Hey Laura,

This is a textbook example of a process that can really be taken to the next level using Laserfiche Forms.  If you can capture all the data entered on the backflow report and send it to Laserfiche, you can easily monitor whether the reports contain valid and adequate information without any oversight.  You can notify the form submitter when data is missing and prevent them from submitting until the required data has been entered.  You can also flag the report or notify appropriate parties when a value falls outside of the acceptable range of values for that field.

Using the methods that I described above, this should hypothetically remove the need for a holding queue, but there are workflow strategies that can be used to account for situations where a holding queue is absolutely necessary.  From a foundational perspective, you would essentially have Workflow reading a status metadata field that has 4 dropdown values available: pending (set by default), accepted, denied, or holding.  Workflow can recognize that the field was changed upon the first review and move the document to the appropriate queue.  Once the holding value is changed to approved or denied, the document will route into the appropriate folder from there.

Let me know if you have any questions about this and I'd be happy to explain in more detail!

This particular process is a bit of a "specialty process" since most organizations do not have processes established for backflow reports, but the information included in the presentation would still be helpful for a large portion of Forms to Workflow processes.  I'll definitely keep this process in mind when choosing on the final decision.

Thanks for sharing!

Hi Rob, here is my response.  Sorry for the delay in getting this to you, our offices were closed and just reopened today.

The following steps occur during the initial leave process.  Of course there are multiple or/if scenarios that can happen with each step…

1. Need for leave of absence is determined
2. Employee sent Leave of Absence Request form and letter
3. Employee sent Dr.’s Certification form
4. Employee completes and returns appropriate forms
5. Leave of Absence approved and employee notified per policies and procedures
6. Leave of Absence denied and employee notified per policies and procedures
7. Employee meets with Human Resources and Payroll staff to discuss time off options, available leave balances and potential payments employee could receive from disability, etc.
8. If Employee approved for intermittent leave they must completed FMLA tracking form to submit each payroll period
9. Employee leave ends and employee submits signed Dr.’s release

Employee medical information (Dr’s certification) is protected under HIPAA regulations and so must also be separate from any other leave forms.  I don’t see a way to cut down on forms at this point; however, am always open to suggestions on how to improve and streamline the process.

The leave must be approved by the employee’s Manager, the Deputy Director for each area, and the Executive Director of the Agency.

I envision the leave of absence form starting with the employee completing it and then it goes to Human Resources to approve and then to Manager, DD and then ED.  I see it being a standard form available through a web portal on the Company Intranet and then once the employee has completed it, it flows into the Human Resources folder for action to occur.

it is obvious that when describing processes, you need to strive for simplicity and clarity for employees.

The use of complex, formalized notations when describing processes leads to:

Difficulties in using (interpreting) schemes by ordinary employees;
Impossibility (complexity) of organizing work on describing processes by forces of employees of departments that have not undergone special training;
A significant increase in the labor costs of business analysts for the formation of schemes;
What I think is very important is including software for document workflows cause my partner missed this point in his first business and caught lot of troubles.
Additional difficulties in documenting schemes (large volume, etc.).
Therefore, do not clutter the process diagram with various graphic elements. But if you use them, then it is better that they carry useful information for employees, and not simply be a consequence of the formal application of modeling notations.