News and Guidelines

On 22nd July 2015 we released Nintex Forms Enterprise edition. Nintex Forms Enterprise includes the ability to bring external database connectivity and web services to forms. In this post I will demonstrate how to use the Web Request Control to create live weather data feed for a Sailboat booking form. The Web Request control allows you to call REST APIs using either GET or POST requests by simply entering basic information such as Service URL, Request Method (GET or POST) and Authentication Type (supported types: Anonymous, Basic Authentication or Windows Authentication) . This control leverages the SharePoint Secure Store Service in order to protect the Credentials . Simply enter the target application id stored in Secure Store Service containing the credentials. For more information about Secure Store Service on SharePoint, see the Microsoft article Configure the Secure Store Service in SharePoint 2013.  This Control also supports multiple display formats similar to Nintex Choice Co

This month, we’re highlighting a feature that, will save you a staggering amount of time and project hours. The document replacement feature is essential for anyone creating eSignature templates for their documents prior to being sent for signature. If you have business processes involving lengthy form packets and multiple forms—or, perhaps, shorter documents prone to minor changes periodically—you will see the greatest level of benefit. What is the new document replacement feature?If you’ve ever used eSignature to digitally transform your business’s forms or documents, you may be familiar with where our inspiration for the document replacement tool originated from. Replacing a template’s document can potentially save weeks (or months) of otherwise wasted time or effort, you must understand the role that layers play when digitizing documents for eSignature… “When users begin ‘creating’ a document for eSignature, they’re actually creating a separate layer on top of the document(s) they’

 When enabled, AssureSign Professional and Enterprise customers can generate a Static Link (URL/link) within the Simple Setup > Template environment. You can then embed that URL/link onto your organization’s intranet or website or send the link to signers by email or by leveraging AssureSign’s Bulk Send function.Signers can click the link to complete/sign your forms and documents. Once submitted, the completed forms are sent back to you (or the document originator) and individually stored with the rest of your “Completed Documents” in the AssureSign Portal.  

Getting started with process documentation and management can be intimidating. Amongst other things, many businesses struggle with how to organize their processes. Thankfully, there are many helpful resources just a mouse-click away that can help us in this endeavor. Regarding process organization specifically, there are many free process reference models available. Perhaps the most popular process reference model is the Cross-Industry Process Classification Framework (PCF) published and managed by the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC). This reference model is “a list of universal business processes performed by every business, giving you a common language to communicate and define work processes across your organization.” In addition to the Cross-Industry PCF, APQC also offers many industry-specific PCFs. To help our clients develop a useful process framework in Promapp, we have created template of the Cross-Industry PCF for download on our Solution Accelerator Gallery

 Support frontline workers with NWC and Microsoft ShiftsIn the current climate, it is more important than ever to automate internal processes in order to free up employees to focus on mission critical tasks. Using Nintex Workflow Cloud and Microsoft Shifts, we can automate your frontline's shift scheduling and leave request process to support key workers to spend less time on admin and more time doing what they do best.  What is Microsoft Shifts?Microsoft Shifts is a Microsoft Teams add-on that can be used to create schedules for shift workers. In this example MS Shifts will be the scheduling front-end tool. How will we connect NWC with MS Shifts?In order to automate our scheduling process, we will use a custom Extender (which can be downloaded from the Connector Gallery). It utilises the Microsoft Graph API, so you will need to register an app in Azure Active Directory to grant the necessary permissions for interaction with Microsoft Shifts. The next section describes how you create t

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - A Deep Dive into K2 Designer - Part 2 - Smart Views Smart Views are the core user interface, and medium of capturing user input to be sent to the DB via smart object, and is also where data retrieved from a DB can be visualized by the user. Smart Views are often referred to as sections of a form as 1 or multiple views make up a Smart Form. Smart Views can be generated from smart objects, which generates fields representing each column within the smart object. In a Smart View, a field is referred to as a "Control".The controls within a smart view maybe changed to suit the nature of a process, however, the compatibility of your control and its connected data source column data types are vital, as conversion errors may occur if values are passed between non compatible types e.g. Text to Number's or Boolean to Number etc.. There are 2 types of Smart Views. The "Item view" & the "List view". Item View: The item view allows

