fileSMART for STRATA Master Workflow Setup and Use Guide

Release Overview

Introduction

The fileSMART v5.5 release focused on changing the way a business moves documents around the office and handles their document approval processes. From the time that the document is received by an agency to the time that it is finally archived in the database, fileSMART will manage the workflow of the document.

The following features are included in this release.

Activating Workflow

Once you upgrade to fileSMART v5.5 or above you will immediately be able to use the Ad-hoc workflow. Using the more advanced Invoice Workflows requires a consulting session from a Rockend staff member.

Please contact Account Management Team on 1300 657 700 or email sales@rockend.com.au for further details.

Workflow Overview

Replace a paper based document and invoice handling and approval process with a completely electronic one. Users will be able to push a document from person to person and make comments as they go. In addition the full history of who has seen a document and what comment they left will be available to all participants in a workflow. The need to print a document so that it can be approved are gone, once the approval process is complete it will be archived into fileSMART automatically. The full history of the approval will stay with the document forever and be available when a document is returned from a search.

There will be 3 types of workflows in this release. The 3 are

Ad-hoc Workflow - This is the basic type of workflow. Any document can be handled via an Ad-hoc workflow. The user will be able to move a document in an ad-hoc workflow to any other user while retaining the document archiving data and in addition making a comment as to why they are moving the document to that user.
Strata Invoice Processing Workflow - Built on top of the document workflow are the invoice processing workflow features. In an Invoice Processing Workflow, users will be able to enter and save the creditor and invoice data from the document directly into a new invoice data tab in fileSMART and allocate the invoice to the correct expense account code. Once an invoice is approved for payment the document will be archived into file SMART and invoice data will be sent directly to STRATA Master.
Strata Barcoded Invoice Processing Workflow - Barcoded invoices are the ones that come from biller's such as councils, utilities and some strata companies. Without fileSMART, entering the data into STRATA Master has been made a lot easier by the introduction of hand-held barcode scanners. However the job of scanning the physical paper copy with the handheld barcode scanner means that they had to be archived into fileSMART as a last step. The new Barcoded Invoice Processing Workflow in fileSMART Archive means that users can scan the barcoded invoices as the first step. fileSMART will then read the barcode data directly from the scanned invoice which will auto complete the archiving data and therefore removes the need to manually archive it. It will also send the barcode extracted invoice data directly to STRATA Master so that it can be processed there as well. This will automate two manual processes into one automatic one.

Release Features in Detail

Ad-hoc Workflow in Detail

Overview

The ad-hoc workflow feature significantly improves the document collaboration features of fileSMART. Previously the pending queue document forwarding process was all that was available for moving a document from one person to another. But the pending queue suffered from a number of usability issues:

The current user had no way of knowing who forwarded them a document
There was no way a user could add a comment when forwarding a document which meant that the recipient had no context about what to do with the document.
The recipient of a document had no idea who else may have seen or reviewed a document. That could cause the user to then re-forward a document to someone that already dealt with it.
The document archiving data did not save when forwarding a document. If one user filled in some of the data and then forwarded it to someone else the archiving meta-data would be lost.
The history of the approval process was not available after a document was archived.
If a user was absent there was no way to access their work list to find urgent items and re-allocate them to other people.

The reality of these issues meant that documents were usually scanned at the end of the process meaning fileSMART was under-utilised and the paperless office less of a reality.

The ad-hoc workflow features were built to address these issues by scanning documents at the start of the process, and to build a framework on which to add a number of other important collaboration features. The following sections describe the process of creating a new workflow and then working with the work item while collaborating on a document review.

If a document does not need to be moved around the business in a workflow and simply needs to be archived into fileSMART then a user can simply archive the document in the same way they always have.

Shown below is a full application screen shot of fileSMART in Workflow mode. This will help put into context some of the other more focused screen shots that are shown throughout this section.

Creating a Workflow

The first step of performing a workflow is to create a new workflow. The steps in this section describe how to create a workflow in the updated fileSMART Archive user interface.

The Process of creating a new workflow is as follows:

The new workflow selection menu shows a list of buttons representing each mode. The modes from top to bottom are “Archive”, “Search” and “Workflow”. Each mode can be selected by clicking on the drop down arrow and selecting the respective mode.

Switch to Archive Mode. Select a document from the pending queue to create a new workflow.
Select a folder – to start a workflow, fileSMART needs to know what folder you intend to archive the document in at the end of the workflow.
Enter some data into the archive fields – this step is optional and not all mandatory fields need to be entered at this point.
Press the new ‘Create Workflow’ button

Enter a workflow comment, select a person (can be yourself) and press “Create” (see below).

