place the user works, the odds are better of it getting done, and getting done on time. And there are many places users work. A lot of them are mobile. Moreover, a lot of people would prefer not to have their inboxes cluttered with task assignments. Even more people need to collect data in remote locations, and can’t depend on constant Internet access. We address all of these issues by putting your work in you pocket using Nintex Mobile Apps DEMO: TOUR OF NINTEX MOBILE APPS TASKS REVIEWING ATTACHED DOCUMENT SUBMITTING RESPONSE NOTING THAT IT’S QUEUED FORMS NOTE GROUPING, ICONS NOTE LOCATION, PHOTOS DEMO: RETURN TO FORM DESIGNER SHOW THAT IT’S JUST ONE EXTRA CLICK TO DEVICE-ENABLE A FORM
- #35: Don’t just replace paperWORK Replace paper THINKING
- #36: Don’t just replace paperWORK Replace paper THINKING