Cost: SPD workflows are built with SPD 2007 and SPD 2010, both of which free products
ROI: SPD 2007/2010 workflows leverage your existing investment in SharePoint
Support:
- Books: There are many professional books available to help guide the SPD WF developer
- Blogs: There are many professional blog sites available to help guide the SPD WF developer
- Forums: There are many professional forums available to help guide the SPD WF developer
- Community: There are hundreds of professional SPD WF developers
- Vendor:
- Microsoft responds rapidly to any technical issues with patches and updates
- Microsoft can provide advance trouble shooting for this product
Ease of Use:
• Graphical Design Tool: SharePoint Designer has a powerful yet intuitive workflow editor in SharePoint Designer 2010 that allows nested logic, sub steps, and more. For a quick “How To” see this article - Introduction to Designing and Customizing Workflows
• Task Actions:
o Task Actions: SPD 2010 includes new task actions that you can use to model all sorts of business workflows in your organization. This creates tremendous flexibility – you can edit and customize almost any aspect of the task process (For example, the default settings in a task process mean that approval must be unanimous by all workflow participants, but you can change this so that approval means a simple majority or even a certain percentage, such as seventy percent)
o For a quick “How To” see this article - Introduction to Designing and Customizing Workflows
• Conditions:
o Conditions Support Multiple Workflow Scenarios: SPD WF support conditions that can be used with an Impersonation step, Content Type Workflows, or Site workflows
o For a Complete Listing of Conditions see - Workflow Conditions In Sharepoint Designer 2010 a Quick Reference Guide
• Actions:
o Actions Supporting Multiple Workflow Scenarios: SPD WF’s provide a set of conditions that can be used with Core Actions, Document Set Actions, List Actions, Relational Actions, Task Actions, Task Behavior Actions, and Utility Actions
o For a Complete Listing of Conditions see - Workflow Conditions In Sharepoint Designer 2010 a Quick Reference Guide
Microsoft Visio - Graphical Design Tool:
• With Microsoft Visio Premium 2010, you can create a workflow in Visio and then export it to Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010
• For a quick “How To” see this article - Create Import and Export Sharepoint Workflows in Visio
SPS 2010 OOTB Workflows:
• Common Design Tool: SPS 2010 OOTB workflows can be extended by using the same SPD WF design tools that are used to create a SPD WF from Scratch
• Reusable Design: A SPS 2010 OOTB workflow that is extended using SPD will be reusable because it will be created as a Content Type Workflow and can be deployed across other sites, site collections and farms using a solution package (.wsp file)
• Advance Customization with Visual Studio: An SPS 2010 OOTB workflow that is extended using SPD can be even further extended by importing the SPD WF into Visual Studio
Visual Studio WF:
• Import SPD WF: Visual Studio 2010 has the ability to import a .wsp package from a SPD WF as a Visual Studio workflow project, therefore, SPD WF designs can be reused and extended by using Visual Studio 2010
• For a quick “How To” see this article - Walkthrough: Import a SharePoint Designer Reusable Workflow into Visual Studio
List Workflows:
• List\Library: A list workflow is the type of workflow that was available in SharePoint 2007, and because it has the context of the list or library for which it was created, list workflows automatically have access to the values of the custom fields for the list item on which they will run
• Not Reusable: List workflows cannot be made available to other lists or libraries on the site they were created on or on other sites
• Custom Fields: If you know that you will only need the workflows you are designing for a specific list, the list workflow has the advantage of automatically making available the custom fields of the lists
Reusable List Workflows:
• Site: You can create a reusable list workflow in the top-level site in the site collection, and that workflow can be associated to any list, library, or content type in the site collection
• Subsite: You can also create a reusable list workflow in any subsite in the site collection; this workflow is available for reuse anywhere in that particular subsite
• Export as a Template: You can export a reusable list workflow as a template from one site and then upload and activate that workflow template in a different site
• Common Columns: Reusable list workflows, by default, don’t have the context of a specific list or library, therefore, they provide only the columns that are common across lists and libraries such as Content Types, but reusable SPD WF’s are not limited to Content Types
• Associated Columns: If your reusable workflow requires certain columns to be present in the list or library that you associated it to, you can add those columns as association columns (association columns get added automatically to a list or library when a reusable workflow is associated to that list or library)
• Ease of Deployment: A reusable list workflow can be deployed across other sites, site collections and farms using a solution package
• Advance Customization with Visual Studio: A reusable list workflow can highly modified and extended because it can be imported into Visual Studio 2010
• For a quick “How To” see this article -Create a site workflow and modify its form using InfoPath Forms 2010
Site Workflows:
• Site Level: A site workflow is associated to a site — not to a list, library, or content type so unlike most workflows, a site workflow is not running on a specific list item (because of this, many of the actions that are available for items are not available for site workflows)
• Example Scenario: For example, you can create a site workflow as a way for people to provide feedback about your site
• For a quick “How To” see this article — Introduction to designing and customizing workflows
Deployment:
• Deploy Directly:
o You can directly associate a SPD WF with a list, library, content type, or site
o For a quick “How To” see this article - Workflow deployment process (SharePoint Server 2010)
• WSP Files:
o You can deploy a SPD WF as a workflow template (.wsp file). The .wsp file can then be used to deploy the workflow on multiple sites and site collections
o For a quick “How To” see this article - Deploy a workflow as a WSP file (SharePoint Server 2010)
Visio Integration:
• Two Way Integration:
o To or From SPD: In Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010, you can import a workflow created in Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 or export a workflow to Visio for viewing
o For a quick “How To” see these articles - Transfer workflows between SharePoint Designer and Visio
• SPD WF Template Shapes:
o WF Templates: Visio Premium provides SPD WF Templates that not only allow BA’s to design detailed workflow flow charts, but also allow the SharePoint Designer to quickly convert and deploy those workflows
o For a quick “How To” see this article - SharePoint Workflow template shapes guide
• Ease of Conversion:
o Click Button Conversion: Workflow designs created in Visio Premium 2010 can be converted to SPD WF’s with only a few clicks – Import Workflow, Name Workflow, Identify Workflow Type
o For a quick “How To” see this article - Transfer workflows between SharePoint Designer and Visio
• Workflow Visualization:
o Track the Progress of the Workflow Visually: Using SharePoint Designer 2010, you can enable workflow visualization on the workflow status page – this enables users to see the workflow in progress!
o For a quick “How To” see this article - Transfer workflows between SharePoint Designer and Visio
InfoPath Integration:
• Workflow Forms:
o Advanced Workflow Forms: You can use Microsoft InfoPath 2010 to create advanced forms for SPD workflows
o Design Once – Use Many: Because you are using InfoPath with SPD WF’s, developers won’t have to create two separate forms, one for use on the server and one for use in the client (InfoPath 2010 gives you the ability to create symmetrical forms; that is, forms that look and operate exactly the same whether they are displayed in the SharePoint Server 2010 Web interface or within a Microsoft Office 2010 client application)
o For a quick “How To” see this article - InfoPath Forms for Workflows
• Client Based Forms Driven Applications with Workflow:
o Client/Server Applications: Client based InfoPath applications can use SPD 2010 WF’s to provide a tightly integrated client/server workflow capability
o For a quick “How To” see this article - InfoPath 2010 Enhanced Integration with SharePoint Server 2010 and Its Implications When Designing Forms for Applications
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