Workflow documentation and management

[jthompson]

Hi all

 

Does anyone have anything snazzy to share in terms of documenting and/or managing their workflows? Currently, I have a bunch of flow diagrams (made using Dia) that I've got pinned to the office noticeboard. I've also got PDF versions stored in our DokuWiki (which we use for all of our systems documentation). They document the steps involved in creating a new student or staff user, processing a staff leaver, processing a new staff laptop loan, etc. It's surprising how many steps can be involved. Whilst they've proved really useful, such workflows sometimes involve waiting on responses from another office and rely more than I'd ideally like on our own human memory to keep track.

 

We could happily carry on with what we've got, but does anyone out there use BPM software to work through this sort of stuff? I know SharePoint does workflows, but I've always found them a pain to get set up and manage. Something that could start a new workflow in response to something automated would be awesome (e.g. a new student appearing on roll) or that could automate some of the steps using PowerShell scripts and the like. Oh, and free software preferably. And the Moon on a stick.

[ADMaster]

Does your helpdesk / ticket system do this?

I have webhelpdesk and it has a feature called processes. I don't use it, but I could have it kick off a ticket for a new user and have that in turn email HR or create a ticket for a laptop setup etc.

 

For this task I just share a spreadsheet with HR, with an outgoing and incoming section.

name,position,SN,asset tag, account created/deleted,laptop issued/ returned, keycard, notes

 

I have powershell scripts on my end such as new-staff so I have a consistent creation process.

I have most of my processes documented in Google Drive.

 

Not exactly what your looking for but may help your processes.

[jthompson]

Thanks. A shared spreadsheet is not a bad idea. Simple enough to fill in without much bother when a process rattles through in one go, but handy to mark where we're up to if it gets held up for any reason.

 

I also need to get going on scripting user creation, etc. as much as possible in PowerShell, to reduce the number of manual steps.