Solutions Blog

http://www.zf-trading.com/

Mission
With 1300 employees worldwide, ZF Trading is a strong company in the automotive aftermarket. The main brands are Sachs, Boge and Lemfoerder.

Testimonial
"While re-organising our processes, we had the desire to implement an application, that supports us in integrating them into our IntraNet quickly and easily. The tool had to be web-based, lean and very easy to use. We found all of these attributes in one solution named "WorkflowGen". It's a very practical tool with a lot of possibilities. Thanks to the SDK, even our existing applications (e.g. ERP, Microsoft Exchange) could be connected without any problems."
Stephan Hubner, IT-Coordination and Web-Applications
 
Business Challenge
Already running an IntraNet, several core applications and an ERP, ZF Trading wanted to optimize procedures that were still processed manually as paper or unstructured e-mail workflows (launch of new products, work-leave applications, training reservation, user appliance, etc). The business challenge was to automate and optimize those procedures, integrate them into the existing IntraNet and create the required interfaces to existing applications and the ERP system.
 
WorkflowGen Solution
Functional Solution
The Implementation is very fast and uncomplicated. Identification of existing or new workflows is an ongoing process that runs along side the implementation. For highest effectiveness, there are process administrators in the IT as well as in every major department.

Technical Solution
We are using the SQL Server version of WorkflowGen together with the Microsoft Exchange Connector to synchronize user data. We will switch to the Active Directory Connector in the future. The Software Development Kit is a useful 'add-on' to build interfaces between workflows and existing applications.
 
Benefits 
WorkflowGen is completely web based, so the integration into existing IntraNets can be done rapidly with all the assets of the thin client approach.

• Two days of training enabled the process administrators to build up the first simple processes within a few hours.
• Now there is the possibility of integrating nearly any existing or new application thanks to the SDK.
• Excellent support of Advantys for installation and implementation of the first processes.