Asif's Blog

SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows DVD

Jan 04

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer Videos, Workflow 2 Comments

We just released the new SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows DVD. The complete information on this DVD package is available here:
http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/sharepoint-designer-2010-workflows-training-dvd/

There are four ways to implement workflows in your SharePoint sites:

1) Use the browser and built in workflow templates – A great way to start making simple workflows. Doesn’t require any other tools other than the browser.

2) Use SharePoint Designer 2010 – SharePoint Designer 2010 is free and lets you create powerful and robust workflows using a variety of built in activities (such as sending an email, creating list items, copying documents and a whole lot more). The resulting workflows are easy to understand and ownership can be transferred to business users as it seems fit.

3) Use Visual Studio – This is by far the most powerful and flexible way of creating workflows. However, it requires knowledge of the Visual Studio environment and programming. In addition, once you deploy the workflows, chances are you will need to manage them as well.

4) Buy workflow building tools from 3rd party vendors – There are some really good companies out there who will sell you their workflow building package bundles. Some of them are quite affordable and provide great functionality. Check out the recording of a webinar we conducted a while back in which I talked through the limitations of workflows in SharePoint and demonstrated the functionality of a 3rd party vendor (AgilePoint) – http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/sp10-best-practices-workflows-visio-sharepoint-designer

If you decide on option 2 above – to build powerful workflows without programming using SharePoint Designer 2010, the SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows DVD is what you need to learn all that’s possible.

Among other content, I wrote two chapters in our SharePoint Designer 2010 book (which was released in November 2010) dedicated to workflows. This DVD is a great companion to that book since it contains the videos of all of the workflow scenarios discussed in the book and more. Some of the scenarios covered in the DVD are as follows:

• Creating List and Library Workflows
• Creating Powerful Reusable Workflows
• Creating Site Workflows
• Creating Workflows using Visio
• Managing Workflow forms using InfoPath
• Packaging up Reusable Workflows
• Migrating Workflows to other Site Collections
• and more..

Best wishes to you on your SharePoint journey!

Video – Create reusable workflows using SharePoint Designer 2010 and attach to Content Types

Dec 02

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer Workflow No Comments

Being able to create reusable workflows is a major component of SharePoint Designer 2010. In this presentation, you will see how you can create a reusable workflow and attach it to a content type and then use that content type in multiple libraries.

Create Reusable Workflows using SPD 2010 and attach to Content Types

* This video will be available for free until Dec 3rd, 2010. It will then be returned to the Subscribers only video collection.

If you liked our Workflow videos, buy the SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows Video Package which contains all of our SharePoint Designer 2010 workflow videos:

• Creating a Workflow on a List using SharePoint Designer 2010
• Create reusable workflows using SharePoint Designer 2010 and attach to Content Types
• Create a Site Workflow and modify its form using InfoPath
• An end to end process using InfoPath 2010 for forms and Visio 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010 for Workflows
• Create Workflows in Visio then transfer to SharePoint Designer
• Visualize a running workflow with Visio Services
• Customize SharePoint Designer Workflow forms using InfoPath
• Publishing globally reusable Workflows
• Modifying the built-in Workflow templates
• Exporting a reusable workflow to a different Site Collection

Use the following discount code when purchasing for 10% off the purchase price: workflowarticle. This coupon code is only valid for 2 days until Dec 4th!

Video – Create a Site Workflow and modify its form using InfoPath

Dec 01

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer Workflow No Comments

One of the types of workflows you can create using SharePoint Designer 2010 is the site workflow. This type of workflow is not attached to a list or library but rather to a site itself. In this video, you will see how to accomplish that. In addition, you will also see how to modify the user interface form, that this workflow creates, using InfoPath 2010.

Create a Site Workflow and modify its form using InfoPath

* This video will be available for free until Dec 2nd, 2010. It will then be returned to the Subscribers only video collection.

Check back tomorrow for a new free video on SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows.

