Book a Demo
Apply for Leave

Apply for Leave

by | Jun 19, 2020 | Process Templates

Apply for Leave

Leave requests are one of the most common processes within an organization. For this reason, they are a great place to start with process improvement. Even small improvements here can save the business thousands of hours a year.

1. Submit Request Initiator

The trigger for starting this process is the employee initiating the request. You will want to capture all the required information about the request at this step, eliminating any back-and-forth later in the process.

Consider things like:

  • Type of leave (annual, sick etc.)
  • Dates requested
  • Whether leave in advance is required
  • Whether they will be contactable

2. Check Employee Leave Balance Payroll

Upon submission of the request, the Payroll team will provide the first approval. This is simply to check whether the Initiator has enough leave accrued. This should be a basic Approval or Rejection.

If “leave in advance” was requested, Payroll can approve the request and leave a comment for the Initiator’s Manager to see in the next step.

3. Check Team Calendar for Clashes Initiator’s Manager

The next step in the process is the for the Initiator’s Manager to check for any calendar clashes within their team and either approve or reject the request based on this. Depending on your organization size and structure, you may find that you have no difficulty covering a staff member’s absence, or that you need to arrange cover during this time. These are things for the manager to consider at this step.

4. Approval Email Notification

Once the leave has been approved or rejected, an automated email can be sent to the initiator to inform them of the outcome.

5. Update Payroll Records Payroll

The final step of the process sits with the Payroll team. This is just a reminder for them to confirm that the leave has been recorded in their payroll system and that any shared leave calendars have been updated. One of the key benefits of managing this through a workflow platform is that you can ensure this process is not marked as complete until all required steps are done.

This is an excerpt from Flowingly’s process guide, Essential Processes for Human Resources.

Proven Processes to Streamline Your HR Journey.

Unlock the power of process and workflow improvement in HR!

Download Now

Release Notes – 2020 R1

Release Notes – 2020 R1

by | Apr 17, 2020 | Release Notes

Release Notes – 2020 R1

Our first release of 2020 introduces Flow Model version tracking, print-friendly Flows, and improved process map visibility. 

Have a look at the highlights of this release: 

Flow Model Versions

We’ve added the ability to view the Flow Model version number from when a Flow was started. You can also export specific Flow Model versions.

This is useful if you update a Flow model and users have already initiated it.

Flow Model version is displayed in:

  • The first Step of new flows 
  • A new column added to Report page 
  • A new column added to CSV report

Printer-Friendly Flows

We’ve improved the export Flow functionality and allow user to save it in a more printer friendly format. 

The new document now includes a comment section which will include all comments added by workflow users while the flow was in progress.

A common use-case is to include comments made on an expense request process, printed for archival purposes.

Process Map Visibility 

Flowingly Workflow Users can now open and review Process Maps from within Flowingly’s Runner.

Clicking on a Process Map from the Maps page will direct Flowingly users to a new page displaying the selected Process Map instead of opening the Flowingly Modeler.

This is especially useful for organizations using Flowingly as a repository for Process Maps. Staff can easily view relevant process maps without opening the Flowingly Modeler.

Additional Improvements

  • Short text customization
  • Customizable subject placeholder text
  • Introduced last updated date column in Library
  • Added scroll bar to form designer
  • Option list fields and Approval options now are deselectable
  • Small tweaks and bug fixes
If you’d like to learn more about how Flowingly can help you on your process improvement journey, get a demo today!

Request to Work Remotely

Request to Work Remotely

by | Mar 31, 2020 | Process Templates

Request to Work Remotely

Before staff start working remotely, most organizations will need to approve it. This process has two main benefits.

Firstly, the organization can ensure that managerial approval is in place, and secondly, they get a full record of all remote staff for HR and health & safety purposes. This is a simple approval process, that can be modified to suit many other applications.

1. Submit Details of Request Initiator

The trigger for starting this process is an employee request to work remotely. This step is a good opportunity to capture all the relevant details about the request, from the dates requested to their job title (you may have a list of titles which are approved for remote work).

It’s important at this step to capture the reason for the request, along with an outline of the working location, including the address, details about the environment and whether the staff member requires any equipment that they don’t already have.

2. Manager Approval Initiator Manager

This is a simple approval but provides an opportunity for longer requests to be approved by the employee’s manager before they get submitted for approval to higher levels (e.g. the CEO).

If the manager feels anything is missing from the application, it’s good to have an option to just send back to the previous step and let the employee know what is missing.

