COPYRIGHT © 2015 GIDEON TAYLOR CONSULTING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Down the Rabbit Hole: Electronic Forms and Business Process Automation Regional HEUG Conference

COPYRIGHT © 2015 GIDEON TAYLOR CONSULTING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Down the Rabbit Hole: Electronic Forms and Business Process Automation

Regional HEUG ConferenceSummer/Fall 2015

Presenters:Paul Taylor, President and CEOScott Antin, VP Business DevelopmentLani Urreta, Manager, Process Consulting Services


What are we talking about today?

• Business Process Automation Projects are usually done to simplify complex processes

• Choosing the perfect tool is only one piece

• Complexity can come from any of the other pieces:o Deciding and maintaining scope

o Analysis and Design

o Implementation Goals and Communication

• What are some of the rabbit holes and how can we best avoid them, and others?


Gideon Taylor Consulting

Gideon Taylor, headquartered in Pleasant Grove, Utah, is a PeopleSoft custom solutions provider for business, education and government organizations.

GT’s MISSION is to revolutionize business processes through innovative automation strategies, integration and custom development expertise, and electronic forms technology.

GT’s VISION is to help our clients work simply, effectively, efficiently, and flexibly.

Founded in 2001 by Paul Taylor,Original creator of GT eForms™ and ePAF™



HCM

Financials/Supply Chain

Campus Solutions

GT eForms™ Library for PeopleSoft

GT ePAF™

GT OnBoarding™

GT eVoucher™

GT Paperless I-9™

GT E-Verify Integration™

GT Personnel eFile™

GT eTime™

GT ePost™

Security eForm

Overtime eForm

Non-Tuition Fee Request eForm

Merit eForm

Reports To eForm

Leave Cash-Out eForm

Additional Pay eForm

Undergrad Academic Record Change

E-Degree Certification Description

Faculty Discipline Description

Faculty Teaching Certification

Graduate Status Change

Thesis and Dissertation Release Option

Travel Fellowship Application

Travel Fellowship Expense Report

Expense Approval

Expense Reimbursement

Readmission Application

Grade Change

Course Add/Drop/Withdraw

Faculty Promotion/Tenure

Credit Card Reconciliation

Vendor Add/Update

Journal Voucher

Delegation eForm


What is GT eForms™?GT eForms™ – Bolt-on workflow framework and toolset for PeopleSoft. Easily create and manage:

o Custom Self-Service Applications and Electronic Forms

o Workflow, Notifications, Approvals and Electronic Signatures

o Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Integrations


“We just need a simple electronic form…”

… and we just need to have their manager approve it…

“All we need is a form to enable any employee to nominate any other employee for a bonus award. We just need them to complete three fields: the name of the person they’re nominating, why they’re nominating them, and the amount for which they’re being nominated.”

…unless the award amount

is over $1,000…

…and then if we could have it update the system on the

backend and add the pay once it’s been

approved…

…oh, and I guess that all of them

need to be reviewed by the

divisional HR approver…

…of course, if it’s over $5,000…

….hmmm, but if the manager is out it

needs to route to the delegate…

…and we do need to make sure it’s routing to

the appropriate managers based on our

organization…

…oh, and did we talk about nominating

teams?


What are the Goals of Automation?

Simple

Effective

Efficient

Flexible


Discovery

• Explore the full business processo SMEs who are directly involvedo Understand the ‘why’ behind each stepo Cover all touch-points (triggers, outputs, routing,

exceptions, etc.)

• ODA – Optimization and Defaulting Analysiso Field-level analysis of data sources and destination fieldso Identify or create relationships between data to eliminate

fields, restrict values, create edits, etc.

• Rough design and/or prototype


Create a Project Vision

• A Project Vision guides the team, especially when complexities are introduced

• Clearly define the limits: budget, time, resources, scope

• Understand which factor is most important – this helps when requirements start to get bulky

• Define the goals – when will it be “successful”?


