Effective Business Process Design with SharePoint

© 2010 WinWire Technologies

presents

Effective Business Process Design

with SharePoint 2010


WinWire Technologies is a super-specialist consulting firm focused

exclusively on Microsoft SharePoint and Business Intelligence

HQ: Silicon Valley, CA Bangalore, India Hyderabad, India

WinWire’s focus is to help Enterprise customers realize their business goals by

“Making Information Actionable™”

INTRODUCTION TO WINWIRE

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WinWire Core Competencies


Effective Business Process Design

with SharePoint 2010

Vineet AroraChief Technology Officer

WinWire Technologies


What will we cover…

Business Process:● Implementation challenges● SharePoint as solution● Case study● Best practices


Challenges in business process implementation

Inability to react fast enough to changes in business

requirements

Lack of visibility into

current status of workflows

Need to integrate

external data from several systems as a part of one

process

Dependency on developer

tools to implement work of a business analyst


People

Content

SharePoint enabling the Connected Enterprise

● Collaboration happens on SharePoint– People share data with others– People consume information

● Need for workflows to manage it● Two types of workflows needed

– System – move data inand out of SharePoint

– Human – support peoplewith long-running processes


SharePoint based business processes

Allow every day business activities to become automated

• enabling actions such as document review, approval, issue tracking and signature collection

Streamline work and boost productivity

• relatively easy to create workflow processes linking departments and projects using familiar toolset

Workflows can be integrated with document management

• route documents from person to person, so each of them can complete their tasks, such as reviewing documents or approving publication of documents, before they proceed to the next stage


What does a business process implementation looks like?

Translate info into appropriate & timely action

Web Part portals present info so it can be acted on

Get the right people to do the right thingSharePoint workflows info in the right hands

Processes start by capturing the right informationInfoPath forms the right information


Example: Expense Reporting

● Many variations depending on business● But most tend to follow a similar archetype● In our context, employees interacting with a

document library on SharePoint

Report filled out and uploaded to server

Send to manager(s) for their approval

If successful, reimburse the expenses


Implement on Sharepoint

④ Requester & Approver PortalsStart & manage requests Track status with Excel & list Web Parts

③ Approval WorkflowCreate tasks in task list Assemble expense reports in doc

library

② InfoPath FormCombine categories, rules & user input Create requests in form library

① Line of Business DataStore expense categories and other info in lists


IMPLEMENTING WORKFLOW IN SHAREPOINT


SharePoint 2010 Workflows

Easily generate a workflow with Sharepoint designer and reuse it in Visual Studio if needed

Design a workflow in Visio, reuse it in Sharepoint Designer and get back to Visio or to Visual Studio 2010.

Cannot get back to SPD from Visual Studio 2010

Workflows created with Visual Studio 2010 can easily communicate with the ‘outside world’

Now easy to create asp.net based initiation & association pages in Visual Studio 2010.

There is a new set of Business tasks components in Sharepoint Designer 2010.


Ease of implementing - 2007 vs. 2010

In addition, Sharepoint 2010 support workflows to be used multiple times and provide workflow templates for later use in

SharePoint

Workflow features Sharepoint Designer 2007

Sharepoint Designer 2010

Workflow actions available Yes Yes

Import workflows from Visio No Yes

Export workflows to Visio No Yes

List Workflow, Reusable and site Workflow

No Yes


Visio process

diagrams

Custom OOTB

Business

Technical

Out of the Box Workflows

Custom OOB Workflows

SharePoint Designerdeclarative workflows

WF in Visual Studio

Custom actionCode-based custom

1

2

34

BizTalk integration

Summarize: Workflow options in SharePoint 2010


What does the process look like…

Business Analyst/Process Designer

Design skeleton workflow processes

View workflow visualizations

Design data-backed business diagrams

Professional developer

Custom Web Parts

Code Workflows

Event Receivers

List Definitions

Application Pages

WSP Package

Designer/IW/Power User

Create lists & libs

Design Web Pages

Web part hook-up

Views & forms

Declarative Workflows

Import

Export


Types of Workflows in SharePoint 2010

● List Workflow– Associated with a list– Much like MOSS 2007 Workflows– Can be created in SPD 2010– Can be imported/exported from Visio

