Document flow diagrams. Internal training center in the company Document flow diagram of the examination sheet

Automation of a company's document flow has long become one of the common tasks facing IT specialists. Documents are the most common means of supporting the execution of business processes, ensuring the recording and transfer of information from one performer to another. Therefore, the effectiveness of an organization’s business processes is largely determined by the speed and quality of documents passing through company employees.

From an IT perspective, documents represent a powerful information flow that can be automated in two ways. In the first case, specialized systems are responsible for the passage and storage of documents. For example, the passage of standard accounting documents can be automated in a management information system (such as 1C, Galaktika), work with design and technological documentation - in a PLM system (Lotsman:PLM, T-FLEX DOCs).

But the company always has a set of documents that do not fit into one of the existing information systems (IS). These may be internal reports, organizational, administrative, design and other documentation. In this case, the movement of documents can be automated only with the help of specialized electronic document management systems with support for workflow technology (for example, OPTiMA-WorkFlow). A methodology for implementing such systems, created on the basis of the experience of specialists from the Samara company "Modern Management Technologies" (http://www.biztech.ru) as management consultants and specialists from Upscale Soft (http://www.upscalesoft.ru) involved in development and implementation of the OPTiMA-WorkFlow system (http://www.optima-workflow.ru), we will consider in this article.

The role of formalization of document flow

Interest in electronic document management systems (EDMS) arose a long time ago and has not waned, but despite more than ten years of practice in implementing such systems, not all projects are completed successfully. Among the reasons for failure are the following: incorrect choice of system, unprepared technical infrastructure, sabotage of the project by the organization’s employees. But the most important reason, perhaps, remains the lack of due attention to the formalization of document flow. Director of Development and Implementation of UpScale Soft Efim Starostin comments on the current situation as follows: “When implementing OPTiMA-WorkFlow in large organizations, we often encounter the problem of insufficient understanding of the importance of formalizing document flow, which leads to various negative consequences, for example, to frequent reworking of route patterns documents... In rare cases, we rely on ready-made business process models created on the basis of business modeling systems, due to which the implementation time is sharply reduced and the return on the document flow system increases."

It is obvious that no information system can be implemented without formalizing the automation object itself. In our case, the object of automation is the process of passing documents through company employees. An absent or poor-quality description of the document flow in the company at the early stages of the project and insufficient allocation of resources to complete this stage can lead to the fact that the EDMS will be chosen incorrectly, and all the features of the movement of documents will not be taken into account; to failure to meet project deadlines due to the need to correct incorrect descriptions of document flow already at the time of system implementation; and even to the failure of the project for the reason that employees will not use the incorrectly configured system.

Unfortunately, the important stage of formalizing document flow is one of the least favorite stages among IT specialists; As a result, this stage is shifted to the middle of the project, and the main attention is paid to purely “technical” aspects. Indeed, purchasing and commissioning servers, installing and configuring software today proceed without difficulties, but conducting a survey of your own company still causes problems. This is due to ignorance of methodologies for formalizing document flow, as well as the fact that not every company has business analysts on staff - specialists in this type of activity.

Approaches to formalization

The choice of method for formalizing document flow depends on the development strategy of the IT service and on the level of maturity of the company as a whole. There are two approaches to describing the routes through which documents pass: “from documents” and “from processes”.

The description “from documents” is historically the most common and widely used when implementing EDMS. With this approach, the document itself and its movement between performers are at the forefront. The description of the route for passing an internal document, as a rule, looks like this: Development of a draft document - Approval of the document - Finalization of the document - Sending (or Archiving) the document. Moreover, the stages “Document approval” and “Document revision” can be repeated until all comments are eliminated.

To formalize such routes, any available means can be used - everything should be determined by the principle of sufficiency for solving the task at hand. The simplest option is to develop document flow diagrams in the form of conventional graphic block diagrams (Fig. 1). Each company can develop its own display method or borrow it from a company that provides services for the implementation of EDMS, the main thing is that the diagrams are understandable to the company’s employees and allow further configuration of the system.

