Identifying Good Processes for Automation

When getting started with AgilePoint, you must identify the first process you want to enable with AgilePoint. The following criteria can help you to identify products that are good candidates for AgilePoint processes:

• The process has many of participants.

  Processes that have many participants throughout the process lifecycle require many manual activities. These are often good process to automate because the greatest savings process automation has the greatest impact when it affects human activities.

• The process has a large number of instances, and the instances need to be tracked.

  Processes that are initiated by many people and many people need to track the process as it progresses are good candidates for automation. Good automation can offer a high degree of visibility to the process.

• The process crosses departments or geography, and the traditional process method is paper-based.

  Processes that require the transmission of paper over distances also require time and money to transfer the paper, such as mail or physical transfer, or electronic transfer using fax machines or scanners. AgilePoint can automate these kinds of processes to improve productivity and reduce costs.

• The process has a long running time.

  If a process runs for a long time — for example, several weeks, rather than a few days — it is difficult to track the process status. It is difficult for users to know where the process is at a particular time and what is the next step.

• The process has tasks assigned for a short period of time.

  When tasks are assigned for a short period of time, it is difficult to remind them that it is almost due within a process that is not automated. AgilePoint enables immediate, automated reminders (such as emails), so that individual participants can focus on their tasks. It is not necessary for participants to know about other parts of the process.