CODA - Workflow
Getting information moving
CODA-Workflow is a dynamic, new application that automates cumbersome, repetitive manual administration processes, such as the flow of accounting documents for approval and authorization.
Requests are automatically e-mailed to the relevant authorizers’ mailboxes to alert them that a document requires their attention, enabling them to process it without delay. Because authorizers respond by completing fields within the email itself, the process is simple and swift: they do not need to open the actual application; or have it on their machine; or even be users of it (a major benefit for higher level authorizers, such as CEOs or CFOs). Where multiple inputs are required for decision-making, the workflow can be set to work in parallel (contacting all relevant authorizers at the same time) or serially (passing from person to person in a user-definable order). The latter has the additional advantage that higher-level authorizers know that the requests have already been filtered and checked by the people before them in the chain.
The result is simpler, more reliable, more secure, more flexible and more efficient handling of documents, delivering a swift flow of targeted information across the organization - direct to the desktops of the people that need it.
Easy to set up
Creating an outline with Workflow Designer
Because every organization has its own unique structure and procedures, CODA-Workflow delivers complete flexibility to design your flows, using a simple ‘drag-and-drop’ toolset. Selecting objects from a ‘palette’ of options, the user places them on the ‘canvas’ to represent a series of logical steps in the overall process. These are then connected together to form a process flow.
Setting the rules with the Expression Builder
The next step is to use CODA-Workflow’s Expression Builder tool to define the detailed business rules that support each logical step. This is a simple step-by-step procedure, with wizards and comprehensive explanations of each function, combined with automatic validation of the complete expression. CODA-Workflow comes with a library of sample expressions to get you started; having created a new expression, you can then store and reuse it in other process definitions.
Ready-integrated with CODA
CODA-Workflow is available as a separate application, with integral support for CODA applications, including:
- CODA-Financials
- CODA e-Finance
- CODA e-Procurement
- CODA e-Billing
Greater ‘e-fficiency’, flexibility and security
In order to maximize efficiency and flexibility for the end user, CODA-Workflow messages will be transmitted to the authorizing users via emails. All actions needed to process their workflow messages may be performed within the email message itself, minimizing the effort and time required to do so.
Because CODA-Workflow utilizes Java™, it offers you exceptional freedom and ease of implementation: there is no need for a client to be installed on the users’ PCs (other than their existing email client)*; and you are not tied to a particular platform – as well as supporting MS Outlook and Lotus Notes, its flexible design offers compatibility with most other standard email systems too.
In terms of security, all communication between the CODA-Workflow e-mail message and the CODA-Workflow server is encrypted using a 168-bit encryption algorithm. After each use, the algorithm resets itself, ensuring that in the unlikely event of one message being compromised, the code-breaker would not be able to use the same key to break any other encrypted message.
*V9.001e of CODA-Workflow, does however require the Java 1.4 plug-in. If the user doesn’t already have this, it is automatically downloaded from the Sun Microsystems website or can be easily installed, manually, by users that do not have Internet access.
