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ECM – versatile and flexible

How to manage business processes in an organization?

Among the many challenges faced by large companies today, one of the key issues and objectives is to gain control over business processes. This applies both to those strictly related to core business activities, i.e., processes within the so-called core business area, as well as background processes that are supportive or auxiliary (so-called back-office processes).

Processes

Examples of processes in the first group include:

  • Sales processes (related to the handling and circulation of inquiries, offers, and orders for products or services),
  • processes related to handling incoming correspondence, or those concerning project management and all related documentation.

In the area of processes supporting core business, there is most often a need for controlling the circulation of cost invoices, supplier contracts, expense reports, handling leave requests, or other HR requests. These processes can, and most often do, have mutual relationships. The most typical and common example is the so-called purchase-to-pay process, which is a procurement process related to order handling (optionally preceded by a requisition process with an analysis of offers submitted by suppliers), managing the circulation of cost invoices, and submitting them for payment. This process also most often includes activities related to handling and circulating contracts with counterparties, along with secure archiving of all documents processed within this process.

Larger Company, More Business Processes

When an organization exceeds a certain ‘critical mass,’ it leads to a loss of control over processes and results in the organization incurring unjustified costs. Business growth can stem from many factors, most commonly territorial expansion, new product introduction, increased sales, and a higher number of customers served. The costs of process handling are not just purely financial, but also include time, errors, and risks associated with document management. The situation becomes even more complicated when an organization already has an ERP system supporting business processes vertically, such as production processes and material ordering. The problems that then arise result from the necessity of ‘horizontal integration of business processes,’ meaning managing the circulation of documents that flow ‘across’ the organizational structure.

This situation leads to inefficient document processing (long process execution times, difficulties in problem-solving) and becomes even more costly. Therefore, organizations opt for document digitization and electronic processing of business processes using the Rockawork system.

Example Use Case Scenario

The most common scenario is the purchase invoice approval process. It can generally be divided into several stages: invoice document registration, substantive description and approval, financial description and approval, and invoice booking. Each of these stages involves a different scope of actions to be performed and a different range of information to be processed.

In the former case, the invoice should be digitized, i.e., scanned. Scanning typically initiates the document workflow in the electronic system. In most cases, initial invoice information is entered into the application: supplier, dates, amounts, preliminary description, etc. At this point, a correlation with the new supplier creation process can occur, which is triggered if a given business partner has not yet been registered in the accounting system. For a very large number of documents, data entry can be facilitated by so-called ‘intelligent’ OCR, which allows for automatic recognition and input of invoice data into the document workflow system. This means that instead of manually entering the aforementioned information, the system will recognize and input it automatically. In the case of an electronic document, such as a PDF invoice, it usually arrives at the organization via email. In such cases, the system can monitor the mailbox, automatically download documents, and initiate their workflow.

This step is usually performed by the person responsible for ordering goods or services. Prior to order generation, a cost approval process takes place. If it is within the same system as the purchase invoice process, it is simpler to automatically retrieve data from the order (e.g., order items, cost breakdown, etc.) for easier comparison and to avoid re-entering already input data. Access from mobile devices will be an advantage for decision-makers and frequent travelers, for example, to approve documents.

This stage is carried out by the finance department. For it to be performed efficiently and effectively, data from the accounting system (e.g., from the FI module of SAP ECC) must be available in the document workflow system and updated in real-time.

Booking is also performed by the finance department. To avoid re-entering data already input in previous stages of the process into the accounting system, it is best to transfer information via an interface. As feedback, the document status in the financial and accounting system can be sent, for example, payment execution data.

One Tool, Many Benefits

In summary, an IT system that executes processes within a company should be versatile and flexible, allowing for the execution of processes with diverse requirements while simultaneously benefiting from being in ‘one place’. This enables quick and easy data transfer between them and the extraction of correlated information. Additionally, employees use a single tool for various activities, making it easier and faster. Maintenance, potential changes, and adaptations also require one type of expertise, which makes it less labor-intensive and costly.