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - A Deep Dive into K2 Designer - Part 3 - Smart Forms Smart Forms are K2 building blocks that are composed of one or more Smart Views that work together to achieve a specific objective. They are the backbone of a request process. Similarities of Smart Forms and Smart Views: Both are user interfaces that connect to external data sources via smart objects for both reading & writing data. They both are made up of a control designer canvas which developers can use to create new and amend existing controls. They both have a capability for creating Rules consisting of Events, Conditions & Actions for creating functionality in common. Differences between Smart Forms and Smart Views: Smart views enable controls within the view to interact where as a Smart Form also enables view controls to communicate with controls of different views within the form to achieve a specific goal. Smart Views maybe reused in multiple forms to r

Many simple workflow solutions are linear in nature. Using a document review as an example, the simple workflows allow a reviewer to make a decision that is either to approve or reject the document. If they reject, the original author gets informed and the workflow stops. In reality people do not work this way and a document review often involves multiple iterations and reviews until everyone is happy with the document. What the workflow needs is a command to send the document back to the original author for rework but with the simple solutions this concept does not exist so workflow developers end up building complicated loops. I’ve provided an example below using Nintex of how to do this. NB do not copy this example – it is horrible and there is a much better way if you continue reading! In the example you can see that the workflow designer has to set an approval status. If the status = work in progress (WIP), the workflow will loop as many times as is necessary for the reviewer and

Preview from: Is it a process? Many of the clients I work with are just starting their process improvement journey. For the first time in years – perhaps ever – they are working intentionally to get control of their processes, instead of letting their processes have control over them. Part of this initial effort includes identifying and documenting the processes within their team, department, and/or enterprise. Despite their best intentions, many of these process newcomers tend to struggle when it comes to identifying the processes that need to be documented for management and improvement. More specifically, they are sometimes inclined to identify processes that are not really processes at all. In other words – the scope of the “process” is too small and does not need to be managed or improved in isolation. My aim in the content that follows is to provide some helpful and simple guidelines that will aid process champions as they identify, map, manage, and improve processes at the appro

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - A Deep Dive into K2 Designer - Part 1 - Smart Objects Following my last post which introduced the 3 K2 modules, K2 Workspace, K2 Designer & K2 Management. This article provides deeper insight into K2 Designer and its first building block "Smart Objects". This is part 1 of "A Deep Dive into K2 Designer" and will be followed with articles that drill deeper into the other K2 Designer building blocks "Smart Views", "Smart Forms" and "Workflow". Smart Objects: Being a middle layer between the external data source and the user interface via a service object, there are 3 types of smart objects in K2. The "Smart Box", "Advanced Smart Object" & the "Composite Smart Object". Smart Box:The Smart box is a smart object that automatically creates a storage location with a local system DB. It is not recommended to use a smart box for hosting process related data, as that may result in performance issues due to process usage load

There comes a point in every organization where we need to keep growing and the end result is hiring more staff and larger operating budgets.Our teams are telling us that they are simply too busy and do not have capacity to take on new initiatives.Having used K2 extensively for the past 7 years as both a customer and a consultant for customers, I have gained extensive knowledge and insights that I would like to share with you.Most organizations evolve into a workforce suffering from administration overload and fatigue. I bet you have heard about the story of the frog and the boiling water. We go through our daily routines without noticing the gradual changes, which causes all sorts of problems when it is simply too late to remedy them. By our very nature, humans like routines — they make us feel comfortable and we prefer to operate in our comfort zone for a reason. Never let the “slow boiling water” kill you. Business Process Automation has matured immensely and the uptake is increasin

I must have one of the best jobs ever! Could this be due to the fact that:·        I am daily changing the lives of others?·        I am able to build whatever solution I can think of?·        I have absolute confidence in what I promise and will deliver?·        I facilitate change?·        I can do all this in the comfort of my home?How?I am armed with one of the best development tools I have ever came across.K2 is a game changer, every time. I often get asked the question – what is K2 and what can we do with it? I find it difficult to put K2 in a box, since great things are not easily boxed. My response to this question is often, whatever you want - I can create with K2.It is not an HR Tool or a Purchasing Toolset etc., but could be all of that and hence my personal motto:If you can think it, you can build it with K2. After walking the change journey with a few corporates now, I immediately recognize the reaction that I get next – you must be kidding me!The rewarding part of these j

Having been actively developing solutions using K2/SQL as the main vehicle for the last 7 years, I have certainly been able to considerably change the modus operandi of various corporates.I am now completing my latest customer engagement after 12 months of committing 50% of my available time.The times that we find ourselves in, has drastically shifted the mindsets and the trust required to allow remote working and this allowed me to complete the entire outsourcing project whilst only requiring 2 customer visits – ideal when 1700 kms apart.K2 has allowed me to introduce the following benefits into these corporates with relative ease:Visibility, Performance Improvements, Reduced Paper and Easy retrieval of filed documents, Cost Saving, Reduction in Administrative Tasks and so much more.Not only is the turnaround time of solutions lightning fast compared to traditional technologies, but what is attractive, is the reduce resources required.I have now had the privilege of starting green-fie

