Charts of Downtime, Response Time, for each Tenant
Kyoto, Japan – July 6th, 2015 – Questetra, Inc., the global SaaS provider of Business Process Management (BPM), today announced that they have published the new version 10.3 of the cloud-based Workflow product “Questetra BPM Suite” on July 6th, 2015.
In this new version, System monitoring function for each user company has been added. Thereby each company will be able to confirm that their workflow platform is running normally at any time as well as the service down in the past. This allows the personnel for system operations, to take quick and effective measures against such as cloud linkage error.
Chart of Uptime and Downtime feature
Service Uptime is indicated in a chart, together with Uptime ratio, Response time, and failures of the past so that you can confirm at any time. Your dedicated web page is prepared separately on a server other than your Workflow system.
Other Improvements
Sequential Operation feature
You can now sequentially operate Tasks which assigned to you. Clicking on the “Execute sequentially” button after selecting multiple Tasks on the list screen, Operating screen will open one after another. It is convenient, e.g. when you want to handle all the Approval Tasks which are close to its deadline.
Image Embedding in PDF Auto-generation
You can embed “Image file” (File type data) at PDF Auto-generation Step. Thereby you can embed any business data to “Template PDF” such as “Date type” or “Select type”. However, files to be embedded are limited to 100KB or less.
Annotation on Business Flow Diagram
When defining a Business Process, you can describe “Text annotations” at any location on the Flow diagram. Since annotations are indicated on the screens for normal workers to check the progress of an Issue, you can have them help raising awareness for the notes on the business.
Mitigation of Limit on Number of Start
System limitation of “100 Starts” in every 15 minutes is now mitigated to “100 plus Number of the license”.
From Request and Claim operations to Sales Support in only 3 years!
Q. Please tell us what you are using Questetra for.
MIRACLE LINUX CORPORATION (currently Cybertrust Japan Co., Ltd.) was founded in 2000 as a company that provides operating systems for servers. Today, we develop and sell products for system monitoring and backup software, based on OS kernel technology. We introduced Questetra as a workflow system in the spring of 2010 for online expense reports and applications.
When selecting a workflow for Miracle Linux we wanted A) to reduce the number of paper application procedures as much as possible, and B) a cloud-based service (SaaS) which was accessible from anywhere, because we make so many business trips, both domestic and overseas.
The actual selection and implementation process was done by two people, the president, who has had a long career in the IT industry, and the HR manager, who has no programming experience. It was introduced officially in only about one and a half months. Above all, I think its Flash-based workflow modelling tool is excellent. When it was introduced 18 business procedures were made paperless. Specifically, these procedures were Expense reimbursement request, Expense report, Travel request, Name card order request, BYOD request, Contract creation and reviewing request, Admittance request, among others.
Over four years have passed since we started using Questetra and now we are doing almost all our work on it. In terms of Workflows we now have about 70 different types of business operations.
Q. How did the number of applications increase?
In the beginning, we were using it mainly for operations managed by the Accounting department.
However, once we experienced the advantage of not having to pass around paper documents we wanted to promote the reduction of paper application procedures as much as possible.
Thanks to the Questetra modeller, which allows people without IT knowledge to build complicated Workflow systems, it was possible for our internal staff to increase the number of applications.
However, since Miracle Linux is a company that deals with Linux OS, there are numerous engineers who are familiar with information systems working at our company, and sometimes they had pretty severe feedback about, for instance, the ambiguity of the data input screen or in the business flow. In fact user survey questionnaires were conducted several times, and we made gradual improvements to address the complaints gathered from them.
Recognized the effectiveness in case of an earthquake
Q. Could you tell us your impressions after all the years you have been using the system?
Although this can be said of any tool, it is very important that A) it is usable at any time, and B) it is available from anywhere.
The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, about a year after introducing Questetra.
There was a quake of around 5 degrees on the JMA scale in the Tokyo area as well, where Miracle Linux is located. We fell into a really confusing situation because the in-house server was no longer available and the employees could not even go home. However, we could continue using cloud services like G Suite (formerly Google Apps) (Email / files) and Questetra (Workflow).
Although we talk in the terms of “Business continuity” or “BCP” nowadays, it was thanks to cloud-based services that we could continue our business activities without stopping. We are very happy with its high operational performance, even in normal times.
Q. Please also tell us about points to be improved in Questetra itself.
Questetra, as a cloud-based service, is good because it has periodic additions and enhancements to the functionality. On the other hand, as users we need to examine carefully the content of the new version specifications to make sure it does not incur big changes in day-to-day operations.
