Overview
Market Opportunity
Through discussions with many of its customers,PointBridge uncovered a need in the marketplace for a system that can move many manual, paper-based contract workflow tasks to an automated electronic format that can be accessed from the Internet.
Business Situation
A hospital products manufacturer wanted to work with PointBridge to develop a proofofconcept to determine how the services offered in Microsoft Online Services Business Productivity Online Suite Standard can be customized with applications to improve how companies do business.
PointBridge proposed developing asophisticated, automated contract workflow solution that would be built using SharePoint Designer and would not require any development code.
Solution
PointBridge was selected to build a custom multistep, multirole contract approval workflow on top of the Business Productivity Online Suite Standard using SharePoint Online and Exchange Online.
Benefits
- Efficiencies gained by conversion from paper-based format to electronic format
- Detailed tracking of each approval
- Elimination of lost contracts
- Shorten the contract approval cycle time
- Proactive notification of anniversaries (automatic increases) and expiring contracts
Todd Golden, Founder – Director of Alliances, PointBridge
Many companies are challenged by manual paper contract review and approval processes. Over time, companiescan usedozens of contract templates, and involvea long chain of people in each reviewcycle. Without an automated system in place that can be configured to a company’s unique method of contract development and approval,manual ad-hoc contract development efforts hamper productivity, as paper copies must be manually moved from location to location. Tracking and document status can be virtually impossible to determine: frequently, the only method available to check a contract’s status is to check a bin outside each approver’s desk in the review chain. Contracts can become lost as they are misplaced, hidden in large stacks of paper, or even removed from the office when workers take them home for review.
PointBridge developed a customized, automated, electronic contract approval workflow system on top of the Microsoft® Online Services Business Productivity Online Suite as a proofofconcept for a hospital products manufacturer. By leveraging MicrosoftSharePoint® Online and Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer, PointBridge designed reports that can significantly increasevisibility into the entire contract approval process. Contract routing isstreamlined with a custom automated workflow, and Microsoft Exchange Online manages automated e-mail notifications. By adopting PointBridge’s electronic workflow, companies will get the benefits of a customized solution without the expense associated with purchasing and maintaining its systems.
Solution
Customized Automated Contract Workflow
The contract management solution that PointBridge developed on top of the Microsoft Online Services Business Productivity Online SuiteStandard takes advantage of the SharePoint Online document library events, such as the addition of a new contract to a library to begin the workflow and direct it to appropriate recipients based on document metadata.
Additional metadata is added to the document as it passes through the system. At each stage of the workflow, Exchange Online sends automated e-mail messages to the tasked individuals that provide links to the task and contract details.
Some information is automatically added by the workflow; other details are filled in by users as they work on the contracts.
Contract Status at a Glance
The solution PointBridge developed leveraged built-in SharePoint views and filtering that gives the user real-time insight into their contracts.Past-due contracts are flagged and identify their
conditions including overdue, pending renewal, and so on.
The Contract Approval Workflow
As shown in the workflow illustrationon this page, the following steps illustrate the key tasks in the contract workflow.
Analyst Uploads a Proposal
The workflow begins when ananalyst uploads a proposal into a library. SharePoint automatically inserts field data from the document into columns, and routes the document to field sales.
Field Sales Gets Customer Signature
Exchange Online e-mails the contract to field sales, who then presents it to the customer.Once the contract is signed by the customer, it is converted to PDF by field sales and e-mailed to a Signed Contracts document library, where an analyst is assigned to the contract.
Analyst CreatesContract Worksheet
The analyst automatically receives a notice from Exchange Online that notifies them of the signed contract. The analyst creates the Contract Worksheet (CW), which is a SharePoint list that is prepopulated with metadata from the Proposals list in order to reduce rekeying metadata.
Proofreader Approves Contract
The workflow routes the next task to
the proofreader, who receives an e-mail from Exchange Online that contains a
link to the CW, contract, and the task. The proofreader reviews the CW against the contract for accuracy, and then approves it.
Contract Manager Approves Contract
The contract manager is automatically determined by the contract amount, which is located in the original SharePoint Online Proposals library. A task is created for the appropriate contract manager, and Exchange Online automatically sends a notice to them.
The contract manager opens the e-mail containing links to CW, contract, and task, and approves the task by entering their electronic signature in the task page.
Specialist Approves Contract
The final step involves the specialist. The specialist is determined by a combination of product type and state or territory. If the product type is device-related, the customer’s state is used to determine the specialist. Otherwise, the territory ID is used. Both pieces of data are found in the proposals library as metadata.
The specialist receives e-mail from Exchange Online with links to CW, contract, and task. After reviewing the CW and approving the task, the specialist manually uploads the contract into an internal system.
Solution Development and Implementation
PointBridge built the contract approval workflow solution around SharePoint Online using content types, document libraries, workflows, and performance and management indicators displayed in a dashboard.
