PowerPoint Presentation
Workflow Solutions Best Practices and Mistakes to Avoid
SHAREPOINT AND PROJECT CONFERENCE ADRIATICS 2013 ZAGREB, NOVEMBER 27-28 2013
About meVadim TabakmanLead Technical Evangelist, NintexOver 19 years consulting, development and corporate IT experienceEnd user advocate
IntroductionThere are more best practices and errors to avoidBased on real-world projectsAdvice applies to any workflow productNo demos
SharePoint Workflow and Multiple History Lists
Why Not One Workflow History List?History Lists are just SharePoint listsPerformance degradation with 2000-4000 itemsMultiple Workflows and One History ListGrows very quicklyMultiple Workflows and Multiple History ListsShares the load. Faster to access workflow history
Dont Always Use SharePoint Workflow
Good Uses of SharePoint WorkflowManaging how people workDocument approval & feedbackCollaborative reviews & discussionsGathering signatures
Good Uses of SharePoint WorkflowAutomating some of SharePoints behaviorApprove site creation requestsParse incoming email in a list and act on itPublishing items to targetMoving documents through lifecycles
Possible Uses of SharePoint WorkflowManipulating other applications, data sourcesEmployee onboardingResource schedulingSharePoint lists become work queues
Bad Uses of SharePoint WorkflowTransaction-oriented processesBlocking or modifying activityApplication-to-application service activityAggressive data transformationsWork that doesnt involve SharePoint at all
Plan to Fail
Consensus May Not ExistGet 3 employees and 1 manager togetherTalk about a processLittle agreementDocumentation disagreement, too
The Process Will Change
Exceptions are Initially IgnoredRarely is this considered in advanceRarely does everyone agreeIgnored exceptions lead to bypass
Initial Failure as a Winning StrategyPeople do not want to hear these hard truths.You may have to create an initial workflow just to show how awful a process is.Only then can you change it.
ProcessStepStepStepStart SimpleAutomatethisfirstAutomatetheselater
Focus on Everyday Process
Policy is the abdication of thought.-Nathan Myrvold
Everyday ProcessesSteal timeGet in the wayAnnoy users
Everyday ProcessesHave few stakeholders (even if many participants)Are easier to automateFree up time to focus on more critical stuff
Everyday ProcessesAutomating them trains users how to think
When to use a :List WorkflowSite WorkflowReusable Workflow Template
Reusability You should think about reusability firstSave yourself timeSave your colleagues timeSave your business time and moneyIs a List workflow the best solution for you?Its probably the quickest and easiest, but is it the best solution?
Put Forms in Their Proper Place
The Form is the User InterfaceNot the workflowNot the data
If (x and y) then do this do thatEnd if
If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo thatEnd if
If (x and y) then do this do thatEnd if
If (x and y) then do this do thatEnd if
If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo thatEnd if
If (x and y) then do this do thatEnd if
Form-Only App ProblemsHidden logicDisconnected logicSecurityComplexity without codeInheritance / Knowledge Transfer
PresentationProcessIntegrationThink About the Whole App
Make the Workflow Do the WorkDocumentedAuditableEasier to changeEasier to manage
One Form Per StepSubmitStartTask
Task FormsWorkflow can route new dataNew data can be written to original formAll info can be sent to other places
Self-Reporting Workflows
Least-Loved TechniquesBrowsing individual history entriesBuilding custom reports
Youre Already Using SharePointThe list itself can be the reportUsers can sort, group, filter on metadata (Leverage Views!)Write progress information to item propertiesStage Workflows already do this
SummaryDont always use SharePoint WorkflowPlan to failFocus on everyday processesIts not about formsSelf-reporting workflows
Questions?
