Office Sharepoint Server 2007 Workflows

Workflows help people to collaborate on documents and to manage project tasks by implementing business processes on documents and items in a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site. Workflows help organizations to adhere to consistent business processes, and they also improve organizational efficiency and productivity by managing the tasks and steps involved in business processes.

What are Workflows?

Can be described as a series of tasks that produce an outcome. In context of Microsoft Sharepoint Prods & Tech, workflow is defined more narrowly as the automated movement of documents or items through a sequence of actions or tasks that are related to a business process. Business logic is basically a set of instructions that specifies and controls the actions that happen to a document or item.

Workflows can streamline the cost and time required to coordinate common business processes, such as project approval or document review, by managing and tracking the human tasks involved with these processes.


The following workflow tasks can be performed either in an Office SharePoint Server 2007 site or directly within certain client programs that are part of the 2007 Office release:

- View the list of workflows that are available for a document or item.
- Start a workflow on a document or item.
- View, edit, or reassign a workflow task.
- Complete a workflow task.

Workflows that address common business scenarios:

- Approval: This workflow routes a document or item to a group of people for approval. By default, the Approval workflow is associated with the Document content type, and thus it is automatically available in document libraries. A version of the Approval workflow is also associated by default with the Pages library in a publishing site, and it can be used to manage the approval process for the publication of Web pages.
- Collect Feedback This workflow routes a document or item to a group of people for feedback. Reviewers can provide feedback, which is then compiled and sent to the person who initiated the workflow. By default, the Collect Feedback workflow is associated with the Document content type, and thus it is automatically available in document libraries.
- Collect Signatures This workflow routes a Microsoft Office document to a group of people to collect their digital signatures. This workflow must be started in a client program that is part of the 2007 Office release. Participants must complete their signature tasks by adding their digital signature to the document in the relevant Microsoft Office program. By default, the Collect Signatures workflow is associated with the Document content type, and thus it is automatically available in document libraries.
- Disposition Approval: This workflow, which supports records management processes, manages document expiration and retention by allowing participants to decide whether to retain or delete expired documents. The Disposition Approval workflow is intended for use primarily within a Records Center site.
- Three-state This workflow can be used to manage business processes that require organizations to track a high volume of issues or items, such as customer support issues, sales leads, or project tasks
- Group Approval This workflow is similar to the Approval workflow, but it uses a designated document library and offers a personalized view of the approval processes in which a user is participating. This workflow provides a hierarchical organization chart from which to select the approvers and allows the approvers to use a stamp control instead of a signature
- Translation Management This workflow manages the manual document translation process by creating copies of the document to be translated and assigning translation tasks to translators. This workflow is available only for Translation Management libraries.

Each of these workflows can be customized for organizations in several ways.

Support for Custom workflows:
- Professional software developers can create workflows by using the Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation
- Web designers can design no-code workflows for use in a specific list or library by using a Web design program, such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007

Steps involved in using workflows
- Adding a workflow to a list, library, or content type
- Starting a workflow on a document or item
- Modifying a workflow in progress
- Completing workflow tasks
- Tracking the status of workflows

For more info on Workflows, download the whitepaper from Microsoft.