Operations Management - Management Resource & Workflow Layout 3 - Work Flow Organisation – Continuous in Full on Time (IFOT) & Batch / Planning and Scheduling

Workflow can be defined as set of processes which needs to be accomplished, the set of people or other resources available to perform those processes, and the interactions among them. The workflow concept has evolved from the notion of process in manufacturing and the office. Such processes have existed since industrialization and are products of a search to increase efficiency by concentrating on the routine aspects of work activities. They typically separate work activities into well-defined tasks, roles, rules, and procedures which regulate most of the work in manufacturing and the office. Initially, processes were carried out entirely by humans who manipulated physical objects. With the introduction of information technology, processes in the work place are partially or totally automated by information systems, i.e., computer programs performing tasks and enforcing rules which were previously implemented by humans.

Processes in an organization are categorized into:
 • material processes,
 • information processes, and
 • business processes