Video – Create a Workflow on a List using SharePoint Designer 2010

Nov 30

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer Workflow No Comments

SharePoint Designer can be used to create powerful workflows on your site. You can create workflows on a list or library, create reusable workflows or create site based workflows. This video focuses on creating list workflows. While showing you how to create a list workflow, the various capabilities of the workflow designer environment (such as steps, conditions, actions, parallel branching, moving actions around etc) are explained so you can take full advantage of this robust environment.

Creating a Workflow on a SharePoint List or Library

* This video will be available for free until Dec 1st, 2010. It will then be returned to the Subscribers only video collection.

Check back tomorrow for a new free video on SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows.

Webinar recording on SharePoint Designer Workflows integration with InfoPath and Visio

Aug 12

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer InfoPath 2010, Visio, Workflow No Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I conducted a webinar on SharePoint Designer 2010 workflows integration with InfoPath and Visio. The recording for this is available for free right now on our site right here:

http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/sp10-creating-workflows-with-sharepoint-designer-2010-visio-2010-and-infopath-2010/

This will remain free on the site until 8/20/2010 and then it will be returned to the subscribers only area.

Video on Content Approval and Publishing with Approval Workflow – SharePoint 2007

Jul 30

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Workflow No Comments

This applies to SharePoint 2007.

Learn how to route a document through the Approval Workflow process. Configure the workflow so that once it is completed successfully, the Content Approval column is automatically marked as Approved.

Watch the video on Content Approval and Publishing with Approval Workflow that explains this functionality.

This video is available for free until Aug 6, 2010.

Webinar on SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows integration with InfoPath and Visio

Jul 27

Asif RehmaniEvents InfoPath, Visio, Workflow No Comments

Our next webinar is set to be held on Thursday, July 29th 3-4pm Eastern. Hope you can join us. Registration link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/737138753

Creating Workflows with SharePoint Designer 2010, InfoPath and Visio
Skill Level – 200 (Intermediate)

Forms and Workflows are important for automating business processes. Companies usually rely on programmers to create the forms and workflows using code. Not anymore! With InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010, you can create powerful data driven form composite solutions on your SharePoint sites. InfoPath gives you the ability to pull data from databases and lists, and create forms with data validation and conditional formatting. SharePoint Designer’s workflows let you then design powerful multi-step workflows centered around the form collected data, building upon the out-of-the-box reusable workflows and even import workflow designs from Visio!  In this presentation, you will see how these tools come together to design workflows and route forms across your organization for task assignment and approval.

My Podcast interview on TechNet Home Page

Jul 26

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer Workflow No Comments

Microsoft’s Senior Program Manager Keith Combs has produced a podcast on SharePoint Workflows and posted on TechNet’s home page. It’s about a 15 minute podcast in which I discuss workflows from scratch and talk about the integration possibilities with Visio and InfoPath as well. Hope it’s beneficial. Here it is: http://technet.microsoft.com

List Workflows on SharePoint Designer 2010

May 10

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer Workflow No Comments

In a previous article regarding Workflow Designer in SharePoint Designer 2010, I had tried to point out as many new things as I could think of at the time regarding the workflow designer environment. However, the fact remains that a video will always be a better way to communicate ideas than an article ever can (at least about a technical subject). So we have made the video on List Workflows using SharePoint Designer 2010 free on the site for a limited amount of time. This video highlights the following areas and more:

• Designing workflows using the workflow designer environment
• Moving actions/conditions up and down within and across workflow steps
• Parallel branching in workflows
• Workflow settings
• Focus on a few activities: Send an email, Set workflow status etc.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts/comments. Thanks.

Workflow Designer in SharePoint Designer 2010

Jan 07

Asif RehmaniSharePoint Designer SharePoint Designer 2010, Workflow 13 Comments

This article is the third in the series trying to demystify all that SharePoint Designer 2010 has to offer. Check out the other two articles here:

User Interfaces of SharePoint Designer 2010

Site Level Customizations and Settings using SharePoint Designer 2010

Also, related to this article, you can obtain the SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflow videos we have available here:

SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflow Videos

Types of Workflows

The Workflow Designer in SharePoint Designer 2010 is used to create workflows on the currently opened SharePoint site. There are 3 types of workflows that can be created using SharePoint Designer: List, Reusable, Site.

