I'm looking for a collaborative web application used for designing and executing various project processes.
Suppose that tomorrow I had a requirement to build a tracking application for a project management organization, that dealt with specialized rules around travel requests. Users should fill out a basic travel request form, with some basic validation. We'd want a database of submissions, with the ability to build in certain simple rules, like notify this person when a record is submitted, filter records a certain way, perhaps do some simple calculations and display them on a dashboard.
We have been using SharePoint and designing custom lists with workflows, and have found it very painful due to the fact that SharePoint isn't a true database. Regular project management software doesn't seem quite to be a fit; is there anything out there that will allow quick, GUI-based design of simple processes that capture, process, and report information?