Experiences from the employment of workflow management systems in the banking sector

Experiences obtained from the employment of workflow management systems in the banking sector are presented in this paper on the basis of a system case study. This study involves the development of a workflow system for the collections department of a medium-sized bank. Due to the complexity and the dynamic nature of the tasks performed within the collections department, static workflow systems proved to be unsuitable for the management and execution of corresponding business processes. The system presented in this paper, called the Collections Management System, provides the necessary mechanisms aimed at constructing workflows in a dynamic fashion. Thus, it contributes to process and resource management and to the effective re-organization of the department's operation. For implementation purposes, the Lotus Notes groupware platform was used. Lotus Notes' capabilities were extended through the provision of additional templates that can be customized to support a variety of similar applications.