Benefits of process digitization & SharePoint automation

By Truman Slate 1 year ago

Your business processes are becoming increasingly digitized. They bring with them many advantages, true to the maxim “work less, achieve more!”:

  • You can reduce your costs by streamlining your processes and eliminating redundant activities.
  • You can save time, as you no longer have to physically travel to a client location or wait for a meeting.
  • You can increase productivity, as you no longer have to waste time on unproductive meetings.
  • You can improve quality, as you can easily track all your processes, from the order to the delivery of your products.

Reduced customer response times, through reduced communication and file archiving Higher process efficiency due to the elimination of unnecessary manual labour Less staff, fewer administration costs, and less office space needed.

Increased transparency through central logging of the individual steps Higher quality because errors can be almost completely eliminated with the help of input validation and continuous process optimization based on logging is possible. Processes and associated documents can be accessed from anywhere.

Ensure legal compliance by using processes that are designed according to laws and governance.

Why do so many companies still hesitate to digitize more processes?

Innovation is always associated with changes and therefore often encounters resistance from the workforce at first. Work processes have to be adapted and employees have to be trained or retrained. It is usually the employees who are directly affected who shy away from innovations and changes. Good change management is necessary to ensure broad acceptance within the team. Employees should already be involved in process design or optimization.

In addition, many entrepreneurs also have doubts about data security and dependence on the Internet. In the latter area in particular, Germany is lagging far behind in an international comparison.

In addition, the automation of tasks and processes means a financial effort at first, which experience has shown is amortized in the medium to long term.

Display processes with SharePoint and Office 365

There is an unmanageable number of different processes in companies, so it is often difficult to use standard solutions, especially when processes are represented across applications.

Our solutions are therefore always as individual as the companies themselves. Processes can only be displayed in SharePoint or, for example, be connected to SharePoint Workflows, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Power Automate and/or Power Apps. Connections to systems outside the Office 365 world are also conceivable. In this way, simple as well as complex multi-stage processes can be digitized and automated in a transparent and comprehensible manner.

Visualize digital business processes with SharePoint workflows

Processes in SharePoint can be made available to users very specifically for certain document types or generally as a release process for all documents. The approvers can be fixed or specified by the requester when a workflow is started. A workflow can be started at any time, either manually or automatically when a document or element is created or changed. 

The approval requests or task assignments through the workflows are implemented with workflow tasks that are assigned to the users. Optionally, an e-mail notification can be sent about the new workflow task. Of course, with SharePoint workflows, external data from SharePoint can also be integrated into the process automation.

What’s in it for me?

The workflow features allow a user to automatically get an overview of the progress and status of a process. It is possible to create a set of rules that determine which actions have to be performed by whom. The result is a self-contained process that can be started at any time. It is also possible to set up a custom approval request based on the workflow rules. This will make sure that all steps are completed and that the final document or task is approved by the right person. 

A workflow can also be used for the approval of a task assignment. With this approach, it is possible to assign a task to a specific person automatically if the conditions are met. If this is not the case, it is still possible to perform the task manually. There is an option of getting professional help from a reputed Microsoft consulting firm and their services provider to make things error-free and more productive. With SharePoint workflows, it is possible to automate the approval of documents or tasks.

Here I have shown a classic vacation application process. The workflow is started when the respective employee fills out and saves a vacation application. The approval request is then automatically assigned to the manager. If the latter rejects the application, the employee receives a notification by e-mail, otherwise, the application is forwarded to the HR department. If approved, the vacation is automatically entered into the calendar, a success notification is sent and the process is completed.

Also Read About: Revamp Traditional Business Processes with Innovative Custom SharePoint Development Services

Al Rafay Consulting is a team of highly skilled developers who will be more than happy to provide you with their expertise to help you with the implementation. Hiring SharePoint Consulting services always make you secure when making workflows and visualizing business process.