Workflow Automation Software

Millennia Group Blog

Given the stats, consistency rules

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Report of Tenure in 2022, the average tenure of all workers is 4 years.  That number goes down to an average of 3 years for 25-34 year olds.  If average tenure is 4 years, then a company of 200 has 50 employees turning over each year.  Since your corporate human assets are replaced every 4 years, it makes sense why successful companies use process and process documentation where-ever possible.  Otherwise, 1 in 4 employees could be making questionable decisions based on whatever limited information and spotty business records that they found.

However, a business process doesn’t provide new employees with answers, it provides the path to find the answers.  But what if the process is only loosely followed.  Guess what, the process fails…

Endnote, what’s that?

Created by Millennia Group with Adobe Acrobat Comment Tools

The internet is amazing and it seems will shortly be even more amazing when Bing and Google fully deploy their AI powered search engines.  Finding information quickly is already simple and fast, especially if you have a pretty good idea of what it is you are looking for.  When AI enters the picture, the picture literally could be significantly better.

Simple and fast search is great.  But the degree of trust in the search result is based on the effort you make to get comfortable with the answer.  A few clicks to alternative information maybe or just some level of trust in the source website.  As the level of sophistication and depth of the questions…

Match made in heaven

Via Flickr - Yrjo Jyske - young couple

When two people seem very happy together, it’s “a match made in heaven.”  When something just works exactly as you expect it to, you will hear someone say “bingo” or “the stars aligned.”  More recent versions of this would include “life is good.”  They are all just sayings that express the fact that something went right.

We won’t provide examples of common sayings when things go wrong.  That could be humorous, or it might offend some people.  Your employees should have “life is good” moments daily to the point where its just the way it is.  They should quickly find a document that someone requested at the very end of the day.  They should pull a collection of documents together that support an important…

You need a smaller house

Via Flickr - Nicolas Boullosa

Has anyone experienced the dad who angrily says ‘where’s my screwdriver’, because it wasn’t put back where he thought it should be.  Are some of your family members more organized than others?  Is one more detail oriented or creative or devil-may-care?  Maybe if your house was a lot smaller, say one room, you wouldn’t have this problem.

Ok, blow that up by 1,000 work associates and think about your critical information.  You can’t make that “house” smaller.  No HR department can choose work associates who all think and work alike.  And you can’t effectively force a single method.  What can be done to give users a reasonable chance to avoid wasting time looking for that screwdriver?  Or more importantly, avoid a negative compliance or…

A record of the truth

What’s the core record for your business?  The order, contract, application, evaluation, presentation and subscription all come to mind.  It doesn’t matter if your business sells cars, office space, ideas or medical services, there is a necessary recording of the transaction and end product to the transaction. 

The progression over the past 30+ years has been to devise ways to make the recording, tracking and documentation of your business as streamlined as possible.  That entailed digitizing that path.  But digital data isn’t always what it seems and therefore the support for the transaction is still a key component of every business.  What is your key Record?

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Go old school in 2020

Way back in the 1970’s, according to Wikipedia, the information age began.  This was a period after the industrial revolution where computers started to be part of the daily business landscape.  Vast amounts of “information” were now created, stored and transmitted by these computers.  A good long run considering it is still going on.

Along comes a time, not exactly sure when, where the computer revolution became all about “data” and “tech”.   These are fine things, but what are they?  Data is data until someone turns it into information that is useful.  Tech is certainly cool on my wrist, but isn’t it being informed of an upcoming meeting the important part?  We’re still in the information age, but why doesn’t it feel like it?

First off, its not very sexy to sell information tools.  Take document management for an example.  Document management is there to make sure users get the information…

Open for Business

Via Flickr - Brian HawkinsAs a provider of a workflow and document management system we hear first-hand the number of applications that companies use to support their business.  There is always a discussion of how data and documents are being captured, created, shared and the flow within the organization.  We have never interacted with a customer or prospect that is on a single solution for all business functions.  Like Sasquatch, the killer app doesn’t really exist.

The reality is that many different applications are used throughout the organization.  Departments tend to fight hard to get the application most suited to their needs so they can carry out their mandates with effectiveness and efficiency.  That leaves the IT department scrambling to ensure that each department’s key solution can interact with all…

The pendulum is back in the middle

Via flickr - Rob Young

Ten to 15 years ago, the document management world started to feel an itch.  The major DM players couldn’t quite figure out where it was coming from at the time.  But then corporate users started to talk about how they were just dropping files into this online folder system and how easy it was.  Box, DropBox, ShareFile and others have since created very successful businesses with simple online storage.

The expectation for how a document management system should work took on a whole new meaning from the perspective of the users.  This is true not only of document management but of most corporate software platforms.  This great new experience arrives and the expectation pendulum swings way over to one side.  Then reality starts to set in.

Unfortunately, this ease of use perspective didn’t exactly fit the overall…

Piece of Cake

via Flickr - Shyn Darkly

Not many companies have the resources to operate on a global basis.  It can take a large team of lawyers, experienced financial professionals and local facilities or representatives.  To go global for a product or service also requires understanding the local custom so you don’t accidently insult the community.

Operating a business, locally or globally, will involve customer contracts, vendor contracts, financial reports, etc.  The business processes and document content might be vastly different from Bavaria to Bali and Caracas to Quebec.  However, we see four key characteristics of document management on a global basis and if you focus on getting these four correct, it will be a piece of cake.

The four universal document management requirements are:  The files must be organized in a logical way, the files must…

Tag and push is not a playground game

via Flickr - Mineola MinnesotaCompanies, large and small, have procedures or rules that employees are supposed to follow to complete certain tasks.  Each company determines the most efficient methods or methods that meet regulatory or compliance requirements.  These rules can be written in a manual, part of a checklist or built into software applications.

Rules incorporated into the code of software applications are relatively easy to build and highly effective.  One of the most difficult procedures to successfully implement, however, is document archiving.  When is a document the final final version and where should it be archived?  Making this decision and process easy should be every companies goal, but where to begin?

The first step is to make sure you simplify and standardize the archive hierarchy.  Consolidate the silos of documents into one, organized repository.  This should be separate and…