The Organisation

Waitomo District Council is a local government authority in New Zealand, responsible for providing services and infrastructure to the Waitomo district.

We chatted with Saeed, Chief Information Officer, and Abin, Business Analyst, at Waitomo District Council about their experience transitioning from Promapp to Flowingly. 

The Challenge

Their existing tool, Promapp made process mapping a time-consuming and inflexible task, hampering their ability to represent complex workflows accurately. This often resulted in oversimplified process maps that failed to capture the true intricacies of their operations. 

Moreover, the council was also eager to modernise and move away from manual processes. However, they faced a significant hurdle: their existing tool Power Automate required significant training and resourcing to be useful.  

This financial concern was a major factor driving their need for a more integrated and cost-effective solution. The council found themselves at a crossroads, needing a solution that could address both their process mapping inefficiencies and their automation aspirations without breaking the bank. 

The Solution

In their search for a better alternative, Waitomo District Council discovered Flowingly, a comprehensive platform that seemed tailor-made for their needs. Flowingly offered a unique combination of process mapping, electronic forms, and automation capabilities, all integrated into a single, user-friendly platform. 

Saeed highlighted this advantage, noting, “We can kill three birds with one stone… for almost the same price as Promapp.” This cost-effectiveness was a crucial factor in their decision-making process, allowing them to expand their capabilities without significantly increasing their budget. 

The council found Flowingly’s interface refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly. Abin, their Business Analyst, pointed out its similarity to Microsoft Visio, a tool they were already familiar with:

“The UI was way more user-friendly, it’s very close to Microsoft Visio, which we were more familiar with.”

This familiarity significantly eased the transition and encouraged adoption across the organisation. 

Unlike Promapp’s rigid structure, Flowingly allowed for more complex process mapping with branches and conditions. This flexibility was a game-changer, enabling the team to create more accurate and detailed process maps that truly reflected the complexity of their workflows. 

The Results

The impact of Flowingly on Waitomo District Council was nothing short of transformative. The most striking improvement was in the speed and efficiency of process mapping. Abin shared an eye-opening comparison:  

“We mapped about 70 processes in six to seven months with Promapp. With Flowingly, we went through about 30 processes in less than two weeks.” 

The user-friendly interface and automation capabilities quickly won over staff across different departments, with Abin saying “The very next day, we had three or four other departments asking us about automating their processes.”  

Flowingly enabled a significant shift in their approach to process improvement. Instead of mapping processes first and then considering improvements, they could now do both simultaneously. This integrated approach led to more efficient and effective process enhancements. 

The visual clarity of processes in Flowingly greatly improved understanding across the organisation. As Abin observed, “in Flowingly, you can quickly grasp the idea of a process – how big it is, how small it is, or how long it will take to follow.”

They also praised their experiences with the Flowingly team, especially customer success, exclaiming:

“The people we dealt with at Flowingly were genuinely willing to help us. Those guys (Sean and Aaran) really helped us and were super flexible and helpful in making the journey easier. In fact, everyone we have worked with has been incredible to work with.”

Conclusion

Waitomo District Council’s switch to Flowingly has revolutionised their approach to process management and automation. By consolidating multiple tools into one user-friendly platform, they’ve not only reduced costs but also significantly improved their efficiency in mapping and implementing processes. 

The ease of use has encouraged wider adoption across the organisation, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. The council can now map processes more quickly, implement improvements more effectively, and automate workflows more efficiently – all within a single, cost-effective platform. 

Saeed’s advice to others considering the switch is straightforward and enthusiastic:  

“Just go for it. You save budget, you save time. And, as I said, it’s very easy to use. This tool is way better than Promapp.”