Each type of workflow has its reason for existence and will be (should be) used by used by Site Admins, Power Users and Designers of the site. Workflows in SharePoint sites are used to create robust processes using components of the site. They can interact with users, lists and libraries. The other ways to create workflows on top of SharePoint are Browser based and using Visual Studio. Out-of-box browser based workflows are good for many scenarios, but they are simpler in nature and cannot be modified further using the browser. While Visual Studio workflows are extremely powerful and scalable, but require coding skills to implement.

Following is a quick breakdown of how the 3 SharePoint Designer workflows are used and why you would use them:

List Workflow – Using this mechanism, you attach the workflow directly to a list or library on the site. Use this workflow when you are making a workflow that’s very specific to a list or library and does not need to be later used on a different list or library.

Reusable Workflow – This type of workflow is created with reusability in mind. Create a reusable workflow when you intend to attach it to a content type and use that content type in a list or library.

Site Workflow – Site based workflow does not require to be attached to a list or library. It works on the site itself. Use this workflow if you do not want to restrict the automated process to a list or library on the site. For example, you can use the site workflow to take a survey of the site members or to execute a process on a Document Set (new functionality in SharePoint 2010).

You don’t necessarily have to start creating a workflow from scratch. The out-of-box workflow templates (Approval, Collect Feedback and Collect Signatures) that can be used in the browser can also be extended using the workflow designer. Meaning, if you like the way these workflows work, but just want to tweak it to your liking, you can do that! These workflows are categorized as Globally Reusable Workflows and are visible and available at every site in the site collection.

A word of caution: Be careful while working with these! If you modify any of these from directly the root site of your site collection, then you are modifying the actual workflow template that’s in use at your site collection. Whatever changes you make will take effect everywhere in your site collection where this workflow is being used. If you click on any of these workflows from a subsite, it will instead inform you that a copy of the workflow will be made that you can further modify (I would recommend doing this and Not changing the out-of-box workflow template).

Workflow Designer Interface

Let’s look at the workflow designer interface that’s used to configure the workflows. You get to the design interface by either creating a new workflow or by clicking on an existing workflow and then clicking on the Edit Workflow link on the summary page of the workflow.

The workflow designer interface is where you define the complete logic of the workflow. To put it simply, SharePoint Designer workflows consist of steps which are executed sequentially in the order they are placed in the workflow designer. Clicking on the Step button in the ribbon inserts a new step in the workflow designer interface. Within the step, you can place Conditions and Actions. Clicking on the Condition button will show you all of the conditions that are available.

A conditional logic statement is used to look out for a specific possibility. If the condition is true, then whatever is encapsulated within the conditional block will be executed. Otherwise, the workflow process will move on to the next conditional logic statement (if one exists). Programmers have been using the conditional logic construct (If… Else If… Else) for decades now. Now information workers also have the power to write their own business logic without coding!

Actions are the actual statements which execute a certain activity (ex: Creating a List Item, Checking in an Item, Sending Email etc). The image below shows a snapshot of a partial list of the actions available in the designer environment.

Parallel Block

Each of the actions and conditions can be moved around rather easily within the step or even from one step to another. Just click on the action/condition you would like to move and click the Move Up or Move Down button in the ribbon. The default nature of the actions you place in the workflow steps is sequential. The first action takes place then the next and so on. This is made evident by the word then that appears preceding every action within the step after the first action. There will be many instances where you need the actions to take place in parallel. For example, if an action calls for collecting data from a user, the process will not move on to the next action until that action is accomplished and the user who the data is being fetched from provides the data. If you want actions to fire in parallel, you can use the Parallel Block functionality. You first start by placing the parallel block within the step right up close to the actions you want to run in parallel and then by clicking on the Parallel Block button in the ribbon.

The below animation highlights the following:

• Moving actions up and down
• Parallel block

Remember that there is no Undo button in the workflow designer so that if you make a mistake, you just need to undo it manually the old fashioned way .

That’s it for now. I’ll be back with more information on workflows in my next article. There are still many things to be discussed such as workflow settings, impersonation steps, parallel blocks, association columns, nested steps and a whole lot more. Stay tuned…