Automation Project Development Effort

10%

40%

40%

Simplify

Re-HostAutomate

Workflow10%


Analysis and Design

• Expect the simplest of forms to have its share of complexities to work through

• Use the Project Vision to guide difficult decisions

• Employ some principles to keep the form SEEF-ful

• Keep an eye out for common complexities


Vision Principles

• Hide the Complexityo Logic into code or config; setup tableso Pinpoint repetitive or labor-intensive tasks

• Focus on User Experienceo Minimalist, guided and naturally unfoldingo Only show valid fields and valueso Focus on task completion

• Focus on the Bulk of the Transactions

• Trust the Solution


Complexity vs Transaction Coverage

% of Transactions Covered in Solution0% 100%

Level o

f Co

mp

lexity

1x

50% 90% 95% 98% 99.5%

2x

4x


The Parts of Complexity

Complexity

Covering Old

System’s

Problems

Fears of the New

System

Building for

Exceptions

Gold Plating


Complexity: Covering Old System’s ProblemsWatch out for:

• Unnecessary “visual validation” fields

• Asking for information that isn’t used

• Outdated processes

• “We’re not sure who uses that.”

• “That’s just how I was taught to do it.”

Some approaches and suggestions:

• Question fields and processes to identify those that are no longer useful.

• Test/revisit processes that the team is unsure about

• Cut out debated fields for the prototype and examine during modeling

Covering Old

System’s

Problems


Complexity: Fears of the New SystemWatch out for:

• Unnecessary “visual validation” fields

• Asking for a bunch of “just in case” fields

• Stated mistrust of the system/technology


• Use edits in place of extra fields and information

• Modeling and testing cycles can help eliminate those worries

• Validation reports can go a long way in eliminating complexity on a form

Fears of the New

System


Complexity: Building for ExceptionsWatch out for:

• High amount of effort spent on low-use fields/logic

• Long discussions around rare scenarios

• Conversations that go in circles


• The goal is never to cover EVERY SINGLE TRANSACTION

• Keep in mind the average user’s experience

• Exceptions can be addressed in later phases; after usage analysis

Building for

Exceptions


Complexity: Gold Plating

Watch out for:

• Unnecessary fields and logic

• “Can’t we just add this field/function too?”

• Requests for overly-complex logic trees

• Clutter, small impacts, and distraction from real goals


• Focus on the Project Vision – distractions put that at risk

• Move gold-plating features to a post-go-live phase

• Keep a visible list of the “nice to haves” so that the group can let them go

Gold Plating


Get it in…get it done…and go live!

Time to Go-Live

• Risk• Cost• Effort• Resistance• Complexity

Early Go-LiveINCREASES…

Later Go-LiveINCREASES…

• ROI• Actionable

Intelligence• Product

Satisfaction


SAMPLE: Design Result – Spec and screenshots

By selecting ‘Leave of Absence’ and ‘Maternity’, specific fields related to

parental leave are displayed to the user.


These were our process requirements…


Building Relationships – “Hey, Data, meet Logic!”(1) Submitter Name

(12) Reg/Temp(11) Job Code

(10) Employee Group

(9) Location Code

(8) Dept #(7) Business Unit

(6) Company

(5) Effective Date(4) Employee ID

(3) Employee Name

(2) Submitter ID

(18) Comp Rate

(17) Holiday Schedule

(16) Pay Group

(14) FTE

(15) Standard Hours

(13) Full Time/Part Time

(24) Supervisor ID

(23) Supervisor Name

(20) Position #

(19) Comp Rate Code

(22) Reason(21) Action

(25) Supervisor Phone

Hire Form


Now, isn’t that so much easier?

(10) Employee Group

(5) Effective Date(4) Employee ID (18) Comp Rate

(20) Position #

Hire Form


GT eForms™ Demonstration

Hire


Questions?


Contact Information

Paul TaylorPresident and CEO

Offc: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.gideontaylor.com/

Documents

COPYRIGHT © 2015 GIDEON TAYLOR CONSULTING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Down the Rabbit Hole: Electronic Forms and Business Process Automation Regional HEUG Conference