Contributed by: Chris Cartrett, Document Management Coordinator, Town of Palm Beach, FL

Even with the most automated process, things do not always go as planned. Here is how the Town of Palm Beach set up Laserfiche Workflow to simplify troubleshooting, using the purchasing process as an example.

Email notifications

To address any issues that might arise during the purchasing process, the town inserted multiple email notifications into its workflow designs.

Some examples of email notifications and where they are used include:

• The purchasing process begins with the user uploading a requisition and supplemental documents into Laserfiche. Only users with specific permissions are allowed to upload requisitions, otherwise the requisition is rejected. Such email notifications let the document management coordinator know who needs extra training on the process or who is trying to break the rules.

• Sometimes, a token is missing from a workflow for an unknown reason. The missing token is necessary for Laserfiche Workflow to determine things such as routing, permissions or renaming. An email notification is sent out when such a missing token is encountered, allowing for investigation of the issue to make sure the entry will be processed correctly.

• Another notification is sent when a field that should be populated is blank or a template has not been appended as required. A link to the Laserfiche entry in question is attached to the email to help quickly address the issue. This is usually because of some form of user error. Workflow is helping improve user efficiency by showing who needs more training.

Each email notification contains either the Entry ID or some other identifier, such as the Purchase Order number, to make investigation easier.

Workflow design

Another way to help with troubleshooting is to design workflows in segments. It is impossible to see the workflow details of an individual entry if it is processed in bulk, such as with a “For Each Entry” activity. Rather than having the workflow continue on after one of those activities, insert an “Invoke Workflow” activity within it. This makes troubleshooting individual entries much more efficient, since there will be an individual result for each entry when performing a search of all completed or terminated workflows.

Benefits

Laserfiche Workflow can be a useful troubleshooting tool for the following reasons:

• Documents don’t sit in limbo if they aren’t processed correctly, and the problem can be identified immediately after it occurs.
• Users who frequently trigger errors can be identified for additional process or software training.
• Troubleshooting is easier when you know which document failed to process.

Want to learn more ways to that workflow automation can help your organization? Get your free copy of Quicker Better Safer today.