Workflow Design and Development

Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start.

You knew you had a problem, looked at the options, and chose PlanetPress or Printshop Mail from Objectif Lune!

Now you have to actually do the job but, like everyone in business today, you have limited time to put the effort in to get past that initial – and steep – learning curve of designing and implementing the one thing that will make your life easier; unblock that logjam; and make the IT Director a Happy Bunny! You’ve also not had time to really benefit from that training course you went on (‘… haven’t touched it since I came back!…’) and the MD wants results NOW!

Sound familiar?

Time to get some help in.

Sometimes, you know … it could be … well … better!

You’ve done your workflow and it’s working OK but you aren’t really that experienced in this system and you just have the feeling that you aren’t doing it in the best way … or it’s a bit slow … or it’s hard to modify … or it’s not quite exactly what you wanted.

There are usually many ways to develop a PlanetPress workflow/form and some are more appropriate than others. Some are much, much faster than others. Some are non-linear – as the data files get bigger the process gets slower … and slower … and slower …!

Most people develop one workflow and then copy and paste it to create another (similar) process – modifying the relevant bits to make the thing work. This inevitably leads to a lot of duplication and hard coding. Developing a few subroutines (or introducing some global variables) could make it much simpler to adapt to a new function or move to another server or domain. These evolved workflows almost always involve process timing clashes – when all your systems, for some reason, kick-off at the same time and your hugely capable server runs like a pig. This can often lead to developers throwing hardware money at the problem and scaling-up with extra servers and licences. Some simple changes could mean you don’t need to waste this money. Evolved processes are not necessarily bad, but they are often time-consuming to maintain.

How many error routines do your processes contain? Probably none – so you spend ages trawling through log files when something unexpected happens.

Sound familiar?

I can show you how to avoid these, and many other, problems.

Sometimes you’d just like to talk to a specialist.

YOU are the expert when it comes to how you do things in your company or industry.

No external consultant can know more than you about something that you live and breathe with.

This is true of many things – including big, capable software systems like PlanetPress.

I’ve been a PP specialist since it first appeared in the UK in 1999 (Version 2 – the old DOS based, non-windows system). I have worked with companies in virtually all areas of industry and commerce; in sizes from one-man bands to global corporations; in teams and with individuals; and in complexity from simple desktop print workflows to multi-national, enterprise wide, cloud solutions.

If you think this experience might help you why not get in touch.