A High-Level Overview of Workflows

Workflows are a complex topic and justify their own chapter, which is Chapter 28, “Out-of-the-Box Workflows and Designer 2010 Workflows,” but because the Workflow tool is provided in the Documents tab on the Ribbon, it should be covered at this time from a high level.

A workflow must have been created by a document library administrator for it to be available to users of the document library. The document library administrator decides whether the workflow starts automatically or if it can be started manually by users with Edit Item permissions or if users must have manage list permissions to start the workflow. Once started, the workflow communicates to participants via email, which gives instructions of what they need to do. At the same time, tasks are created in a SharePoint tasks list, which the participants interact with and update as they perform their tasks.

If more complex workflows are required, developers and administrators can use tools such as SharePoint Designer 2010, Visio 2010, Visual Studio 2010, and other tools to create more complex workflows. InfoPath 2010 could be used to create advanced forms that are used within the workflow, emails can be customized, and complex business logic can be created if needed.

Procedurally, to start a workflow, a user with sufficient rights follows these steps:

1. The user either selects Workflows from the drop-down menu or clicks the Workflow button in the Documents Ribbon after selecting the document.
2. The Workflow.aspx opens, and shows the user any workflows associated with the document library. The user clicks the desired workflow. If no workflows are available, the document library administrator will need to be contacted to create one.
3. The user then modifies the settings for the workflow entered by the document library or site administrator, which can include who is involved in the workflow, a text message, due dates for all tasks, duration per task, and other fields depending on the workflow. Figure 19.19 shows a sample workflow based on the out-of-the-box Collect Feedback workflow.

   Figure 19.19. A sample Collect Feedback workflow.

   

4. The user then clicks Start to kick off the workflow, and emails will be sent to the participants with instructions on the steps to take.

The next section provides an example of a Page Approval workflow, to provide a context for how an out-of-the-box workflow can be useful in an approval process.