.NET. Workflow Solutions. For ABSTRACT: By Owens Gollamandala

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1 .NET Workflow Solutions For ABSTRACT: By Owens Gollamandala Workflows are available within Microsoft SharePoint, and help users track and monitor documents or files associated with a specific business process. Although you can use the workflows provided with SharePoint, you can also create custom workflows using.net. So what options are available and how can you use workflows to benefit your team?

2 .NET Workflow Solutions For SharePoint

3 content.net Workflow Solutions For SharePoint... What Options Exist For Creating A SharePoint Workflow? Workflows In SharePoint Using SharePoint Designer... Migrating To SharePoint Challenges With Third-Party Solutions... Designing Custom Workflows... New Features In.NET... What's Next? About Datavail... 4

4 .NET Workflow Solutions For SharePoint If you re using Microsoft SharePoint for document sharing and collaboration within your organization, you may know about workflows. But many users are unaware of this feature and, as a result, aren t using the full functionality of SharePoint. Why not further increase your productivity and that of your organization by using workflows? Workflows In SharePoint 2013 SharePoint Designer has given users the ability to create workflows consistently since the release of SharePoint As new releases of SharePoint have rolled out, this feature has iteratively improved. But with SharePoint 2013, the process was altered so significantly that those workflows created in SharePoint 2010 could not be automatically ported to What makes workflows most useful is that they are.netbased, which gives you options for developing workflow templates tailored to your organization s needs. You can still use the workflows provided with SharePoint, but there are alternatives you can and should explore. What Options Exist For Creating A SharePoint Workflow? In the Microsoft technology ecosystem, the term workflow is defined as " the automated movement of documents or items through a sequence of actions or tasks that are related to a business process. Workflows can be used to consistently manage common business processes within an organization by enabling the organization to attach business logic to documents or items in a SharePoint lists or libraries. Business logic is basically a set of instructions that specifies and controls the actions that happen to a document or item." There are standard tasks you can complete from within SharePoint using workflows, including project approvals, document reviews, and signatures. They can work with other products, including Microsoft Office software such as Word, Excel, and InfoPath. You may also wish to create custom workflows for your organization. These points were discussed in brief in our white paper, Six Effective Ways to Use SharePoint. Workflows can be particularly useful for tracking the completion of tasks in which one or more documents must be routed through different departments and people within an organization. This can include creating applications or documents, tracking sales leads, or routing purchase orders. Any task requiring multiple approvals as well as the completion of a series of interrelated, complex tasks can have a workflow developed for it. Instituting one or more of these standard workflows automates, streamlines, and simplifies the process from inception to testing and deployment. Ideally, this increases productivity. Third-party solutions are also available for SharePoint Until this version of SharePoint, the only tool with which users could create workflow forms was InfoPath. Several non-microsoft options are now available, some of which can be used together to create complex workflows. Vendors include AgilePoint, Formotus, K2, and Nintex. The advantage to this approach is that any workflow created should be compatible with the next SharePoint release as it s in these companies best interest to keep their product current and their customers happy. Using SharePoint Designer The best possible option for creating workflows in SharePoint Server 2013 is to use SharePoint Designer. This workflow management service sits atop the.net Framework 4.5 and ties readily into SharePoint Server Some professionals consider it the go-to tool for power users, especially those creating workflows. The new platform allows workflows to perform and scale because it uses SharePoint 2013 style workflow, which is native to SharePoint, but not tied to it. The difference is that it allows users to build declarative workflows. Declarative workflows have many benefits, including the ability to use sandboxed solutions for deploying a workflow. Page 1.NET Workflow Solutions For SharePoint 2015 Datavail, Inc. All rights reserved.

5 In SharePoint 2013, workflows are considered a true service, meaning the workflows are executed on a different server using Windows Azure Workflow. The workflow doesn t run on the SharePoint services. Migrating To SharePoint 2013 If you fall into the if it ain t broke, don t fix it camp and are thinking about moving from SharePoint 2010 to 2013, you may face more decisions and a significant challenge. The Windows Workflow Foundation, which worked with.net 3.0 objects, was fully deprecated with the release of.net 4.5. The Workflow Manager Client 1.0 became the foundation for SharePoint workflows with the release of SharePoint Maintaining that code is another ongoing expense. Other hidden costs are related to the time needed to develop and maintain workflows. These are closely tied to the staff assigned these tasks. Is your staff person an IT developer with a strong background in.net or SharePoint? Will you assign the task to an analyst? Are there other tasks these employees should be doing rather than developing workflows? Some of these third-party tools are created such that they are to be used by an analyst rather than a developer. In reality this changes over time, as Julien Aubert posted on his blog: "After a few weeks, analysts are getting less involved into the workflow development as some tasks are not very easy to get done if you have no programming background. And the developers start to take over the workflow development At the end, the analyst only designs the workflow outside of the platform and the programmers are the ones developing the actual workflow The licensing expenses could have been avoided." Designing Custom Workflows What does this mean to you? You can t automatically upgrade from older workflows unless you use a tool for converting to You can use the Workflow Interop Bridge, but you may be better served by manually updating the workflows to take full advantage of the newer SharePoint 2013 workflow features. Another option is to create custom workflows for SharePoint using.net. These are especially helpful for processes or documents requiring iterative loops and complex tracking, neither of which is possible with the SharePoint workflows. Datavail uses.net, the programming framework on which SharePoint is built, because it's supported by SharePoint and is easily However, some developers opt for third-party solutions, which they find more readily able to handle complex business processes compared to the native workflows in SharePoint. Challenges With Third-Party Solutions Obviously, one advantage associated with using a thirdparty tool for workflow creation is that you don't have to do any programming or development. But what are the hidden challenges associated with these solutions? The predominant one is cost. Obtaining the product is one of many expenses. There can be monthly fees, licensing, and upgrade fees. upgraded, so you don't have to go back to your vendor every time you need a change. Workflows built on.net work with other technologies you already have, such as Windows Presentation Foundation, which can help make the customization process easier..net Workflow Solutions For SharePoint Page 2

