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| The National Institute of Mental Health Relies on BP Logix as it Automates Workflow Processes and Forms |
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| A NEED TO EXPEDITE AND STREAMLINE PROCESSES
John S. Harris is the Chief Information Officer at NIMH, responsible for Extramural IT infrastructures and IT services. His department of 30 supports 1300 users across the Institute. One of IT’s responsibilities was to automate the Institute’s workflow processes - and the forms, approvals and documents associated with those business processes. Effectively handling the sheer number of forms that keep a research organization moving efficiently is difficult. And as the organization grew, tracking and managing those forms became an administrative challenge that needed to be addressed.
Harris recognized that NIMH’s manual process incorporated critical forms that traversed the organization - from Division Management and Operations to Finance and Procurement. He also accepted that there were multiple approvals required for each form and that automating and gaining control over the forms and workflow processes was a priority. After previous attempts to provide the workflow processes were unsuccessful, Harris took the initiative to find a solution - one that could automate, streamline and accelerate NIMH processes.
Faced with time constraints and a need to streamline and automate its processes quickly, Harris identified the key features and capabilities NIMH required. Understanding the business processes associated with those workflows, Harris selected six companies with products he could compare and evaluate.
ADDRESSING AN ADMINISTRATIVE CHALLENGE
Harris developed a matrix of the capabilities, needs and wants that NIMH required for its electronic forms – and its workflow processes.. Primary among them were functionality, simplicity and price. After developing this matrix, Harris short-listed three companies and began a comparative analysis. His users were supportive of implementing a new solution; their primary request was that it be as intuitive as possible and reflect the way they currently worked. In addition, the system selected also had to help users gain a better understanding of where the forms and approvals were in the process – as the Institute needed for them to be more accountable.
“We were looking for a product that could handle our complex database lookups, conditional workflow branching and the dynamic nature of some of the workflows we have to produce. We also needed to find one with an interface to other systems that would be acceptable,” Harris commented.
ADDRESSING BUSINESS ISSUES
NIMH, as true of many other government and commercial organizations, has been looking at the Federal mandate dictating broader use of a teleworker program. That program permits agencies to designate employees who may work at alternate work locations for all or part of the workweek in order to promote general work efficiencies. Also known as telecommuting, teleworking is a flexible work arrangement in which employees perform their job duties away from their central workplace, in accordance with their same performance expectations and other approved or agreed-upon terms.
As a result of the National Institutes of Health Pilot Project on Teleworking, it was determined that a telework initiative could be deployed across NIH organizations, enabling individuals and their workgroups to continue to function with a minimum of disruption while maintaining functionality and productivity. In some cases, telework actually spurred process improvements in workgroups that enhanced their overall productivity. Additionally it was determined that teleworking would enable NIH missionrelated work to continue during emergencies.
Structuring responsibilities so as to maintain work group integrity, communications, and contingency-planning are considerations for telework agreements. Moreover a successful telework program relies heavily on uniform information technology solutions and support. The business processes, forms and workflows associated with this program was one of many that Harris contended with as he began to look at his greatest short-term needs.
A RAPID DEPLOYMENT
Designed for business users as an out-of-the-box product that is easy to install and administer, BP Logix Workflow Director is web-based software that provides business users with advanced process management, automation and reporting capabilities. The product embraces a powerful workflow engine, project management, a business rules engine, electronic forms processing, reporting/activity monitoring – and has the ability to integrate into most third-party and in-house applications and databases.
Workflow Director provides storage, categorization and search technologies for all documents, electronic forms (eForms) and workflow processes. It also embraces document management and collaboration, while providing visibility into business processes.
Within months of acquiring Workflow Director and after receiving some web-based and in-house training, the IT team deployed an initial set of workflows. Included in these were remote access forms, travel requests, waiver process to security exception requests, a request for additional budgetary funds and an IT purchase request to expedite purchases. Harris discovered that his expectations as to what Workflow Director could do were met. “Time to completion for various workflows and forms which had previously taken days and weeks now take hours and days,” he observed.
Harris is also very pleased with the efficiency that Workflow Director provides NIMH and the responsiveness of BP Logix to his needs. “The scalability and customization capabilities make the product highly usable for nontechnical users as well. And the technical staff have been both knowledgeable and responsive,” he concluded. |
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