Penny Coventry

Automating Business Processes

Using SharePoint Online

#SPSBE

#SPSBE31

About me

• Independent Consultant

• Author/Co-author 10 SharePoint Books

• Trainer

• Worked with SharePoint since 2001

• Based in UK, work Europe & US

• Microsoft MVP SharePoint Server

• Blogs/Web Site

• http://www.sharepointdesignerstepbystep.com/

• Twitter: @pjcov

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CONTENT

• Office 365 / SharePoint Online Overview

• SharePoint Online Workflows

• Creating Declarative Workflows with SharePoint Designer 2010

• Extending workflow with Visual Studio 2010

• Summary

• Resources

OFFICE 365 / SHAREPOINT ONLINE OVERVIEW

• Office 365 – Cloud based subscription service

• SharePoint Online • Hosted in Cloud (Software as a Service – SaaS)

• Hosted in multiple Microsoft datacentres

• Financially backed - 99.9 % Guaranteed Uptime

Search

SHAREPOINT ONLINE &

SHAREPOINT SERVER

Sites &

Communities

Content

Management

Business

Intelligence &

Composite

Applications

P AND E PLANS

• Office 365 Service Updates

• community.office365.com/en-

us/w/office_365_service_updates/default.aspx

• SharePoint Online Developer Feature Availability

Matrix

• msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg271151.aspx

WORKFLOW DISCOVERY

• Based on SharePoint Server 2010

• Activated by Site Collection Features

• Site Settings – Site Administration - Workflow

P PLAN WORKFLOWS (APRIL 2012)

• One Site Collection

• Built-in workflows & customization through SharePoint Designer - Subsites Only

• Only Three-State Workflow Activated

• Can See Other Workflow Templates

• No Site Collection Features to Activate them

• Not all Actions/Conditions can be used in SPD – Feature not activated

E3 PLAN (APRIL 2012)

• Multiple Site Collections

• Private

• Public

• Workflows

• Workflow Templates Activated

• Depends on Site Template

• Site Collection Features

• Workflow

• SharePoint 2007 Workflows

• Publishing approval Workflow

Demo

Discovery Workflows in SharePoint Online

SHAREPOINT DESIGNER ONLINE WORKFLOWS

• Same as on-premise installations

• Create workflows in Visio 2010 Premium

• Use SharePoint Workflow Template

• Flowchart shapes hard-code into Visio

• Export to SharePoint Designer 2010

• Complete Workflow Definition in SharePoint Designer 2010

• List, Site, Reusable, Globally Reusable workflows

• Initiation and Association Forms – InfoPath Services

• Need InfoPath 2010 Designer to customize forms

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

• Change Request

• Technical Review

• Change Control Board

• Research Needed

Demo

Reusing Workflows

EXTENDING WORKFLOWS IN SPO

• User Defined / Declarative Workflow

• Sandbox Solutions

LIMITATIONS OF USER DEFINED / DECLARATIVE

WORKFLOWS

• Can be created using SPD & Visual Studio

• Non Compiled Initially

• Performance impact on First Run – Thereafter non existence

• Harder to program if not generated by tool

• State workflow limited to Task related actions

• Workflows can be developed and tested rapidly

KEY SANDBOX LIMITATIONS

• No access to the file system

• Code restrictions:

• GAC deployment prohibited

• Restricted set of allowed assemblies

• No server side external calls

• No Web Application/Farm scoped functions

• No full-trust proxy allowed SPO standard

• http://www.wictorwilen.se/Post/Understanding-the-SharePoint-2010-Sandbox-limitations.aspx

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff798382.aspx

SANDBOX RESOURCE QUOTA

• Processor Cycles

• Database Queries

• Other Resource Usage

• Solution Blocked

• Unhandled Exceptions

• Long-running processes

SANDBOXED WORKFLOW SOLUTION

IMPLICATIONS

• Declarative Workflows

• Sandboxed Custom Actions

• Site / Web Scoped Features

• Offload logic to External System

• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/steve_fox/archive/2011/11/1

2/leveraging-wcf-services-to-connect-bcs-with-

sharepoint-online.aspx

SANDBOX SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT

• Create / Test on-prem

• Create SPO Test Site

Collection (E Plan)

• Deploy / Activate

Solution Gallery

DEMO

Visual Studio Custom Workflow Actions

Creating Sandbox Solution and Deploying in SPO

SUMMARY

• Prototype in Visio 2010 Premium

• Create and Test in SPD 2010 in Development

(on-premise) environment

• Develop Custom Actions in VS 2010

• Save Reusable Workflows as Templates

• SPO Upload .wsp into Solutions Gallery

RESOURCES • Office 365 Trial

• http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/office365/online-software.aspx

• SharePoint Online General Reference

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg271151.aspx

• Office Online for Office 365 Developer Guide

• http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17069

• Office 365 Developer Training

• Additional Resources – Training Courses http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg271151.aspx

• Kit - June 2011 Update http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=14889

• Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Power Tools

• http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/8e602a8c-6714-4549-9e95-f3700344b0d9

• Office 365 Sandbox FxCop Rules http://o365fxcoprules.codeplex.com/

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