The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/163881
with buttons for "approve" and "decline." The buttons create a new email, encoding identifying information in the subject so it can be tied to that task in the workflow system. As an added option, any information the user types in the email could be captured as a comment when the workflow processes the response. This approach removes any ambiguity in the response. Email-based approvals have the advantage of being compatible with any mobile device and do not require any portion of the workflow system to be exposed externally for direct access. While email is great at capturing unstructured comments, if the response requires the collection of structured data, such as the earlier example of collecting details about why the request was declined or if the user wants to initiate a new request, then email is not the best choice. All of the above methods have some way of managing task delegation. A Web form could provide a simple option to delegate and collect the name or email address of the recipient. Mobile apps likely will have this functionality built in, and email-based approvals can include a button for delegation and have the user enter an address in the "To" or "CC" lines. The technology your firm uses to automate a process might drive which option is the best fit. The technology your firm uses to automate a process might drive which option is the best fit. For example, our platform of choice to build workflow-enabled applications is K2, which provides all the mobile access capabilities mentioned above, whereas SharePoint or other third-party workflow platforms might provide a subset of these options. KEEP ON WORKING THE WORKFLOW Whichever mobile access option best fits your firm's needs, incorporating mobile devices into your overall business process automation strategy opens up new opportunities for people to keep work moving and is a surefire way to reduce significantly the time it takes to get work done, improving the bottom line. 82 Peer to Peer NINTEX WORKFLOW FOR SHAREPOINT: GOING MOBILE by Ellen Kinsinger and Dale Lee of Poyner Spruill LLP A conversion from the Elite to Aderant accounting system provided a golden opportunity for Poyner Spruill to reinvent and significantly improve their automated new business intake (NBI) process. After conducting an indepth business process analysis, the objectives which emerged from various stakeholders dictated the use of InfoPath and Nintex, already widely used in the firm for other automated business processes. Some Nintex features required for this complex project, missing from out-of-the-box SharePoint workflow, included: • Stable workflow versioning • Starting a workflow from within a workflow • Responding to workflow tasks within an InfoPath form • Utilizing additional InfoPath forms for data-driven rules within the primary form • The ability for Nintex workflow to utilize SharePoint lists to provide datadriven lookups and, for example, manage notification message content Poyner designed a browser-based, data-driven InfoPath form, injected complex code into the form using Qdabra qRules and then wired-up the form to Aderant tables (in addition to custom staging tables) using Qdabra DBXL Web services and SharePoint data connection files. Functionality was included to facilitate completion of tasks by role (initiators, form approvers, conflicts approvers, accounting, etc.). Aderant Web services were used in concert with a custom Web service to create conflict sessions. IntApp Integration Builder also leveraged Aderant Web services to create clients and matters. In addition, Integration Builder was used to pass data to other downstream apps, such as Carpe Diem, Docket and SharePoint DM and Portals. With SharePoint as the obvious platform to launch and store forms, a custom page was created to provide user dashboards — "My Tasks" for approvers and "My Forms" for initiators — using a combination of InfoPath fields, promoted columns and SharePoint site and workflow control columns. Approved new clients and matters were also added to a SharePoint list and another custom page was created to present this information as a daily conflict report. Finally, using Nintex, InfoPath and a Unified Access Gateway, users can now approve or reject forms on their smartphones using a mobile version of the InfoPath form. In addition, a mobile version of the daily conflict report (created using SharePoint object model and jQuery) can be accessed via a Web browser on mobile devices. Nintex Workflow for SharePoint provided the flexibility Poyner needed in their reinvented NBI process. With all the key components in place, it was easy to take the next step and "go mobile."