In some cases, we need to carry out pre-testing of the changes. We would be grateful for a mechanism which allows us to recognize Workflows that might be affected when such changes occur.
Also, we submit business processing records in Questetra for the year-end audit, etc. For this we need to print out Questetra’s data because even these days much of the audit trail must be submitted in paper. I think it would be useful if there was a mechanism that could enable us to customize the layout of the information, because currently data unnecessary for the audit is included in the print contents, and therefore it increases the number of pages that need to be printed.
もっとも、ミラクル・リナックスは Linux OS （サーバ用の基本ソフト）を取り扱う会社であり、情報システムに精通しているエンジニアが数多く在籍しています。時には、データ入力画面や業務フローの曖昧な所などについて、非常に厳しい意見が上がってきました。そこで、何度か「利用者アンケート」を実施し、共有された「不満な点」について自分達自身で少しずつ改修すると言うカイゼン活動を展開しました。
Shifting to the system where approval rules are naturally followed, following the company’s listing on the Stock exchange
HOUSEDO Co., Ltd.
Established
2009
Number of Employees
757 (as of June 2023, group total)
Business
Franchise business, house leaseback business, financial business, real estate sales and brokerage business, real estate distribution business, renovation business, building management business
A Decision-Making Platform That Can Handle External Audits
Q. What kind of operations do you use Questetra for?
HOUSEDO Co., Ltd. provides our customers with one-stop residential services by developing a 3-in1 distribution system for activities such as real estate brokerage, brokerage of resale houses plus renovation, brokerage of land plus construction of new houses, renovation and resale.
We did not merely developed a distribution system of brokerage, renovation and buying. We are also providing related services such as mediation of mortgage and insurance, in addition to planning and coordinating design and financial planning at a single agency, aiming to give a new and friendly service for those who buy and sell houses.
In 2006, based on the accumulated know-how at the company’s agencies, we started the franchising of real estate brokerage. The Housedo chain aims to create a safe and convenient contact point for customers by publishing their real estate information, and has grown to 285 stores nationwide (as of end of 2014).
We have introduced Questetra to systematize the internal approval and decision-making process.
Q. What kind of challenges did you face?
Previously, we were using a workflow system which is associated with groupware for approval decisions.
However, in that workflow system applicants needed to set the decision-maker and the approver each time. That is, the system was not a system that facilitated compliance with internal rules. As we entered the period of business expansion the approval formats climbed up to 40 types, so the task of entering the person responsible of decision-making/approval according to the company’s rules was not easy, especially for new employees.
Therefore, we decided to redevelop the approval system by introducing Questetra to solve these problems.
After Questetra was put into operation, no matter who submitted the application it was automatically processed in accordance with the company’s internal rules, which eliminated the need for complicated input and enabled us to build a proper approval process. Thanks to this system HOUSEDO was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers (Market of the high-growth and emerging stocks) in March 2015, and we can now immediately answer “who did what and when?” in the event of an accounting or operational audit.
Systematizing complicated company rules
Q. Please tell us the key aspects that made you chose Questetra.
We were considering reforming many business processes besides decision-making.We compared and reviewed so many so-called workflow and BPM products. Eventually, we chose Questetra because of the three following aspects.
The capability to systematize and maintain the business with only internal staff who do not have programming knowledge. The capability of advanced integration with other systems because the APIs have been well developed. The response of the Customer Service was very good.
In particular, we think the ability for in-house staff members to perform system maintenance is a significant feature. In fact, even though some of the company rules have been revised after putting this workflow into operation, we were able to modify the related business processes quickly, so we are very satisfied with it.
Q. Please let us know if you have any demand.
If our business processes are more automated and efficient, we can further accelerate our business expansion.
Our use of Questetra so far has focused on comparatively simple indirect department processes. Now, we are considering increasing the utilization ratio of more complicated direct department processes in the future.
Indeed, Questetra has been enhanced in various ways since we installed it a year and a half ago. However, requests for further enhancement or additions came up from the floor where they are using Questetra. We will continue to provide feedback as user requests, and we hope that the system will be developed as fast as possible to make it more user-friendly.
Performance Analysis Accelerates Process Improvement Cycle
Kyoto, Japan – April 20th, 2015 – Questetra, Inc., the global SaaS provider of Business Process Management(BPM), today announced that they have published the new version 10.2 of the cloud-based Workflow product “Questetra BPM Suite” on April 20th, 2015.
