Workflow tools reveal sharing trouble spots

Business process mapping and management tools may help overcome one of the most common impediments to effective data sharing and collaboration — incompatible or duplicative processes between agencies.

"As agencies become more responsible for information sharing, one of the first things they have to do is look at their internal process," said Jake Freivald, marketing director for iWay Software Inc., a subsidiary of business intelligence vendor Information Builders Inc.

For example, an agency needs to be able to track where a fax request comes from and where it goes within the agency process. "If it comes in and you have to go to three different systems