A Brutal Flaw with SP Workflows
Everyone with an intermediate level of knowledge with SharePoint knows that there are 3 ways to create workflows that act on SharePoint lists/libraries. In ascending order of complexity and flexibility they are: OOTB SharePoint workflows, SharePoint designer workflows and custom developed Visual Studio workflows.
Imagine the folllowing scenario with which I have been faced. Working with a user to implement a mission-critical business process that is focused on the steps required to acknoweldge and act on changes to customer requirements. The workflow is developed, tested and rolled out – in production. Everyone is happy.
A few months later a request for a change to the process is made which necessitates a change to the workflow that has 50 workflows currently in process. How do we test that exactly? Good question and there is no easy answer.
Since a SharePoint workflow is associated with a list based on a GUID that is environment specific you can’t do it without some ridiculous (in my view) manual steps that are outlined very nicely at my favourite SharePoint site – End User SharePoint. http://www.endusersharepoint.com/2008/12/08/why-can%e2%80%99t-i-easily-port-sharepoint-designer-workflow-solutions-from-one-list-to-another-part-1/.
In my view this is a deal-breaker for using SP workflow for automating business critical processes. I’ll be attending the SP 2009 conference next month and will be eager to see if and how this has been addressed. In the meantime if anyone has any experience with dealing with this issue I’m interested in hearing your feedback.
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In most situations any kind of business critical workflow, or a workflow that is expected to have business rules/logic changed should be recommended as a custom developed (visual studio) workflow. That way you can plan for adjustments and it’s much easier to update. Also for ANY workflow targeting multiple lists etc, this is best practice.
As you suggested there is a level each solution for workflows matches in terms of flexibility and complexity.
0-5% Workflow Complexity should be handled as OOTB workflows.
5-15% Workflow Complexity should be handled by SP Designer Workflows.
15% + Workflow Complexity should be handled by Visual Studio workflows.
Alternative Options like K2′s BlackPearl/BlackPoint can handle 15-70% range complexity as well, or Nintex workflow (15-40% IMO).
While SharePoint 2010 will have workflow improvements the need for stronger BPM solutions such as K2, or a development team with visual studio workflow experience will most likely not go away for some time.
Most SharePoint Workflow books have several pages dedicated to understanding the differences and when to, and when not to use SP Designer and Visual Studio so it’s definitely known and documented. Still it is frustrating when the OOTB and SP Designer workflows aren’t more flexible/powerful.
Just some thoughts,
Richard Harbridge
P.S – Watch out in SP2 as SP Designer workflow functionality has changed.
(Still not happy with this change.)
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2009/07/13/service-pack-2-prevents-an-on-change-workflow-from-starting-itself.aspx
Reply to Richard Harbridge
Comment by Richard Harbridge
— September 28, 2009 @ 6:45 am
There is actually a good whitepaper on MOSS 2007 Workflows here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=15D9D316-2FF3-40C9-85ED-4537657FA965&displaylang=en
Reply to Jason MacKenzie
Comment by Jason MacKenzie
— September 30, 2009 @ 7:11 am
Dear Jason,
I work for Mark Miller at EndUserSharePoint.com. We read this article and really enjoyed it.
We would like to cross-post your article. As with other authors, we would publish your entire article on EndUserSharePoint.com giving you full attribution with links.
Please let me know if this is something you would be interested in.
Best Regards,
Natasha
Natasha Felshman
EndUserSharePoint.com
Reply to Natasha Felshman
Comment by Natasha Felshman
— October 11, 2009 @ 8:14 pm