DocFlow: A document workflow management system for small office

Abstract

Document management and workflow management systems have been widely used in large business enterprises to improve productivity. However, they still do not gain large acceptance in small and medium-sized businesses due to their cost and complexity. In addition, document management and workflow management concepts are often separated from each other. We combine the two concepts together and simplify the management of both document and workflow to fit small and medium business users. Our application, DocFlow, is designed with simplicity in mind while still maintaining necessary workflow and document management standard concepts including security. Approval mechanism is also considered. A group of actors can be assigned to a task, while only one of the team members is sufficient to make the group's decision. A case study of news publishing process is shown to demonstrate how DocFlow can be used to create a workflow that fits the news publishing process. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.