Streamline Your Processes

As organizations grow the need to automate processes becomes even more

critical to keep functioning normally. ProcessMaker is an open source business

process management (BPM) and work flow software that lets you design and

implement processes without any programming knowledge. Work flow increases

transparency and with ProcessMaker one can easily design documents, manage users

and designate routing rules. This package is simple to install and easy to use

and requires minimum resources. Once implemented, this package can considerably

reduce paperwork and streamline process flow.

Implementing ProcessMaker



We downloaded 'ProcessMaker-1.1-2063-windows-installer.exe' from

www.processmaker.com and installed it on our Windows XP-based machine.

Installation process is very simple becasue it requests for only a few inputs.

The installation package is bundled with LAMP server stack that includes Apache,

PHP, and MySQL, so the installation wizard will ask for Apache web server port,

MySQL root password and PHP administrator password ('administrator' is default

user name). Once installed, one can launch ProcessMaker using IP address of the

machine. Log on to ProcessMaker using 'admin' as both user name and password

with workspace as 'workflow,' these credentials are for administrator.

Now that our ProcessMaker is up and running let's show how it works. In this

implementation we would be creating a sample process to show steps of building a

business process. In this package there is a particular kind of hierarchy that

is followed with a process constituting of tasks on top. And every task has a

fixed number of steps associated with it; so a step can be a sequence of 'DynaForms'

that are forms associated with tasks, input documents and output documents.

Before designing and executing business process using ProcessMaker we need to

have following information with us: a diagram of business process, users who

will interact with the process, and list of documents and forms used during the

process. The first step is to create a Process Map of business processes. In

this example, we would be creating a process named 'PCQuest' comprising of two

tasks: generation of documents by author and designing of documents by a

designer. As we login as administrator in ProcessMaker, we are automatically

directed to 'PROCESSES' tab. Click on 'New' button to create a new process. One

can also import previously created processes. Click on the 'Edit' link in front

of created process. This will direct you to the area where one can create

'Process Maps'. Right click on process map area and click on 'Add Task' to add a

new task to the 'PCQuest' process. In this example we created two tasks 'AUTHOR'

and 'Designer;' right click on the task and go to 'Properties' for defining

tasks. One can input a lot of information through tabs on this window like task

description, assignment rule that defines how task is assigned, timing control

to keep tab on time, permissions, case labels, and notification that makes it

possible to send email when moving from one task to another. To setup email

notification, click on 'SETUP' tab and then click on 'Email' link and check in

front of 'Enable Email Notification' and fill in details.

This is the process area where one can create a 'Process Map.' On top one can find links for creating 'DynaForms' and input/output documents.

To keep things simple in this example we created two tasks: 'AUTHOR' being

the starting point and 'Designer' being the end of process. Drag and drop

'Starting task' and 'Sequential' tools from Tools menu on 'AUTHOR' and 'End

process' on 'Designer'. Connect 'AUTHOR' and 'Designer' using 'Sequential' tool.

One can also use other tools from the Tools menu to define the sequence of

tasks.

This is the view of a user with 'PROCESSMAKER_OPERATOR' role. One can find all relevant tabs under 'CASES.'	Detailed information regarding a business process ('PCQuest') can be obtained from 'CASES' tab (click on 'INFORMATION').

Now that we are ready with 'Process Map,' we need to create files and

documents associated with each of the task. In this example, we created two 'DynaForms,'

for author and designer and an input document for author and output document for

designer. To create DynaForms click on 'DYNAFORMS' and then click on 'New' to

add new form. A click on Edit button will direct you to the page where one can

create customized forms. In our example we added title bar and 'SUBMIT' button

on each of the DynaForms ('for_author', 'for_designer'). Similarly, create input

and output document by clicking on 'INPUT DOCUMENTS' and 'OUTPUT DOCUMENTS'.

Next step is to associate these documents and forms with tasks. Right click on

each task and click on 'Steps', click on 'New' on top to get list of DynaForms

and documents. Select appropriate form and document. In this example, we

selected 'for_author' and input document for 'AUTHOR' task and 'for_designer and

output document for 'Designer' task.

Up to this point we have defined the process with tasks along with the

sequence in which tasks are completed with us and the final step is to assign

these tasks to the appropriate user. In our example, we created two employees

using 'USERS' tab. Click on 'New' button to create two users with 'PROCESSMAKER_

OPERATOR' role namely author and designer. Give password details to respective

users so that as soon as user logs into ProcessMaker all associated tasks are

shown under 'TO DO' list. In our example, once the author finishes his/her work,

the designer gets a new task under his/her 'TO DO' list. One can also associate

a process supervisor by clicking on process map area and clicking on 'Process

Supervisors>Supervisors'. In our example we assigned supervision task to

administrator. Now the administrator can get all relevant details regarding

process from 'CASES' tab. Click on 'INFORMATION' link to get more information

including graphical information regarding the business process in question.