1. Using Microsoft SharePoint to Develop Workflow and Business Process Automation Ted Perrotte National Practice Manager, Quilogy, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) Solutions tperrotte@quilogy.com

2. Agenda  Workflow Overview  Workflow Types  Demonstration  Out of the box workflows  SharePoint Designer Demo  Q&A

3. Real world workflow opportunities…  Expense reports  Purchase requests  Performance Reviews  Customer Quotes  Document assembly (collaboration)  Legal review and compliance  Document Retention Policies  Notifications  Project Task Assignments  Help Desk solutions  Change Request management  Approvals  Many others…

4. Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)  Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tool for quickly building workflow enabled applications  It consists of a.NET Framework version 3.0 namespace, an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Visual Studio  SharePoint extends the WF with specific activities and SharePoint Designer

5. Overview  The workflow process can control almost any aspect of an item, including the life cycle of that item  Workflow is flexible enough to model both the system functions and the human actions necessary for the workflow to complete  Workflow functionality is provided through the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) run-time engine  Developers can create custom workflows that run in Windows SharePoint Services & MOSS  Developers can use custom workflow forms to gather information from users

6. Workflow Basic Concepts  Each Workflow consists of a set of related activities  An “activity” is the elemental unit of modeling, programmability, reuse, and execution within WF  An “activity” may be performed by the system or by a user  Activities can represent logical control structures (if then…do while…)  Activities can have properties, methods, and events  Simple Activities perform a single unit of work (e.g. “Delay for 1 day”)  Composite Activities contain other activities (e.g. a condition with 2 branches)  You can attach “handlers” (such as error handlers) to activities

7. Conceptual View of Workflow Framework Diagram from Microsoft.com

8. Conceptual View of Workflow Framework Diagram from Microsoft.com

9. Sequential & State Workflows  Sequential workflows: a procession of steps that execute in order until the last activity completes  State machine workflows Represents a set of states, transitions, and actions. One state is denoted as the start state, and then, based on an event, a transition can be made to another state. The state machine can have a final state that determines the end of the workflow

10. Sequential Workflow Sample Flowchart Diagram from Microsoft.com

11. Interaction points in Workflow Lifecycle  Association  Initiation *  Modification  Task * *SharePoint Designer

12. Initiating Workflows  Workflow can be started manually (user)  Workflow can be configured to run automatically when a document or item is changed.  Workflow can be configured to run automatically when a document or item is created

13. Basic Types of Workflows  MOSS “Out of the Box” Workflows  SharePoint Designer Workflows  Visual Studio Custom Workflows

14. MOSS “Out of the Box” Workflows  Approval  Collect Feedback  Collect Signatures  Disposition Approval

15. SharePoint Designer Workflows  Use Designer for declarative, rules-based workflows that contain no code, and are developed against a specific SharePoint site  What’s actually produced is a sequential workflow with conditions expressed using the WF rules engine  Designer uses a “wizard driven” interface that enables users to assemble sequential workflows

16. SharePoint Designer Workflows  Users select from a predetermined set of activities  Activities appear as “actions”, represented by a sentence that contains variables  Users can select conditions  Workflow markup, workflow rules, and supporting files are stored, uncompiled, in a specific document library on the site

17. SharePoint Designer Workflows  As the user creates a Designer workflow, SharePoint generates two files:  Workflow markup file—which describes the activities  Workflow rules file—which contains the business logic in declarative rules form, rather than code

18. Limitations of Designer Workflows  Can only produce sequential workflows (can’t create State Based workflows)  Designer workflows can’t be modified while they’re running  Workflows must be authored against a specific document library or list  Association happens when the workflow is authored  Automatically generates ASP.NET forms for Initiation & Task Completion—not association or modification

19. SharePoint Designer Screenshot Screenshot from Microsoft.

20. Features of Visual Studio Workflows  Can write workflows for WSS or MOSS  Code-behind file enables developer to write custom Visual C# or VB.NET code to express business logic  Generates workflow markup file  Workflow is authored as a template, which can be associated with multiple sites and lists  Workflow markup file, or markup and code-behind files, are compiled into workflow assembly

21. Features of Visual Studio Workflows  Workflow templates must be associated with each list on which it is to be available (not automatic)  Can use any forms technology (e.g. ASP forms for WSS workflows, or InfoPath Forms for MOSS workflows)  Can include workflow modifications  Can use custom symmetrical InfoPath forms, which enable Office client integration of custom workflow forms

22. Features of Visual Studio Workflows  Can author custom activities for inclusion in workflows package, workflow assembly and workflow definition as a SharePoint feature, and deploy to the site  Can use Initiation form to gather information from the user when starting the workflow  Can use custom forms for users to interact with SharePoint tasks  Visual Studio debugging available  Can author both sequential and state workflows

23. Key SharePoint related workflow “Activities”  OnWorkflowActivated  CreateTask (this has a SendEmailNotification property that can be set to true…)  OnTaskChanged  CompleteTask  DeleteTask  OnWorkflowModified  SendEmail  LogToHistoryList

24. Visual Studio Workflow Interface

25. Demonstration

26. Reference links and related information A list of all WF activities can be found at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms733615(vs.85).aspx Overview of MOSS Workflow Development using Visual Studio http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms580283.aspx General information can be found on the Microsoft site, MSDN, TechNet, or contact the Quilogy team! Contact us: tperrotte@quilogy.comtperrotte@quilogy.com Office2007@quilogy.com