National, state, and local governments have significant challenges that they are increasing using intelligent business process management systems (iBPMS) and enterprise workflow software to manage. Governments have been facing massive increased burdens over the last couple of years as the pandemic imposes the same challenges on governments that it has on private businesses. Simultaneously, the demands upon government and the increased spending and management of that spending have grown massively. 

Governments have additional burdens that commercial organizations do not have to the same extent. Those burdens are:

• Strict legal guidelines that must be followed by governments and employees,
• Requirements to provide audit trails for all government processes and artifacts,
• Limitations on personnel hiring and spending, and
• Increased expectations for real-time quality service from citizens

Scalability and nimbleness are not typically what one associates with governments, but it is exactly what constituents and government employees themselves increasingly expect. And people inside and outside of government expect the speed, the same instantaneous results that they expect with private transactions and information searches. Governments are turning to iBPMS with enterprise workflow to rapidly and cost-effectively integrate and automate their processes. Most processes are based primarily on forms and there are three kinds of broad categories of processes that governments are automating:

1.    Internal processes that strictly involve government employees and contractors

2.    External outward-facing processes that involve citizen requests, actions, etc.

3.    External outward-facing processes that involve for-profit or non-profit organizations

We saw several governments use FlowWright to automate processes in all 3 of the areas listed above. Examples of internal processes that were automated recently were:

• Employee hiring and onboarding processes
• Covid and vaccination status tracking and reporting
• Vacation requests
• Maintenance requests
• Equipment Evaluation Request for Services and Repairs
• Work Order Completion & Payment Form
• Work Order Request and Acceptance
• Employee Property Damage or Loss Claim
• Secure Key Card Request
• Computer Equipment Transfer

What governments implemented the above? Examples are the US State of Kansas – Department of Transportation, St.Louis County in Missouri, and the government of Finland – LUKE (Equivalent to the EPA in the United States).

The reason that these governments chose FlowWright to migrate from other platforms like K2 or to automate and integrate processes for the first time is that FlowWright includes the ability to graphically and intuitively build forms, workflows, reports and dashboards. And do it fast with minimal effort (low code or no code). This means that in terms of time and cost, constrained governmental entities can do more and do it in far less time. All internal government processes that were implemented recently had two (3) things that were consistent requirements: 1) forms were critical to processes and 2) existing systems and their data had to integrate with forms and the processes that used them and 3) Users authenticated from various authentication providers such as Windows domains and 3^rd party SAML authentication services.

External outwardly-facing processes that governments implemented to communicate with citizens also shared the above two requirements. Some examples of forms automation processes that were implemented in are:

• St. Louis County - County Council meeting public comments
• St. Louis County - Vaccination portal for county employees
• Finland - ATP Certification process                   

Automating processes that involve the citizenry is driven by the huge efficiency, quality, and cost reduction gains that result. By integrating and automating these processes, governments see a massive reduction in cost while realizing an enormous increase in citizen confidence and satisfaction through efficiency. In addition, by choosing a platform like FlowWright that allows governments to intuitively define forms, workflows, and integrations to systems where information lives – while requiring very little coding or no coding – and by using a platform like FlowWright that is scalable and can grow and accommodate many additional processes and forms – these governments are setting themselves up for years of increased efficiency and progress that is demonstrably effective to their public.

In addition, governments automated outwardly-facing processes that involved external for-profit and non-profit entities. Some examples are:

• Sawmill certification process
• ATP Certification process
• Project Work order processing
• Vaccination mandates and tracking

Like all other government processes, the above processes must follow regulations. Importantly, even critically, FlowWright provides a graphical audit trail that proves that processes complied with their regulatory pathways and ensures that data was collected and met the acceptance criteria described by statute. The ability of a governmental organization to swiftly interact with commercial and non-commercial entities and accurately and repeatably deliver the certifications (if deserved) or remedial guidance (if needed) for something like entity certification is a big deal. 

If your governmental organization has processes that it would like to automate, then let us know – let’s discuss your requirements, build a free proof-of-concept (POC), and move towards automating and integrating your forms-based processes!