Bryan Roberts writes... Business process management (BPM), also commonly referred to as workflow, has become increasingly vital to law firms.  Seeking operational efficiency and responsiveness, firms have begun to automate a variety of business processes – everything from simple tasks, like approvals, to more complicated multi-step, multi-system workflows like file opening.

Like other business management software providers, ADERANT has worked to ensure that law firms could access workflow from within our applications, primarily accomplished by integrating ADERANT Expert with standalone workflow systems. Over the years, however, we have come to the conclusion that process management should be an inherent, seamless part of any enterprise-wide software system for law firms.  ADERANT is taking a different approach to workflow, one that provides law firms with an industry standard workflow tool, not a proprietary technology.

Different Approaches to Workflow
There are significant differences in how workflow application suppliers and practice management software (PMS) companies are approaching BPM in the legal industry. Which approach is better: stand-alone or embedded?

Stand-alone BPM applications were introduced at a time when there were few other choices for law firms. Besides having a limited functional scope, PMS solutions could support only simplistic workflows and required extensive integrations to share information with other applications. If a law firm needed to manage a complex workflow or automate a process involving multiple systems, their only real choice was a dedicated, stand-alone workflow product. Unfortunately, these applications used proprietary workflow engines and cumbersome customisation tools, which made them costly and difficult to implement.

Today, BPM has gained in popularity and acceptance, and the need for stand-alone workflow solutions has decreased. One reason is that PMS suppliers are embedding workflow directly within their applications in response to client demand, and to increase the velocity at which matters and other information is managed internally and externally.  

Software Developer versus Tool Provider
Upon re-examining our workflow strategy more than two years ago, we identified two basic options; develop our own proprietary workflow engine (following in the footsteps of the stand-alone workflow and other PMS suppliers) or leverage standard, open technologies.

First and foremost, ADERANT is a developer of business software, not a technology tools company. It did not make sense for us – either technically or financially – to reinvent the wheel when it came to workflow. Instead, we looked at how leading technology companies like Microsoft have been addressing workflow. Microsoft, building on more than a decade of BPM experience gained with BizTalk, created a consistent workflow technology base it could use in all of its products, as well as make available to its 600,000 partners worldwide; thus the introduction of the Windows Workflow Foundation. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663328.aspx


Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is a development technology that is part of .NET Framework 3.0, Microsoft’s managed code component of Windows. Consisting of an activity model, workflow designer, workflow runtime, and a rules engine, WF allows developers to easily embed workflow functionality into any Windows application.

WF fundamentally changes how software developers can incorporate workflow functionality into their applications. It transforms workflow from a highly specialised, expensive, and proprietary technology into a standard tool set that can be added to any application, much like radio-button controls or database connectivity.

Expert Workflow
ADERANT is making workflow part of the core technology architecture of ADERANT Expert, its business management application suite, utilising Windows Workflow Foundation. The beta program for ADERANT’s first WF-enabled application, Expert Workflow, focused on file opening, is currently under way with general availability scheduled for the first half of 2008. Leveraging WF frees us from focusing on the technical aspects of workflow and enables us to concentrate on how the technology can be best used to manage people and processes, which is what business process management, is all about.

WF will deliver a variety of benefits to ADERANT clients, including:

•    Low cost – Since WF is a development technology, not a product, there’s no associated Microsoft server or client licenses to purchase. This will allow ADERANT to deliver workflow capabilities at a far lower price point than other suppliers.

•    Easy integration – As a core Microsoft technology, WF will be used by other Microsoft applications, such as Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Active Directory, and much more. Since it is part of .NET Framework 3.0, WF will also be exceptionally easy to integrate with other applications.

•    Easy development – WF workflows can be created or modified through Visual Studio 2005, eliminating the need for expensive resources and making customisations a snap.

•    Flexibility – WF will give ADERANT clients the flexibility to change ADERANT Expert as their business needs change. WF provides a model where a set of activities can be built in ADERANT Expert, but each law firm can determine the properties of those activities and how they are executed. WF with ADERANT allows law firms to dynamically change and customise their business processes as their needs change and evolve. The end result; law firms are supported by software that can be easily changed to support new business strategies, without costly reimplementation or customisation.

Conclusion
Law firms now have several distinct choices when it comes to automating workflow via third party means; choose stand-alone products that require extensive integration and customisation to work properly, go with embedded workflow capabilities that use a proprietary workflow engine and development environment, or choose to embed standard workflow capabilities using tools created and backed by Microsoft. ADERANT, based on its experience with how law firms operate, and its extensive partnership with Microsoft, is following the latter approach based on Windows Workflow Foundation, and its promise to deliver the most capabilities and best overall value for law firms.


• Bryan Roberts is Vice President, International Sales, for ADERANT, a global provider of business and financial management software for law firms. He is based in the company’s London office and can be reached at bryan.roberts@aderant.com