SharePoint – from file storage to a process management solution

In my previous article I explained how to move from using folders to libraries and metadata in SharePoint. In this article I would like to take you further on the journey and demonstrate how SharePoint can transform from a simple document storage solution to a tool that manages your business processes.

Documents are part of business processes

Often organisations use tools like simple spreadsheets or emails to manage a process and then store the corresponding documents in a network drive. But when you think about it, documents are really artifacts that are created, modified and used as part of a process, so it makes sense to keep everything together.

With SharePoint it’s possible to effectively bond documents and their processes in a single solution. Let’s have a look at how.

Metadata is key to managing simple business processes

As mentioned in my last article, metadata is information that describes a document so that you can tell what it’s about without opening it. It is the minimum information that makes a document findable and distinctive. Metadata is important for managing business processes too.

I’ll describe a simple business process and the metadata that supports it as an example.

Here’s the process for paying a company’s bills:

One person is responsible for receiving and filing incoming bills, the second person is responsible for paying bills, and the third person is responsible for auditing payments. As a bill moves through each step of the process, someone enters new information that is used by the person in the next step.

Let’s have a closer look at what that involves:

1. The first person saves the bill into the library, enters when it is due and sets a payment status of ‘outstanding’.
2. The second person checks the library to see if any new bills were received and haven’t been paid yet. This person uses ‘payment status’ to see which bills are outstanding and the ‘due date’ column for when bills need to be paid. When a bill is paid this person changes the payment status from ‘outstanding’ to ‘paid’.
3. The third person, who is responsible for ensuring payments have been made, goes to the library to check there are no overdue bills.

Using metadata for process management

When you have a clear understanding of what’s involved in the process and what information is required at each step you can turn it into metadata and use it for process management.

In a library that contains our bills we have created metadata columns for:

• ‘payment status’ to review outstanding and paid bills
• ‘due date’ to track overdue and upcoming payments.

This information gives a quick overview and helps manage the process more effectively. More importantly, our process-driving artifact, the bill itself, is only a click away and can be quickly accessed when needed.

This is a simple example of how metadata can be used for process management, and it is easy to implement and modify as you go. You can configure views of each step by creating filters and groupings. You can also add conditional formatting using icons and colours in Modern SharePoint libraries to visually highlight items that require attention (as in our example above).

Office 365 apps, like Flow and PowerApps, can be used for more complex processes, removing the need for external systems. Plus, SharePoint keeps everything together.

Thinking of optimising and automating your business processes using Office 365 tools, like SharePoint or Flow? Get in touch, we are here to help. We’re a Brisbane-based agency that specialises in all things Office 365.