Alameda, Calif. - Workflow products will become more popular, experts say, when the middle managers who are most anxious to automate business processes can design and produce these systems with little, if any, help from programmers.
That day may be drawing near, at least based on the buzz generated by a new workflow development tool from Action Technologies, Inc., called AutoPilot, that runs on the company's Metro workflow engine. Available on a free- trial basis through May, AutoPilot is Web-based client software that uses a series of point-and-click prompts to allow non-technical users to assemble and deploy simple workflow applications in as few as 10 minutes, Action claimed.
That is no idle boast, said potential customers and analysts who were among the 200 or so to take Action up on it's 10-minute challenge at the AIIM '97 conference last month in New York. AutoPilot is not designed for high-volume production workflow applications but may provide a quick fix for the kinds of automation opportunities that overloaded IT shops often can not find time to handle.
"You really could develop a useful little applet in 10 minutes," said Ronni Marshak, an analyst with the Patricia Seybold Group, Inc. in Boston. "I mean, if you spent an hour on it, you could develop a really stellar application."
Heidi Gutenkunst, information resources coordinator for Electronic Printing Systems, Inc., in Milwaukee, used AutoPilot to fashion a workflow application that would help coordinate the myriad internal and external contributors to her company's customized- mailer production operation.
"It was amazing how easy it was," said Gutenkunst, who has no programming background.
Another trial user, a network manager, was equally impressed with AutoPilot's potential for bypassing IT backlogs.
"I'm looking at that type of tool to help my users handle the jobs they want to get done and not have to wait on IT to get them done," said Vanessa Hickman, manager of end- user support and training for Gaylord Entertainment, Inc. in Nashville. "I'm looking forward to working with [AutoPilot] to see just how much I can use it for."
Hickman envisions Gaylord's Web site manager using AutoPilot to quickly build an on-line ticket ordering application that could stand until her department is able to develop something more sophisticated. Other quickie applications at the AIIM demonstration included travel approval requests, expense reports and purchase orders.
"There are a number of quite simple processes in companies today that aren't automated because they take programmers using workflow systems to automate," said Action President Terry McGowan. "The intention is to shift more and more tools out into the hands of the knowledge worker, so that they can become more productive."
Steve Weissman, an analyst with Kinetic Information in Waltham, Mass., said he likes the concept, but suspects that AutoPilot may prove to be too much of a good thing if not closely monitored.
"Part of me wonders whether a company would want to let AutoPilot run rampant," Weissman said. "I have a feeling it falls into the same category as [electronic forms] designed in Excel or Word or any kind of goofy program that's not an E-forms program."
The prevailing view, however, is that workflow-for-the-masses products such as AutoPilot will produce more benefits than headaches for end users and network managers alike.
"We're getting to software that operates at different levels for different types of users," said Connie Moore, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Cambridge, Mass. "The whole idea is that a business person should be able to lay out their process, and then someone who can make it more technologically industrial-strength could take that and do the APIs and that kind of thing."
Action plans to release AutoPilot this summer at a price that has yet to be determined.
Action: (510) 521-6190.
