[HN Gopher] Show HN: Document and automate your operations playb...
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Show HN: Document and automate your operations playbooks and
business processes
Author : taaron
Score : 83 points
Date : 2021-11-08 18:04 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.workflow86.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.workflow86.com)
| stedaniels wrote:
| Looks very smooth. Pricing seems amazing for bootstrapping. Time
| to read the docs and sign up.
| taaron wrote:
| Thank you! There are still some things that need some more
| smoothing out, so let us know if you hit any rough patches.
| Also feel free to shoot us a message if you need any help (on-
| boarding, tips, build a process for you, whatever). We should
| also gradually be releasing some instructional videos as well
| on our website.
| contingencies wrote:
| Interesting choice of _IF ... THEN ... ELSE ..._ for non-coders.
| I would have thought _IF X ... OTHERWISE ..._ would have been a
| clearer choice in context coming from many human languages.
| taaron wrote:
| We've actually had this exact discussion - based on feedback,
| we might switch over from "else then" to "otherwise" very soon.
| misterbwong wrote:
| This looks remarkably similar to n8n[1]. Is this a variant of it?
|
| [1] https://n8n.io/
| taaron wrote:
| Nope, built ourselves and no relation to n8n :) Like n8n the
| focus is a visual builder where you drag, drop and connect
| modules together.
|
| n8n has more of a focus on integrations/piping data between
| different external SaaS tools. Our focus is on performing more
| of the tasks/operations natively so you can build, run and
| manage more of your process in place.
| peer2pay wrote:
| Looks great! Out of curiosity, how do you plan to compete with &
| distinguish yourself from well-funded players in the space like
| Integromat[1] etc?
|
| [1] https://www.integromat.com
| taaron wrote:
| Right now our main point of difference is consolidation. We
| allow users to build and manage more of their workflow with
| just one platform vs duct-taping together 6 different SaaS
| tools like you would in Integromat. Our thesis is that it is
| easier to build, run and maintain more complex workflows when
| as much of its functionality as possible is managed natively in
| one place.
| peer2pay wrote:
| Thanks for the reply! My experience is that the sad reality
| of most large businesses is a vast landscape of systems
| introduced over decades and glueing them together with some
| RPA tool is a necessary evil if you want to achieve some
| level of automation.
|
| You sound like you're targeting smaller businesses with less
| complex processes that might not be fully established in
| existing systems. I can definitely see the niche there. Best
| of luck to you!
| taaron wrote:
| Yes, large and established enterprise is a tough one to
| crack. As a consultant, I've seen teams still running Lotus
| Notes (!).
| A_Duck wrote:
| I like the idea of having humans within the flow, getting
| emailed, completing tasks and marking them complete. What other
| products are there in this space?
| taaron wrote:
| A few others in this space include Process Street and Piepfy. I
| am biased, but I do think we have them beat for functionality
| and pricing though. Give them a go, give us a go, let us know
| what you think!
| jrmcauliffe wrote:
| Lotus Notes.. :-)
|
| Seriously though, visual coding/drag and drop etc are great for
| non-technical users but in my experience the issue isn't code
| vs. icons. I worked in corporate workflow development for
| around 15 years using guess what, Lotus Notes, and the 'real'
| problem was getting end users to think programmatically, not
| remember syntax / tools. You can have all the easy to use tools
| in the world, but you still need to really be able to think
| through a process.
| taaron wrote:
| 100% agree, there is a certain mindset required to go from
| "stuff I do everyday" into a structured process. We've found
| it sometimes takes a bit of pre-work, like mapping the basic
| process on paper or a whiteboard, to smooth the transition.
|
| And I have come across many a Big 4 consulting team still
| running on Lotus Notes :)
| jimmygrapes wrote:
| I couldn't tell from an initial review of the feature set, but
| does this product incorporate any sort of digital signature /
| approval process? And I don't mean integration with DocuSign or
| similar, but something built in (and legally compliant). This
| feature alone has been a pain point for me for years when it
| comes to document flow and approvals, usually because of
| exorbitant pricing for per-user signing. Contract draft developed
| by a paralegal or similar, goes to legal for initial approval,
| then goes to safety dept and finance dept for their review and
| approval, then to maintenance for feedback and approval, then
| back to the legal department for adjustment, then to the other
| party (without access to your internal system) to edit and/or
| approve "as to form" (vs approve as complete), back to your legal
| dept and then again to the various VPs/directors, etc.
|
| The other, semi-related feature I crave is the ability to
| generate entire documents from piecemeal templates. For example,
| drafting a new service contract where there are boilerplate
| paragraphs that must be included, with certain aspects
| replaceable (i.e. "Party 1" in the template can be replaced with
| "Bill's Plumbing, Inc."). Probably need to throw a force majeure
| clause in there, and an arbitration clause, and a bunch of other
| standard things, but maybe this particular document needs to have
| a clause about compliance with FAA regulations because they use
| drones to inspect piping.
|
| For those purposes, some nice haves are: Automatic renumbering of
| sections and subsections, and automatic reference updating ("In
| accordance with section 5(f)(i) documented herein" or whatever)
| if paragraphs or sections are reordered for any reason. Multiple
| columns and sections, recognition of the occasional need to print
| hard copies. Version control and diffing.
|
| Not sure if any of that makes sense or is doable already, but
| just a few thoughts on how I would personally use such a system
| as I understand it. Might not apply to the use case here, in
| which case sorry for wasting your time!
