getting started with sharepoint 2013 workflows

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Getting Started With

SharePoint 2013 Workflows

Prashant G Bhoyar

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• I have thick accent; Raise

your hand if things are not

clear

• Sharing is Caring

• Ask Questions

Learn from yesterday, live

for today, hope for

tomorrow. The important

thing is not to stop

questioning. –Albert

Einestein

• Let the learning begins…

About Today’s Session

Image Source : http://onlyfreewallpaper.com/view/smiley-kitty-1280x1024.html

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• What are Workflows

• Limitations of SP2010 workflows

• Architectural Changes in SP2013 Workflows

• Workflow Manager

• Enhancement in SP2013 Workflows

• SP2013 OOTB Workflows• Enhancements in SPD2013• Limitations of SPD2013 workflows• Workflows in Visual Studio 2012• Limitations of Visual Studio Workflows• Best Practices• Forms in SP2013 Workflows

• Third Party Products

Agenda

Outcome:

Familiarity with

SharePoint 2013

Workflows

Objective: Getting

Stared with

SharePoint 2013

Workflows

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Helps to Automate Business Processes

Helps to meet the Industry Standards

Helps Organizations to function Effectively

Important for success of SharePoint

Implementations

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What are Workflows?

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Reliable – Last machine reboots

Visualize Workflow Graphically

Reporting is supported

Reusable Workflows

Use of LOB Data

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Why Workflows with SharePoint?

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Types of Workflows

Sequential State Machine

• Activities occur in sequence

• On rejection , begin from start

• Simple Business Processes example, Leave Request

• Activities are not sequential

• Can by pass activities based on business logic

• Complex business processes example, Financial Aid

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Typical SharePoint Workflow Life Cycle

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Started with MOSS 2007 -> Based on Workflow

Foundation.

Workflow Foundation was introduced in the

release .NET 3.0 and its capabilities updated in

.NET 3.5 and .NET 3.5 SP1

In MOSS 2007 custom workflows can be created

using SPD 2007 and Visual Studio

No reusable workflows

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History of Enhancements in SharePoint Workflows

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Major Enhancements in SharePoint 2010

Workflows

Architecturally similar to MOSS 2007

Site Based Workflows

Modify OOTB workflow templates by importing them into SharePoint 2010 Designer

Create Reusable workflow and using Visio Services visualize the status of the Workflow

Import SPD 2010 workflows in Visual Studio 2010

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Limitations of SharePoint 2010 Workflows

Designed primarily for OnPremisedeployments

Workflows are not scalable, they are stored in Content Database

Looping is not supported out of the box

State Machine workflows can only be created using Visual Studio 2010

Extending Workflows usually requires full trust solutions

Performance and Scalability remained key challenge

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The SharePoint Forecast is …. Cloudy

“Craig Roth, Managing Vice President: Communication, Collaboration, and

Content, Gartner Group”

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SP2013 workflows are built using WF 4.5 and run out

of SharePoint

Workflow is separate server Product called Windows

Azure Workflow and not part of SP Infrastructure

The name “Azure” is confusing….this Product runs on

Premise

SP2013 workflows execute in an Azure service called

Workflow Manager 1.0

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New SharePoint 2013 Workflows Architecture

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Architecture of SharePoint 2013 Workflows

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Types of Windows Azure Workflow

Windows Azure Workflow Server

• Provides scalable robust workflow

capabilities for on-premise

deployment

Windows Azure Workflow

Services

• Provides a scalable robust,

workflow platform in Office 365

and cloud based solutions

Two

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Workflow Manager server application should be

installed on separate server (Part of SP2013 farm or

separate)

SP WFE includes Workflow client software that

handles the integration between the manager and

the SP Farm

Communication between manager and client

occurs using REST API and Oauth

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Workflow Manager

Separate Product

Separate farm/Co locate with SPFarm

Installation

Disaster Recovery

1 or 3 server farms

Debugging

Fiddler

Maintenance

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SP2013 workflows are not supported on SP2013 Foundation

SP2013 workflows are fully declarative

SP2013 workflows are no longer compiled into .NET assemblies instead XAML files defines workflow and their execution No more custom code

Build WebServices for custom business logic

SP2013 workflows are available in SharePoint Online

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PowerShell Command to Register SharePoint Site

collectionRegister-SPWorkflowService -SPSite http://sp2013:80 -

WorkflowHostUri "http://sp2013:12291" -AllowOAuthHttp

Need to explicitly register the site collection

Good news….in SharePoint Online/Office 365 all

steps are already done…

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How the workflows will run?

