Business Process management
Business Processes in the Bitrix24 carry extensive implications for the client. This feature is very much like the ‘last mile’ as that term is used in telecommunications: business process bring the power of the intranet right to the places that need it most – the daily, repeated, inestimably valuable operations of your business. The Bitrix24 offers several standard Business Process templates in all editions of the product, and there is a visual business process editor in the BizPace edition which can be used to create and modify templates. Business process templates can be imported and exported from the system and applied to information blocks. To be clear concerning terminology, the template is the flow-chart, and a business process is actually an individual application of a template (to a document or list item, for example).
But let’s lay some groundwork first.
Business Processes
A Business Process is an operation which progresses through a series of stages which are defined in a flow chart, some of which are automated and some of which require the action of persons participating in the business process. The goal of business process management is to standardize commonly occurring operations to optimize the speed, transparency, and quality with which they are performed.
A BPM (Business Process Management) tool, such as what the Bitrix24 contains, allows the planning, execution and monitoring of business processes on objects (usually documents, but not always). Incorporated into this tool are simple steps from which larger processes are built, as well as support for viewing the status at any time and a log of all actions taken over the course of the business process. There are two types of Business Processes: sequential processes and status-driven processes.
Sequential Business Process
Sequential Business Processes |
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A sequential business process is generally used for processes having a limited and predefined lifecycle. A typical example of this is the creation and approval of a text document. Any sequential process usually includes several actions between the start and end points, as well as auxiliary functions that accompany actions by users, such as notifications, retrieval of additional data, etc. In the image, a two-stage approval is shown. Rejection at either stage simply ends the business process with the status being changed to ‘rejected’. |
Status-driven Business Process
A status-driven approach is used when a process does not have a definite time frame and can repeat or return to a given status due to nature of the process (for example: the continuous updating of product documentation).
Status-driven Business Processs |
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The creation of a status-driven process template is not as simple as that of sequential process, but it opens wide possibilities to automate information processing. A typical scheme for such processes consists of several statuses which themselves include actions and conditions under which the process status can change to ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ statuses. |
Several standard business processes templates are included in the lower edition of Bitrix24 (TeamPace) as read-only constructions. They can be applied to documents in any document library, but the processes themselves cannot be altered. Note that templates developed by a third party can be imported.
- Sequential Process: Simple Approval/Vote. This template carries out an approval by a simple majority vote.
- Sequential Process: First Approval. This is for situations where any single person from a selected group is capable of approving a given action.
- State-driven Process: Approve Document with States. This template has 3 stages: Draft, For Approval, and Published, and the document can move among the states depending on whether approval is granted or not.
- Sequential Process: Two-stage Approval. Recommended for situations where documents need to be approved by two different persons or groups.
- Sequential Process: Read Document. This template basically assigns a document for reading to employees who must confirm that they have acquainted themselves with it.
- Sequential Process: Expert Opinion. Recommended for situations where the decision-maker requires an expert’s evaluation of a document before giving final approval.
Business Process Editor
The business process editor is a simple flowchart creator into which (pre-made) function blocks can be dragged and dropped. Each function block has settings which are configured according to the needs of the process.
The product distribution package contains several built-in function blocks, logical operators, and utilities which can be supplemented, if necessary, with php coding.
Functional blocks in the Business Process Editor
