Getting Started with Business Processes
A business process is a series of tasks that works towards a business goal. The exact kinds of tasks or sequence of tasks may depend on situational variables. Forms are often part of a business process. In Laserfiche Process Automation, you can design whole processes that determine how a form is processed after being submitted.
Components
In the process designer, a business process is represented by a flow chart showing the order in which certain activities should take place, and the possible paths that can be taken in the process (with each path representing a different sequence of activities). One very simple process could be a form submission and approval: It starts with a form submission, after which the form is approved or denied by a manager, after which the process ends. The arrows indicate the order in which these actions or events take place. These arrows are known as sequence flows, and each possible path from the starting event in the diagram to an endpoint is known as a process flow. The icons representing actions or events, which can be connected by sequence flows, are known as objects. Objects can be activities, tasks, or events.
More complicated business processes allow for multiple possible sequences of actions or events, representing by branching paths (which may or may not converge later). When multiple process flows converge or diverge, the subsequent process flow(s) that are taken after their intersection is decided by a gateway, which implements logical operators on the variables associated with the process flows. For example, in the following sample process representing a flu shot registration process, a gateway splits the initial process flow into two process flows. Which process flow a given instance of a process ends up taking depends on a variable (namely, what the employee entered in the starting form).
After the initial form, there is a task that reviews the form, represented by the Process Registration Form object in the diagram. The object leads to two possible process flows. Which flow is taken depends on a variable in that second form.
Using Processes
After a process has been built and enabled, an instance of a process can be started either by filling out the starting form (after first navigating to the starting form URL) or by manually starting it from the Manage page. That instance can then be monitored on the Monitor page. Users who are assigned tasks as part of the process instance can see their tasks in the Tasks tab on the Laserfiche home screen. Team managers can assign tasks to team members from the Tasks tab.
Next Steps
Explore the following topics to learn more about business processes and their components, or get started by using a process from the Solution Templates.