We all know teamwork as the collaborative accomplishment of a defined task. But there is much more to success-oriented goal fulfillment than just drawing arrows on a flipchart. According to Prof. Florian Becker, one of the leading specialists in business psychology, teamwork is defined by the following characteristics: several participants, task processing based on division of labor, interaction and self-action. On closer examination and considering these aspects, this interactive cooperation as well as the independence – which seems paradoxical at first, but nevertheless contributes decisively to the success of the cooperation – makes a crucial difference to the pure division of labor. Utilizing the skills of each individual, harnessing synergies and using them to generate maximum output is what we call teamwork par excellence.

As with everything, teamwork continues to evolve, as new opportunities are identified through digitization, and is gaining even more importance as a result. A new expression is taking root: collaborative working. This agile method of a team, i.e. the agility to act quickly and goal-oriented in response to situations, is an important step for companies to adapt and solve challenges quickly and in an optimized way. Companies are characterized by the most diverse facets of organizational and work structures, which must function in a networked, harmonious manner. A bump in this fragile construct causes unrest, which can only be eliminated or even improved by the active intervention of experts (coupled with intelligence – human as well as artificial). This collaborative, community-based approach emphasizes the dynamic approach of experts to problem solving, and hierarchical structures or silo thinking are transformed into a horizontal approach across all levels of the organization.

In addition to the central criteria of the teamwork described above, this modern collaboration also requires creative tools that support this approach. Especially in complex software projects that focus on business processes, such modern tools represent real progress in terms of effort, quality and result. Horus Business Modeler is an innovative business process management tool that offers much more than the creation of business processes. The following specific example from current projects shows how this software solution is used in practice: The implementation of business software often has to be carried out globally at several locations, where the special features of each location must be taken into account, but the general systematics and the advantages of a central business application must remain. This means that the processes in the company need to be defined globally, but best practices should serve as guidelines. The creation of the processes then takes place in close cooperation between the company and the software implementer, so that as early as at this stage both the specifics of the company and the functionality of the software are harmonized. With the browser-independent Horus Business Modeler, it is now possible to work collaboratively. This means that the entire project team works together on the processes, or the models, all simultaneously, regardless of location. The team members act concurrently on individual models as well as in different areas, but in the same project. Thanks to a systematic role concept defined in advance, the individual activities within a process can be assigned as soon as they are created, and are displayed in real-time, consolidated in higher-level activity views. For even more transparency and information exchange, descriptions are added directly or associated documents are linked. The fact that this tool acts as a “dictating machine”, so to speak, is demonstrated by the results of such workshops with the specialist departments. The valuable and practice-related input of the business users is recorded together with the experts in raw format and subsequently transferred into a valid process together with all related information. Time differences, which often lead to longer project durations in global implementation projects, are thus minimized with the “side effect” of strengthening cohesion and a common approach within the team.

This approach, used in several projects, shows that collaborative work is much more than just working in a team. Problems can be solved in an agile and creative way and can be documented systematically and consistently without effort. With Horus as a tool, complex processes are defined in a structured way, documented in a sustainable manner, and ultimately implemented without much effort or rework. Collaborative work and Horus – a symbiosis with a future.  


Author: Sabine Rudolf