Transcript May 2009 MNSPUG Workflow

Welcome to the
Minnesota SharePoint
User Group
May 13th, 2009
SharePoint Workflow and a Best Buy Case Study
Neil Iversen
Sarah Haase
http://www.sharepointmn.com
Meeting # 55
Agenda
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Introductions
Workflow in SharePoint
Break
Best Buy Case Study
Q&A
Drawings !!
http://www.sharepointmn.com
User Group Goal / Objectives
Develop and support a local community focused on Microsoft
SharePoint Technologies
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Educate user group members about SharePoint Technologies
Transfer knowledge within the community
Communicate best practices
Introduce new products / solutions
http://www.sharepointmn.com
Introductions – MNSPUG Sponsors
Inetium (www.inetium.com)
• Technology consulting company
• Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
• Practice area focused on SharePoint
New Horizons – Minnesota (www.newhorizonsmn.com)
• Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
• Training on many technologies
Microsoft (www.microsoft.com)
http://www.sharepointmn.com
www.sharepointmn.com
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Website for user group
SharePoint resource documents
SharePoint resource links
RSS Feeds
Meeting Schedule
Past User Group Presentations
[email protected]
www.sharepointmn.com
http://www.sharepointmn.com
Upcoming Schedule
• Next Meeting
• June 10th 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
• Topics – Check www.sharepointmn.com for updates!:
• Unification of Business Data and Documents
• Ongoing Schedule
• 2nd Wednesday of every month
• 9:00 to 11:30 am
• Microsoft’s Bloomington Office
http://www.sharepointmn.com
Happy Anniversary!
May 2004 – May 2009
Announcements
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Service Pack 2 for WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/04/28/announcing-service-pack-2-for-office-sharepointserver-2007-and-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0.aspx
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April Cumulative Updates – Released this morning!
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/05/13/april-cumulative-update-packages-ready-fordownload.aspx
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SharePoint vNext / O14 / 2010…
– Named: SharePoint Server 2010
– Preliminary Server Requirements – SharePoint Team Blog
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Microsoft SharePoint Designer – Training and Resources at www.LearnSPD.com
http://www.LearnSPD.com
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Social Networking!
Find MNSPUG on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
http://www.sharepointmn.com
Conferences
SharePoint Conference 2009 – October 19-22, 2009
http://www.mssharepointconference.com
Las Vegas, NV
Local Events
Minneapolis Office Developer Interest Group - July
http://www.sharepointmn.com/MODIG
Topic: TBD
http://www.sharepointmn.com
Presentation
More Discussion
Outline
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Workflow Overview
MOSS OOB Workflows
SharePoint Designer Workflows
Advanced Workflow Options
What is Workflow?
• In the Abstract:
– Moving something
from one state to
another
• In Practice:
– Telling someone to
do something
Lists
• Issues
• Custom
Documents
• Contract
• Press Release
Workflow
Forms
• Expenses
• Requisition
We’ve collected all this data…now what?
• Workflow!
• SharePoint 2007
– Perform actions against the collected data
– Gather additional data
– Workflow requires a List Item work against
• Lists
• Document, Form, Page and Report Libraries
•…
Basic Workflow Capabilities
• Ability to start a workflow
– Workflows can be started
automatically as well
• Visibility into running workflows
• Collection of historical workflow data
– Status of approval, errors,…
• Stop (or Terminate) a running
workflow
• Tight integration with Office 2007
Workflow Lifecycle: The Cheat sheet
Association
Initiation
Running
Termination
Remove
Association
Association
Initiation
– When a workflow is associated with a
list
– Data can be associated with the
workflow
Running
Termination
Remove
Association
Association
Initiation
– When the workflow is first started on
a list item
– Data can be associated with the
instance of the workflow
Running
Termination
Remove
Association
Association
Initiation
– Status page reflects state of the
workflow
– User primarily interacts via Tasks
Running
Termination
Remove
Association
Association
Initiation
– End an instance of workflow
• Finish Naturally
– Approve/Deny
• Finish Unnaturally
– Manual Termination
– Error
Running
Termination
Remove
Association
Association
Initiation
Running
– No New Instances
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No New Workflow Instances
Currently running ones are left alone
Workflow isn’t actually ‘removed’ from the list
A more graceful exit until Remove can be used
– Remove
• No longer able to be run against the List or Content Type
• Running Instances Terminated
• Column Removed from List
Termination
Remove
Association
Where do I Associate the Workflow?
