Basics about WorkFlows

This post provides an overview of creating Workflows using Sharepoint Portal, Managing security levels in Sharepoint Portal site.

What is WorkFlow:

A workflow is a natural way to organize and run a set of work units, or activities, to form an executable representation of a work process. This process can control almost any aspect of an item in Windows SharePoint Services, including the life cycle of that item.

You can create workflows that are as simple or complex as your business processes require. You can create workflows that the user initiates, or workflows that Windows SharePoint Services automatically initiates based on some event, such as when an item is created or changed.

Suppose you need to create a simple workflow that routes a document to a series of users for approval or comments. This workflow would include actions that the system needs to perform, as well as provide interfaces for the users to interact with the workflow in prescribed ways.

For example, send an e-mail message to the selected users when the document was ready for review. Those users would then need to be able to notify Windows SharePoint Services when they had completed their reviews and, optionally, enter any comments. The workflow framework included in SharePoint Server 2007, enables you to model such complex work processes and present them to end users in an easily understood, unobtrusive manner that guides them through each step of the process.

Workflow Types:


Windows Workflow Foundation supports two fundamental workflow styles:

Sequential workflows  :Represents a workflow as a procession of steps that execute in order until the last activity completes. However, sequential workflows are not purely sequential in their execution. Because they can receive external events and include parallel logic flows, the exact order of activity execution can vary.
State machine workflows   :Represents a set of states, transitions, and actions. One state is denoted as the start state, and then, based on an event, a transition can be made to another state. The state machine can have a final state that determines the end of the workflow.