Having reached the first milestone of my Outsourcing Contract with my new Customer - 45 days, I now have the time to reflect on my experience. What Covid has taught me is that Corporates are a lot more reluctant to spend money without being assured of their investments.I got asked the question this week on what the actual timeframe is for a return on investment when implementing K2. Often the questions are accompanied by comments like: "it is all just promises from Sales" and "how big is your development team?".My first response is always: I am not in Sales and do not have the luxury of a Team to work in and therefore my experiences are real and therefore I am able to reflect as such.As a One-Man Team, I do the Analysis, Database Design, Development, Training, and Support, and obviously, this needs to be factored into what is possible and the answer to this question.I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to implement automation using this technology at 2 corporates from scratc

As promised at the end of last week, I would give some details pertaining to the Vendor Reconciliation solution that I was asked to design using K2. This again demonstrated the value of a great enabling tool like K2. It also clearly underlines my views on how K2 becomes the glue that connects solutions (referred to as dots). Solutions becomes more complex when connecting 2 or more dots, but it also increases the benefits exponentially.Therefore, single dots add value, but more than one dot is a certain game changer.From a timing point-of-view, I was asked on Friday, a specification approved on Tuesday and the solution ready for implementation on Friday. This demonstrates the agility of K2 and more importantly the value of the journey and the availability of dots to connect.An overview of the Existing ProcessA Creditor clerk receives a Vendor Statement, prints it out as well as the associated invoices. An XL recon gets prepared and the payments are created in the financial system. A pay

Learn the true definition of process excellence and uncover the power of a center of excellence What is it? Process excellence is an orientation and a culture within an organization that aspires to be more effective, efficient and engaged in achieving consistently higher outcomes for everyone involved. That kind of focus needs to be cultivated. It is not the result of a one-off project or a lucky break with a few good hires. It is designed, maintained, and it is driven with those outcomes in mind.What is involved in Operational Excellence? It does not just happen by itself! Growing great processesThink of your process culture like an award-winning garden. Whether you aspire to carefully manicured lawns, artfully trained roses, or a rambling cottage garden of wildflowers, none of it happens without care, planning and ongoing work. It is a team effort that requires the attention of people who know what they are doing and the cooperation of the people who are there every day.The center of

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - Introduction to Nintex K2 Five and its 3 Core Modules - K2 Workspace, K2 Designer, K2 Management Nintex K2 Five is a leading low code platform that enables process automation and application building via low code and citizen development. K2 consists of 3 main consoles. The K2 Workspace, K2 Designer and K2 Management. K2 Workspace is the landing hub of the platform. It is the transit area which a user may use to navigate to the other 2 modules of K2 mentioned above. It also acts as a user’s dashboard, where users may view their inbox for tasks pending their action, links to forms they had created, reports of their process usage and a link to the App store which they may use for downloading apps built by other members of the community to incorporate them within their development process. The workspace may also be customized to specific corporate requirements. K2 Designer is the heart of K2. It is where developers can start

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - Starting your automation journey using low code in 10 steps To kick start your automation, your starting point would be a. An analysis to your corporate processes to identify the number of processes that require automation (Define scope) b. Their current state (fully unautomated or semi automated). To get a glimpse of what is required. To identify how well the processes are defined and whether they are robust or if they require optimization and improvement Identify common sets of data that are redundant across multiple forms e.g. Employee Data which is used on most corporate request forms. This will be helpful in planning for the creation of common objects for reusability which is one of the most beneficial features of low code platforms that eliminate redundant effort Defining the source of truth for reading common sets of data e.g. your company ERP or Active Directory to ensure data integrity and standardization Define

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - Final preparations before starting to build using your low code platform   It is not uncommon that the general average user is excited to jump directly into the build phase of any project as that is where the fruits start to reap. The attractive speed of delivery and the concept of citizen development using low code further increases the urge.   However, before introduction of any change, the definitions of the standards, governance model and quality checks are core to ensure a successful implementation.   Result of not defining the prior, will result in:   1) Developers building custom components for components that are meant to be common. This causes confusion to the end user and results in low satisfaction levels. As an example, each developer may build a custom object for approving or reviewing a task and so the end user would find it frustrating familiarizing him/herself with how to perform a common task   2)System p

