There are more workflow template apps out there than you can throw a stick at. Most of them come with big promises, too. A lot of them even keep those promises. But not every workflow template app suits every situation. So how do you decide which is the best one for your business? You ask the experts. By which I mean us. At Process Street, our clients run workflows for everything from audits to onboarding – and we’ve got the templates to prove it. With such a varied client base, we’re pretty familiar with what different users need from their workflow templates. We’ve collected some of our favorite apps – and even some of our competitors – to make sure you choose the right app for you.
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Every Workflow Template You’ll Ever Need
process.st/workflow-template
There are more workflow template apps out there than you can throw a stick at. Most of
them come with big promises, too. A lot of them even keep those promises.
But not every workflow template app suits every situation. So how do you decide which is
the best one for your business?
You ask the experts. By which I mean us.
At Process Street, our clients run workflows for everything from audits to onboarding –
and we’ve got the templates to prove it.
With such a varied client base, we’re pretty familiar with what different users need from
their workflow templates. We’ve collected some of our favorite apps – and even some of
our competitors – to make sure you choose the right app for you.
Best workflow template software for process management
Best workflow template software for process mapping
Best workflow template software for creating flowcharts
Best workflow template software for project management
Best workflow template software for developers
What is workflow software?
Workflow software automates your recurring processes.
These processes can be unique to a particular company or industry, but most businesses
use workflows for scenarios like:
Employee/client onboarding
Quality assurance
Financial audits
Compliance audits
Risk assessment
What is a workflow template?
A workflow template is a pre-made workflow that you can apply to your existing process.
For example:
You want to create a workflow for your onboarding process. You could build that
workflow completely from scratch. However, most onboarding processes are fairly
similar.
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It’s easier and more efficient to use a workflow template since all the necessary tasks will
be built in for you.
If a workflow is the master blueprint of your process, workflow templates are the
framework.
What makes the best workflow template?
The best workflow template has three main things:
It’s easy to understand
It’s easy to use
It’s easy to customize
Workflow templates need to be intuitive. Anyone in your company should be able to use
that template with minimal (or no) training.
Each task should be clear and simple, leaving no room for confusion. A clean user
interface (UI) is vital, as well. If you have to hunt for the features you need, that template
isn’t going to do you any good.
Finally, you want a template you can start using right away. You also want a template you
can customize as needed. These could be small changes or big ones, but you want to have
the ability to adapt your workflow template.
Again, if the template isn’t making your work easier, the template isn’t working.
Best workflow template software for process management
Process Street
Process Street transforms your team’s recurring processes into interactive, no-code
workflows that are stored in a central location.
As the modern process management platform for teams, Process Street allows you to
create standalone documentation that lives and works side-by-side with your customized
workflows. It also seamlessly integrates with Slack, SalesForce, DocuSign, and all your
favorite work apps so you can easily manage your tasks with minimal effort.
Request a demo to learn more about how Process Street can supercharge your workflow
templates.
Use cases:
Employee & client onboarding
Quality assurance
Regulations & compliance
Financial audits
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Features:
Conditional logic to create branching pathways in a single workflow
Automations & integrations with over 3,000 apps
User assignments & guest users to keep your data secure during collaborations
Pages, which allows you to create a centralized knowledge base for all of your SOPs
Pros:
Fully customizable templates
No-code platform
Ability to build templates from scratch
Custom reports & analytics to track status of individual runs and users
Cons:
Only 50 guest users can participate in workflow runs on the Pro plan
Can be expensive for larger teams
Template gallery is difficult to navigate
Pricing:
Pro Plan: $25 per full member/month. Custom enterprise plans available
Examples:
High Touch Client Onboarding for SaaS Companies
The Tiny HR Team’s Guide to Employee Onboarding
ISO 9004:2018 Self-Audit Checklist
Check out the full Template Library with hundreds of templates for every
industry!
