Introducing Workflow
All bluster and pontificating aside, Workflow truly is the single most exciting new feature in Office 2007. It is, perhaps, not as immediately noticeable as the changes to the client interface, but it is going to have the most impact on business productivity.
You would think, perhaps, that Workflow is new technology Microsoft has developed to fill what had been a huge hole in the Office system. In reality, though, Workflow is as old as the hills. It existed before computers were invented and will exist after your souped-up gaming rig has been replaced with something that makes the HAL 9000 look like the ENIAC.
Before computers, workflows were handled manually, usually by a secretary or low-level manager. For example, back in the dark ages (i.e., when I was in college in the ’80s) the secretary of the MIS department for the college played the role of what we now call the workflow engine. She would take in documents and manually deliver paper copies to professors or computer operators for review or approval. She had a separate calendar on her desk where she would write herself reminders to follow up on documents and remind people to review them in a few days. To remind people, she would walk to their office and talk to them, talk to them in the hallway, or place a note (an actual physical piece of paper—gasp!) in their mailbox. For what we now call long-running workflows, she had a tickler file—a collection of file folders in a filing cabinet into which she would place copies of documents that she needed to do something with at some point in the future. Every Monday morning she would check the tickler file for the current month to see if there was anything she needed to act on. If there were, she would pull out the paper copy and route it or act on it appropriately. The system worked great—with only the occasional hiccup when she was out sick—until she and her husband moved out of state. Suddenly, the entire department fell apart for a few weeks while the new secretary got up to speed on the system. Documents didn’t get circulated, people felt out of touch, and work fell through the cracks. It was really ugly for about a month. Then the new secretary had a handle on everything; she had learned the process and caught up on everything that had fallen behind. All was right again with the world.
A computer’s role in workflow is merely to automate that manual process. Like most other computerized processes, the computer isn’t doing anything that couldn’t be done by a human being, as you saw earlier. It is just doing it more quickly, efficiently, and without cigarette breaks. You also don’t have to worry about the computer moving out of state. However, in a sense, something is missing from computerized workflows—human intelligence and adaptability.
You would think, perhaps, that Workflow is new technology Microsoft has developed to fill what had been a huge hole in the Office system. In reality, though, Workflow is as old as the hills. It existed before computers were invented and will exist after your souped-up gaming rig has been replaced with something that makes the HAL 9000 look like the ENIAC.
Before computers, workflows were handled manually, usually by a secretary or low-level manager. For example, back in the dark ages (i.e., when I was in college in the ’80s) the secretary of the MIS department for the college played the role of what we now call the workflow engine. She would take in documents and manually deliver paper copies to professors or computer operators for review or approval. She had a separate calendar on her desk where she would write herself reminders to follow up on documents and remind people to review them in a few days. To remind people, she would walk to their office and talk to them, talk to them in the hallway, or place a note (an actual physical piece of paper—gasp!) in their mailbox. For what we now call long-running workflows, she had a tickler file—a collection of file folders in a filing cabinet into which she would place copies of documents that she needed to do something with at some point in the future. Every Monday morning she would check the tickler file for the current month to see if there was anything she needed to act on. If there were, she would pull out the paper copy and route it or act on it appropriately. The system worked great—with only the occasional hiccup when she was out sick—until she and her husband moved out of state. Suddenly, the entire department fell apart for a few weeks while the new secretary got up to speed on the system. Documents didn’t get circulated, people felt out of touch, and work fell through the cracks. It was really ugly for about a month. Then the new secretary had a handle on everything; she had learned the process and caught up on everything that had fallen behind. All was right again with the world.
A computer’s role in workflow is merely to automate that manual process. Like most other computerized processes, the computer isn’t doing anything that couldn’t be done by a human being, as you saw earlier. It is just doing it more quickly, efficiently, and without cigarette breaks. You also don’t have to worry about the computer moving out of state. However, in a sense, something is missing from computerized workflows—human intelligence and adaptability.