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - The concept of low code, citizen development and their vital role in Digital Transformation: The concept of low code in itself is not new. However, the evolution in capabilities of such platforms and the continuous change in how we do business over the past decade has labeled low code platforms as a catalyst to digital transformation positioning them at the top of corporate agendas and a vital component of corporate strategies. Shift in how we do business and the move from the "Classical IT departments" model, where IT was viewed for many years as the sole place to go to for any technology related services or issues, has increased the demand on low code platforms As intuitive as the name may seem, Low code refers to the nature of platforms that allow users to satisfy their build requirements with very limited amount of coding needed if any at all in simpler scenarios. In the front end, code consoles are replaced with a li

Low Code Automation & Nintex K2 Five Journey By Nintex MVP - Business Process Management (BPM) vs Business Process Automation (BPA): In simple terms, automation is non other than the utilization of technology to digitize current manual or semi manual business processes. Business Process Management involves the definition, modelling, creating, enhancing and optimizing a process.Its core involves Business Process Re-Engineering in which business processes are analyzed thoroughly to identify and pinpoint redundancies, unnecessary complexities, contradictions and gaps in an attempt to remodel and make processes more efficient which results in a value addition and a better user experience.Although, automation may provide value addition via optimizing cost and reducing process turn over time, the expectancy of automation and technology to resolve process related issues is a pitfall that is very common. The true problem lies within the quality of process definition and documentation.Proce

I recently had a client ask me if there was a way to automatically update the Role annual costs in Promapp and keep them in sync with their HR/Financial system.  As the roles and their annual costs are manually maintained in Promapp, I thought it would be a good use case for Nintex RPA.   I am going to walk you through the botflow that I built to accomplish this. The botflow I am walking through in this blog is available to download from our Nintex Gallery at this link. The first thing you would need is an export from the HR/Financial system with that lists the roles and costs you wish to update in Promapp. This spreadsheet will be used to search for the roles in Promapp and then update the costs.  The roles listed on the spreadsheet will need to match the roles in Promapp exactly in order for the bot to search for and update them.  Now let’s take a look at the RPA bot, the first thing that the bot is going to do is open the exported workbook and select the data in the worksheet to cre

#RPA #RPASolutions #Robotics #ProcessAutomation #ProcessDiscovery #DigitalTransformation  When you think of RPA, there are several tech-related questions that might come to mind. Will RPA replace my job? Should I be worried about RPA adoption in the workplace? Can RPA even help my department? Check out our answers to the most commonly asked RPA questions below:  1) Is RPA only applicable for IT services?  Automation may have been conceived in the back office but RPA can help the entire business. As RPA gains more maturity we can expect to see RPA not only in transactional or back office environments, but also in middle and front office settings – anywhere there is a large amount of data sets and inefficient processes.  2) Is RPA only about cost reduction?  RPA offers the solution to many of the challenges that organizations and BPOs currently face. However, it's not only about cost reduction, but also about driving predictability, providing higher process quality, speeding up time to c

List item attachments are not available from a task form – even one customized with Nintex Forms. Providing all pertinent information (including related documents) to complete an approval task from a single form, can go a long way toward making the user experience as seamless as possible for approvers. This post walks through meeting this requirement by leveraging a custom action created by Nintex Technical Evangelist, Vadim Tabakman. But, what if you don’t have access to deploy a custom action to your SharePoint environment? The following solution produces a similar outcome, without the need for any custom actions. The WorkflowGet AttachmentsFirst, use the Call web service action to get all attachments from the current item and store the URLs to a multi line of text variable.Next, use the Query XML action to parse through the web service result and get a collection of attachment URLs.Start an HTML TableThe collection of URLs needs to be formatted in a user friendly way for the task fo

The Nintex Product team continues to innovate our Nintex Analytics ­capabilities, and we are excited to share some of the latest enhancements. The needs of our users have always dictated how we prioritize our Nintex Platform roadmap. To gain actionable feedback and direction for this product update, we conducted in-depth research to understand our users’ most pressing pain points using our older analytics tool, Nintex Analytics. In the latest version of Nintex Analytics, we strived to provide better insights into how our customers utilized their Nintex investments. The new dashboard presents data in a more digestible and visual way so you can easily understand how the Nintex Platform is performing in your organization. We focused on building a strong foundation to rapidly expand beyond just workflow, so you can easily integrate other parts of the Nintex Platform. What changes were made to Nintex Analytics?In the latest version of Nintex Analytics, we focused on four main points to impr