The purpose of this survey is to provide a quick first cut of information regarding how institutions have applied enterprise workflow.
- The best person to respond depends on the institution; it could be an architect, CIO, or director for administrative computing. Multiple responses from the same institution are ok, we can merge the data.
- We would like to try the survey on a focus group of about six institutions to find out if the questions "work".
- We will make available a PDF of the survey so recipients can decide if they are the right peson to answer the survey, or redirect it.
For purposes of this survey, we define workflow as a sequence of steps carried out by different actors as part of a business process. A workflow solution uses software to notify participants, authorize and record decisions, and route information.
The following questions are proposed:
- About you:
- Your institution
- Your role at your institution
- Workflow can be implemented in a variety of ways. Does your institution use (check all that apply):
- Internal workflow: A workflow solution provided inside an existing application. For example: Hiring workflow built into your HR system.
- Workflow as a service: A general purpose workflow solution designed to support many business processes. For example: A general purpose document routing and approval tool.
- A workflow dashboard that summarizes a user's workflows in different systems. For example: A web portal that collects the user's "to do" items across different systems.
- A general purpose workflow solution that also integrates with other systems. For example: A workflow solution that can read from or update a core business system as part of a workflow step.
- Please indicate if your institution uses workflow in the following areas.
Note: This question will be in the form of a grid -- see example at the end of this page. For each item the user may select: manual process; internal workflow; workflow as a service; or don't know.
- Human Resources
- Onboarding of new hires
- Leave requests, timesheets
- Off-boarding employees
- Retirement processing
- Wage and compensation
- other...
- Financial Services
- Purchase requests
- Reimbursements
- Travel expense approval
- other...
- Research Administration
- Grant submission
- IRB administration
- other...
- Student Systems
- Admissions
- Course catalog
- Scheduling
- Grading
- other...
- Course Management
- Tests, assignments
- eReserves
- Grading
- other...
- Access Management
- ERPs
- Secondary administrative systems
- Collaboration services
- other...
- Academic Administration
- Tenure and promotion
- Effort reporting
- Portfolio management
- other...
- Facilities Management
- Maintenance
- Construction and renovation
- HVAC
- Space planning
- other...
- Content Management
- Web publishing
- other...
- Please list any other important current uses of workflow not captured in the previous question:
- (free text)
- Do you have future plans for use of workflow that you would like to share?
- (free text)
- Please name any specific workflow tools/products you are using:
- (free text)
- Were your workflows developed by (check all that apply):
- Business users (with appropriate training)
- IT staff
- External resources
- Do you consider your institution's uses of workflow:
- Not as beneficial as expected
- Provided the expected benefits
- Provided even greater benefits than expected
- It's a mixed bag
- May we contact you for further conversation about your institution's uses of workflow? If yes, please provide:
- Your name
- Your email address
Format of question 4:
Area |
Use |
Manual
process |
Internal
workflow |
Workflow
as a service |
Don't
know |
Human Resources |
Onboarding new hires |
|
|
|
|
|
Leave requests, timesheets |
|
|
|
|
|
Off-boarding employees |
|
|
|
|
|
Retirement processing |
|
|
|
|
|
Wage and compensation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial Services |
Purchase requests |
|
|
|
|
|
Reimbursements |
|
|
|
|
|
Travel expense approval |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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