Business Process Management Overview

Through business process management, you can use standard protocols to call advanced Ajera CRM functionality or third-party applications.

Business Processes

The business processes are as follows:

• User Initiated Workflow — The User Initiated workflow is triggered when you add, edit, or delete an Info Center record. For example, you could trigger a workflow whenever you save a new project record in the Info Center. If you set up such a workflow, Ajera CRM can send an email message on your behalf, present a validation warning or error message to the user, or even pass along information about the project to an external program or stored procedure that you write yourself. Then the external program or stored procedure could extend the workflow, for example, by passing the information to a project team collaboration site, where the project's information is routed to the Principal for approval.

  In addition to non-programming actions like email messages and dashboard alerts, user initiated workflows can use the following advanced actions: custom methods, functions, stored procedures, and web services.

• Scheduled Workflow — The Scheduled workflow is triggered when you click a user-defined button or starts according to a set schedule. For example, you could add a Project Meeting Audit Scheduled Workflow button. When an impromptu project meeting is called because a client has scheduled an unexpected site visit, you can open the project record, click the Project Meeting Audit Scheduled Workflow button, and trigger a chain of scheduled workflows to alert the team members, validate project data, and update the project collaboration site.

  In addition to non-programming actions like email and dashboard alerts, scheduled workflows can use the following advanced actions: custom methods, functions, stored procedures, and web services.

• Web Services Workflow — You can call a web service in order to integrate Ajera CRM data with another application. For example, you could specify in a web service that when you save an Employee Info Center record, it interfaces with the Ajera CRM Info Center to share employee information between the Employee Info Center and your organization's third-party human resource application. Rather than entering employee information in both applications, the Web Service automatically updates the information from the Employee Info Center into your human resource application so the databases remain consistent and up-to-date.

Advanced Actions

In both User Initiated Workflows and Scheduled Workflows, business processes can be further extended using advanced actions. Advanced actions allow you to tailor business processes to meet your organization’s requirements. Some of these advanced actions are defined and configured by Ajera CRM, and others are completely customizable through advanced programming. The advanced actions include:

• Custom Methods — A custom method is a program that you can write (in the form of a DLL) that resides on the Ajera CRM application server. For example, you can use a custom method to modify your Ajera CRM database if the standard Ajera CRM behavior doesn't suit your company's needs. Custom methods allow you to use the same database connection and transaction being used by Ajera CRM itself. Therefore, they can be particularly useful when you want to make additional updates to the Ajera CRM database, and include those updates in the same transaction as the original action being performed by the user (for example, saving a new project record).
• Expressions — You can use an expression in the Column Change Workflow action to automatically populate data in a User Initiated or Scheduled Workflow.
• Functions — You can use functions to input parameters on a method that you insert on a form in Ajera CRM. After selecting the method, you can use the SQL Expression builder to create an argument that defines the function.
• Stored Procedures — If you do not want to write Visual Basic or C# code in the form of a custom method, you can instead used stored procedures to execute custom SQL on the Ajera CRM database. Although creating a stored procedure requires knowledge of T-SQL, it is an efficient method to use. However, there are some limitations to stored procedures, including that you are limited to operations inside the database and that you cannot pass back validation messages to the user.
• Web Services — You can call a web service to integrate Ajera CRM data with another application. For example, you could specify in a web service that, when you save an Employee Info Center record, it interfaces with the Ajera CRM Info Center to share employee information between the Employee Info Center and your organization's third-party human resource application. Rather than entering employee information in both applications, the Web Service could automatically update your human resource application with the information from the Employee Info Center so that the databases remain consistent and up-to-date.
• Workflow Alerts — Workflow alerts are configurable and provide the flexibility to trigger and schedule alerts based on your company’s requirements. These differ from the standard System and Company alerts that are pre-configured in Ajera CRM.

Applications that Use Advanced Actions

Advanced actions are used in the following Ajera CRM applications:

Advanced Action	Application
Workflow Alerts	Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers
Custom Methods	Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers; Auto Numbering
Expressions	Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers; Auto Numbering
Functions	Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers
Stored Procedures	Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers; Auto Numbering
Web Services	Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers; Web Service Workflow; Auto Numbering

Standard Features for Automating Business Processes

You can also use some standard features to automate business processes.

• Standard Alerts — Standard alerts are pre-configured in Ajera CRM and are designed to remind you when tasks need to be assigned or approved and when your opportunities advance from one stage to the next.
• User Defined Workflow Button — The Ajera CRM Screen Designer includes a feature that allows you to insert a user defined workflow button on a form to initiate a workflow. For example, you could create a Scheduled Workflow called Validate Address, which has a web service action that validates a contact’s address through a mapping Web site. Then, when a user enters a contact’s address, he or she could click on a button to start that workflow process and actually validate the address. This feature is accessible on forms where the Screen Designer and Workflow are both available.