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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

MOSS Workflow Concepts

In this post, I will be covering MOSS workflows concepts, starting from What are workflows, categories, people involved, WWF. MOSS Workflows can be created using the following approaches:
-         Standard Workflow
-         SharePoint Designer Workflow
-         InfoPath Workflow
-         Custom Workflow
          A workflow is a set of activities
          Each activity is actually a class
        It can be reused in multiple workflows
          Activities can be provided by:
        Microsoft
        Anybody else
Core Categories of Workflow
          Human Centric Workflow
                    Participants are people
                    Flexible control flow
                    Ad-hoc
          System Centric Workflow
                      Participants are Services
                      Apps Prescriptive control flow
                      Transactional
Defining Windows Workflow Foundation
          Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is a framework for building workflow-based Windows applications
        It’s targeted at developers, not information workers or business analysts
          WF is now a standard part of Windows
        The goal is to provide a common workflow framework for Windows applications
        Including both system and human workflow
The Role of InfoPath Forms Services
85% of workflows use forms as the primary end user UI
Forms are used for:
          Gathering Information
          Configuring workflows
        Out-of-the box workflow templates use InfoPath designed browser based forms
        Add your own workflow templates with your own forms.
          Starting Workflows
          Completing tasks
          Users are everyone using, interacting or designing workflows
The Role of SharePoint Designer
Workflow Design made easy
          Customize SharePoint Sites
          Design Page Layouts for Web Content Management [MOSS only]
          Design and Create Workflows
          Build Workflow enabled Composite SharePoint Apps
          Users are Business IT and DEV
The Role of Visual Studio
Leverage Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
          Design complex workflows
        Use the WF SDK and it’s graphical workflow designer
          Develop and deploy your own workflow templates
        Extend the available out-of-the-box workflows available to your SharePoint users
          Extend WF with your own custom activities
        Develop custom activities reusable in SharePoint Designer
          Users are Developers
An Example WSS Workflow
I would be adding the links to the presentations & Workshops for 4 different approaches to create MOSS workflows in my next post.

Cheers!

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