Workflow Automation and Business Process Improvement

Workflow and Process Automation A business can achieve considerable efficiencies by automating manual business processes. It is fair to say that in business today there are still far too many routine manual processes that require:

Rekeying of data from one system to another
Transposing information from paper and faxes to computer applications
Extracting, transforming and uploading data from system to system
Cutting, pasting, printing and posting
Rewriting standard emails and letters
Searching the Internet for delivery tracking details

Many LANSA customers have already deployed LANSA technology to achieve their business process automation objectives, which include:

Streamlining manual business processes
Improving application navigation and workflows
Replacing batch processing with real-time communication
Linking back-office and ERP systems to new applications like CRM
Linking existing systems with desktop applications including Microsoft Outlook and Excel
Sharing data between System i, Windows and Web applications
Connecting applications on any platform via XML Web services

Customers who have implemented workflow automation and business process improvement using LANSA

Enns Brothers, established in 1956 and based in Manitoba, Canada, sells and services John Deere agricultural equipment and Bombardier ATVs and Ski-Doo’s. By using IntelliDealer and eServices, an integrated solution for heavy equipment dealerships from LANSA partner PFW Systems Corporation, Enns Brothers has streamlined business processes and improved service by giving technicians, supervisors and customers online access to detailed equipment and real-time work order information. Technicians use wireless laptops on the job.
Read the Enns Brothers Case Study

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) is a global medical technology company that serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories and the public. BD manufactures and sells a broad range of medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment and diagnostic products. BD uses LANSA Integrator and WebMethods to exchange real-time transactions between its European sales and distribution system, third-party exchange marketplaces and BD's own global eBusiness platform.
Read the Becton Dickinson Case Study

PGI Nonwovens B.V. in the Netherlands (PGI) is part of Polymer Group, Inc., a global supplier of engineered materials and one of the world's leading producers of nonwoven materials for medical, hygiene, wiping, industrial and specialty uses. PGI used Visual LANSA to automate over 30 production lines in its converting and manufacturing plants in Cuijk in the Netherlands. The applications integrate in real time with PGI’s PRMS ERP system and drive barcode scanners, label printers and robotic devices for counting and packing products and applying labels.
Read the PGI Case Study

LANSA solutions for workflow automation and business process improvement

LANSA Composer delivers the power of Business Process Integration (BPI) technology in a highly visual environment so designers and business analysts, rather than developers, can rapidly automate and integrate business processes. LANSA Composer is a design and execution platform for integrating business activities involving transport and transformation of data and custom business processing.

RAMP from LANSA – the Rapid Application Modernization Process – is the fastest and most certain way to modernize and web-enable your existing System i applications. RAMP is a single integrated solution that addresses both your immediate and strategic modernization requirements. What's unique about RAMP is it's a "reengineering" product that lets you rapidly consolidate your applications into a graphic application framework and then incrementally replace your legacy programs with new reengineered components – in a timeframe that makes sense to your organization.

LANSA Integrator takes the complexity out of implementing Web services for a LANSA or traditional 3GL developer. It provides a range of services that handle common eBusiness integration tasks such as processing XML and transporting data over common protocols such as FTP, HTTP or by email. It also used for creating and reading common file types such as PDF, ZIP, CSV and Excel workbooks.

Visual LANSA is the only Integrated Development Environment (IDE) you will ever need. You can easily add workflow functionality to your existing core Windows or System i applications or automate manual processes. Visual LANSA is a development tool tightly focused on just one thing – rapidly creating high quality commercial applications. But it is not simply a more productive IDE, Visual LANSA’s platform independent meta data repository and high-level business-focused 4GL let you develop 5250, Web and Windows rich-client programs – from a single code base.

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In Outbound marketing customers pay by the hour. To deliver value for money, it is important that we can handle as many quality phone calls in an hour as possible. With the new LANSA-based system we make 15 percent more calls per hour and have better tools to improve our score.

Patrick Veling, Head of the Telemarketing Department at MarktSelect

Our team doesn't need to work overtime anymore. We can process shipments a lot faster, more accurate and with less staff. Since shipment details are updated in real-time they are immediately available for inquiry by our customer service staff. Now one person can handle the entire procedure from start to end, and this makes it easier to assign responsibility for each shipment.

Mr. Atsushi Saito, Manager Shipping Division at Utax

We have been able to minimize the sales persons' administration time. And the more we can do that, the more opportunity that person has to increase sales. Obviously there are savings as well, but that is difficult to quantify. Our sales fulfilment process was so fragmented before that we couldn't really measure the true costs.

Andy Bowman, Manager Sales Fulfilment at Hershey Foods Corporation