28. jul 2022 | By: Morten Andersen

On closer analysis of business processes, its clear that some user-initiated tasks are redundant or can be automated. A simple example of this is where an off-the-shelf, SaaS application includes data fields that do not need to be completed as no downstream process actually uses the data. These are known as redundant fields. A classic example of why these are problematic is the case where a new employees completes these redundant fields every time because they’re unaware of their status. The same goes for those employees that didn’t pay attention during training! User productivity reduced as the user is, at best, spending time keying information. At worse, the users must derive the information from other sources before entering the data.

Simple application automation can be used to auto-complete fields that are mandatory but require predictable information. If a rule can be applied and data is available, then typically, these fields can be completed automatically, i.e., without user intervention. Again, around the world, users go into “autopilot” mode entering standard data without thinking about it as they do the same steps 10-15 time per day, every day.

Another example of automation is to launch another application automatically at the relevant point in a process. For example, a user is processing a sales order that requires “expedited” delivery. The organisation uses DHL for these expedited cases and through an automation, the user is taken to the DHL web application to obtain the pricing based on the destination, service needed, weight and volume of the shipment. Automation can then return me to order processing where the pricing and DHL quote reference can be inserted into the order detail.

If you’d like to learn more on how the team at Scansolutions can assist with improving your supply chain process or identifying redundant processes that can be automated, please get in touch. We hope you’ve found some value in these blog posts and if so, look out for Part 3 in this series.