INTRO TO SHAREPOINT WORKFLOWS Derek Nishino Nishino Consulting

Agenda  What Are Workflows?  Types of Workflows in SharePoint  Workflow Creation Tools  Out-of-the-Box Workflows & Demo  SharePoint Designer Workflows & Demo  What to Watch Out For

What are Workflows?  A managed process that executes a series of steps to achieve a business outcome  Think of process flow diagrams, a workflow manages the execution of each step in the process  Manages the flow, logic, and execution instead of a human

Benefits of Workflows  Improve organizational efficiency of work  Reduce the time processes take to complete  Ensure everyone involved with the process knows where the process status and who has the ball  Remind people of tasks they have to complete if they are overdue  Provide insight into which steps in a process take the longest to complete  Provide audit trails of approvals

Types of SharePoint Workflow

VS=Visual Studio K2 Nintex HarePoint …more

Types of SharePoint Workflow  List/Library Workflow  Site Reusable Workflow  Globally Reusable Workflow  Not global to farm, just site collection

Reusable Workflows  Use when you want:  Same workflow logic to run on more than one list or library  Want central control over changes  Need workflow portability  Be aware of:  Changing the workflow definition changes all workflow instances  Use good naming conventions  2010-style reusable workflows can only directly interact with site columns  2013-style reusable workflows can only directly interact with default list/library columns

SharePoint 20-what-style-huh?  2010-style workflows  Several useful, well-built sub-processes (e.g. Approval Process)  Many 3 rd -Party add-ons (e.g. HarePoint Workflow Extensions)  Linear execution (no looping)  No copy/paste within or across workflows  2013-style workflows  Looping  State machine  Copy/paste  Sub-processes not as built-out or configurable

Workflow Creation Tools  Web Browser  SharePoint Designer  Visio  InfoPath (2010-style workflows)  Visual Studio  3 rd -Party Tools & Add-Ons

Out-of-the-Box Workflows  Approval – Routes a document or item to a group of people for approval.  Collect Feedback – Routes a document or item to a group of people for feedback. Reviewers can provide feedback, which is then compiled and sent to the person who initiated the workflow. By default, the Collect Feedback workflow is associated with the Document content type, and therefore it is automatically available in document libraries.  Disposition Approval – Manages document expiration and retention by letting participants to decide whether to keep or delete expired documents. The Disposition Approval workflow supports record management processes and is intended for use primarily in a Records Center site.  Collect Signatures – Routes a document that was created in a Microsoft application to a group of people to collect their digital signatures.  Three-state – Designed to track the status of a list item through three states (phases). It can be used to manage business processes that require organizations to track a high volume of issues or items, such as customer support issues, sales leads, or project tasks.

DEMO

OOB Workflow Limitations  Limited customization  No process customization  Limited information gathering options  No control over workflow logic  Can’t alter library or list items

SharePoint Designer Workflows  Customize workflow logic  Pull data from libraries and lists  Send s  Dynamically build workflow bodies  Manage approval processes  Add/Update/Delete list items  Write messages to the Workflow History log  Use task forms to gather information

DEMO

SharePoint Designer Workflow Limitations  Limited to actions available  Limited text processing capabilities in 2010, somewhat better in 2013  Line-of-Business system integration options  Scheduled execution  No interaction with lists outside of immediate site (2010)  Must use REST web services to work with lists outside of immediate site (2013)

Watch Out For  Workflow History purging  SharePoint Designer workflow size limitations  HTML in workflow s  Use of InfoPath (it’s being end-of-life’d)  No version control (cannot easily revert back to previous version)

Don’t Let the Negativity Get You Down!  SharePoint workflows are very useful even without code  95%+ of the workflow use cases I’ve encountered can be done with OOB workflows or SharePoint Designer  Basic workflows are easy to build and use  Upgrade well from version-to-version (knock on wood)

Q&A

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