This was my presentation for SPSTC April 2012.

1. SharePoint Workflow:
Taking the Manual Out of Your
Process
Donald Donais

2. Donald Donais
Avtex IT Pro Consultant
ddonais@avtex.com
Blog – Tales from IT Side
http://talesfromitside.wordpress.com
Twitter
@dondonais

3. Overview
• Business Process Management
• Crawl, Walk, Run Approach
• Crawl
 OOB SharePoint Workflows
• Walk
 SharePoint Designer 2010
 3rd Party Vendor Workflow Products

4. Business Process Management
What is
Business
What is
Process
What is a Business
Mgt?
Process? Process?
Systematic
A series of Activities or set approach looking
Actions, directed of Activities that at org workflow
toward a specific accomplish more effectively,
aim or goal Business Goals by reducing
human error

5. BPM Survey
• June 20th, 2011 Assoc. for Information and
Image Management (AIIM)
• SharePoint Survey – Expectation for future
users
• #1 – “Lack of strategic plans on what to use it
for” with to SharePoint
** https://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com/sites/eusp/Pages/SharePoint-and-BPM-
Whats-your-Strategy.aspx

6. Survey Continued
Which of the following types of add-on packages
planning to use with SharePoint?
Workflow
/BPM #1 Search
#2
/Analytics Secure
#3
&
Rights
Mgt

7. Survey Continued
Which of the following process have you
automated with SharePoint
Project
Mgt #1 Internal
#2
IT Other
#3
Support LOB
Processes

8. Tips when Automating Business
Process
• Make sure to define the process
• Define reasons for automation
• Necessary to define initial investment and maintenance costs
• Do not automate every step in the process
• Take the time to analyze potential ROI from process
automation
• Make sure to consider the human element within process

9. Approaching SharePoint Workflows
Crawl, Walk, Run…

10. Crawl
• Out of the Box Workflows

11. Walk
• Introduce SharePoint Designer 2007/2010
 Workflows
 CodePlex Actions
• Introduce 3rd Party Workflow Tools
2007/2010
• Use Visio Services to Visualize Business
Processes 2010

12. Run
• Develop more robust workflows
• .NET workflows
• Integrated systems
• Custom .NET Actions and Conditions for
SharePoint Designer
• Advanced 3rd Party Workflow Tools

13. Why Workflow?
• One version of the truth
• Flexibility
• Auditability

14. Basic Workflow Capabilities
• Start Workflow Manually or Automatically
• Visibility into Running Workflows
• Collection of Historical Workflow Data
– Status of approval, errors,…
• Stop (or Terminate) a Running Workflow
• Tight Integration with Office

15. Understanding The Workflow Lifecycle
Remove
Association Initiation Running Termination
Association
• Association
 When a workflow is associated with a list
 Data can be associated with the workflow
• Initiation
 When the workflow is first started on a list item
 Data can be associated with the instance of the workflow
• Running
 Status page reflects state of the workflow
 User primarily interacts via Tasks
• Termination
 End an instance of a workflow
• Remove Association

16. Workflows 2007
Out of the
Box
SharePoint
Designer
2007
Visual
Studio
2005 &
2008

17. Workflows 2010
• Out of the Box
 New Site Level Workflows
 Customizable with SharePoint Designer
 Visualization with Visio 2010
• SharePoint Designer
 Parallel Execution Paths
 Reusable Workflow
 Visualization/Design with Visio
 Exportable to Visual Studio
• Visual Studio Workflow
 Built-in Deployment/Debugging Tools
 Workflow Events
 Pluggable Workflow Services

18. Out Of the Box SharePoint 2007
•Approval
Site Content Types •Collect Feedback
•Collect Signatures
•Disposition Approval
•Approval
Lists and Libraries •Collect Feedback
•Collect Signatures
•Disposition Approval
Lists •Three State*
•Translation Management
Publishing •Publishing Approval
*WSS 3.0

19. Out Of the Box SharePoint 2010
•Three State*
•Approval – SharePoint 2010
Site Content Types •Collect Feedback – SharePoint 2010
•Collect Signatures – SharePoint 2010
•Disposition Approval
•Three State*
•Approval – SharePoint 2010
Lists and Libraries •Collect Feedback – SharePoint 2010
•Collect Signatures – SharePoint 2010
•Disposition Approval
Lists •Three State
•Translation Management
Publishing •Publishing Approval
* SharePoint Foundation

20. Out of the Box Workflows

21. SharePoint Designer 2007
• Next version of FrontPage!
• UI comprised of multiple panels
• Only Compatible with SharePoint 2007 (all versions)
• Allow Users to Create Workflows
• Associate Workflow to List or Library
• Workflow Designer
• Conditions & Actions – Augmented by
CodePlex

22. SharePoint Designer 2010
• Redesigned for SharePoint 2010
• New UI
• Only Compatible with SharePoint 2010
• Allow Users to Create New Workflows
• Associate Workflow to List, Library or
Reusable (Content Types)
• Import/Export to Visio
• New Workflow Designer Wizard

23. SharePoint Designer and Visio Workflows

24. Let’s set it up!
• Sales Documents Process
• If Estimate is >$100000 then . . .
• Automatically approved if less
• Manager Approved and email Sales and VP of
Sales

25. Custom .NET Workflow
• Bring in the Reinforcements!
• You are here because:
 Missing Specific Feature
 SharePoint Designer Missing Action
 Custom Data or Actions Needed
 Existing Windows Workflow Investment
 State Machine Workflow Requirement
 Expose the Full Power of .NET
• Word of Warning – There is a steep learning
curve

26. Custom .NET Workflow – The Platform
• Windows Workflow Foundation
• Its not just a SharePoint Platform
 Built into .NET 3.0

27. Workflow – Platform Implications
• Workflow a Core .NET Feature
 Workflow can be ‘hosted’ anywhere
 SharePoint was Microsoft’s first host (CRM 4 uses
it now too)
• Custom applications can host it as well
• Standardized Format
 XML based file format (XOML)
• Widespread Availability

28. 3rd Party SharePoint Workflows
• Nintex
 Workflow 2007 & 2010
 Forms 2007 & 2010
• K2
 Blackpearl
 Blackpoint
 K2 Forms

29. K2
• Visual Designer
based in SharePoint
• Implement workflow
logic without code
 Also has Visual
Studio integration
• Rich visual designer
from SharePoint
• Connect to AD or
LOB data sources

30. Nintex
• Expand workflows
beyond SharePoint
Designer
• Implement workflow
logic without code
• Rich visual designer
from SharePoint
• Connect to AD or LOB
data sources

31. Nintex
• Small Installation Footprint
• Start in SharePoint, stay in SharePoint
• Document Assembly and Conversion
• User Defined Actions (UDA)
• Lazy Approval
• Workflow Change Approval

32. Nintex Workflow 2010

33. Resources
SharePoint Workflow:
• Workflow Resource Center | SharePoint 2010 (Dev):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/hh295805
• Workflows in SharePoint Server 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/sharepoint/ff819861
SharePoint 2010:
• SharePoint 2010: http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com
• SharePoint MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/sharepoint/default.aspx

34. Questions?

35. Donald Donais
ddonais@avtex.com
Blog – Tales from IT Side
http://talesfromitside.wordpress.com
Twitter
@dondonais