List
• Runs on a single list
• Can specify List
specific settings
• Workflow has to be
associated with every
list
Content Type
• Runs in the Site
Collection
• Only Site Collection
level settings
• Content Type has to
be associated with
every list
SharePoint
Designer
Workflows
Purchase Order
Processing
Custom Tracking Apps
Service Requests
Asset Tracking
Document Processes
Spec Review
Weekly Status Report
Custom Form Actions
Email Notification
Exception Handling
Server Features
(parallel)
(with customization)
List Moderation
Publishing Process
Document Expiration
Translation Process
Ringi (eApproval)
Document Approval
Task & Issue Tracking
(WSS, Access, & Project)
(serial)
Signature Collection
Custom Routing
Ad Hoc
Document Review
Out-of-the-Box
Solutions
Structured
Visual Studio and
Workflow SDK
LOB
Integration
(BizTalk)
Workflows – Out of the Box (MOSS)
• Lists and Libraries
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Approval
Collect Feedback
Collect Signatures
Disposition Approval
• List – All above and
– Three State (formerly Issue
Tracking)
– Translation Management
Demo: Our First Workflow
OOB Workflows – Main Limitations
• Limited options to change
– Very powerful and well designed, but only if you
need a similar scenario
• Dynamic User Assignment is difficult
– Hard to use if different instances need different
‘approvers’
SharePoint
Designer
Workflows
Purchase Order
Processing
Custom Tracking Apps
Service Requests
Asset Tracking
Document Processes
Spec Review
Weekly Status Report
Custom Form Actions
Email Notification
Exception Handling
Server Features
(parallel)
(with customization)
List Moderation
Publishing Process
Document Expiration
Translation Process
Ringi (eApproval)
Document Approval
Task & Issue Tracking
(WSS, Access, & Project)
(serial)
Signature Collection
Custom Routing
Ad Hoc
Document Review
Out-of-the-Box
Solutions
Structured
Visual Studio and
Workflow SDK
LOB
Integration
(BizTalk)
One Quick Form-Related Detour
Finding your Manager (In InfoPath)
• Add a Secondary Data Connection
– http://myserver/_vti_bin/UserProfile
Service.asmx
• Call GetUserProfileByName
– Pass in nothing as the AccountName
• Select Default Value on your Textbox
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Select the Values from the Secondary Data
Source
• Click ‘Filter Data’
– Create a condition where Name is equal
to ‘Manager’ (or desired property)
• Enjoy!
SharePoint Designer 2007
• Formerly Front Page 2003
• Designed with SharePoint in
mind
• Allows users to create new
workflows
• Associate workflow to a list or
library
Workflow Steps
• Group similar tasks together
• Defines where the workflow ‘waits’
• Label for easier maintenance
Demo: SharePoint Designer
Collecting Workflow Feedback
Task list where the
The Interactive
Cheat sheet
data is
• Define the data to be collected
with to
thefind
– Use names you’ll Field
be able
information you want
– Avoid common names like Type,
Modified, etc
ID field in the Tasks
• Getting the Result
list
– Select the Tasks list and Field
– Find the item from the ‘Tasks:ID’
• Saving it for the future
Workflow variable
that contains the ID
– Use a Workflow Variable
(by default collect1)
Demo: SharePoint Designer
SharePoint Designer Workflow – Main
Limitations
• Limited set of actions
– New actions can be added, but not UI elements
• Not (easily) Redeployable
– Locked to the list instance they were created on
3rd Party Options
SharePoint
Designer
Workflows
Purchase Order
Processing
Custom Tracking Apps
Service Requests
Asset Tracking
Document Processes
Spec Review
Weekly Status Report
Custom Form Actions
Email Notification
Exception Handling
Server Features
(parallel)
(with customization)
List Moderation
Publishing Process
Document Expiration
Translation Process
Ringi (eApproval)
Document Approval
Task & Issue Tracking
(WSS, Access, & Project)
(serial)
Signature Collection
Custom Routing
Ad Hoc
Document Review
Out-of-the-Box
Solutions
Structured
Visual Studio and
Workflow SDK
LOB
Integration
(BizTalk)
Making a New Option
• Custom SharePoint Designer Actions
– CodePlex SPDActivities
2,3
– Last Month’s MODIG
1
• 3rd Party Workflow Offerings
– Have more actions
– Better UI
– Additional reporting options
– Examples: Nintex, K2, …
1 http://spdactivities.codeplex.com/
2 http://www.sharepointmn.com/modig/User%20Group%20Presentations/MODIG%202009-04.pptx
Demo: Nintex Workflow
SharePoint
Designer
Workflows
Purchase Order
Processing
Custom Tracking Apps
Service Requests
Asset Tracking
Document Processes
Spec Review
Weekly Status Report
Custom Form Actions
Email Notification
Exception Handling
Server Features
(parallel)
(with customization)
List Moderation
Publishing Process
Document Expiration
Translation Process
Ringi (eApproval)
Document Approval
Task & Issue Tracking
(WSS, Access, & Project)
(serial)
Signature Collection
Custom Routing
Ad Hoc
Document Review
Out-of-the-Box
Solutions
Structured
Visual Studio and
Workflow SDK
LOB
Integration
(BizTalk)
Custom .NET Workflow
• Bring in the Reinforcements!
• You are here because:
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Default Flows might lack 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
Custom .NET Workflow – The Platform
• Windows Workflow Foundation
• Its not just a SharePoint Platform
– Built into .NET 3.0
Workflow – Platform Implications
• Workflow now a core .NET feature
– Workflow can be ‘hosted’ anywhere
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– 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
Review
• Workflow Overview
– In 5 easy steps!
• MOSS OOB Workflows
– What they can/can’t do
• SharePoint Designer Workflows
– Good middle option for Workflow Development
• Advanced Workflow Options
– 3rd Party
– Code it up!
Questions?
Break
More Discussion
Presentation
More Discussion
Drawings
http://www.sharepointmn.com
Thanks for coming!
http://www.sharepointmn.com