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When Workflow Doesn’t Work: A Troubleshooting Guide

Sometimes it’s hard to recognize a lemon.

Certainly there are times when you buy something and it flatout doesn’t work. But what about those times when you buy something and it just doesn’t meet your expectations? If your new car won’t start reliably, it might be a lemon. But if your sweet ride repeatedly treats the open road like it’s a school zone, can you be sure that there’s something wrong with the car? Maybe it’s the fuel. Maybe it’s the driver. In any case, it’s time to do some troubleshooting.

By the same token, when your business processes don’t perform up to your expectations, it can create a tumultuous work environment. Business people blame IT; IT blames management; and the vendor claims that the software is working fine. Nobody wants to hear “It’s not me; it’s you.”

This scenario is more prevalent than you might think. If you implement workflow but don’t see dramatic improvements in efficiency or turnaround, is the software at fault? Or are you trying to duplicate business processes that are intrinsically inefficient? The reality is that any number of factors could be responsible.

When workflow doesn’t work, it’s time to make some adjustments. Let’s examine a few common scenarios and try to pinpoint some underlying causes:

1. You’ve implemented workflow, but you still have bottlenecks. Often, bottlenecks are the result of inadequate process analysis. A few factors could be responsible for a sluggish system.

• Distribution.

  Are you able to distribute work so that it is processed quickly and accurately? A highperformance BPM/workflow system will offer different configuration options to ensure that processing is as efficient as possible. This helps accommodate changes in staff turnover, absences, and other factors that might typically impede throughput. Distribution capabilities such as Broadcast, Common Queue, Least Load, Round Robin, Role, and other designations allow you to distribute work efficiently, preventing work from getting bogged down. Effective distribution helps organizations accommodate fluctuations in peak processing volumes that can also contribute to bottlenecks.

• Complexity.

  Albert Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Can you simplify your workflow? Are there redundancies? Can you eliminate or combine steps? Where can you reuse data? Analyze your workflows to determine ways they can be simplified. An easy-to-use, drag-and-drop workflow interface enables organizations to automate tasks without programming and gain a comprehensive overview of their business processes.

• Resistance.

  Sometimes bottlenecks occur because organizations have not committed to eliminating paper processes. Workflow is used as an adjunct technology, but paper remains the default in their processing strategy. Workflow enables you to meet and exceed your business objectives. To be successful, you need to adopt it as a holistic strategy and not merely an accessory.

2. You haven’t reduced processing costs. As a tool to improve efficiency, workflow should enable your organization to process your work quickly and efficiently. Without exception, you should be able to improve throughput with the same number of staff (or fewer). If you have implemented workflow and you still don’t see these improvements, consider these culprits:

• Lack of Integration.

  In order to distribute information effectively, your workflow product must be able to push and pull data, documents, and other information whenever and wherever it is needed. If your workflow software doesn’t integrate with legacy systems or line-of-business applications, your processing capabilities will stagnate. Thorough integration will also ensure that your documents will be accessible from within your business applications. This will improve decision-making as well as efficiency.

• Failure to capture data and documents at the point of entry into your organization so they can drive your routine processes forward.

  There is value embedded in your documents and transactions. The sooner you can access that value, the more efficient your workflow processing will be. Ideally, you should capture relevant data, e-forms, and other documents as they are scanned or imported into your system. This might involve incorporating OCR, ICR, or barcode technology. Accelerating information capture will enable optimal use and reuse, and will improve the efficiency of your workflow. Early capture will also help you eliminate manual keying errors and inaccuracies.

3. You have no strategy for handling exceptions. Workflow efficiency can suffer dramatically if you have automated your processes but haven’t implemented a strategy for handling exceptions. Whether exceptions are anticipated or unanticipated, there are going to be situations where manual processing or oversight is warranted. Test and re-test your workflows using different scenarios so that you can uncover exceptions and decide how to handle them.

• Anticipated exceptions.

  Anticipated exceptions are those that fall outside of the parameters of the rules that drive a workflow process. These are expected events that cause processing to detour from automation to manual oversight by your skilled workforce. When you are able to anticipate exceptions, you are able to address them quickly and efficiently, diverting them into a separate workflow that usually includes an approval process.

• Unanticipated exceptions.

  Recognize and identify the events that drive unanticipated exceptions so that they can be controlled, resolved, and processed. A high-performance workflow system can be reprogrammed on the fly to address these occurrences and enable organizations to respond in a timely manner.

The value of process analysis. Elbert Hubbard said, “One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” Properly configured, workflow can expedite processing and allow users to be repurposed from repetitive tasks to those that require critical thinking. If you’re not noticing dramatic improvements after implementing workflow, a process analysis can be an invaluable troubleshooting tool, allowing you to uncover inefficiencies and redundancies while finetuning your processing abilities. Attempting to automate processes without having an in-depth understanding of them is a recipe for disaster.

If your software is not living up to your expectations, consider exploring the recommendations in this article. If, after troubleshooting, your system is still not producing remarkable results, consider process analysis. As the philosopher Lao Tzu observed: “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”

About the Author

Sylvia has a Bachelors Degree in Biology from Lafayette College and an Associate in Specialized Technology Degree from South Hills School of Business & Technology. She previously worked as a grant writer and reporter while living in western Massachusetts. Sylvia’a articles are regularly featured in ECM Connection.

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