The challenges of document management in enterprises
Every organization, regardless of its size, has a large number of documents that need to be generated, reviewed, and stored for later reference. Some of the most important are:
- Sales reports
- Project management documents
- Commercial proposals
- Quality system documentation (quality policy, the definition of processes and standards, among others)
- Contracts
- Invoices
However, in many companies, the management of these documents can be chaotic and inefficient, causing delays, confusion, and errors.
It is common to see companies that handle a significant flow of documents, where different collaborators take on the role of creator, reviewer, or simply interested party, depending on the type of document, project, or area to which it belongs. However, if a well-defined process for document management is not in place, the following may occur:
- Delays, lack of revisions, or corrections of documents due to forgetfulness or absences due to vacations.
- Lack of standardization in the approval process, that leads to inconsistent use of channels and makes it difficult to follow up on decisions.
- Use of communication channels that are not very appropriate, such as sending documents by e-mail or comments of suggestions for changes through informal conversations, without any kind of record.
How Qflow BPM can improve efficiency in document management
To solve the above problems, it is important to have an automated document approval system, as it is mentioned in the article Importance of document preparation, review and approval in your company. Qflow BPM is a cloud solution that allows you to define, improve and automate document approval processes. With Qflow, you can improve the efficiency of document management by enabling:
- Clear traceability of document approval
- Clear and well-defined roles
- A standard of how to work with the organization's document review
- Control for delays through reminders and alerts
- Identification of process bottlenecks
- Reduction of potential human errors
Getting to know Qflow BPM's "Document Approval" template
Qflow offers a ready-to-use "Document Approval" template. This template can be tailored to the needs of each organization and is easy to implement, allowing companies to save time and effort in creating a process from scratch.

The document approval process in Qflow is simple: the initiator of the process chooses the person in charge of drafting the document and the person responsible for reviewing it. In turn, it allows defining a distribution list, to assign the people who should be notified once the document is created and approved.
The document creator is given a task to complete the document. Once completed, they must attach it and send it for review. The person in charge of reviewing the document receives a task to do it.
If the document was approved, the developer is notified and it is sent to be uploaded to the organization's document repository. Finally, once added, the list of interested parties is notified that the document has been published.
How to automate and improve the document approval process
Using this process template can make organizations' document management much more efficient, but it is important to note that Qflow has the potential to further automate and streamline the process by eliminating manual steps. For example, the "Upload to document repository" task could be replaced by a service task, where the generated document is automatically uploaded to the organization's repository, either through integration with Sharepoint, Sharepoint Online, or via REST or SOAP Web Services.
Conclusion
In summary, the Qflow BPM "Document Approval" template is an excellent option to improve the efficiency of document management in an organization. It allows you to define, improve and automate document approval processes. In addition, Qflow provides the ability to further automate the process, allowing for continuous process optimization.
Don't waste any more time and improve your document process with Qflow today by using the free three-month trial.