Business process and workflow solutions consolidate one or more business processes, use workflow management or allow the consistent definition and application of rules to make transactions user-centric from beginning to end. They support commonly used functionality needed by government to manage internal and external process and rules management with stakeholders.
When implemented well, they can increase productivity, efficiency, accuracy, visibility, and reporting. Poor implementation can result in cost and process inefficiencies, duplication of effort, and user dissatisfaction.
Agency function, such as policy, service delivery, legislative, or regulatory focuses, can be of value in identifying potential options for applications of this capacity and standard to meet AGA policy objectives, although overarching capability may not necessarily align to the practical requirements of specific business process and workflow solutions.
Develop a comprehensive understanding of specific workflow needs
Agencies should:
- analyse current business and workflow processes and decision-making gates before commencing a detailed solution investigation
- conduct thorough business analysis, process mapping and assurance testing with business owners.
- incorporate the output from these mapping activities as key business requirements for the proposed platform.
Check for existing re-useable business process and workflow designs before engaging in new development processes
Many digital business process and workflow solutions and platforms exist across government which may be suitable for reuse. These include the development of new instances of existing cloud implementations or the leveraging of existing designs, either entirely or via utilisation of a component or components.
Agencies should:
- discover these designs through the AGA, through direct contact with agencies with comparable use cases, via existing whole-of-Government (WofG) arrangements, or by way of inter-government Memorandums of Understanding (MoU).
Build for reuse
Agencies should:
- provide evidence of the systems investigated when reuse is not feasible, and demonstrate how any new investment can be reused
- implement a business process and workflow system that meets current and future needs and standards. This system should reduce risk, increase efficiency, and support modular and scalable architecture, allowing for future extension and integration into other agency structures
- emphasise interoperability and standardisation in technologies and data formats to ensure adaptability across different agencies
- build user-friendly interfaces and maintain comprehensive documentation to ease implementation and use. This promotes consistency and streamlines processes across entities.
Lower development and maintenance complexity of business process and workflow solutions
Business process and workflow solutions can often be implemented through low-code/no-code platform solutions. These solutions use human-centred functionality to rapidly define, test, integrate, and present complex processes and rulesets in a modular and repeatable manner, with minimal use of programming languages. Contemporary business process and workflow solutions adopting low-code/no-code solutions can benefit from the removal of layers between an analyst’s expertise and the solution.
Agencies should:
- facilitate direct engagement between the analyst and the platform. This can help break down a complex business process or manage the role of a stakeholder within a workflow, and assist with reducing development time and establishing a better-understood, more refined process
- ensure that their selected solution is supportable, affordable, secure, and fit-for-purpose, and consider suitability of low-code/no-code solutions prior to development or adoption of a platform. This includes checking the contractual arrangements, MoU currency, and AGA design state.