3. CEO Approval CEO

Depending on the size and structure of your company, you will have different rules around approvals. Many companies will allow an employee’s direct manager to make the call on shorter requests for remote work, while longer requests need to go through higher level of approval (as seen here).

1. Start “Set Up Your Remote Workspace” Process Initiator

Once the request has been approved, it’s important to make sure the employee has a quality remote workspace setup that meets company regulations for health & safety. For this reason, the last step of the approval process should link directly to the “Set up your remote workspace” process.

This is an excerpt from Flowingly’s latest process guide, Essential Processes for Remote Work.

Proven processes to help you manage a remote workforce.

Discover the building blocks for constructing a strong remote culture.

Download Now

Request to Work Remotely

Set Up Your Remote Workspace

by | Mar 30, 2020 | Process Templates

Set Up Your Remote Workspace

Whether your employees are in the office or working remotely, it’s important that their workspace inspires quality work and is safe to work for an extended period.

1. Set Up Your Workstation Initiator

First off, your remote employee needs a workstation that meets your company’s health & safety guidelines. The first step for an employee initiating the process should be the setup of their workstation in compliance with recommended ergonomics.

This is a good opportunity to insert instructions or a video outlining the correct setup, along with inspiration on how to optimize their workspace.

2. Read & Sign the “Remote Work Agreement”. Initiator

It is important to have a Remote Work Agreement for your organization. This is an opportunity to outline the expectations of both the employee and the employer. It’s also a good idea to cover off escalation procedures, communication requirements, and other essentials.

If you’re using a workflow application such as Flowingly, the employee can download the agreement and sign it from here.

3. Conduct PC / Laptop check Initiator

With remote workers, it’s more important than ever to make sure that they have quality equipment and adequate security measures in place. At a basic level, your IT team will want to check that the device they are using is sufficient to run the required applications. 

IT may also need to make sure that sufficient security software is installed and that 2-factor authentication is being used. Finally, they will need to ensure that you have easy access to your systems and files, be that through VPN or other means.

4. Check VPN Connection Works Initiator

The last thing your employee will need to do is make sure that the connection that was set up is working seamlessly.

This is an excerpt from Flowingly’s latest process guide, Essential Processes for Remote Work.

Proven processes to help you manage a remote workforce.

Discover the building blocks for constructing a strong remote culture.

Download Now

The Remote Work Software Blueprint

The Remote Work Software Blueprint

by | Mar 19, 2020 | Process Improvement

The Remote Work Software Blueprint

There are thousands of software platforms available to help you work from home, but which are really worth your time?

We’ve compiled a list of our 9 favorite platforms for remote work, the ones we really couldn’t work without.

1. Zoom – Video Conferencing
Zoom helps your team hold video meetings easily. It’s perfect for internal and external meetings since participants simply click a link to join the call.

2. Calendly – Scheduling
Change your meeting availability on the go and allow attendees to reschedule with ease with Calendly. Bonus tip: it has a great Zoom integration.

3. Trello – Task Management
Trello is an easy way to manage your tasks and projects. With various plugins, you can customize your boards to suit the way you work.

4. Naverisk – Remote IT
Naverisk helps IT teams deliver consistent service from anywhere in the world. It’s an impressive all-in-one IT services automation platform that keeps your systems running smoothly and accessible from the cloud.

Flowingly helps us deploy custom process systems in under a day.

5. Flowingly – Process Management
Make all of your processes and workflows accessible remotely. Run any process you want from home, from onboarding and training a new staff member, to processing a new sale. Added bonus: Flowingly gives you full visibility of where all your processes are sitting, and who they are sitting with. 

6. Intercom – Customer Engagement
Engage with customers and leads in real-time from anywhere using Intercom. Bonus tip: it can be set up to route conversations down the right channels, whether that is a help article or direct contact with sales or support. 

7. Canva – Graphic Collaboration
Collaborate on and share graphic designs in real-time with Canva. The perfect tool for de-centralizing your graphic creation, while still maintaining your brand style. 

8. Slack – Internal Communication
Slack is perfect for remote teams as it enables 1:1, team and topic-based communication. Bonus tip for pros: you can integrate other platforms to alert your team upon certain events e.g. when a new customer is registered in Salesforce, Slack will automatically let your team know. 

9. Cognism – Contact Data
Sales teams need contact data remotely? Lookup any business or prospect using Cognism, and even add them to a cold email sequence.

Have a suggestion? We’d love to hear about the software you just can’t work without.