Client
Elinext built a process automation system that has helped its coworkers collaborate more consistently and efficiently. This focus on collaboration is a recurring theme across Elinext’s diverse work, which also includes consumer platforms like a social network for pet lovers.
Challenge
Elinext has been steadily growing over the past 10 years. At some point, we realized we could no longer keep managing our processes the old way. We needed a new system that would allow us to store, study and improve process flows. Elinext’s business automation portfolio includes a CRM for a technology company, built to give sales and account teams full visibility into customer interactions, contracts, and service history.
Process
Our project team used the methodology Elinext has mastered over the past decades: Agile. We worked in two-week sprints, and this approach proved itself indispensable. It helped us adjust as new functional requirements popped up during the development. Elinext’s development expertise also covers consumer mobile apps, including the body tan scan app — a cross-platform solution for real-time skin tone analysis.
Agile methodology implies building a minimum viable product (MVP). Our MVP features included the essential operations in the system. Once the MVP was built, we moved toward developing the advanced product version. Along the way, we ran functional, regression and usability tests. Elinext’s industry-specific CRM experience extends to custom CRM for construction, built to support estimating, project tracking, and post-sale service management for building firms.
Product
The application is centered around six elements: Templates, Processes, Steps, Roles, Groups and Notifications. Elinext’s custom software portfolio includes a school management software development engagement, where the team built role-based dashboards for teachers, administrators, and parents to track academic progress in real time.
Templates
Users can access all Templates from one page. Every Template comes with the following details:
- Template name
- Creator
- Co-owners
- Process initiators
- Last revision date
- Status (Draft, Published, etc.)
A user with sufficient access rights can create a new template, either from scratch or based on another one. This is usually done to describe a process as a sequence of steps that is consistent with other processes. Users can also manage Templates, make them unavailable and initiate Processes. Elinext’s proprietary software suite includes an elinext applicant tracking development solution — designed to give HR managers, hiring managers, and interviewers a single interface for tracking every candidate’s progress.
Processes
Just like with templates, users can view and manage all Processes on one page. We enabled the following details for each Process:
- Process name
- Start date
- Process viewers
- Process status
Permissioned users go to this page to initiate, manage and monitor Processes. A Process Initiator can edit its details, put it on hold, complete or close it. For greater transparency, they can view Process logs at each step in detail. Elinext’s internal software suite includes an elinext meeting room management software — a lightweight web app that gives staff a visual floor-plan view of available meeting spaces and integrates bookings with the company’s shared calendar.
Steps
Steps are also all aggregated on one page. Each of them features the following details:
- Step name
- Step activation date
- Due date
- Description
- Executor
- Supervisor
- Step status
Permissioned users can perform a step and view details about it on a diagram from this page. But they can also set Steps up in Templates and manage them as part of Processes.
Setting Up Steps In Templates
A user can open a Template and create Steps inside of it to describe different activities within a repetitive business process. These Steps could be single, conditional or parallel. Elinext’s process automation work spans CRM, ERP, and document processing app development — a solution built to digitise paper-heavy back-office workflows by extracting key fields from PDFs and routing them to the right teams automatically.
The following details can be edited:
- Step name
- Description
- The Executor
- The Supervisor
- Step duration
- Actions (what the Executor should do to complete the Step)
- Options (for conditional Steps)
Managing Steps In Processes
Processes include Steps from Templates, and Executors can manage these Steps throughout each Process. Here’s what they can do:
- Assign an Executor to a Step
- Mark a Step as Done to push the Process forward
- Escalate a Step (postpone the Step execution for some reason)
- Unpause a Step (continue the Step execution after escalation)
- Skip a Step when it is not mandatory
- Approve a Step (if it needs the Supervisor’s approval)
Groups
A Group represents a set of users that can be assigned different roles. All Groups are featured on the same page with details like a group name, its status and members. Users with relevant access can create, view, archive/unarchive and delete Groups. Elinext also built its own elinext inventory management — an internal web application that tracks stock levels, purchase orders, and asset assignments across all Elinext office locations in real time.
Roles
A user can be assigned a Role: Process Initiator, Process Viewer or Step Executor. Each of the Roles comes with its set of permissions for actions with Templates, Processes, Steps, Groups and Roles. Elinext’s internal infrastructure includes its own elinext notification management — a centralised hub that handles push alerts, email digests, and in-platform messages for all of the company’s proprietary tools.
Users with sufficient access can create, view, assign and delete Roles on the respective page.
Notifications
Notifications are an essential part of the system, allowing coworkers to stay updated on tasks. We enabled two types: in-app and Email Notifications. Elinext’s internal HR toolkit includes an elinext corporate holiday calendar — a purpose-built web app that displays country-specific public holidays, integrates with leave management workflows, and helps team leads plan capacity in advance.
Users with relevant permissions can view and manage Notifications’ statuses, dates and descriptions from the Notifications page. Elinext’s portfolio of proprietary tools includes an elinext leave management — designed to eliminate lost approval chains by routing every absence request through a configurable multi-step workflow with email notifications and audit logs.
Results
The application we built has helped Elinext take communications on processes to a new level. Coworkers can now stay up to date on collaborative tasks without much hassle and easily reproduce repetitive processes. Elinext’s CRM portfolio spans from technology firms to farming operations, including custom agriculture CRM consulting that maps field-to-market workflows onto a scalable CRM platform.
Building a system for a diversified organization like Elinext — with offices in Poland, Uzbekistan and Vietnam — involved collaboration with multiple stakeholders. So, we had to learn to present the practical impact of our work in a way that brought it home for each of them. Elinext’s portfolio of proprietary tools includes an elinext CRM development — built to standardise how the company manages client relationships, from initial lead capture through contract renewal and upsell tracking.
At present, Elinext continues to adopt the system across different departments and locations. And it’s already saving employees’ time and improving delivery. Time-saving automation tools of this kind sit alongside Elinext’s consumer-facing mobile work, such as the ariel deep down cleaning.