In this new version, “Aggregation Chart feature” has been enhanced, so that more multifaceted Business analysis and performance monitoring become possible. For example, if you are using it for the business operation of Quotation approvals, you will be able to display the quotations that have been approved by the supervisor among all the quote data flowed through the Workflow, in a Bar chart in which ‘Total amount by the type of Quotation’ has been stacked in monthly units. (Filtering Chart)
Aggregation Chart feature
The functions of BPM system are categorized into, 1) Designing Business Process, 2) Passing of data in daily operations, 3) Monitoring and aggregation the operational progress. The “Aggregation Chart feature” is categorized in 3), so it is utilized for resource controlling or improvement of procedure at work site, or for the improvement of the entire Business Process.
Other Improvements
PDF Auto-generation feature
The PDF Auto-generation feature is for generating a PDF file which Business Data have been inserted automatically in the middle of the Workflow. In this version 10.2 and later, it became much easier to prepare ‘Base-PDF’ (fillable PDF form) which is needed to set the automated process. Specifically, a ‘Sample of Base-PDF’ is now available by downloading, and you can use it as ‘Base-PDF’ as it is, or you can create your own ‘Base-PDF’ by merging the ‘Insertion configuration’ of the sample with your PDF that you have made in Word or Excel.
G Suite Connector
*The name of “G Suite” was changed into “Google Workspace” in October 2020
“Google Drive storage feature”, a function that works with cloud-based office products “G Suite”, is the ability to output the File type business data such as “Quote.pdf” or “Invoice.pdf”, into Google Drive automatically in the middle of Workflow (OAuth connect). In this version 10.2 and later, you can specify a folder in any hierarchy as the Save destination.
Operability
We have renewed Menu icons. The TimeLine notifications that tell occurrence of tasks have been concentrated into ‘Notification feature’
Outsourcing of Clearing Procedure Exceptional Handling Operations
Q. What kind of operations do you use Questetra for?
In SMBC Finance Service Co., Ltd. of the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, we provide a variety of services for different payment methods. These include account transfer, payment through convenience stores, credit card and electronic cash.
For example, the CATS payment collection service realizes efficient account transfer payment from customers. This service is recognized as the No. 1 in the industry.
We have introduced Questetra (On-Premises Edition), the Business Process Management system to promote paperless processing and provide real-time progress updates for the outsourcing operations of Sakura Information Systems Co., Ltd.
In order to improve services for the customers, various operations are processed on a daily basis. This may include payment collections through money transfers or through convenience stores.
These processes were usually carried out by issuing request forms which required a signature. We have now implemented paperless processing in the entire procedure in order to prevent mistakes and delays.
We currently have about 60 types of request forms for processes. We have converted 80% of them into an electronic format in just 3 months since the system was introduced.
Q. What is the major advantage in implementing Questetra?
When we make a process request, the operation requires us to provide a number of pieces of personal/corporate information or other payment details.
The total amount of the transactions can reach several trillions of yen. Thus, the system should not allow delays and leakages. With Questetra, the paperless process eliminates the need to manage and maintain a general ledger. This, in effect, greatly improves efficiency in the entire operation process.
Moreover, with the large amount of daily transactions, easy access to the progress updates is highly beneficial.
Any authorized personnel can easily check the progress of operations using the “token” in the business flow diagram. With this advancement, the communication cost is greatly reduced compared to the old ways of checking via telephone or e-mail.
High-Security Environment
Q. Please provide information about your security measures.
In the implementation of Questetra in both SMBC Finance Service Co., Ltd. and in Sakura Information Systems Co., Ltd., security is of utmost importance.
In order to have access to the group-wide network (extranet) of SMFG (Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group) and the virtual hosting service (cloud service) of Sakura Information Systems Co., Ltd., a number of requirements must be fulfilled. This includes authentication (single sign-on), clearing the route’s branch or utilization of indicated remarks. Questetra On-Premises is the total solution to this challenge. It is a powerful tool that can be used to fulfill all the said requirements.
Moreover, the capability of easily modifying complex business flows through changes in settings proved to be an important requirement.
Provide settings just by drawing flow diagrams
Pass data to other flows
Implement concurrent processing
These processes can be accomplished with simple settings changes and without the need for any development work.
Q. Please tell us about your future initiatives.
The immediate goal is to establish a system that can track the entire outsourcing business.