The advantages of this approach are the minimum time for developing a methodology for formalizing document flow, ease of understanding of formalized document movement schemes by company employees. But if a company plans to implement automated business process management systems using workflow technology, then more powerful route description tools will be required. As such a tool, you can use the IDEF3 graphical modeling notation, which allows you to describe the document processing scenario with great accuracy. The IDEF3 notation contains all the necessary graphical elements to display parallel or sequential work with a document, as well as additional conditions, for example, such as: “the execution of the following functions must begin strictly simultaneously” or “only one of the following functions can begin to execute.”

The disadvantage of using this notation is that the diagram itself does not show which employee performs this or that document processing function. A possible solution to this problem is to indicate the names of employee positions directly in the name of the function (Fig. 2). In addition, practice, unfortunately, has shown that this notation, ideal from the point of view of IT specialists, is too complex for enterprise employees. This may lead to the fact that the terms of reference for the implementation of the EDMS will be formally approved, but subsequently, at the stage of system implementation, the routes for the movement of documents will have to be adjusted.

Rice. 2. An example of a fragment of a document route in IDEF3 notation.

Business modeling technologies

The approach described above allows you to implement an EDMS and minimize the costs and risks of the project. At the same time, the project documentation of the IT service is supplemented with another document containing an additional section of the description of the company’s activities. The main disadvantage of this approach, despite its undoubted simplicity, is the lack of information about the business process itself that the document in question is intended to support. Therefore, the information received, necessary and sufficient for the implementation of the EDMS, begins to be insufficient when it is necessary to change the content of the document, optimize the route for its passage, or even abandon the use of this document. This cannot be done without analyzing the following additional information:

• what other documents are used in the business process;
• what functions, in addition to document processing functions, are included in the business process;
• which employees are involved in performing all functions of the business process.

Therefore, spending time on describing only document flow is not entirely acceptable for fairly mature organizations that have moved in their development from solving individual automation problems to increasing the efficiency of the company as a whole. The solution is to create a full-fledged business process model containing a description of all functions performed, and not just the actions of employees related to document processing. As a result, it becomes possible to analyze and work not only with the consequence - document flow, but also with the cause that causes it, i.e. with business processes. The resulting description of business processes can be used to solve a number of problems facing the IT service:

• analysis and decision-making on the method of automating the company’s business processes (automation using a management information system, implementation of a PLM system, document management or workflow system, or refusal of automation altogether, if the problem can be solved by simply changing the business process);
• formation of document flow routes (based on the information contained in the model);
• development of technical specifications for IS implementation using business process diagrams;
• generation of user instructions for working with IS by supplementing business processes with functions of working in IS (entering data into the system, receiving a report, etc.). This makes it possible to obtain a register of IS functions and include regulations for working with IS directly in the job descriptions of performers.

Business modeling system Business Studio

Today, to create a model of a company’s activities, it is advisable to use specialized business modeling systems that allow solving a wide range of tasks, such as describing business processes and organizational structure, creating a register of company documents, generating reports and regulatory documents, including document flow reports. For example, in the Business Studio business modeling system (http://www.businessstudio.ru), a description of business processes and document flow is formed simultaneously. If a process involves working with a document (creation, modification, use), then the document is indicated using an arrow incoming or outgoing from the function, and the executor of the function is assigned automatically when the function is placed in the corresponding track on the cross-functional diagram (Fig. 3).

For each function, the standard execution time and frequency are indicated.

Thus, the necessary information is generated to determine the route of movement of the document, automatically generate a report on document flow and consolidate the functions of document processing in the job descriptions of the relevant employees.

The value of such an integrated approach is that when changing business processes, the company will not need to make changes in two different places - in the business process model and in the document flow description, since all the necessary information is stored in one model. Possible types of changes that affect document flow when business processes change are shown in Table. 2.

Table 2. Changes in business processes and their reflection in document flow

All changes that have occurred must be reflected in the company’s regulatory documents and the EDMS must be configured. For companies that initially took the path of creating a business process model, it is much easier to respond to such changes - it is enough to update the model and re-generate the document flow report and other regulatory documents. In the same case, when the document flow subsystem is considered separately, it is necessary to design new routes for the movement of documents manually, which usually leads to additional time expenditure and unpredictable quality of the result.

