Creating a Seminar Reception System with No Code Part 1

Hello there!

In this article, we will introduce how to build a seminar reception system with no code in three parts. The development platform to be used is Questetra BPM Suite, which allows system development through drawing workflow diagrams.

The seminar reception system to be developed aims to enable the following:

• Those who wish to participate can apply through the seminar application form.
• An application receipt email is automatically sent to the applicant.
• A reminder email will be sent to the applicant when the seminar date approaches.
• After the seminar, an email will be sent to the participants asking them to answer a questionnaire.

We will show you how to build a system with these features in the next three articles.

• Episode 1 (this article)
  • Creating a System that Sends a Reception Email to Seminar Applicants.
• Episode 2
  • Add a function that sends a reminder email from the system created in Episode 1.
• Episode 3
  • Add a function to send a survey request email from the system created in Episode 2.

At the beginning of the first episode the system is very simple, but by the end of the third episode a feature-rich seminar reception system will be completed.

So let’s create a seminar registration system right away.

Organize Seminar Reception Process and Data Items.

Whether you make it with code or not, the first step in creating a system is to sort out what kind of processing will be done in the system you are going to create. This is done from two perspectives: the Data Item perspective and the processing flow perspective.

As mentioned above, in this episode will create a system where a reception email is sent to seminar applicants. There are many possible processing flows, but in this article we will consider the following flow.

1. Accept applications for seminar participation.
2. A member of the seminar team will review the information received and accept the application if it is not inappropriate (competition, anti-social forces, etc.).
3. An acceptance email will be sent to the applicant.

It’s very simple. The next step is to organize the Data Items to be handled. We will organize the Data Items that prospective seminar participants need to enter (e.g. names) and the memos that seminar team members can enter at the registration desk. In this article, we will consider the following Data Items.

1. (Applicant) Name
2. (Applicant) Company name/affiliation
3. (Applicant) Email address
4. (Applicant) Phone number
5. (Applicant) Questions
6. (Seminar team member) Internal communication memo

The part in parentheses indicates who is entering the Data Item.

Building a Seminar Reception System with No Code

Application for Questetra BPM Suite Free Version

In this article we will use Questetra BPM Suite, a platform for building systems through drawing workflow diagrams. If you would like to try building a seminar reception system as described in the article, please apply for the 60-day free Trial. You only need your email address to apply.

Click here to apply for a Questetra BPM Suite Free Trial. (Note! Please apply for either Professional or Advanced.)

The seminar reception system to be built in this article can be easily run on the Questetra BPM Suite environment you are using. All you have to do is to download the files related to the seminar reception system from this page and import them into Questetra BPM Suite.

If you want to see how it works right away, please consider using this service.

セミナー申込受付 1

Drawing a Workflow Diagram and Adding Data Items

Log in to Questetra BPM Suite as a user with App Administrator Authorization and proceed with system development using the App Setting function.

The workflow diagram is drawn as per the flow organized in Seminar Reception Process and Data Items.

1. The “Seminar Application Form” item at the top of the workflow diagram is used to accept applications for seminar participation.
2. The blue item “Application Confirmation” is where the seminar team members confirm the application and decide whether to accept it or not.
3. The next round item after the blue item, “Send Acceptance Email” will automatically send an acceptance email.

Continue to add the Data Items that you have organized. We decide the type of each Data Item and add it with its name. The internal communication memo entered by the seminar team members has a special Data type called “Discussion-type”, but all the other Data types are String-type. All fields entered by the applicant are mandatory except for “Questions, etc.”.

Setting Up the Application Form

The item Seminar Application Form at the top of the workflow diagram is indicated by the word FORM in the lower right corner, indicating that it is a web form that will be published on the Internet.

A web form that is displayed according to the settings of this item (called a [Message Start Event (FORM)]) is published, for example, as a contact form or a seminar reception form. When data is entered in the form the process is triggered or an email is sent according to the flow defined in the workflow diagram.

In the application form, set the added Data Items such as “name” and “company name/affiliation” so that the applicant can enter them.

Setting Up a Reception Email

In the workflow diagram the round item “Send Reception Email” will automatically send an email according to the settings. You can set the email to be automatically filled with the value entered in the Data Items, for example, Name, Company name/Affiliation.

By setting up the system as shown in this image, an email with the application details will be automatically sent to the applicant.

Setting Up the Application Confirmation Task for human processing

The blue item in the workflow diagram “Confirmation of Application Details” is a Task that is handled by a member of the seminar team. On the screen where this Task is handled two buttons are displayed, and which button is clicked determines whether the acceptance email is sent or not.

A member of the seminar team will check the application and if they determine that the application is inappropriate, for example, if it is from a competitor, they will not accept the application and will click the close button. In this case, no acceptance email will be sent according to the workflow diagram.

If there are no problems with the application and you click the “Accepted” button, an acceptance email will be automatically sent.

Release of the Constructed System

Once you have completed all the settings you will need to do a release. This will make the seminar application form available to the public and you can start accepting applications.

The URL of the seminar application form can be confirmed by opening the Seminar Application Form Properties screen and clicking on the Form URL. You can use the URL obtained here to create a link to the seminar announcement page to guide people to apply for the seminar.

Responding to Applications

When an application is submitted through the public application form, the seminar team members can check the contents of the application. You can also view the number of applications that are still pending in the Confirmation of Application Details Step in the workflow diagram.

These data can be exported in CSV or Google Spreadsheet format which can be used to create participant lists.

Summary

In this episode we built a seminar registration system with the function of automatically sending a receipt email to accept seminar applications. As you can see, we showed how it can be built with just configurations and without any coding.

However, registration alone isn’t interesting is it?

In the second episode we will add a feature that automatically sends a reminder email a few days before the seminar.

As mentioned above, the seminar registration system introduced here is available as a file that can be imported into the Questetra BPM Suite environment you are using. If you would like to try it right away by changing the existing settings, please visit the following page and download “workshop-reception-1-20210908.qar” in the Download section.

Seminar Registration 1

That’s all for now!