| bottled_poe wrote:
| I agree, the first thing I looked for in the docs was
| authorisation controls/checkpoints. I need a trail of approvals
| and review checkpoints. This is far more important than
| integrations, etc.
|
| Also, Business processes are not static. I would like to
| understand how changes in process are managed.
| taaron wrote:
| "the first thing I looked for in the docs was authorisation
| controls/checkpoints."
|
| We've got a component called the Assign Task that was pretty
| much built for this - its pretty flexible, but it is mainly
| used to create authorisation/control/approval/decision points
| in a workflow.
|
| Here's an example for a process to handle timesheets: https:/
| /app.workflow86.com/template/812aaa61-8e00-414d-9898-...
|
| The Assign Task component acts as a step where you can accept
| or reject the timesheet that has been submitted.
|
| The Assign Task component is probably our most popular
| component and I'd be happy to show how you can use it for
| controls/checkpoints in your use case.
|
| "Business processes are not static. I would like to
| understand how changes in process are managed."
|
| All workflows are version controlled. This means that when a
| workflow starts, it is attached to a particular version e.g.
| version 5. This means if you make changes to the workflow
| i.e. update to version 6, the workflow currently in progress
| remains at version 5 so nothing breaks. We are looking into
| the possibility of migrating in progress sessions from one
| version to another.
| taaron wrote:
| It absolutely does make sense, I was actually in corporate law
| before consulting!
|
| "does this product incorporate any sort of digital signature /
| approval process?"
|
| We have a component dedicated to building out approval steps
| and plan to integrate a way for users to "digitally sign off"
| that they completed it. Happy to chat through this use case,
| and we can build it out for you?
|
| "generate entire documents from piecemeal templates"
|
| You can indeed generate documents from templates using our
| Document Editor component with logic to select certain clauses
| etc. We've actually got a playbook for generating Non-
| Disclosure Agreements you can try out to see it in action:
| https://app.workflow86.com/template/dba33e59-e4a2-422f-9460-...
| chadwittman wrote:
| Super excited to try this out. I've been hoping for a tool in
| this space for awhile.
| taaron wrote:
| Shoot us a message if we can help in any way! Happy to build
| out a sample workflow or proof of concept, all we need is a
| description of what is involved in a process of your choice.
| gotstad wrote:
| It has been claimed for years that some day in the future
| "everyone will have to learn how to code". While I don't really
| disagree with that statement, I am much more inclined to believe
| that it will be tools like these that regular folks will adopt,
| rather than using conventional IDEs and writing scripts.
|
| My company just started using Power Automate and Power Apps, and
| after getting over the initial learnings, we have found a
| plethora of processes that are due for being automated and best
| of all, we have found that our employees quickly grasp how to
| apply it to their own domain of expertise. That rings true
| empowerment.
|
| Your project looks even more refined than Power Automate and
| Power Apps! Good job.
| taaron wrote:
| Thank you! 100% agree. The amount of operational expertise and
| knowledge held by non-technical people is massive. Empower the
| individual to unlock, capture and scale their expertise as
| software and you really do get true digital transformation.
| taaron wrote:
| Workflow86 was built based on my experience as a consultant and
| then running ops in my own start-up.
|
| All teams develop specific ways of doing things - how they handle
| pull requests, respond to incidents, handle bugs, hire new
| employees etc. These processes are important, but they often
| don't get documented, rely on lots of manual handling, and jump
| between multiple SaaS tools.
|
| Workflow86 is an all-in-one platform for building, automating,
| and managing your team's operations playbooks and business
| processes. It comes with lots of built-in functionality so you
| can do more with just Workflow86, while still making it super
| easy to integrate with other tools when needed.
|
| You use drag and drop components to build out your process step
| by step with forms, business logic, document templates and more.
| It's no-code, so non-technical team members (bizops, HR, admin,
| legal, risk and compliance) can set up playbooks and processes on
| their own.
|
| Once a playbook/process has been built, you can run them
| automatically and at scale. Trigger playbooks automatically on a
| specific event, time, submission.
|
| I also noticed that sometimes the problem is a lack of
| established playbooks/processes to begin with. So Workflow86 also
| comes with a bunch of pre-made playbooks you can download and run
| straight away in areas ranging from Cybersecurity to COVID-19
| response. This is the other big feature of Workflow86 - the
| ability to easily package and then share entire playbooks and
| processes like a Notion doc.
|
| Try it out and send any feedback our way.
| katzskat wrote:
| Looks cool! What is the pricing like for more than 10 users?
| taaron wrote:
| Thank you! Currently it is +$7 per user seat per month BUT we
| are reviewing our user seat pricing.
|
| Based on feedback, we'll likely separate out pricing based on
| user role i.e. a per editor/admin/builder user seat price and a
| much lower bulk price for 10/100/1000 end user seats.
| jcims wrote:
| Any option for dedicated tenant or onsite hosting?
| taaron wrote:
| Not as a standard feature, but it is something we can do on a
| case by case basis. Happy to chat further about this, just
| shoot us a message!
| beckingz wrote:
| Looks cool. Looks like there might be a typo in the pricing.
| Surprised to see the storage go from 5 to 5 to 50 to 5 gb.
| taaron wrote:
| Thanks for the heads up! Just fixed.
| laserlight wrote:
| I am sorry that I had to quit right away because of the stupid
| chat bot getting in front of the content, even though I was very
| interested in what this tool does.
| taaron wrote:
| Our bad! Currently stripping back the chat bot messages as we
| speak.
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