6 This means you can leverage competencies of existing staff when working with a developer. When you use.net 4.5, these workflows are automatically hosted on the Windows Azure Worfkflow service. Developers don t have to have an account and it automatically integrates with Office 365. You can easily develop a workflow with other Microsoft development tools you have, such as Visual Studio, Visio, and InfoPath. Using Visual Studio, for example, you can develop a custom workflow action that a developer could use in SharePoint Designer Windows Workflow Foundation in.net 4.5 offers new development models and other new features. One of these is the ability to invoke web services as well as adding stages and loops. It also is integrated with Microsoft Project, which means you can use workflows from that software. New Features In.NET There are several subsequent versions of the.net Framework available starting with 4.5.1, released in October NET 4.5.2, for example, includes some new workflow features. And, to complicate matters further, there is a preview version of.net Framework 4.6 available. One caveat: these types of custom workflows need to be carefully maintained. The development process associated with them may take significant time and resources away from pressing projects. When there are changes or updates to SharePoint, the code may need to be reviewed or rewritten. What's Next? You should now have some ideas about the different options available for creating SharePoint workflows. Although using SharePoint workflows can be a productivity boon, there may be more pressing priorities for your development team. If you need help with this or other SharePoint or.net development projects, Datavail can work with you and your organization on tasks designed to optimize these assets. Want to know more about our outsourcing services and how we can help your network operate optimally? Please contact Datavail to discuss a custom solution designed for your enterprise. With.NET 4.5.2, there is a new workflow feature using the EnlistPromotableSinglePhase that implements the IPromotableSinglePhaseNotification interface. There are new workflows versioning features that allow developers to host multiple versions of a workflow side by side. Other new features under the versioning umbrella allow for the use of persistent workflows. Perhaps the biggest change is that you can now use the C# programming language to create expressions in workflows. Prior to the release of.net Framework 4.5, all workflow expressions had to be written using Visual Basic. Now, any Visual Basic expressions are used only for those projects created using Visual Basic. Those projects written in Visual C# use C# for expressions. Other changes include the ability to control shell header items visibility as well as auto-connections and insertion for flowchart and state machine nodes in those workflows. Another new feature is known as contract-first workflow development, with which the developer designs a service contract first, then generates a template of activity for each operation associated with that specific contract. Page 3.NET Workflow Solutions For SharePoint 2015 Datavail, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 BIOGRAPHY Owens Gollamandala Lead SharePoint Administrator for Datavail With more than 10 years of IT Industry experience and eight years in SharePoint alone, Owens has a deep knowledge in SharePoint including versions 2001/2003/2007/2010/2013. He brings in a blend of strong administration and development skills, contributing to a holistic view of SharePoint. During off hours he loves spending time with his family and friends, and he likes taking part in Spiritual activities. Reading technical and inspirational books are also his interests. ABOUT DATAVAIL Datavail Corporation is the largest pureplay provider of remote database administration (DBA) services in North America, offering database design and architecture, administration and 24x7 support. The company specializes in Oracle, Oracle E-Business Suite, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, MongoDB, DB2 and SharePoint, and provides flexible on-site/off-site, onshore/offshore service delivery options to meet each customer s unique business needs. CONTACT US General Inquiries: Fax Number: info@datavail.com Corporate Headquarters: Datavail Corporation Ridge Parkway Suite 125 Broomfield, CO Database Operations Control Center: Datavail Infotech Pvt. Ltd 3rd Floor, Unit No. B-3 Ashar IT Park, Road No. 16Z Wagale Estate Thane (West), Thane Direct Telephone Number: Bangalore Office Datavail Infotech Pvt. Ltd Concept Business Park #319/9, 1st floor, Block A Hosur Main Road Bommanahalli, Bangalore NET Workflow Solutions For SharePoint Page 4

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