Evaluating automated work-flow systems for administrative processes

Electronic imaging (scanning and digitizing documents for computer storage) is used in ‘work-flow automation’, in which business documents are indexed into an electronic database, electronically routed, and monitored as they proceed through processing. The authors developed a discrete event simulation model, using the SIMAN computer simulation language, to evaluate the impact of employing work-flow automation to support the processing of travel and expense reports at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. The present analysis showed that other changes would affect the performance of the process more favorably and that the processing office depended on external systems to achieve better customer service.