Professional Workflow in SharePoint 2010: Real World Business Workflow Solutions

Description

SharePoint MVPs offer practical WF4 guidance for SharePoint 2010 developers

With the new Workflow Foundation 4 (WF4) toolkit in SharePoint 2010, companies have new ways to build custom solutions for common or frequent business processes. This unique book is packed with instructions and tips that show you how. You'll use WF4 to create and implement office-practical apps such as expense report approvals, RFPs, sale pipeline management, and more. The book also covers how to design custom activities with SharePoint Designer 2010.
* Explains how to build business solutions using the Workflow Foundation 4 toolkit in SharePoint 2010
* Shows even non-IT readers how to create and implement processes such as sales pipeline management, creating and managing RFPs, setting up a conference room scheduling solution across a multi-national company, and more
* Explores the basics vital to all process design: system analysis, researching requirements, and basic design considerations
* Includes a SharePoint 2007 template for Training and Scheduling; the book walks you through how to upgrade that to 2010 and extend it with new features

Create the processes your business needs with SharePoint 2010's new Workflow 4 and this practical guide.

CONTENTS:

FOREWORD xxiii

INTRODUCTION xxv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO SHAREPOINT 2010 WORKFLOW 1

Expanding the Circle of Trust 2

Patterns 4

Business Patterns 4

Technical Patterns 5

What’s New in SharePoint 2010 Workfl ow 6

Conclusion 7

CHAPTER 2: WORKFLOW BASICS 9

Getting Started 9

What You Need 10

Create the “Hello, World” Solution 12

Concepts and Defi nitions 22

What Is SharePoint Designer? 22

Core Workfl ow Concepts 23

Content Types 24

Software Development Life Cycle 24

Designing Business Solutions 25

Interviews 25

Swim Lane Diagrams 26

Reusable Patterns 29

Knowing SharePoint Designer’s Limits 29

Summary 30

CHAPTER 3: HR ON-BOARDING 31

What Is the HR On-Boarding Process? 32

Problem Class 32

Technical Patterns 33

Business Patterns 33

Business Problem Description 33

Requirements Discussion 34

Actors 35

Actions 35

Challenges 36

High-Level Solution 36

Solution Overview 36

Swim Lane Diagrams 37

Technical Implementation Overview 38

Detailed Technical Implementation 41

Setup 41

Create Workfl ows 46

Advanced Topics 50

Dashboards 51

Delegation 51

Data Cleanup 51

Summary 52

CHAPTER 4: HELPDESK TICKETING 53

What Is the Helpdesk Ticketing Process? 53

Problem Class 55

Technical Patterns 55

Business Patterns 56

Business Problem Description 56

Requirements Discussion 57

Actors 58

Actions 59

Challenges 59

High-Level Solution 59

Solution Overview 59

Swim Lane Diagrams 60

Technical Implementation Overview 62

Detailed Technical Implementation 63

Setup 64

Create Workfl ows 67

Managing the Process 76

Summary 79

CHAPTER 5: TIME OFF MANAGEMENT 81

What Is the Time Off Management Process? 81

Problem Class 82

Technical Patterns 82

Business Patterns 83

Business Problem Description 83

Requirements Discussion 83

Actors 85

Actions 86

Challenges 86

High-Level Solution 87

Solution Overview 87

Swim Lane Diagrams 89

Technical Implementation Overview 90

Detailed Technical Implementation 91

Setup 91

Content Types Summary 95

Custom Lists 95

Create Workfl ow 97

Auditing 107

Managing the Process 108

Summary 110

CHAPTER 6: INTERVIEW SCHEDULING 111

What Is the Interview Scheduling Process? 111

Problem Class 112

Technical Patterns 112

Business Patterns 113

Business Problem Description 113

Requirements Discussion 113

Actors 114

Actions 114

Challenges 115

Requirements Summary 115

High-Level Solution 116

Solution Overview 116

Swim Lane Diagram 117

Technical Implementation Overview 118

Detailed Technical Implementation 122

Setup 122

Content Types Summary 126

Create Workfl ows 126

Create the Dashboard 131

Extending the Solution 138

Summary 139

CHAPTER 7: FACILITIES MANAGEMENT 141

What Is the Facilities Management Process? 141

Problem Class 142

Technical Patterns 142

Business Patterns 143

Business Problem Description 144

Requirements Discussion 144

Actors 146

Actions 146

Challenges 146

High-Level Solution 147

Solution Overview 147

Swim Lane Diagrams 148

Technical Implementation Overview 149

Detailed Technical Implementation 150

Setup 151

Create Workfl ows 155

Managing the Process 160

Summary 162

CHAPTER 8: ENTERPRISE: AUTHORIZATION FOR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE 165

