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Published November 07th, 2016 by

What are the 10 Best Features of a Workflow Management Software?

What are the 10 Best Features of a Workflow Management Software?

Workflows may be easy or hard to do, depending on the sequence of activities or processes. If you utilize a workflow management software to its maximum capacity, you’ll find out that the results will be more enhanced and visible in every step of the way.You’ll also have better accountability and teamwork between team members and an improved overall quality productivity. If you have the best workflow management software solution for your company, you have an improved facilitated collaboration and can automate repetitive tasks.

The best workflow management software informs everyone of what’s happening, and tracking projects have never been easier. You’ll be able to define and manage all of your tasks in the business process. It can control how tasks are done to monitor progress. Each company has their own different needs to think of when you want to consider purchasing a workflow management software (WMS). This article will talk about the 10 best features of the WMS that are needed in almost all businesses.

What is workflow management?

According to Microsoft, workflows are known as a sequence of tasks that bring out an outcome. They help manage business processes and improve the productivity and efficiency of the organization. They help individuals perform tasks and concentrate on their work instead of managing the business workflow.

So what is workflow management software? Workflow management software automates business tasks and makes sure they have been successfully fulfilled. They also make sure the business process model is followed and an accurate workflow documentation is created.

How can workflow management software help you?

Workflow management software streamlines and optimizes the business operations. Using the software enhances the productivity of the business process. Other workflow management software benefits include:

  1. WMS automate repetitive administrative tasks, reducing the risk of errors and preventing tasks from being overlooked or neglected. Because data entry tasks are time-consuming, the time saved when they are automated can help you focus on other important tasks. Automation also manages the business database in a fast and efficient way, plus they are automatically recorded. This is very helpful to reduce the risk of duplicate data or incorrectly typed information.
  2. Even distribution of workload. Distribution of tasks for large projects can be very challenging. Sending files or limited access to mail servers might hinder you from completing a project. With WMS, it makes sure the files are secure and easy to access.
  3. Improved communication. Everyone involved in the project has open and constant communication, reducing the confusion that might occur. It makes sure everyone stays on the same page and is updated on the latest changes. It also lessens employee turnovers because there is no lack of communication. Everyone knows what to do and when to do their tasks.
  4. Collaboration between coworkers and other partners. Collaboration with colleagues is important, but being able to do that with your business partners or other 3rd party companies can help you complete the tasks on time. The software is readily accessible as long as they have permissions and is operated on a regular work platform.
  5. Increased productivity. Employees who use WMS become more effective and productive in their tasks. Management can monitor and determine the performance of the employees and has a better visibility of their completed tasks. You’ll be able to pinpoint any issues before they happen and make sure the important processes are being handled.
  6. Increased accountability. The business goals and tasks are concisely defined, which makes employees know what they should be doing, needing less supervision.
  7. File management. You’ll be able to manage files faster and remove duplicate files. The software can identify multiple drafts or tasks and eliminate the unnecessary ones to save you time.
  8. Audit trail. Everything is recorded and connected to the database. You’ll know the actions that were made. An accurate record of the system will help figure out what happens when things go wrong. The ability to report and forecast revenues is also possible. With this, you’ll be able to make sound business decisions based on the information provided.
  9. Integration with other third party services. The ability to incorporate WMS to other work applications will help you provide a seamless integration that will allow you to make your work faster and easier.
  10. You’ll still be able to create business rules but use your own decisions to focus on what you need more. Ease of use is also important. If it’s easy to navigate and is catered to one’s needs, WMS is very beneficial to its users.

The main goal of WMS is resolving the product’s support cases. Other common workflow management software goals are to make sure that the handling of tasks is being taken care of, evaluating options and completing the tasks on time. You can also check the reviews for WMS made by CrowdReviews.com in https://www.crowdreviews.com/best-workflow-management-software to find out the goals and benefits of WMS.

In today’s society, there is a number of workflow management software that is compatible to most businesses. So what workflow management software features do you need? The 10 best features of a WMS contains:

  1. A graphical model of workflow processes. For one to understand and streamline a workflow process, create a graphical model that is easy to understand. How do you do this? It provides you the freedom to create your own process according to what your business needs. You may need to combine processes or make multi-stage process flows. This will help you monitor your progress and let everyone stay on the same page.
  2. The ability to automate. The capability to pre-fill fields and forms will lessen the time needed to repeat processes. Automation can also reduce duplication and populate multiple fields at once. This will lessen the errors that may be made when done manually.
  3. Reporting and analytic features. Automation in a workflow is very important to understand the performance of what’s happening in a task, but to know what happened to the task is equally important. You need to know who has completed a task, find out if it was successful or not and what’s the next step. You’ll be able to generate the best decisions based on the actual results of the report.

Having a dashboard that lets you see everything at once and create a report on it will determine the strengths and weaknesses of a task and improve on it. Risk analysis will also integrate data that analyzes any threats, risk probability, opportunities and other risk factors to prevent it from happening.

  1. Issue and time tracking features. Issue tracking monitors the issues or any problems that need immediate attention. Time tracking will let everyone know what their progress is on their tasks and if it can meet the deadline on time. It provides what had been accomplished and the amount of time spent on it. The data can also serve as a reference for future use.

Both of them are tracked real-time, notifying management or those involved about the issue and the systems affected. It will provide reports and documents regarding the issue to help you make decisions or they may also provide solutions.

  1. The ability to delegate tasks. The tasks involved may be controlled based on the user settings. The main user can delegate tasks while the others still have access to the workflow assigned to them. It lessens errors made if one has permissions to select and view files so that they would not be able to accidentally change them.
  2. As an administrator, you won’t have a hard time distributing files without having to worry about them being compromised.
  3. Collaboration between coworkers and other people involved in the task can help participants know of their progress and make sure everything is on track. This makes work more efficient and streamlined. File sharing is also the main part of collaboration where everyone can share ideas while being organized.
  4. Just like in collaboration, communication can let others stay on top of things. Most people prefer having an email integration feature for fast communication.
  5. Budget and invoice capabilities. It’s a lot easier to estimate costs and fees with a budget tracker. It provides an accurate data for your expenses for you to calculate costs and predict a budget for the next task. It may even provide an exchange rate calculator or a cash flow requirement. Invoice capabilities usually are included with time tracking.
  6. Cloud-based Choose a WMS that is cloud-based. This will help you save money in upfront costs and regular updates. Not only that, as long as you have permissions, you’ll be able to log in and use it as long as you have Internet access.

These are just the essential features of WMS. It’s still up to you to choose what features that can be more beneficial to the type of industry your business is in. If you’re interested in getting a workflow management software, check the Workflow Management Software reviews at CrowdReviews.com today.

Jeev Trika

Jeev is an executive leader with successful experience building research portals which recommend the best products and services in various highly competitive verticals.

Our rankings are completely independent, transparent, and community driven; they are based on user reviews and client sentiment. These workflow management software companies had to earn their way up and didn't just pay their way up.

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