xflow

A workflow solution for automated research and enquiry management

xflow is a completely web browser-based system, using MS SQL Server or Oracle, to deliver an intuitive way of controlling requests for assistance, information, research or materials. By exploiting these standards and the power of the internet the cost of implementing and maintaining systems is reduced and productivity increases. Using a web framework gives you a global, 24 x 7 application accessible from any location or device.

Managing information calls for more flexibility and control today than ever before. It is not enough to simply structure and index the data. There has to be rules defined that govern who does what and when with that data. This is exemplified by the need to adhere to service level agreements, meet performance benchmarks and raise service quality.

The investment in such systems is paid back through the enhanced levels of control and management information. When processes are defined in an automated system, the tasks can be better organised without manual intervention. Integration with document control systems means that a complete audit trail is maintained. By accurately recording where work is carried out and for whom, costs can be easily demonstrated and recharged accurately and fairly. With so much activity to cope with you need xflow, a workflow solution to move information automatically to the right person and to present it in a timely manner.

Key Features

Enquiry Management

	Recording of enquiries against individuals, providing statistics on usage of resources.
	Total management view of all enquiries, enabling improved controls over load balancing of staffing and resources.
	Control of who is allocated an enquiry which means that departmental managers and co-ordinators can allocate accordingly to staff workload and priorities.
	Fully web-based data entry facilitating distributed working.
	Improved retrieval through assignment of records to categories and assignment of filter values.
	Logon-based privileges eg. authorise records for display, forward records for content management review.
	System maintained record history.
	Resource sharing through a single database connecting different offices in different locations and time zones.

Statistics and Reporting

	Flexible web-based, ad-hoc reporting tools for one-off analysis and regular reporting.
	Saves time preparing management statistics and analysis, helps forecasting, identifies where enquiry’s are coming from, provides cross references to other data knowledge resources.

Configuration

The user interface is uncluttered to improve user acceptance and minimise training needs. It is easily customised without the need for programming. The database can be changed and forms designed to mirror existing forms based processes.

Infrastructure

	Integrates with email systems to provide automatic acknowledgement of receipt of an enquiry and the person to whom further enquiries should be directed.
	Deployed centrally on single server across an intranet or internet, the workflow system reduces IT maintenance and support overheads. Changes can be delivered to all users at the same time.
	Designed to operate with any ODBC / JDBC conformant database e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, ORACLE, and Sybase etc.

Knowledge Base

xflow is an additional, standalone module that can fully integrate with structured content management systems, such as delivered by xdirectory, to provide a fast, flexible and easy to use integrated knowledge-based solution. Different types of information, eg. questions previously answered; performance indicators; people records; archive data; documents etc can be indexed and incorporated to give users immediate access to information.

Application Architecture

Built with Java Beans and designed to operate with any J2EE conformant application server e.g. IBM Websphere, BEA Weblogic, and Enhydra etc. Pre-configured for and installed with default Java based application server.