Introducing Customizable Workflow Steps

If your process only exists in people’s heads — or worse, in slightly different versions in different people’s heads — this session shows what changes once it’s actually mapped, secured, and automated. Frank frames the whole conversation around Business Process Management: start by visually mapping your process (swim-lane style, by role or department), which alone tends to surface disagreements about how something’s supposed to work; then identify the real bottlenecks and error-prone steps; then, and only then, reach for tools like Genius’s customizable workflow steps and Microsoft Power Automate to standardize and automate what you’ve mapped. He backs this up with real industry numbers (65% of manufacturers see BPM optimization as a competitive must-have, 73% say internal process complexity blocks agility, 68% say automating workflow validation reduces human error) before walking through two live demos: restricting who can advance a quote through specific stages (and who can hit “Convert to Order”), and a HubSpot integration where changing a quote’s status in Genius automatically moves the linked deal card in HubSpot’s pipeline — while Power Automate pings the estimating team in Teams, and routes high-value quotes to a president for one-click approval, all without leaving Teams. If you’re tempted to bolt on every flashy automation shown in a webinar before mapping your own actual process, Frank’s advice is refreshingly the opposite: map first.

What You’ll Learn In This Webinar

Chapter 1 — Transition to Process Optimization

Moving into the main topic, Frank frames it around Business Process Management (BPM), citing a Deloitte finding that 65% of manufacturers see optimizing BPM as a must-have for competitiveness. The first step of a simplified five-point framework is to visualize and understand your process — mapping it as a swim-lane flowchart (by role or department) so everyone shares the same understanding, which itself tends to surface disagreements about how a process actually works and starts standardizing it.

Chapter 2 — Identifying Inefficiencies in Processes

Beyond alignment, mapping a process surfaces real bottlenecks and error-prone steps — Frank’s example: a receiving clerk overwhelmed by incoming paperwork, missing critical quality documents. He stresses that BPM is a continuous discipline, not a one-time mapping exercise, since custom manufacturers constantly adapt to market changes — keeping your process map current means you always know which downstream steps or automations are affected when something changes. A real example: a colleague’s customer receiving MTRs, heat certs, certificates of origin, and QC documents faced document chaos at receiving; Genius’s integration with a document management system scans and recognizes document metadata (heat numbers, serial/lot numbers) to auto-file and link documents, flagging missing links via workflow pings — though messy documents sometimes still need manual tagging.

Chapter 3 — Benefits of Business Process Management

Citing a Manufacturing Leadership Council study (73% of manufacturers say internal process complexity blocks agility and responsiveness) and a PwC study (68% say automating process workflow and validation makes the process safer and reduces human error), Frank lists the benefits: saved time, reduced human error, improved team coordination, and reduced silos — framed around avoiding costly mistakes like an unapproved design reaching fabrication or the wrong spec shipping to a customer.

“It’s called business process management. It’s a never ending thing.” — Frank

Chapter 4 — Introduction to Integration Tools

Transitioning to Genius’s actual tools, Frank introduces customizable workflows and Power Automate integration, along with a plain-language explanation of REST APIs — a communication format (commands like fetch, put, get) that lets different systems talk to each other and even trigger transactions — built into Genius and other systems like the document management tool and HubSpot.

Chapter 5 — Exploring Customizable Workflows

Two-part concept: workflow steps/statuses with step-level permissions (e.g., only certain people can advance a step, like an approval), and step-based action security (certain actions or buttons are only available at certain steps). In a live example: a new quote moves from “New Quote” (sales team) to “Estimating Review” (estimating team) to a value/quality-based “Validation Required” stage (director or VP) to “Approved” — with the “Convert to Order” button locked until the quote reaches “Approved,” ensuring proper sign-off before conversion.

Chapter 6 — Integrating with Microsoft Power Automate

Power Automate is explained as a workflow/automation tool connecting different services (like Genius and HubSpot) via APIs — already used in practice for triggering emails, creating Outlook/Planner/MS Project tasks, and pinging people in Teams for approval. Frank walks through Power Automate’s library of “standard connectors” (Trello, Teams, Power BI, and more), calling these low-hanging fruit once a process has been properly mapped.

Chapter 7 — HubSpot CRM Integration

After explaining HubSpot basics (contacts, companies, deals/pipeline), Frank demos Genius’s out-of-the-box integration: creating a HubSpot company can create a matching Genius customer account, and starting a deal can create a matching Genius quote, with two-way navigation between the systems. In the live demo, changing a quote’s workflow step in Genius automatically moves the linked HubSpot deal card to a matching pipeline stage (from “Sales Entry” to “Estimating”); Power Automate additionally pings the estimating team in Teams when a new quote is logged, and routes quotes above a certain dollar value to the company president for approval directly in Teams — a one-click “Approve” action changes the quote’s status back in Genius and confirms it in the Teams channel.

Chapter 8 — Conclusion and Next Steps

Frank recaps the core message: use a modern ERP capable of orchestrating these processes, but start with proper business process mapping and management before reaching for automation tools like customizable workflows and Power Automate. Benefits reiterated: time savings, reduced human error, better team coordination, and reduced silos — with a caution against rushing to replicate every flashy automation shown before mapping your own actual process needs.