Best workflow template software for process mapping
Miro
Use cases:
Strategy & planning
Collaboration for hybrid teams
Brainstorming & diagramming
Mapping customer journeys
Features:
Shareable digital whiteboard
Integrates with over 100 popular work apps
4. 4/9
Ability to create custom apps & integrations in minutes
Sticky notes, images, mind maps, videos, and a variety of chart diagrams
Pros:
Can plan & visualize ideas & projects no matter where your team is
Great asset for remote learning & educational demonstrations
Team members can build a shared space for capturing insights in a central place
Easy visibility over tasks and dependencies
Cons:
Can’t view templates without signing up
Templates primarily focus on brainstorming, planning, & ideation
No accessible demo pre-sign up
Pricing:
Starter Plan: $8 per member/month
Business Plan: $16 per member/month
Examples:
Kanban Framework Template
Mind Map Template
Daily Stand-up Meeting Template
Check out the full Template Library!
Best workflow template software for creating flowcharts
Lucidchart
Use cases:
Plan & launch projects
Build roadmaps
Visualize technical systems
Define & map out your processes
Features:
Data import/export
Third-party integrations
Drag & drop editor
Process modeling & design
Pros:
5. 5/9
Good range of pre-designed templates
Can search for & bookmark icon groups
Great for making flowcharts
Makes collaboration easy
Cons:
Templates aren’t easy to understand or use
UX design is inefficient compared to similar services
Difficult to cancel trial or account
Outdated & prone to glitches
Pricing:
Individual: Starting at $9
Team: Starting at $10/user
Examples:
Production Flowchart Example
Processing and Qualifying Leads Example
BPMN Conversation Diagram
Check out the full Template Library!
Best workflow template software for project management
Monday
Use cases:
Project requests & approvals
Portfolio management
Project dependencies
Resource management
Features:
Automatic time capture
Batch processing
Deployment management
KPI monitoring
Pros:
Can monitor projects in real-time
Easy to coordinate with external collaborators
Integrates deadlines into the display
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Offers visibility on what entire team is working on
Cons:
Difficult to make updates or edits to tasks
Layout can be confusing & hard to follow
Complicated to set up
Expensive for individuals or small businesses
Pricing:
Starting from $8 per user/month
Examples:
Project Portfolio Management
Project Requests and Approvals
Product Development
Check out the full Template Library!
Best workflow template software for developers
GitHub
Use cases:
CI/CD automation
DevOps
Manage code changes
Host & manage packages
Features:
Bug tracking
Integrated development environment
Reporting & project tracking
Web-based deployment
Pros:
Simple to use
Easy to integrate with other software
Free account includes a wide range of features
Great platform for developers to showcase their work
Cons:
Less features than similar tools
7. 7/9
Pricing can be difficult to understand
High barrier to entry (requires developer experience)
UI could be more intuitive
Pricing:
Team: $44 per user/year ( first 12 months)
Enterprise: $231 per user/year (first 12 months)
Examples:
As a developer tool, GitHub doesn’t have a template library or pre-made templates in the
same sense as the other software included here.
However, it does have several tutorials on using templates within the platform:
Essential features of workflow templates
Regardless of what you’re using a workflow template for, there are a few features you
should always keep in mind before making your choice:
Automation
The purpose of a workflow is to automate your process. If your workflow template can’t be
automated, then what is it even doing?
Living document
Over time, your company is going to scale, and so will your needs. Your workflow
template needs to be able to grow with you.
Otherwise, it’s like buying haute couture for a baby that’s going to grow out of it in a
week.
You don’t want that.
Your workflow template should allow you to create a living document. That is: You should
be able to document your processes, work that’s already been completed, and any
improvements you’ve made.
Practicing continuous improvement plays a big role in keeping your processes fit. Using
your workflow template as a living document makes it that much easier to implement
your incremental improvements efficiently.
Collaboration tools
No person exists in a vacuum, and neither does a team, nor a company.
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Whether internally or externally, you’re going to want to bring other users into the fold.
That’s why it’s important – first of all – to choose a workflow template that makes
collaboration easy. You want your employees to use it with confidence, but you also want
external clients, consultants, and vendors to use it without any confusion or
complication.
Second: You need to control who has access to what. If you’re running a workflow that
includes sensitive or proprietary information, you don’t necessarily want your external
collaborators to see everything.
It’s vital that a workflow template enables you to limit or expand the amount of data
individual users have access to as necessary.
Analytics
Even automated and optimized, your processes need regular tune-ups to make sure
everything’s still running under the hood.
A thorough analytics dashboard will let you know which processes are working well – and
which ones aren’t.
By keeping track of these insights, you’ll have a solid reference point for which workflow
templates should be updated, replaced, or removed entirely.
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