This will create a new document workflow and assign it to the workflow list of the nominated user.

Workflow List

A user’s workflow list is their in-tray for all workflow items. To access their workflow list a user simply switches modes to ‘Workflow Mode’

Once the user has access to their work list they can select a work item and perform workflow related tasks such as data entry, Saving, Delegating or Approving the item. These are described later in this brief. One thing that a user can do to their work list is to filter it. By clicking on the filter button the following filter screen is displayed:

The fields on this form have the following meaning

Field Name	Purpose
Workflow	The name of the workflow. By changing this value a user can filter their work list and show only work items that belong to a specific work flow type.
Date Created From	Allows the user to filter the list to show only work flow items created after a specified date.
Date Created To	Allows the user to filter the list to show only work flow items created up to and including a specified date.
Responsible	This field is a read-only field for non-administrative users. Administrators have access to all user queues.
Status	Shows work items with a specific status value. The possible values are: Open, Rejected and Approved. The default value is “Open” and the work list shows only open work items. A user can select multiple statuses.

Workflow Details

For each item in the work list a collection of Workflow Details is displayed in the lower left-hand pane. It shows some detailed information about each work item that may be helpful when reviewing an item. The details pane looks like this:

The meaning of these fields is as follows

Field Name	Purpose
Folder	The folder associated with the current workflow item.
Workflow	The workflow type of the current workflow
Created by	The user who started the workflow
Created on	Date and time the workflow was created
Assigned from	The last user who assigned the workflow to the current user
Assigned to	The user the workflow is currently assigned to
Assigned on	The date and time that a work item was assigned to the current user
Comment	Any comment the last assigned user made on the workflow
Status	The status of the work item. This can be “Open”, “Approved” or “Rejected”.

Work History

Each and every action taken by users of the workflow is recorded in the new ‘Work History’. This history is accessible to all participants of a workflow during the time that the work item is assigned to them. The effect is that a user can see all the prior actions and comments that have been made regarding an item. An example of a work history is shown here

The meaning of the columns is as follows

Column Name	Purpose
Date	The date that an event took place.
Time	The time that an event took place.
Actioned By	The person who performed the action. This will be shown as the fileSMART login name.
Action	The action that was performed by the user. The list of possible actions is: Created Delegated Rejected Re-Opened Approved
Comment	The optional comment that was left when a user performed an action.

The work history for a document continues to be available even after a document workflow has been completed and the document is stored in the archive. When searching for a document it is possible to access the history if the document has one.
The Work History tab is only shown for documents that have workflow history.

Delegating a Work Item

Delegating a work item means assigning it to someone else. To do this, select an item from the work list and click the Delegate toolbar button, pictured below.

This will display the ‘Delegate Workflow’ screen

The user has the option to enter a comment to let the recipient know why the document is being sent to them. The user then selects the user to whom the work item should be sent and presses the “Delegate” button. This will remove the workflow from their workflow list and move it to the workflow list of the nominated user.

Archiving an Ad-hoc Workflow Document

Archiving an ad-hoc workflow has the effect of archiving the document and ending the workflow. To archive an item a user selects an item from the work list and then presses the Archive toolbar button, shown below.

This will show up the archive document screen (below) which is shown with the fileSMART Archive application in the background.

The user has the option to enter any last comment about the work item before the workflow is completed and the document is archived.

The background screen is shown so that the Document Data tab can be seen with all the document data filled. The workflow approval process will validate that the required fields on the document archiving form are completed before allowing the document to be archived and the workflow put into the “Approved” state. Eg some fields are marked as mandatory for some folders. For example for the Owners Corp folder the “Plan Number”, “Address”, “Manager”, “Doc Type” and “Date” fields are mandatory.

Once the field validation is completed successfully the document is archived and the workflow put into the “Approved” state. The document and its work history is now accessible from Search Mode when a document is returned in a search.

Saving a Work Item

A work item can be saved without performing any other action. Actually any action taken by a user whether it be Delegate, Approve or Reject will save the document data associated with a work item. However it is possible for a user to simply save the current state of the document data for a work item without taking any other action. This means that a user can save the work in progress and then move on to something else without losing the work that they have done.

Rejecting a Workflow Item

Rejecting an Ad-hoc workflow item means you are effectively cancelling the workflow. This means you do not want to archive the document into the fileSMART Archive. It is most likely that the document has been put into a work flow in error. To reject a workflow item a user selects the workflow item from the workflow list and the presses the Reject toolbar button.