The disadvantages of this approach are the high complexity of the description (it is necessary to describe all the functions of a business process, and not just the functions associated with document processing) and the possibility of its application only in a fairly mature organization in which there are established business processes. The advantage is to obtain one coherent model of the company's management system, including business processes, organizational structure, documents and used information systems. Such a model, developed in Business Studio, will allow you to more effectively select and configure the EDMS, and at the implementation stage, automatically generate and transfer to users operating regulations in the IS. In addition, the resulting model will help the IT service to thoroughly study the work of their company, and therefore communicate with managers and employees of other departments in the same language.

***

Companies thinking about implementing electronic document management systems and seeking to formalize work with documents can be recommended to initially set the task more broadly - to completely formalize their activities, and not just document flow. Of course, this will take more time, but the effect of this approach will be much greater: IT specialists will receive a description of the company’s document flow for setting up an EDMS, top managers will receive a formalized management system, and company employees will receive up-to-date regulatory documents.

The university has a department dealing with office work - the office. Most of the documents applied to TRTU pass through it, and registration takes place.

The office receives mail (incoming documentation), orders and letterheads are registered there, documents are reproduced and transferred to various departments of the university.

At the faculty, document flow is carried out by incoming, outgoing and internal documents. In table 3.3.1. it is indicated what stages all these documents go through

When the office receives documents from the ministry, they are registered and transferred to the rector of the university. The rector puts his resolution on the documents and, through the secretary, gives them back to the office, after which these documents are distributed for execution.

Table 3.3.1 Incoming, internal and outgoing documents

All incoming documents must be registered at the university office (see Fig. 3.3.1)

Rice. 3.3.1

Any internal, outgoing, or incoming document to the faculty is recorded in the journal; There is strict accountability for each letterhead taken from the office.

The dean's office issues and receives orders, which are divided into orders for personnel, orders for students, and general orders.

For each type of order, a folder has been created in the dean’s office. Upon admission to the faculty, all orders are recorded in a journal and filed.

If in a document received by the dean’s office, information concerns departments or needs to be communicated to students, then a photocopy is made and posted on the notice board or transferred to the departments. Internal documents produced and transferred at the university are produced in the departments of TSURE. These documents are signed by the heads (deputies) of the departments. The general scheme of document production is shown in Fig. 3.3.2.

Rice. 3.3.2

Table 3.3.2 shows, in the form of an organizational chart, how the document is produced.

Table 3.3.2 Organizational chart for document production

If the document simply passes from unit to unit, then after signing (6, Table 3.3.2.) it is transferred to the desired unit.

A more detailed diagram of the creation and movement of a document (order) is shown in Fig. 3.3.3

If the document is drawn up on company letterhead (the form is taken from the office for reporting), then in the registration book it is indicated where and on what issue the letter is sent, and a photocopy of it is also made.

Rice. 3.3.3

During the academic year, the Faculty Council meets monthly, where various issues are resolved and discussed, resulting in protocols, decisions, etc. All these documents are stored in a folder specially designed for this purpose. The scientific secretary prepares minutes after the meeting of the Academic Council. If it is necessary to use information about a decision made, an extract from the protocol on the issue of interest (who was listened to, who spoke, what was decided) is made in any document.

Also, the Scientific Secretary, after a meeting of the Academic Council, prepares a work plan for the year, which is approved at a meeting of the Academic Council.

A huge number of different official documents arising in the course of the faculty’s activities requires proper distribution. Executed documents are filed in files; if they need to be found, there is a classifier, which is the nomenclature of cases. In the nomenclature of faculty affairs, located in the dean's office, 26 items are indicated. The numbering in the nomenclature of cases consists of the index of the structural unit - 472 and the case number, for example 472/1 - Copies of orders and instructions of the rector and vice-rectors are general. An example of the dean's office nomenclature is shown in Appendix No. 4.

Departments have their own lists of cases, under their own numbers. The number is assigned by the office through an order.

Methodological literature, lecture notes, etc., published by departments, are registered in scientific libraries, laboratories, etc.