For real-time features, we would like to provide authorized personnel not only with progress updates, but also additional mechanisms that automatically detect errors. We also plan to provide electronic traces of all request contents.
Moreover, we are inclined to continuously improve the current business flow over a span of 6 months to one year. As we commit to bring our service quality to a higher level, we continue to search for solutions to provide the ideal business flow.
Kyoto, Japan – February 9, 2015 – Questetra, Inc., the global SaaS provider of Business Process Management (BPM), today announced that they have published the new version 10.1 of the cloud-based Workflow product “Questetra BPM Suite” on February 9, 2015. At the same time, they have activated new servers in European region.
In this new version, Status Monitoring feature has been enhanced, so that who had worked on which Step is shown on the Process Diagram. For example, the executives and the internal audit team will be able to understand the status of order fulfillment or billing easier.
Status Monitoring feature
As a feature for monitoring the status of progress, the current Step (individual progress) of each Issue and the number of retention (Heat map) in the entire Issues can be shown on a Process Diagram. From the new version 10.1, icons of the personnel who have handled each Step will be appeared when checking the Individual progress. Although the operator of each Step could be confirmed only in the logs previously, the relation between a step and its operator becomes easier to be recognized visually now.
Newly Opened Server in Europe
Today, Questetra BPM Suite has been utilized by enterprises and organizations in all over the world for day-to-day work, recording of them and visualization of their progress. In the past, we have been providing a cloud computing service (SaaS cloud) using servers in Japan/US and the Content Delivery Network (CDN). Now, we have opened the new servers in Germany, so we believe that we can provide our service more stable and faster in the European region.
Other Improvements
Performance Monitoring
We have enhanced the Filtering Chart feature, which is to aggregate Issue data through Business Processes graphically, so that access permission can be set on the aggregation charts, such as ‘Monthly transition of invoice total amount’ or ‘Monthly transition of the number of inquiries’. Also, the graph can be shared with Users without Data Viewer Authorization.
Data Items Setting
You are now able to set the minimum and the maximum values on the number of the files to be attached when you do configuration of File type data item to the data format of Issue, such as ‘Blueprint’ or ‘Project plan’.
In automobile development, an environment to simulate performance and reliability was established, enhancing product quality and development speed.
Established
1953
No. of Employees
2,789 (As of March 2023)
Main Business
The manufacture, repair and sales of passenger cars and their components. The manufacture, repair and sales of airplanes aerospace-related machinery and their components.
Utilized for the efficiency of automobile engine development operations
FUJI HEAVY INDUSTRIES LTD. (currently “Subaru Corporation”) is a transportation equipment manufacturer with a focus on automotive manufacturing.
In the automotive business we develop, manufacture and sell cars such as the Legacy, Impreza, and Forester under the Subaru brand, based on the concepts of enjoyment and peace of mind.
We are utilizing Questetra to improve the efficiency of simulations in automotive engine development operations.
Achieved automation of performance simulation that can be executed by the designers themselves
Process diagram: Automated Simulations for CAE
Engine development is a repetitive process of blueprint drawing, prototyping, and performance and reliability evaluations. However, the performance and reliability evaluations can now be done virtually with recently developed simulation technology. Thanks to this, it is now possible to obtain more information to improve the product competitiveness faster than when evaluating through prototyping.
On the other hand, developers need to ask experts to run the simulations, as they require complicated operations and expertise.
Hence, we are promoting the automation of simulations because we believe that we can make better products faster and more efficiently if the developers are able to exercise their creativity and do the simulations by themselves. We are using Questetra as a management control tool for this.
Beyond the scope of a single tool, it enables information sharing among engineers
CAE Input Form
Automation of simulation has been addressed in various ways, but in most cases it is developed as a mere tool.
We put emphasis on the availability of information sharing between the developers and the simulation expert so that they would complement each other. Therefore, we have arranged the Tasks for the developers and for the simulation experts alternately on the Workflow, so that communication between them can occur.
We also took advantage of the characteristics of human-centric BPM to decentralize tasks so that work can be divided among different departments.
Up until now, when automating simulations we only focused on the functions and left the operations to humans. Because we are now able to visualize the Workflow, we are able to operate as it was defined by using Questetra. Now all of us can discuss both the aspects of function and operation.
Meanwhile, in order to promote the further automation of simulations in the future, it is necessary to increase the number of people who are capable of drawing a workflow. I guess the easier the Process Modeler becomes, the more people can draw a Workflow. (For example, by adding features to test run process models or replicating any part of the flow.)
