Most document work is several jobs that have to run in the right order: capture the batch, write the values to a database, hand the files to another program. The Simple Workflow Manager keeps those steps together as one workflow job and runs them start to finish, from one button or from Windows Task Scheduler. It is new in SimpleIndex 12 and comes with every license.
A workflow job is an ordered list of steps saved as a .siw file. Each step does one thing: runs a capture job, reads rows from a source, writes them somewhere, or starts another program. Steps run top to bottom, and each one carries its own name and notes, so the next person to open the job can see why it is there.
Data moves between steps as rows. A data source step reads rows from an index file, a database or QuickBooks, and a later step maps those columns into a database table or a QuickBooks record.
If a step fails or is canceled, the run stops there. Nothing after it works from half the data.
The Workflow Manager with the sample job list open. Every sample capture job ships with a workflow job beside it. Click any screenshot to see it full size.
The Workflow Manager does not read documents itself. It starts the programs that do, in the order you set, and waits for each one to finish when you ask it to.
Runs a capture job and, if you choose, waits for it to finish before the next step starts. Up to five index field values can be preset from the workflow. New and Edit buttons open the SimpleIndex settings wizard on that job without leaving the workflow.
The same step opens whatever job file you give it with the application that owns it, so a SimpleExport job, a SimpleCoversheet print job or another workflow job fits into the sequence the same way a capture job does.
Starts any Windows program or script with arguments, and can wait for it to finish. This is how a workflow reaches a system that has no integration of its own, including a robotic process automation tool that types into another application.
Opens a folder of documents in the viewer at that point in the workflow, so someone can look through what the earlier steps produced.
The mailroom sample: the first step classifies the day's mail by document type, and the next three run the contract, invoice and tax capture jobs in turn.
A data source step reads rows. A later step joins them to other data, writes them to a table or posts them to QuickBooks.
Reads an index file, either a specific one or the most recently modified file in a folder, so the workflow picks up whatever the capture job just wrote.
Reads a table, or the result of your own SELECT statement, through an ODBC data source, an Access database or a connection string.
Maps the columns of a data source into a table, one record per row.
Joins two sources on a key field and copies the mapped values from one into the other, for example looking up a vendor ID from the vendor name a capture job read.
Add Records to QuickBooks creates transactions or list records from a data source, with line items from a second source. It can post every row, or only the rows not yet posted, so a scheduled run does not post the same records twice. Data Source from a QuickBooks Query reads records back out for a later step.
A database step reading the table a capture job wrote. It connects through SQL / OLE DB, an Access file or an ODBC DSN, and a stored password is kept encrypted.
An example of how the steps combine: scanned vendor bills become QuickBooks bills without anyone retyping them. The invoice sample that ships with SimpleIndex works the same way.
The capture job reads the vendor, bill number, dates and amount off each scanned bill, files the PDF, and writes one row per bill to a DOCUMENTS table. The workflow waits for it to finish.
The next step reads the DOCUMENTS table, here from an Access database. Its columns become the values the next step maps.
Creates a Bill for each row, mapping the vendor, dates, account and amount to QuickBooks fields. Only rows whose Imported column is still False are sent, and each is set to True once posted, so running the job again tomorrow does not post today's bills twice.
A workflow job is a file, and it is designed to be moved.
A job list file holds as many workflow jobs as you need, and you can switch between lists.
Jobs are edited from the list, not only selected from it, and a run step opens its capture job for editing directly.
Copy a job list to another machine, install it in a different folder, or rename it, and its steps still find their files.
The log shows each step while it works, including the lines the capture job itself writes, not only a summary afterward. It can be exported, and a job can also write a CSV log.
Each step carries its own description, so a job built by one person makes sense to the next.
Every sample capture job in SimpleIndex comes with a workflow job beside it, ready to run or copy.
Open the Workflow Manager, pick a workflow job and press Run Job. For unattended runs, point Windows Task Scheduler at the same job with the /m switch.
On a new installation, starting SimpleIndex opens the Workflow Manager, so it is where a new user begins. An upgraded installation keeps opening SimpleIndex as it always has, and either behavior is one checkbox on the Workflow Jobs menu.
The program itself is SimpleWorkflow.exe, in the SimpleIndex installation folder. That is what a scheduled task or a script points at.
| Same workflow job, two ways to start it | By hand | Scheduled |
|---|---|---|
| How it starts | Run Job in the Workflow Manager | Windows Task Scheduler, with /m |
| Window | The Workflow Manager, with its log | None |
| The log | On screen as each step runs | Written to a file with /log: |
| The result | Shown in the log | Exit code 0 completed, 1 failed, 3 not licensed |
| Right for | Work someone starts when a batch is ready | Work that runs at a set time |
A scheduled run starts at the time you set. Processing files the moment they land in a folder is the Server processing add-on.
It sequences work. These are the things it leaves to something else, so you can find out now rather than after you have built around it.
Barcodes, OCR and AI extraction happen in the SimpleIndex job the workflow runs. A workflow is only as good as the capture job inside it.
Steps run in a fixed order. There are no if-then conditions between steps, and a failed step ends the run.
A workflow starts when someone runs it or when Task Scheduler does. Processing files the moment they land in a folder is the Server processing add-on.
No approval routing, check-in or retention. It moves documents and data into the systems that do those things.
Like the rest of SimpleIndex, it runs on Windows.
The Workflow Manager comes with any SimpleIndex or SimpleQB license, Standard or Professional. It runs on that license and has no serial number of its own, so there is nothing extra to buy or activate.
Steps that run another suite application need that application's license, and the QuickBooks steps need the QuickBooks feature, which is included in SimpleIndex Professional and available on Standard through SimpleQB.
The trial includes the sample capture jobs and a workflow job beside each one. Or send us your documents and a description of what happens to them now, and we will build the job with you.
You only pay our hourly rate if you buy. Never for the demo itself.