The document has become invalid

INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PROCEDURE FOR CONDUCTING INTERNAL DOCUMENT FLOW BY TRAINING CENTERS THAT TRAIN SPECIALISTS TO WORK IN THE SECURITIES MARKET

This instruction has been developed in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the Securities Market" dated March 5, 1997 and the "Regulations on the procedure for issuing Permits to training centers for training specialists to work in the securities market", approved by the resolution of the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Securities dated December 13, 1996 N 151. The instruction regulates the procedure for maintaining document flow of training centers that train specialists to work in the securities market.

1. Training centers must have the following documents necessary for their operation:

a) certificate of state registration, constituent documents (charter, constituent agreement, and if the training center is formed without the status of a legal entity as part of another legal entity - Regulations on the training center with an extract from the charter, which stipulates that the legal entity, within which the training center is formed has the right to engage in this type of activity);

b) the original permit of the National Securities Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as NSC) for the right to organize and conduct training of specialists to work in the securities market for each category of specialization of training, as well as the decision of the NSC to extend the validity period of the Permit;

c) regulations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the National Securities Commission regulating the activities of training centers;

d) information about the full-time employees of the training center, indicating the year of birth, education, academic degree, length of service, as well as job descriptions of employees containing specific functions, their rights and responsibilities, approved by the head of the training center;

e) a list of teaching staff approved by the NSC and hired to conduct classes with students, including on a contract basis, indicating the main place of work, position, teaching experience, academic degree (if any). If changes or additions to the list occur, they must be agreed upon with the National Securities Commission;

f) originals of educational and methodological lesson plans for training specialists for professional activities in the securities market for each category of training, developed and approved by the National Securities Commission, taking into account all changes and additions made to them, agreed with the National Securities Market;

g) handouts, including educational and methodological literature and normative and legal acts issued to students in the relevant course of study, the required minimum of which is established by the Certification Commission, as well as examples of tables and other visual aids used in the learning process;

H) copies of qualification certificates issued by the National Securities Commission;

(excluded 04/20/99)

i) agreements, contracts or labor agreements with teachers hired to conduct classes with students;

j) the original of the lease agreement or document confirming ownership of the premises in which classes are held;

k) in a separate folder: schedules of training courses for specialists to work in the securities market, indicating the names of teachers, as well as the places and times of these courses, signed by the first head of the training center (the head of the collegial executive body of the training center or the person solely performing the functions of the executive body training center) or a person replacing him, and certified by the seal of the training center.

(ed. dated 04/20/99)

2. Training centers are required to keep the following logs:

a) a student logbook indicating the following data:

3- last name, first name, patronymic (in full);

Date of application;

Address data;

Passport details;

Data on education: higher education (special secondary), diploma specialty;

Work experience: general, in a specialty (legal/economics) directly related to the functioning of the securities market (indicating place of work and position);

Last place of work and position;

The result of certification at the National Securities Commission.

b) a journal for issuing teaching materials and qualification certificates.

The log displays the following information:

Last name, first name, patronymic of the listener;

Date of issue of handouts;

Date of payment for certification;

Date and number of the minutes of the meeting of the Certification Commission;

Date of issue of the qualification certificate;

Qualification certificate number;

Signature of the listener for receiving the teaching material and qualification certificate.

If a qualification certificate is issued by power of attorney, in the last column the authorized representative of the certified person signs for receipt, indicating the surname, initials, as well as the number and date of issue of the power of attorney. All powers of attorney are filed in a separate folder in chronological order.

According to document flow they meet

The rules for the movement of documents are established in accordance with the business processes adopted in each company. An important role will be played by the scale of the organization, the division of functions among structural units and employees, and the accepted procedure for the distribution of responsibilities and delegation of authority. As a result, a picture of how the electronic document management system is organized in an organization allows us to draw a conclusion about the effectiveness of the management system as a whole.

It is clear that the most convenient way to manage document flow, even if its volume is insignificant, is with automated core processes.

Basic typical business processes and their implementation in 1C: Document Flow

Why is it important to build document flow correctly?

Document flow involves the expedient movement of documents and the speed of this movement. In addition, document management implies obtaining up-to-date data on the company’s activities, allows you to analyze the results of work and engage in planning.

