In short
- Start with one process with many documents and a clear cost, e.g. purchase invoices or orders.
- Design the approval path with exceptions: stand-ins, rejections, amounts that need higher approval.
- Documents arrive in many formats - the system must accept PDFs, scans, email and files from other systems.
- The ERP integration decides whether data really stops being retyped.
- An archive with search and change history is a benefit felt from day one.
Pick the first process
The best start is a process with many documents, several people involved and a clear cost of delays. Typical examples are purchase invoices, customer orders, acceptance reports, contracts and leave requests.
Rolling out all processes at once usually ends in a long project and tired people. One well-working process convinces the team to do the next ones.
Design the approval path
Draw who approves the document and in what order, then add the exceptions - they decide whether the workflow works in practice:
- stand-ins during holidays and absences,
- rejection and return for correction,
- amount thresholds that need higher-level approval,
- urgent documents and payment deadlines,
- notifications and reminders about waiting documents.
Accept documents in any format
Documents rarely arrive in one format: a PDF from an email, a paper scan, a photo from a phone, an XML file from another system. The workflow should accept them, read the data it needs and pass it on without manual retyping - with a person only checking and approving.
Connect the workflow to the ERP
Without an integration, a document workflow just moves the retyping from one place to another. An approved invoice or order should reach the ERP automatically, with duplicate checks and an alert when the ERP does not respond.
Common implementation mistakes
- Copying the paper process 1:1, including steps that only existed because of paper.
- Ignoring exceptions - after the approver's first holiday, documents get stuck.
- No ERP integration, so data is retyped anyway.
- Implementing without the people who run the process every day.