FormKiQ has had its document console from the beginning, even when we considered ourselves an entirely headless document management system. We’d always felt it was important to have a console for a few reasons:

• Document discovery and search is sometimes easier with a visual tool
• The open source code for our console and SDKs serve as examples for how to integrate with FormKiQ
• The API Explorer provides an easy tool for checking API calls within the console, vs. Postman or Open API

But as FormKiQ adds more enterprise-level functionality such as our Open Policy Agent integration and our workflow designer to create complex business process workflows, the console is also becoming an important tool for administration of document and information management.

With our upcoming version 1.14.0, now in beta, FormKiQ will provide the robust level of administration tooling needed to manage information for the enterprise.

In this post, I'd like to cover some of the enhancements that are coming with this release.

Policy Management with the FormKiQ Console

Open Policy Agent (OPA) is an open-source, general-purpose policy engine that enables unified, context-aware policy enforcement. By enabling OPA within FormKiQ with version 1.14.0, it’s possible to create and modify your authorization policies using both the FormKiQ Console and the FormKiQ API. As OPA is built with flexibility and customization in mind, just like FormKiQ itself, there are a large number of policy options (role-based, attribute-based, user- and document-specific rules) that can be combined to create the exact level of access needed for each user.

With the console, it’s easier to view all existing policies, allowing an organization to conduct reviews and audits of access proactively, and modifying the policies themselves is made simpler through validation of the policy within the editor.

Workflow, Queue, and Ruleset Management with the FormKiQ Console

With our upcoming version 1.14.0, FormKiQ's console features a visual workflow designer, an easy way to create workflows that can be assigned to documents, as well as to cases and tasks as part of the FormKiQ Case Management module.

Using intelligent document processing, rulesets, and our conditional workflow actions, an organization can chain actions and workflows together to create automatic processing of all incoming documents.

A document received by email can be split into one or more documents, or assigned to a new or existing case, or can be sent for manual review, with all of this customization based on rulesets that can be created and managed within the FormKiQ Document Console or through the FormKiQ API.

Steps that can be added to a workflow include any document action, including OCR, Anti-Malware scanning, and Manual Review/Approvals. It’s also possible to create a custom action, or fire off a webhook for processing by an external system.

All of these steps can be added to a workflow and positioned within the process by dragging and dropping each step as its own workflow node, with connectors for success, failure, and conditional results to provide multiple paths based on the result of previous actions.

For instance, a document can be validated against a ruleset and the result can be used both to categorize that document with customizable metadata and to trigger a subsequent workflow meant for that specific type of document.

Being able to visualize a workflow and subsequent workflows it may trigger is a key tool for mapping out the automation required. While all of the information is available through the API, the console allows this visualization, including the workflows themselves, the queues created for manual review or approval, and the rulesets that enable documents to be sorted, routed, and categorized.

Case Management with the FormKiQ Console

In addition to workflows themselves, tasks that require human intervention are also managed through either the console or the API. For many organizations, the processing of documents is handled as part of a case management system, and version 1.14.0 will enable this powerful system of managing cases, tasks, and NIGOs as part of the FormKiQ API and Console.

This includes creating and assigning cases and tasks, adding one or more documents to cases and tasks, and the specialized Not-in-Good-Order (NIGO) task, where documents that are missing, incomplete, or incorrect can be remedied using manual intervention by an assigned case handler.

In order to enable this functionality, the creation of cases, tasks, teams, and assignments is available through both the API and the console, with the console being a visual way of viewing and managing those cases and tasks.

Viewing and Managing Deep Links

From its inception, we’ve known that FormKiQ would eventually grow to provide management of documents beyond its own storage. It’s not always required to migrate all documents to a common location, especially if you are able to provide access to the metadata required to discover and access those documents.

FormKiQ’s flexible metadata management and enhanced search capabilities work to enable the inclusion of documents across an entire organization in FormKiQ’s reach. It integrates with systems like SharePoint, Google Drive, and Confluence, as well as specialized platforms such as Autodesk Cloud for engineering and manufacturing designs, Cerner Health for electronic health records, and iManage Cloud for legal documents. This integration allows documents to be included in FormKiQ's search and document browsing hierarchy, and incorporated into workflows, all without needing to relocate the documents from their original locations.

FormKiQ’s console provides easy access to these deep-linked documents, as well as a place to manage their metadata.

Conclusion

FormKiQ's console is evolving into a comprehensive administrative tool, enhanced with the visual workflow designer, Open Policy Agent (OPA) editor, and advanced case management features.

While in the past, many of our customers used the console as an example and a handy tool for development, we are now seeing a shift where the FormKiQ Console is becoming an important component for overall enterprise content management, working alongside the FormKiQ API.

Discover the innovative possibilities with our FormKiQ v1.14.0 Beta. To learn more about FormKiQ or to participate in the beta, please contact us or schedule a consultation call.