Getting Started - Suggestions for Creating a Project Template

There is not necessarily one and only one template design that fits a specific workflow process. However, depending upon the structure of your company, one method may prove more efficient or more logical than another.

Access to the template creation functionality of WorkflowManager is determined by the permissions that have been established for you. Contact the primary administrator of your account or your department manager if you have questions about your level of permissions.

We suggest you consider the following items when designing templates for your workforce.

• Identify the workflow process and define any office protocol or rules that govern the process.
• Identify the department or office-wide group (and subunits), or the individual(s) that will use the workflow process template.
• Identify if this workflow process interacts with another workflow process. If so, is it directly related to but subsequent to another process or directly related but initiates another workflow process?
• Identify any forms (HTML forms, documents, spreadsheets etc.) that will be part of the workflow process. These will become related items/forms.
• Identify any contacts that may be part of the workflow process template. For example a preparer, a reviewer, or a coordinator. These will become related items/contacts.
• Identify any external software applications that will be used in the workflow process and determine if your template will automatically launch the applications.
• Determine if the workflow process occurs intermittently or on a regular and repeating basis.
• Break the workflow process into tasks (steps) and consider the necessary skill level of the individuals performing the tasks.
• Determine the logical sequence of the tasks and if any task dependencies exist. If a previous task must be completed before work can be started on another task a dependency exists in the workflow process.
• Determine the group(s) or individual(s) to whom the tasks will be assigned.
• Determine the estimated time for completion of the tasks and the priority level of the tasks.
• Determine if the tasks should have any timed actions specific to PortalsXpress associated with them. For example, send e-mail messages, send reminder notifications, start projects or sub-projects, automatically transfer tasks, etc.