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1．Issue: Delays at parallel review steps

Ashi-Ashi Works is a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company. The company has implemented a business process management system and is operating a workflow system for approval requests.

As an improvement to the Approval Application workflow, a greater degree of efficiency was achieved by making it possible to simultaneously process the Comments step, in which the accounting manager, general manager, and executive vice president write their comments after approval by the applicant and supervisor, thereby reducing the time it took to reach the president’s decision in the final step.

However, recently, due to busy schedules or forgetting to process a transaction, the input of either the accounting manager, the general manager, or the executive vice president may be delayed. The advantage of parallelization is that multiple steps can proceed simultaneously, but the process will not proceed to the president’s decision step until all three have been dealt with. Therefore, the lead time target of three business days or fewer is exceeded in an increasing number of cases.

2．Solution: Set a deadline for the comments step

The president of the company, who is the final decision maker, instructed the process owner that the task of entering comments and findings is not an act of approval or rejection, but rather about entering opinions and advice, and if not processed within one business day, it can be considered that there are no findings.

The process owner reorganizes the flow so that a deadline is automatically set for the comment input task and the task moves to the next step after one business day has passed.

Additionally, if the deadline has passed, the data item for entering findings will automatically be filled in with “No findings (expired)”.

Before

View workflow diagram details

• 1. Application
• 2-1. First approval
  • The supervisor fills in the required information and submits the application.
• 3-a. Comments (General Affairs)
  • The General Affairs Manager will enter their comments.
• 3-b. Comments (Accounting)
  • The Accounting Manager enters their comments.
• 3-c. Comments (Executive Vice President)
  • The Executive Vice President enters their comments.
• 4. Approval
  • The President makes the decision.

After

View workflow diagram details

• 1. Application
• 2-1. First approval
  • The supervisor fills in the required information and submits the application.
• 3-a. Comments (General Affairs)
  • The General Affairs Manager will enter their comments.
  • After 24 hours, the item will automatically move to the next step as it has expired
• 3-b. Comments (Accounting)
  • TheAccounting Manager will enter their comments.
  • After 24 hours, the item will automatically move to the next step as it has expired
• 3-c. Comments (Executive Vice President) *Only for amounts under 1 million yen
  • The Executive Vice President enters their comments.
  • After 24 hours, the item will automatically move to the next step as it has expired
• 4. Approval
  • The President makes the decision.

Compare Before/After

3．Effects

How can we resolve the matchmaking issues that arise when multiple approvers are involved in a workflow?

1. Issue: Stagnation in the approval process

2. Solution: Automatic payment over time

Before

• 1. Proposal: The applicant starts the Workflow App, enters each item in the application, and clicks the [Submit a request] button. If advice is required, the applicant selects an advisor and clicks the [Ask advisor for advice] button.
• 2. Approve: The department manager of the applicant’s department decides whether or not to approve the request. To approve the request, click the [Approve] button. To reject the request, click the [Return] button.
• Notification of approval: The applicant will be notified by email that the application has been approved.
• 2b. Approve by proxy: The deputy manager of the applicant’s department decides whether or not to approve the request. To approve the request, click the [Approve by proxy] button. To reject the request, click the [Return by proxy] button.
• Notification of proxy approval: The applicant will be notified by email that the request has been approved by proxy.

After

• 1. Proposal: The applicant starts the Workflow App, enters each item in the application, and clicks the [Submit a request] button. If advice is required, the applicant selects an advisor and clicks the [Ask advisor for advice] button.
• 2. Approve: The department manager of the applicant’s department decides whether or not to approve the request. To approve the request, click the [Approve] button. To reject the request, click the [Return] button. If no decision is made within 24 hours, the event will be automatically and forcibly sent to the approval notification event. [Timer boundary event]
• Notification of approval: The applicant will be notified by email that the application has been approved.
• 2b. Approve by proxy: The deputy manager of the applicant’s department decides whether or not to approve the request. To approve the request, click the [Approve by proxy] button. To reject the request, click the [Return by proxy] button.
• Notification of proxy approval: The applicant will be notified by email that the request has been approved by proxy.

3. Effects

• Reduce time taken for approval:
  • Time saving: Business delays (approval processes that took several days or more than a week) no longer occurred.
  • There are no more missed decisions even when the manager is absent or on holidays.
• Streamline decision-making:
  • The pressure to make decisions within a limited time frame of 24 hours forced all parties involved to make decisions quickly and logically.
  • Decision-making across the organization has been streamlined due to a reduction in ambiguous proposals requiring approval.
• Delegating approval authority:
  • Deputy managers also began to proactively make decisions, and the number of proxy decisions increased.
  • The burden on managers has been reduced.
  • The assistant manager had the opportunity to hone their leadership skills.
• Increased employee engagement:
  • The faster decision-making process has enabled employees to act more quickly, which has also increased their enthusiasm and motivation for their work.
  • Employees also became less dependent on their superiors and began to take a more proactive approach to their work.
• Revitalizing internal communication:
  • The need to make decisions within a limited 24-hour time frame stimulated communication between the parties involved.
  • This led to more active discussion and information sharing, which in turn led to better decision-making.
• Raising compliance awareness:
  • Setting clear approval rules and deadlines also led to improved awareness of compliance.
  • This has enabled them to prevent fraudulent and non-transparent transactions and increase their credibility as a company.
• Strengthening risk management:
  • Rapid decision making allows for rapid risk response.
  • They were able to quickly respond to changes in the business environment and increase the stability of their business.

4. Other Business Applications

The timeout setting can be applied to various tasks other than approval requests.

• Expenses calculation:
  • Set up a rule that when an expense claim is submitted, the manager must approve or reject it within 24 hours.
  • If no decision is made within 24 hours, the application will be automatically considered approved.
• Customer response:
  • Set up rules to ensure that a representative responds to customer inquiries within 24 hours.
  • If the issue is not addressed within 24 hours, a system will be put in place that will automatically escalate the issue and have a responsible person handle the issue.
• Recruitment activities:
  • The human resources staff establishes a two-week deadline to screen applicant documents after submission.
  • The application will be automatically rejected if the document screening process exceeds two weeks.
• Vacation requests:
  • The request will be automatically approved if HR fails to approve it within a designated timeframe.