Workflow optimization is the enhancement of an existing workflow, by reducing costs, improving the efficiency of completed work, adding new functions to an existing workflow, reducing the time taken to complete the task at hand, and other factors. Collavate is designed to help enhance the productivity of your company, but no software can do this without your input on how it is to be done. Our helpful article below is designed to make this a simpler process for you and your business.
Define the problem
Before creating any workflow optimization strategy, you need to identify the specific problem you are trying to solve. What’s stopping you from achieving a given task? What errors are you having in your workflow that are costing you time? This information will help you formulate a goal and the criteria for achieving that goal.
Identify the type of workflow and the tasks within it. Once you’ve identified the problem, the next step is to decide which type of workflow you want to optimize. In most cases, it’s best to select the most efficient type of workflow as the goal to optimise. This way, you can ensure that you are getting the most out of every resource, every effort and every minute.
Identify the areas for improvement
Workflow optimization is a tool that saves you time, and makes your work more error-proof. By identifying and automating the actions that need to be done, you reduce the time it takes to complete a task, as well as the number of errors being made in that process. This leads to an increase in productivity, and more efficiency in the overall workflow process. This chain reaction of continuous improvement can only be achieved when you know which areas are in need of improvement. To determine this, it is necessary to implement KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to allow you to measure the current and future levels of productivity.
Implement a plan of action
Prior to making any changes to your workflow, determine the end goal, such as saving time or increasing the speed at which a certain function runs. Then create a schedule that incorporates that end goal into your workflow.
An example of a schedule might be, “Every Friday morning, download our newsletters to the company’s website.” This schedule would instruct the employee who did the daily newsletter to create a Google spreadsheet. They would then enter all of the subscribers into the spreadsheet. At the same time, the employee would be monitoring the status of the spreadsheet.
The employee would check the spreadsheet every day until their weekend. When they come back, they would be ready to create the weekly newsletter.
Evaluate, monitor and refine
The next step in optimizing the workflow is to evaluate the current workflow. Then, you can determine if the existing workflow is operationally efficient, with or without any improvements. Evaluating the workflow is very important to a successful optimization. To effectively optimize a workflow, it is necessary to evaluate and monitor its processes regularly to gain insight into where improvements can be made.
Here are some key areas to examine:
Time is money. High-quality work should be done as quickly as possible. Do it right, the first time. Eliminate wasted time and effort. Systems must be in place to make the process work. Dedicating resources to the optimization of workflow is paramount to making sure the tasks are completed on time. Workflow optimization must take into account existing systems and policies, and should be made specifically for your business.
Collavate is designed to integrate into your current workflow without changing the way you have been doing things, instead it improves upon them with handy tools for sharing, approving, and reminding people of tasks due.
If you need advice on how to more effectively optimize your workflows, send us a message and we will be able to review your existing workflow and give you some tips and tricks on how to make them more efficient.