What Is Authorization for Capital Expenditure? 166

Estimates 166

Decision-Making Process 167

Problem Class 168

Technical Patterns 168

Business Patterns 168

Business Problem Description 169

Requirements Discussion 169

Actors 171

Actions 171

Challenges 172

High-Level Solution 172

Solution Overview 172

CAPEX Expenditure Decision Swim Lane Diagrams 173

Technical Implementation Overview 175

Detailed Technical Implementation 177

Setup 177

Create Workfl ows 184

Summary 187

CHAPTER 9: MARKETING CONTACT MANAGEMENT 189

The Anonymous Contact Us Form 190

Facts 190

Website Myths 190

Golden Rules 191

Problem Class 192

Technical Patterns 193

Business Patterns 193

Business Problem Description 194

Requirements Discussion 194

Actors 195

Actions 195

Challenges 196

High-Level Solution 196

Solution Overview 196

An Anonymous Form Submission Process 197

Technical Implementation Overview 199

Content Types 199

SharePoint Lists 199

Detailed Technical Implementation 200

Setup 200

Lists 206

Create Workfl ows 210

Summary 215

CHAPTER 10: R&D GATEWAY PROCESS 217 What Is the R&D (Research and Development) Gateway? 217 Problem Class 218 Technical Patterns 219 Business Patterns 219 Business Problem Description 219 Requirements Discussion 219 Actors 220 Actions 221 Challenges 221 High-Level Solution 222 Solution Overview 222 Swimlane Diagram 222 Technical Implementation Overview 224 Detailed Technical Implementation 228 Setup 228 Create Workfl ows 238 Summary 256 CHAPTER 11: ENHANCING THE USER INTERFACE 257 How to Build Great User Interfaces 258 Enhancement Techniques in Detail 258 InfoPath 258 Data View Web Part 268 jQuery 275 Summary 283 CHAPTER 12: CUSTOM ACTIVITIES 285 The What, Why, and How of Custom Activities 286 What Is a Custom Activity? 286 Why Create a Custom Activity? 287 What Tools Do You Need to Create a Custom Activity? 287 The Business Scenario 288 Technical Overview 289 SharePoint Designer 289 Actions File 290 Web.confi g 291 The .NET Assembly 291 Detailed Walk-Through: Create a Custom Activity 291 Creating the Custom Activity Project 292 Create a Deployment Project 294 Deploy, Test, and Debug — Part 1 299

Error Scenarios and Fixes 301

Finishing the Logic 303

Advanced Topics 308

Troll for Ideas 308

Debugging Workfl ows 308

Automatically Update web.confi g 310

Summary 310

CHAPTER 13: SITE GOVERNANCE 311

What Is Site Governance? 311

Problem Class 312

Technical Patterns 313

Business Patterns 313

Business Problem Description 313

Requirements Discussion 313

Actors 315

Actions 316

Challenges 317

Requirements Summary 318

High Level Solution 318

Solution Overview 318

Swim Lane Diagrams 319

Technical Implementation Overview 321

Content Types 321

Custom Lists 322

Workfl ow 323

Custom Activity 323

SharePoint Time Job 324

Dashboard 325

Detailed Technical Implementation 325

Setup 325

Custom Activity 327

Timer Job 330

Workfl ows 333

Create the Dashboard 334

Extending the Solution 335

Auditing 335

Identifying Abandoned Sites 335

Archiving Versus Deleting 335

Security Considerations 336

Parameter-Driven Timer Job 336

Summary 336

INDEX 337