By focusing on using tools that did not require code development, such as SharePoint Designer, PointBridge was able to allow the customer to modify their own workflow logic to match their evolving business requirements.
Developing the Solution
As shown in the flow chart on this page, the development effort to build the contract approval workflow was divided into five main steps.
Step 1: Define the Workflow
PointBridge began by working with the customer to define the workflow and generate some use cases. Simultaneously, a Microsoft Visio® diagram of the workflow was created that included all the branches and loops.
Once all permutations of the workflow were determined, PointBridge began developing the solution on the Microsoft Online site. A child site was created for development so that the main site could be used to demonstrate key functionality to key stakeholders.
Step 2: Create SharePoint Lists and Libraries
In the next phase, PointBridge created the SharePoint lists and libraries. Libraries were used to host files and their associated metadata. Lists were used for both lookups as well as for content.
Lookup lists were used for sending e-mails and assigning tasks to particular information workers. For example, lookup list were created for field sales, analysts, specialists,proofreaders, and other roles.
Content lists become Web forms that users would fill out as part of the workflow process.
Step 3: Develop Routing Rules
PointBridge used SharePoint Designer to start building the first steps in the workflow. Routing rules were developed in SharePoint Designer as steps in the workflow.
SharePoint Designer’s simple yet powerful interface allowed PointBridge to quickly create simple functioning workflows that used the existing lists and libraries. For example, one workflow was designed to automatically start when a contract is uploaded or e-mailed to the library.
By integrating SharePoint Designer into the existing SharePoint site, not only would existing metadata be available via drop down menus and choice fields, but leveraging the site significantly reduced development time.
Microsoft Exchange Online—another service in Business Productivity Online Suite Standard—was configured to route e-mails to a specific document library where SharePoint would break up the
e-mail into important metadata and the attached contract.
Step 4: Develop Workflows
SharePoint Designer workflows were developed directly on the site in order to keep the deployment of the workflow simple. The workflow was deployed by PointBridge with a single click of the mouse.
Step 5: Develop Reports
PointBridge used SharePoint’s built-in views and filtering to turn workflow status data into informative reports. Customized versions of various reports were designed for both the approvers and the decisionmakers.
Some key report benefits included:
- Real-time reporting allowed approvers to see their tasks list and even where a contract might be “stuck” in the system.
- Key metricswere loaded into summary reports—including average contract cycle time, percentage of overdue contracts, and more—to corporate decisionmakers, allowing them to make choices based on facts instead of guesses.
Benefits
Customer Benefits
- Gaininsight into all phases of the contract process and resolve issues quickly, resulting in faster contract turnaround times
- Shorten sales cycles
- Ability to act upon built-in billing increases during contract anniversaries and renewals
- Improve employee productivity
Partner Benefits
- Gain technical exposure to using SharePoint Designer to solve business problems
- Able to modify their own workflow logic
- No coding requirement enables staff to provide services without extensive training
- Increased visibility within the customer organization when the solution is deployed
Introducing the Business Productivity Online Suite
Microsoft Online Services provide software delivered as a hosted service directly from Microsoft data centers, managed by Microsoft staff and with a guaranteed 99.9 percent Service Level Agreement. These standardized solutions are designed so that partners can rapidly deploy services to their customers at a low, up-front investment with predictable, recurring costs.
The all-new Business Productivity Online Suite provides streamlined communications, simplified management, and business-class reliability and security. The customer can order this service for as little as five seats at a time.
The Business Productivity Online Suite includes the following services, which can be purchased on a monthly subscription basis either separately or as part of the Suite:
Microsoft Exchange Online, based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, offers businesses e-mail, calendaring, other messaging-based capabilities, and archiving. It also enables coexistence, which allows new online users to interact with users on local servers.
Microsoft SharePoint Online, based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, provides a single integrated location where employees can efficiently collaborate with team members, findorganizational resources, search, and manage content and workflow.
Microsoft Office Communications Online enables people to communicate easily with their colleagues across locations and time zones via instant messaging (text), voice, and video.
Microsoft Office Live Meeting is a hosted Web conferencing service that connects people in online meetings, training, and events through a reliable, enterprise-class hosted service.
Microsoft Exchange Hosted Filtering protects businesses’ inbound and outbound e-mail from spam, viruses, phishing scams, and e-mail policy violations.
About the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite
The Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite provides businesses with virtually anywhere access to rich communication, collaboration, and productivity applications via subscription-based, Microsoft-hosted, online services. This hosted solution helps organizations offset the burden of managing and maintaining business systems, freeing information technology (IT) resources to focus on initiatives that can deliver competitive advantage to the business. The solution is part of the Microsoft’s Software-plus-Services delivery model to provide customers more choices than traditional, hosted, or on-premises solutions, allowing them to make deployment decisions that best fit the needs of their organization.
For more information about the partner opportunities provided by the Business Productivity Online Suite, see