Sales transactions and information are dependent upon approvals. Deltek Costpoint WorkFlow can automate the approval process to increase the productivity of business units, improve the quality of work, whilst expediting and streamlining operations.
Speed and timing are of the utmost importance in sales. From identifying opportunities, arranging demos, generating quotes, and completing follow-ups, there are several steps involved in the sales cycle. Now, if the sales team gets stuck or held up during any step in this cycle, there is a good chance they will lose the deal. Speed kills, and if your approval processes are slow, one of your competitors will snatch up your opportunity.
Often, it is found that the approvals of key screens in Costpoint remain in a pending status because the approver is unaware that action is required. As a result, transactions and processes get delayed. Costpoint’s default approval process does not notify the approver when key information is ready to be approved or offer the user the flexibility to choose when approval is necessary and when it is not. This can lead to increased frustration when a decision and/or action is not taken and causes business to grind to a halt.
Process improvements to workflow automation can address such approval concerns while offering increased visibility and oversight into the organization's bottlenecks.
Process Improvement Services
We specialize in helping government contractors personalize Deltek Costpoint to optimize existing business processes and functionality through proven/trusted process improvements and system enhancements using WorkFlow Approval & Extensibility.
5 Benefits of Approval Workflow Automation in Deltek Costpoint:
1. Speedier and More Efficient Transactions
When workflows become automated, it reduces the time to complete processes speeding up approvals and allowing for more efficient transactions. In the case of sales, an enhanced workflow can allow for more prompt decision-making and increase sales efforts to acquire additional customers.
As an example let’s say, your sales team submits a sales order in Costpoint and then creates a purchase requisition from that sales order. With a custom workflow, we can choose who approves the requisition or we can choose to bypass the purchase requisition approval process altogether and instantly create a purchase order, cutting out the "middle-man" approval and speeding up our sales cycle. This means sales won't have to wait for manual approvals of transactions of this type and can deliver products or services to the customer sooner.
The options and possibilities to streamline workflows for speedier and more efficient transactions are endless, it all truly depends on your unique business and how we can enhance your manual processes. With Costpoint’s Workflow Approval (WFA) as you input the correct information in the system, and begin the workflow it will automatically pick the parameters of workflow and route them to the appropriate managers for quicker approvals.
2. Less Micromanagement
When every transaction has to be closely monitored at every approval step, it can create unnecessary stress for management. On the other hand, if managers have to wait for the approval of every transaction regardless of price or size, accountability becomes diminished. Lastly, there is a simple fact that employees don’t like to be micromanaged – it can lead to distrust and frustration.
Workflow automation ensures that all approvals in Costpoint flow step by step, and every person involved in the chain of transactions has clearly defined accountability. This will eliminate the need for excessive or redundant controls.
3. Paperless Transactions
While most organizations these days have switched to electronic approvals, lessening dependence on physical paperwork, others are still reliant on a manual paper trail approval process. As an example, let's say every time sales prints a quote or has an order, they have to walk to the desk of the sales manager approver for a signature. The papers could become lost, misplaced, or overlooked, and could never become approved or rejected. And, imagine what can happen if the transaction has to go through multiple manual approvers... Yikes!
However, with Costpoint Workflow Approval, all approvals become digital, information, and transactions are automatically routed to each person in the process. Electronic inboxes replace physical ones. Automatic routing rules replace manual copying and distribution. Processes and activities are documented and workload is automated and measured. Workflow can be applied to virtually any business process that impacts the accounting, contracts, purchasing, or HR departments of your company, such as setting up a particular type of contract, hiring an employee, approving a purchase order, and month-end close procedures. With Costpoint workflows, your processes will not only go paperless and embrace automation but also become a more streamlined and less error-prone process.
4. Increased Visibility
Would it really be a valid excuse to tell a customer that their order is late because a certain transaction is still in a pending status awaiting approval? Of course not!
One of the most important aspects of the Costpoint Workflow Approval is the visibility it gives to management. When you initiate or complete business processes using Workflow, there is a historical record of activities. This audit trail allows managers to check the status of the Workflow and examine trends in work productivity. Managers can increase or decrease their internal control over procedures, resolve bottlenecks, redesign workflows, and monitor employee efficiency without becoming micromanagers.
5. Business Insights
Know your who, what, when, where, why, and how – Workflow automation can give you a holistic picture of the way processes are happening within your organization. In the case of a Contractor Purchasing System Review (CPSR) or compliance audit, the detailed audit trail reports of approvals can present useful insights into the business transactions in question.
The Bottom Line:
Now that you know the reasons why automation is necessary for approval workflow in Costpoint, it is also equally important to choose a partner who understands business process improvements and how to implement them through control flows and programming logic
Kinetek has extensive experience in developing personalized Workflow Approvals for Costpoint business processes including billing approvals, journal entry approvals, project funding approvals, new user approvals, new general ledger account approvals, and new organization approvals. Contact our team below and let's discuss how to automate and improve your approval process with Costpoint's Workflow Approval.