Meeting # 76 Meeting # 76 Welcome to the Minnesota SharePoint User Group March 9 th, 2011 Workflow.

http://www.sharepointmn.com Meeting # 76http://www.sharepointmn.com Meeting # 76

Welcome to the Minnesota SharePoint

User Group

March 9th, 2011

Workflow and Business Process Automation

Phil Jirsa, Veasnar Yem, Raymond Mitchell


Agenda

• Introductions• Crawl, Walk, and Run• Out of the Box Workflows • SPD Workflows + Visio 2010• Break• Visual Studio Workflows• 3rd Party Options

http://www.sharepointmn.com


User Group Goal / Objectives

Develop and support a local community focused on Microsoft SharePoint Technologies

• Educate user group members about SharePoint Technologies• Transfer knowledge within the community• Communicate best practices• Introduce new products / solutions


Introductions – MNSPUG Sponsors

Avtex (www.avtex.com) • Technology consulting company• Practice area focused on SharePoint

Benchmark Learning (www.benchmarklearning.com)• Training on many technologies

Microsoft (www.microsoft.com)

Wrox Press (www.wrox.com)


http://www.avtex.com/

http://www.newhorizonsmn.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/

http://www.wrox.com/


www.sharepointmn.com

• 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/

mailto:[email protected]



Social Networking• Linked In group – The most interactive… includes job postings…

– http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1878792

• Facebook group– http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=27333305456

• Twitter: @MNSPUG and #MNSPUG


http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1878792

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1878792

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=27333305456

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=27333305456


Upcoming Schedule

• Next Meeting • April 13th 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM• Microsoft’s Bloomington Office• Topic: TBD

Check www.sharepointmn.com for updates!

• Ongoing Schedule• 2nd Wednesday of every month• 9:00 to 11:30 am• Microsoft’s Bloomington Office



http://www.sharepointmn.com Meeting # 76

Local Events

SharePoint Saturday – April 9, 2011Normandale Community College

Schedule, Sessions Details available at:

http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/twincities





Conferences

Best Practices Conference – Nowishhttp://www.bestpracticesconference.comLa Jolla, CA

SharePoint Connections – March 27-30th, 2011http://www.devconnections.com/conf/default.aspx?s=162Orlando, FL

TechEd, North America – May 16-19th, 2011http://northamerica.msteched.com/Atlanta, GA

http://www.bestpracticesconference.com/

http://www.bestpracticesconference.com/

http://www.devconnections.com/conf/default.aspx?s=162

http://www.devconnections.com/conf/default.aspx?s=162

http://northamerica.msteched.com/

http://northamerica.msteched.com/


Books


Quick Intro

• Raymond Mitchell– Senior SharePoint

Consultant– Author– Dad & Packers Fan

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470877278?ie=UTF8&tag=iwkidcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470877278

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GXC834?ie=UTF8&tag=iwkidcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004GXC834


Quick Intro

• Phil Jirsa– SharePoint Consultant– MCTS – WSS and MOSS

Development– Water Ski Fanatic


Quick Intro

• Vish Yem– SharePoint Consultant– MCTS: WSS and MOSS

Development– Dog owner


Crawl, Walk, Run…


Business Process & Workflow

• Replace manual business processes or steps with automated steps and flows



Crawl:• Introduce simple list and InfoPath forms• Use out of the box workflows



Walk: • Introduce SharePoint Designer workflows• Introduce 3rd Party workflow tools• Use Visio Services to visualize business processes



Run: • Develop more robust workflows, .NET workflows, integrated

systems• Custom .NET Actions and Conditions for SharePoint Designer



Other Notes:• Don’t attempt to fully automate every step of every business

process. Evaluate which steps are appropriate and stop there. • Take the time to analyze potential ROI from process

automation


Business Process Automation

• You already have it.• What is the #1 tool?


Why Workflow?

• One Truth• Flexibility• Auditability


SharePoint Workflow

• OOB SharePoint• SharePoint Designer + Visio• Visual Studio


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


Understanding The Workflow Timeline

• 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

Association Initiation Running Termination Remove Association


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


Lists and Libraries

Lists

• Approval• Collect Feedback• Collect Signatures• Disposition Approval

• Three State*• Translation Management

Out of the Box

* SharePoint Foundation


Out-of-the-Box Workflows

DEMO


SharePoint Designer 2010• Redesigned for SharePoint 2010• New UI• Only Compatible with SharePoint 2010


SharePoint Designer 2010• Create Reusable Workflows• Import/Export to Visio• New Workflow Designer Wizard


SPD + Visio 2010

DEMO


BREAKSorry… BYO Coffee and Donuts today.


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


Custom .NET Workflow – The Platform

• Windows Workflow Foundation• Its not just a SharePoint Platform

– Built into .NET 3.0


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


Visual Studio

DEMO


3rd Party Options


3rd Party Options

• Two major players


3rd Party Options

• Expand workflows beyond SharePoint Designer• Implement workflow logic without code• Rich visual designer from SharePoint


K2 blackpoint• Larger installation footprint• Runs outside of SharePoint

– Process Portals– K2 Worklist

• Maintains data within own database– Detailed reporting

• Error handling• SmartObjects• K2 Studio

– Alternate designer


Nintex

• Small installation footprint• Start in SharePoint, stay in SharePoint• Document assembly and conversion• User Defined Actions (UDA)• Lazy Approval• Workflow change approval


Nintex

DEMO


Recap

• Factors to consider– IT Limitations– Requirements– Functionality– Budget


• Paul Andrew - http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/• SharePoint 2010 -

http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com• SharePoint MSDN -

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/default.aspx

• K2 – http://www.k2.com• Nintex – http://www.nintex.com

References

http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/

http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/



http://www.k2.com/

http://www.nintex.com/


Q & A



Thanks for coming!


Meeting # 76 Meeting # 76 Welcome to the Minnesota SharePoint User Group March 9 th, 2011 Workflow.

Documents

Transcript of Meeting # 76 Meeting # 76 Welcome to the Minnesota SharePoint User Group March 9 th, 2011 Workflow.