Processes - introduction
Proces prowadzi sprawę od początku do końca po ustalonych etapach. Zamiast maili i pytania kto teraz, każdy wie, na jakim etapie jest sprawa i co ma zrobić.
What a process is
Some matters have their course: a request must be submitted, approved, and settled; a contract prepared, checked, and signed. In Opero such a course is led by a process: a matter moves through set stages, and between the stages there are transitions, that is, decisions such as Approve or Reject.
Thanks to this, at every stage two things are known: where the matter is and who is to do something now. This replaces circulating e-mails and asking whose desk a document is stuck on.
Stage, transition, task
Three words worth telling apart.
- A stage is the place a matter currently sits at, for example To approve.
- A transition is the move onward, started with a button, for example Approve.
- A task is work to be done when a matter waits at a stage assigned to the user.
A matter entering a stage creates a task. Performing a transition closes it and moves the matter on.
Example. A leave request starts at the Submitted stage, moves to To approve, where a task waits for the supervisor, and after approval lands at the Approved stage. At each of these stages it is clear whose turn it is now.
Variation of permissions
At a stage it is set who may change a matter and who may push it on. That is why you sometimes see a matter but have no transition button: it means the move belongs to someone else, for example the approver.
It also happens that the button is there but cannot be used. The system then shows the reason, for example a missing required field. This is not a fault, but a condition that must be met first.
The final stage
A process has one or several final stages, for example Completed and Rejected. Entering such a stage ends the matter: there is no further step and no new task arises. This is an intended close of the course, not the matter disappearing.
Contents of the side panel
A matter run by a process shows the current stage and the buttons for available transitions in the General tab of the side panel. The course history is there too: who performed which transition and when. Thanks to this, the matter's course can be reconstructed without asking anyone.
Settings form
Formularz ustawień to pojedynczy rekord bez listy. Trzyma parametry jednego obszaru, na przykład dane do dokumentów albo domyślne wartości procesu.
Starting a process
Jak rozpocząć sprawę prowadzoną procesem, co dzieje się w chwili startu i dlaczego czasem trzeba wskazać osobę, do której trafi pierwsze zadanie.