Workflow benefits

The benefits of using the Optiva Workflow module are described here.

Automate a process

Workflows replicate business processes. They can operate with or without user intervention. Using Optiva Workflow, you can automate these processes:

  • Approving formulas
  • Administering test results
  • Packaging a product
  • Exporting data
  • Checking items against a restricted items list
  • Updating formula information

Improve communication among groups

Optiva serves as a centralized register of the progress of a workflow. Optiva notifies users when to accomplish tasks, processes the responses, or transfers tasks if necessary. You do not have to track down the lab manager and technical director.

When you start an Optiva Workflow, the application automatically contacts the appropriate users.

Track progress

All workflows are maintained in the Optiva database. View the progress of a workflow to see who accomplished which tasks and when.

Repeat a routine process

An action set is created once and reused many times. The tasks are established generically in the action set and are automatically customized each time a workflow is launched. Many companies find that within their organization there are processes that are similarly repeated among groups. Now one action set can be written to govern that process for the entire company.

You can launch workflows for multiple Optiva objects concurrently. For example, launch a workflow to approve five formulas using the same workflow steps simultaneously. Or a single workflow can change the same attribute, such as status, in multiple objects.

Decrease the cycle time of a process

Automation of a process and increased communication among groups yields efficiency. Process cycles occur faster; more work is accomplished in less time.

Workflow and security

Workflow has the ability to update objects that the user normally does not have access to. For example, a workflow script can change a locked formula's status to obsolete after a new formulation is approved. It is the Workflow author's responsibility to code the script such that it preserves security where appropriate.