Workflow

Starts

SP2010

Style

Workflow?

Use SP2010

Workflow Engine

Use New

Workflow

Manager

Workflow

Executes

Workflow Ends

Workflow

Executes

Yes No

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DEMO

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Workflows

Multi-Tenancy

Fully Declarative Authoring

SP2013 workflows call SP2010

workflows and vice versa

SP2010 workflows will continue to

work in SP2013 but will not be

upgraded to SP2013 workflows

Option of manual upgrade

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SharePoint 2013 Workflows Associations

List/Libraries

No Content Types

Solution :

Check the content type column and then initiate the workflow

Use SP2010 workflow & attach that to Content Type. Call SP2013 workflow from SP2010 workflow

Sites

SPD 2013 Workflows

Visual Studio Workflows

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DEMO

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Which option to select?

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SharePoint 2013 OOTB Workflows

Approval - SharePoint 2010

Collect Feedback - SharePoint 2010

Collect Signatures - SharePoint 2010

Disposition Approval

Three-State

Note: Uses Workflow Engine Inside SharePoint 2013

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DEMO

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Workflow Manager is installed

Site Collection is registered with Workflow Manager

User Profile Service is setup and sync has run at least once To execute the workflow, we will need valid upn ( User Principal Name)

In SharePoint Online everything is already setup for you.

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Before we start creating SharePoint 2013 in SPD 2013

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Designer

A visual Workflow development experience that uses Visio 2013

A new action that enables no-code web service calls from within a workflow

New Actions for creating a task and starting a task

A new Dictionary data type for working with complex data type

New workflow building blocks such as Stage, Loop, and App Step

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Improved Workflow Logic & Control

SharePoint 2013 Designer

Stages – Can create State Machine

workflows using Stages

Loop : Repeat one or more actions a

specified number of times

SP2010 Workflow Re-Use: SPD2013

enables starting an existing SP2010

workflow, including passing initiation

parameters. Reuse SP2010 workflows.

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DEMO

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Improved Design Features in SharePoint

2013 Designer

Visual Workflow Designer – SPD 2013

includes both a text based designer

and a visual designer

Copy and Paste : SPD2013 supports

copy and pasting logic and actions

within the text designer

Better Packaging : Save list workflows

as template and reuse.

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DEMO

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Limitations of SharePoint 2013 Designer

Workflows

Can not create full trust solutions

Can not deploy workflows as

SharePoint Apps

No Source Control

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SharePoint 2013 Workflows Using Visual

Studio 2012

Full access to the Workflow Foundation in .NET Framework 4.5

Supports deployment as full trust solutions, Sandbox Solutions as well as SP Apps

You can use Source Control

Create Custom Activities

Create Custom Forms for workflows

Set Breakpoints on Activities

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DEMO

Rich Set of Actions/Activities in VS Toolbox

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Limitations of Visual Studio Workflows

Steep learning curve

Deployment Risks

Costly Bugs

Management/Resourcing

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Guidance for forms - InfoPath

• InfoPath will continue to be supported for a long time

• Don’t invest more on InfoPath

• Consider other alternative for the short-term/long-term

• Wait until Microsoft guidance materialized

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Forms Options

Source : http://formsquo.com/solution-matrix/

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Third Party Tools

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• Requirements

• Limitations

• Life Cycle

• Functionality

• Budget/Resources

Factors to Consider

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• Don’t use OOTB Task List and History List as audit log

• For large lists, don’t remove the workflow, but set to no new instance

Do it in non business hours

• Don’t let the workflow manager cert expires

• Keep workflow initiation activity to minimum

• Use logging-

“Log to History List”

Best Practices

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Q&A

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References

Appendix/ResourcesMSDN/TechNet:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj163181(v=office.15).aspx

Blogs :

http://www.harbar.net/

Training Videos (Paid):

http://www.Pluralsight.com

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj163181(v=office.15).aspx

http://www.harbar.net/

http://www.pluralsight.com/

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Questions? Feedback? Contact me:

Twitter: @PGBhoyar

Blog: http://pgbhoyar.wordpress.com (limited contents)

Email: [email protected]

Speaker Evaluation : Please fill out speaker evaluations

Thank You

Organizers, Sponsors and You for Making this Possible.

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http://pgbhoyar.wordpress.com/

mailto:[email protected]

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