Better control over municipal processes

Why municipal processes are increasingly demanding central orchestration

A municipality uses many different applications. For citizen services, the social domain, finance, HR, IT, document management and numerous other activities, specialised solutions are available.

That is logically sound. The challenge arises when one process passes through multiple of these environments.

Who then maintains an overview of the entire process?

A process does not end at the boundary of an application

Take an employee joining a municipality. HR registers the employee, but the process is far from complete. Accounts, rights, applications and possibly equipment are required. Depending on the role, different teams and administrators may be involved.

Each application can perform its individual part effectively. Yet the overall process can be delayed due to a task lingering, missing information, or unclear which step has already been completed.

This is not limited to personnel processes. The same principle applies to many processes involving multiple departments, systems or vendors.

The challenge does not necessarily lie in one application alone. It lies in what happens between those applications and responsibilities.

More systems also mean more dependencies

Municipalities deal with existing applications, new solutions, national services and various vendors. At the same time, processes evolve due to new service delivery models, policies and legislation. As a result, interdependencies continue to grow.

A change in one environment can have consequences for processes being executed elsewhere. A technical link may function, yet a follow-up step may still fail to occur. And an exception may force an employee to manually intervene again.

The larger the landscape, the more difficult it becomes to manage all these dependencies from individual systems.

Not everything needs to be replaced

With complexity, the idea quickly emerges that systems should be consolidated or replaced. But that is not always necessary or desirable.

Many applications actually have a clear function and perform that function well.

The question is therefore not just how to simplify the application landscape, but primarily how to gain greater control over the processes that run through that landscape.That is a different approach.

Existing systems continue to perform their duties. On top of that, you orchestrate how process steps are initiated, followed up and controlled.

Service Automation Suite as a process orchestration layer

Within the Service Automation Suite platform this idea is central. Service Automation Suite does not take over the functions of existing applications, but can provide control over processes where multiple systems, automations and human tasks come together.

For example, a process might begin with an event in a legacy system. Subsequently, automatic actions are triggered, tasks are assigned to employees when needed, and exceptions are handled.

In this way, it remains visible where the process stands and which steps have been completed.

For a municipality, this means automation is not only considered at the application level, but from the perspective of the process the organisation wants to execute.

Orchestration also helps during change

Central process orchestration goes beyond efficiency.

Municipalities must regularly adapt their processes. When a process is heavily dependent on ad-hoc scripts, links and knowledge of specific administrators, any change can trigger significant rework.

When process logic and dependencies are better visible, it becomes easier to change them in a controlled manner.

This contributes to continuity. Not because the application landscape suddenly becomes simple, but because the municipality can better monitor what happens within that landscape.

Where does process control sit in your municipality?

Many municipalities have already invested heavily in integration and automation. The interesting follow-up question is therefore not how much more can still be connected.

The question is: who maintains oversight of the entire process when multiple systems and departments are involved?

Exactly there, the step from integration to orchestration adds value.

With a Service Automation Suite Assessment we can jointly examine a number of processes and make the dependencies, manual handoffs and operational burdens visible.

Or use the presentation ‘From Integration to Orchestration’as a starting point to initiate a conversation within your municipality about central process control.

Greater control over processes within your municipality?

Curious to know where central process control can make a difference in your municipality? Leave your details below. We will contact you and together explore where greater visibility, control and automation are possible.

Contact us for more information or the accompanying document.