If you inaccurately map out the path of document movement from and to, and thereby disrupt the speed of work (we read - miss the deadlines for sending, approval, receipt), then the entire management system in the organization may be shaken.

A simple description of the document flow diagram for the purpose of analyzing the current state of document flow and identifying problems can be done using a graphic “map” in the form of a flowchart, where operations with documents, performers, and the order of operations will be shown step by step.

We study the basics of building an optimal document flow system, provide examples and a step-by-step algorithm for constructing a document flow schedule.

From the article you will learn:

Document flow diagram at the enterprise

Centralized

This form is suitable for organizations with a strict hierarchical management structure that adheres to the principle of linear distribution of functions (unity of command). The centralized form of paper circulation presupposes the presence in the organizational structure of the company of a specialized unit responsible for working with all documentation.

Decentralized

This form is suitable for organizations in which the powers of departments are clearly divided according to the principle of operational autonomy.

The decentralized form of document circulation assumes that each structural unit has its own department responsible for working with documentation.

Mixed

With this form of turnover, the leading role in working with documentation is given to the central service of the preschool educational institution, but some of the procedures are delegated to special services created within each structural unit of the company.

Example of a document flow diagram

The route scheme for the movement of documents is the basic principle of the business paper circulation system. In this scheme, each document flow is assigned common characteristics, instances are prescribed, and mandatory procedures are defined.

This diagram indicates:

1. executors (i.e. departments taking part in the processing of this stream);
2. route (i.e. the order of the performers);
3. the presence of reverse movements (does the document go to the same executor several times);
4. the nature of the operations carried out by each specific performer).

An example of an organization's document flow diagram is presented in Fig. 1:

Figure 1. Document flow diagram of the enterprise

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Types of document flows

The movement of data in a certain direction, organized within a closed system of document circulation, is called document flow. The source and receiver of the data remain the same.

The classification of document flows is carried out on the basis of their relationship to the control object and in the direction of movement.

First classification

• horizontal flows (occur between departments of the same level);
• vertical flows (occur between departments at different levels);
• ascending (papers from subordinate structures move to management ones);
• downward (documents from management structures move to subordinates).

Second classification

• the incoming flow is formed by papers coming from external sources;
• the outgoing flow consists of documents sent from the organization;
• internal flow is formed by papers circulating within the organization.

Stages of document flow in an organization

Development and implementation of the scheme document flow of the organization involves combining the entire variety of procedures into a number of basic stages:

Forwarding processing. At this stage, incoming correspondence is received, checked, distributed to addresses and submitted to the manager for review.

Preliminary review. At this stage, the DOU service reviews and classifies papers by type, importance, complexity, author status, etc.

Direction to management. At this stage, resolutions are made and administrative decisions are made.

Treatment. At this stage, the documents are executed and sent for storage.

The basic principle of all stages is rational movement, i.e. stream optimization, merging and reduction. For this purpose, special technological instructions are created, the main purpose of which is to determine the most effective order of procedures and develop optimal route schemes.

How to create a document flow chart

The best option for graphically displaying all stages of document processing is a diagram. Each type of work is carefully analyzed, and the result of this analysis is the development of a flowchart that visualizes the entire process.

The sequence of actions necessary to solve the problem is presented graphically.

There is no unified schedule scheme. Each enterprise needs to develop it independently. The larger the enterprise, the more types of activities it has, the more detailed the schedule should be.

Stage two.

We appoint those responsible for paperwork

It’s quite easy to do this with primary documentation - the one who compiles it is responsible for the execution. For other papers, such a person will have to be appointed. If this is not done, then if the document is lost or the deadline for its submission is missed, there will be no one to ask.

Stage three.

We set deadlines.

The deadline within which the responsible employee must submit the document is the most important part of the entire schedule. The deadline can be set in months or days elapsed from the date of execution of the document.

Stage four.

Choosing a design

As mentioned above, a convenient way to design a graph is a flowchart. But it can be formatted both as text and as a table. The text form is suitable for a small organization; for a larger organization, a table will be more convenient. The main principle is that your diagram should be easy to read for employees responsible for document circulation.