● Reusable Workflow– Can be assigned to content type– Can be exported to .wsp for use in other sites– Can be imported/exported from Visio– Can be created in SPD 2010 & VS2010

● Site Workflow– Not bound by a list– Manually Started or via OM– Can be created in SPD 2010 & VS2010


STEPS TO IMPLEMENT BUSINESS PROCESS


Creating Workflows in Visio 2010

● Visio has SharePoint Workflow template– Allows you to create workflow design in Visio– Workflow can be exported to SharePoint Designer


Export and Import workflows between Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 and SharePoint

Designer 2010

Issues window highlighting workflow

errors

SharePoint Workflow

Actions and Conditions

Diagram Validation

SharePoint Workflow created in Visio Premium 2010

1

Develop Workflows with No Coding


Implement rules in business process

● View all task information● Customize the whole process,

or individual tasks (or both)● Build robust behaviors

– “If 50% agree, auto-approve”– “If user is unavailable, escalate to

manager”– “If this task wasn’t meant for me,

let me reassign it to another user”


Visio Visualization for running processes

● Visualize a single workflow instance– Not for aggregation, reporting or auditing– Only for SharePoint Designer


SharePoint Workflow created in Visio Premium 2010 exported to SharePoint

Designer 2010

Imported workflow appears as text in SharePoint Designer and can be parameterized and published to SharePoint

Server 2010

Visio Services allows visualization of an executing workflow on SharePoint Server

2010

SharePoint Designer 2010 allows the workflows to be exported to Visio

Premium 2010 for documentation and communication of workflows to a

broader audience

Putting it all together


CASE STUDIES


Workflow solution overview

Business Need• validate the incoming data for correctness and completeness and

route the cases to different teams in a pre-defined pattern for data processing with minimal human intervention

Features planned:• Systematic flow of data(cases) from team to team in pre defined

manner• Validation of data with respect to the business rules at different

stages of work flow• Injection of any new required business rules at different stage of

work flow as required• Systematic update of status at different stages of work flow• User based access to different stage of work flow• To automate the process and minimize human intervention


Process automation: Complex Workflows


State machine Workflow Design

• Cases can be manually entered to the system or can be received electronically through website.

• Order Entry - > First Call - > Status Call - > Imaging -> Billing - > Release

• At any point of time if an exception occurs the case is assigned to Exception team where the exception is fixed and introduced back to the main flow


Workflow solution overview

Business Need• Based on the set of inputs given in a form, take the user with

the appropriate privileges through a systematic flow representing the business processes and create a dedicated site with the data residing in the form of lists.

Features planned:• Procession of steps executed in a systematic fashion until the

completion of last step.• Interfaces at each stage for the users to interact. • Actions to be performed by the system at each level.• Business Processes based access to different stage of work

flow• Systematic update of status at different stage of work flow• Termination of the flow based on the status at each level.


Sequential Workflow Design


Next Steps

“How can I leverage SharePoint 2010 in my organization?”

Schedule a complementary, 1 hour meeting with WinWire

– Mail us [email protected] to reserve a slot today!

WinWire will • Assess current collaboration maturity• Offer helpful advice and recommendations for improvement• Roadmap considerations before implementation• Other best practices to keep in mind

mailto:[email protected]


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

FAQ #1: Can I get a copy of the slides? Yes!


THANK YOU

For further information, please contact:

Vineet [email protected]

@WinWire

Fill out survey and you could win a $50 American Express Gift Card!

mailto:[email protected]


Out-of-Box Workflows

• Ready to use• Common

approval scenarios

Out-of-Box Customization

• Association and initiation settings

• Modify logic in SharePoint Designer

• Design forms in InfoPath

Custom Declarative

• Start from scratch or from existing

• New actions• Task process

framework• More types

of workflows

Custom Activities

• Encapsulate custom code in new action

• Deploy in full or partial trust (as user code)

Custom Non-Declarative

• Import solution into Visual Studio

• Advanced modeling

• Hook up workflow to events

Workflow Solution SpectrumIn

crea

sing

Fun

ctio

nalit

y

Browser Visual StudioSharePoint Designer