Download This Book To Continue
Download
http://tinyurl.com/64j683
or
http://rapidshare.com/files/137894880/Apress.Workflow.in.the.2007.Microsoft.Office.System.Feb.2007.pdf
All bluster and pontificating aside, Workflow truly is the single most exciting new feature in Office 2007. It is, perhaps, not as immediately noticeable as the changes to the client interface, but it is going to have the most impact on business productivity.
You would think, perhaps, that Workflow is new technology Microsoft has developed to fill what had been a huge hole in the Office system. In reality, though, Workflow is as old as the hills. It existed before computers were invented and will exist after your souped-up gaming rig has been replaced with something that makes the HAL 9000 look like the ENIAC.
Before computers, workflows were handled manually, usually by a secretary or low-level manager. For example, back in the dark ages (i.e., when I was in college in the ’80s) the secretary of the MIS department for the college played the role of what we now call the workflow engine. She would take in documents and manually deliver paper copies to professors or computer operators for review or approval. She had a separate calendar on her desk where she would write herself reminders to follow up on documents and remind people to review them in a few days. To remind people, she would walk to their office and talk to them, talk to them in the hallway, or place a note (an actual physical piece of paper—gasp!) in their mailbox. For what we now call long-running workflows, she had a tickler file—a collection of file folders in a filing cabinet into which she would place copies of documents that she needed to do something with at some point in the future. Every Monday morning she would check the tickler file for the current month to see if there was anything she needed to act on. If there were, she would pull out the paper copy and route it or act on it appropriately. The system worked great—with only the occasional hiccup when she was out sick—until she and her husband moved out of state. Suddenly, the entire department fell apart for a few weeks while the new secretary got up to speed on the system. Documents didn’t get circulated, people felt out of touch, and work fell through the cracks. It was really ugly for about a month. Then the new secretary had a handle on everything; she had learned the process and caught up on everything that had fallen behind. All was right again with the world.
A computer’s role in workflow is merely to automate that manual process. Like most other computerized processes, the computer isn’t doing anything that couldn’t be done by a human being, as you saw earlier. It is just doing it more quickly, efficiently, and without cigarette breaks. You also don’t have to worry about the computer moving out of state. However, in a sense, something is missing from computerized workflows—human intelligence and adaptability.
You would think, perhaps, that Workflow is new technology Microsoft has developed to fill what had been a huge hole in the Office system. In reality, though, Workflow is as old as the hills. It existed before computers were invented and will exist after your souped-up gaming rig has been replaced with something that makes the HAL 9000 look like the ENIAC.
Before computers, workflows were handled manually, usually by a secretary or low-level manager. For example, back in the dark ages (i.e., when I was in college in the ’80s) the secretary of the MIS department for the college played the role of what we now call the workflow engine. She would take in documents and manually deliver paper copies to professors or computer operators for review or approval. She had a separate calendar on her desk where she would write herself reminders to follow up on documents and remind people to review them in a few days. To remind people, she would walk to their office and talk to them, talk to them in the hallway, or place a note (an actual physical piece of paper—gasp!) in their mailbox. For what we now call long-running workflows, she had a tickler file—a collection of file folders in a filing cabinet into which she would place copies of documents that she needed to do something with at some point in the future. Every Monday morning she would check the tickler file for the current month to see if there was anything she needed to act on. If there were, she would pull out the paper copy and route it or act on it appropriately. The system worked great—with only the occasional hiccup when she was out sick—until she and her husband moved out of state. Suddenly, the entire department fell apart for a few weeks while the new secretary got up to speed on the system. Documents didn’t get circulated, people felt out of touch, and work fell through the cracks. It was really ugly for about a month. Then the new secretary had a handle on everything; she had learned the process and caught up on everything that had fallen behind. All was right again with the world.
A computer’s role in workflow is merely to automate that manual process. Like most other computerized processes, the computer isn’t doing anything that couldn’t be done by a human being, as you saw earlier. It is just doing it more quickly, efficiently, and without cigarette breaks. You also don’t have to worry about the computer moving out of state. However, in a sense, something is missing from computerized workflows—human intelligence and adaptability.
Download This Book To Continue
Download
http://tinyurl.com/64j683
or
http://rapidshare.com/files/137894880/Apress.Workflow.in.the.2007.Microsoft.Office.System.Feb.2007.pdf
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