COBIT Workflow

Overview
COBIT is a standard managed by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) defining a framework for the implementation IT Governance.

COBIT defines both operational and control processes for IT departments.
COBIT presents nearly 34 controls in 4 principal fields:
- Planning and Organizing
- Acquisition and Implementation
- Delivery and Support
- Monitoring

Hundreds of processes must be deployed to implement the various COBIT controls. 
The WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software enables you to immediately automate these processes while providing the compliance with the latest regulations of your industry thanks to advanced audit trail features.

Planning and Organizing
Who decided what, when and on behalf of whom? 

Good IT governance relies on the clear definition of the responsibilities and the traceability of the decisions.  Within the COBIT framework the processes to be implemented are particularly strategic. The WorkflowGen workflow software enables you to model and implement the business rules with a complete audit trial of actions and decisions.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Strategic planning approval
- IT investment management
- Compliance management
- Risk analysis and management
- Quality management
- Human resources management
 
Acquisition and Implementation
The analysis and the implementation of a new IT solution becomes an increasingly complex process on the purchasing and change management levels.

The large number of projects and actors make paper-based or email-based process management nearly impossible.  The WorkflowGen workflow software automates these processes and provides real productivity gains while integrating the increasingly heavy burden of compliance. 

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Identify and approve solutions
- Software acquisition and maintenance management
- IT procedure management
- Install and accredit system management
- Change management
 
Delivery and support
This COBIT field is one of the most impacted by compliance because it includes the security management of the information system. 

The IT department should delegate the IT solution authorization management to the business units (e.g. a complete audit trail of the access requests, personnel entry/exit should be implemented).

The WorkflowGen workflow software makes it possible to effectively manage these many processes by automating manual tasks that are sources of errors and productivity losses.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- SLA management
- Third party service management
- Performance management
- Authorization management
- Cost management
- Configuration management
- Problem and incident management
- Operation management
 
Monitoring
Monitoring within compliance projects is very time and resource consuming.
Human based monitoring is not practical because of the volume of data to analyze and the number of processes to control.
The WorkflowGen workflow software enables the automation of several monitoring processes, the tracking of the controls and of the corrective actions.
Connectors with the information system enable the IT department to trigger automatic alerts based on user defined criteria.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Internal and independent audit management
- Corrective action management

ITIL Workflow

Overview
The ITIL standard (IT Infrastructure Library) offers guidelines for IT departments' governance that are more and more implemented by public and private organizations.

ITIL consists of a process library presented in 8 books:
- Software Asset management
- Service Support
- Service Delivery
- Security management
- Application management
- ICT infrastructure management
- The business perspective
- Planning to implement service management

Several processes in each book have to be implemented.

The WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software enables a quick and efficient automation of the ITIL processes while providing the compliance with the regulations of your organization's industry.
 
Your ITIL project powered by WorkflowGen
Thanks to a fast deployment and powerful features the WorkflowGen workflow software dramatically reduces the implementation costs of the ITIL processes.

The lack of time and resources often slows down the ITIL project.
However the implementation of ITIL processes improves the enterprises' agility by offering a better IT service to internal users. This is also an additional step towards IT systems governance and compliance with industry regulations.

The WorkflowGen workflow software provides a quick ROI while providing the compliance with the regulations thanks to the traceability and archiving of actions and decisions.

WorkflowGen also integrates ITIL processes with existing applications (ERPs, databases, directories, etc)

ITIL + WorkflowGen are the winning combination for the IT departments committed to offer improved services to their internal clients while achieving a quick ROI.
 
Examples of ITIL processes
The WorkflowGen workflow software enables a quick deployment of ITIL processes.
The automated processes are seamlessly integrated with the existing applications of the information system.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Service support management
- Incident management
- Problem management
- Configuration management
- Change management
- SLA management
- Availability management
- Service continuity management
- Capacity management

ISO 17799 Workflow

Overview
The ISO 17799 standard is a good example of today's laws and regulations on the security of information systems.

The implementation of this ISO standard is a very good preparation for the compliance project.

ISO 17799 includes the following sets of standards:
- Security Policy
- Security Organization
- Asset Classification and Control
- Personnel Security
- Physical and Environmental Security
- Communications and Operations Management
- Access Control
- System Development and Maintenance
- Business Continuity Management
- Compliance

In addition to the technical actions related to ISO 17799, a large number of processes must be implemented.
The WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software accelerates the ISO 17799 certification by automating the processes with the required level of audit trails.
 
 
Examples of ISO 17799 processes
ISO 17799 provides guidelines to implement security management in an enterprise (risk management, definition of security policy, system access control, incident management, audit management, etc). 

The WorkflowGen workflow software can be integrated with enterprise applications like ERPs, databases and directories to automate human based tasks.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Analysis and risk management
- Definition of security policy

Personnel security:
- Definition of roles and responsibilities
- Employee clearance process
- New employee
- Employee status change
- Employee termination
- Sanction management

Incident management:
- Incident report
- Analysis and management of an incident
- Corrective action management

Project Management Workflow

Overview
In today's environment project management becomes a key activity for the enterprises.
A product launch, the deployment of a new information system or aligning business activities with the market's demands are examples or complex projects that sometimes must be achieved simultaneously.

Project management is now standardized and structured in several processes offering a better efficiency and the traceability of the operations. Also compliance with new legislations requires a highest level of formalism in project management. Automating processes via workflow is now a must have in order to deliver timely projects that are aligned with the enterprise governance policy.

Sponsors, project managers, project teams, clients, partners and vendors are the actors participating into the project management workflows.

The WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software enables a quick and efficient automation of the project management processes while providing the compliance with the regulations of your organization's industry.
 
Defining the project
Good definition and validation of the project are the keys of success for the enterprise projects. More and more actors are involved in this initial phase of the project. The traceability of the decisions and the usage of check lists are examples of features offered by the WorkflowGen workflow software for the automation of project management processes.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Project proposal approval
- Project charter approval
- Statement of work approval
- Responsibility matrix approval
- Communication plan approval
 
Project planning
At this stage of the project the traceability of the decisions is critical especially regarding the risk management. The WorkflowGen workflow software provides a complete audit trail of the decisions made and can syndicate the risks identified in a knowledge base.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Risk analysis and management
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) approval
- Schedule approval
 
Controlling the project
Project management now fully encompasses change management.
Competition or new technologies can directly impact ongoing projects.

The WorkflowGen workflow software enables the automation and the improvement of change management and problem resolution. The decisions can be archived and stored in knowledge bases for further exploitation.

Here are some examples of processes automated by the WorkflowGen workflow software:
- Issue and problem management
- Task assignment approval
- Project status approval
- Change management
- Configuration management
- Closure report approval
 
Integration with the enterprise IT system
The project management processes automated with the WorkflowGen workflow software can be seamlessly integrated with the existing data bases, content bases or third party project management applications like Microsoft Project.

The WorkflowGen workflow software enables a quick and efficient automation of the project management processes while providing the compliance with the regulations of your organization's industry as well as significant productivity gains.

HIPAA Workflow

Overview
HIPAA compliance involves a lot of processes in addition to setting up technical safeguards.
The costs generated by HIPAA compliance projects can be dramatically reduced by implementing the WorkflowGen workflow software. Instead of hiring new personnel to perform human based procedures or developing dozens of specific software applications, health care organizations can deploy fully automated processes thanks to WorkflowGen.

The WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software provides real time request follow-up, action tracking and audit trail functions as well as connectors to build gateways with legacy systems like HIS, databases, directories, ERPs.

Administrative safeguards require the implementation of several procedures which can be automated with WorkflowGen. The administrative safeguards comprise over half of HIPAA procedures and are grouped in the following standards:
- Security management process
- Assigned security responsibility
- Workforce security
- Information access management
- Security awareness and training
- Security incident procedures
- Contingency plan
- Evaluation
- Business associates contracts and other arrangements
 
Security management process
This standard requires organizations to: "Implement policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain and correct security violation".
The following procedures defines in this standard can be successfully automated and optimized by using the WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software:
- Risk analysis
- Risk management
- Sanction policy
- Information system activity review

Each WorkflowGen process includes the following features:
- e-Form to capture and control data input
- Workflow to orchestrate requests and actions
- Connectors to populate e-Forms fields or to perform import/export during the process execution
- If needed an agent can monitor logs to trigger automatic audit processes for example.
 
Workforce security
This standard requires covered entities to: "Implement policies and procedures to ensure that all members of its workforce have appropriate access to electronic protected health information..."
This standard is one of the biggest HIPAA challenge in term of change management.
IT departments must delegate access authorization responsibilities to department managers without compromising the security.
WorkflowGen provides a secure and lightweight solution to automate the following procedures:
- Authorization and/or supervision
- Workforce clearance procedures
- Termination procedures

By using WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software to manage those processes you dramatically reduce  the costs generated by the management of an important amount of requests per month, moreover you comply with the traceability and audit HIPAA requirements.
WorkflowGen's integration features allow you to automatically import/export data to your HIS, HR system or directory.
 
Information access management
This standard requires covered entities to: "Implement policies and procedures for authorizing access to electronic health information..."

The following procedures can be automated with WorkflowGen:
- Access authorization
- Access establishment and modification
 
Security incident procedures
This standard requires covered entities to: "Implement policies and procedures to address security incidents."
Because the implementation of this standard is required for HIPAA compliance, healthcare organizations must have an efficient solution to manage security incidents.
The WorkflowGen BPM /Workflow software offers a fast and simple way to manage incident forms and associated workflows like "response and reporting" procedures.

Basel 2  Workflow
 
Overview
Published in 2004, the Basel 2 regulation is targeted to European financial institutions. The purpose is to implement risk management for both business and operational activities.  
The compliance with this regulation generates the implementation of many processes.

The WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software allows a fast and simple implementation of these processes while complying with the requirements of the regulation.
 
Incident management
A first step is to implement procedures for the incidents with long-term archiving.
As a standard feature WorkflowGen offers process automation with the archiving of the decisions and actions.
The processes automated with the WorkflowGen BPM / Workflow software can be seamlessly integrated with the existing data bases and applications of the financial institution.
 
Risk management
Basel 2 also defines procedures for identifying and managing risks.

In addition to automating procedures WorkflowGen allows the processing of workflow data with business intelligence tools to generate reports and risk monitoring dashboards.
 
In the Basel 2 context, WorkflowGen is a powerful solution for the entity responsible for managing operational risks. By optimizing and automating the procedures, WorkflowGen reduces the overload of work related to the analysis and monitoring of risks generated by the business units of the financial institution.