Workflow via Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com seems to have a rather user friendly solution peculating in their stack. Granted, I am 14 months late to the party (originally posted around 10/2006) but whats new there.

Wielding Workflow – Presentation from Dreamforce 06
Rajaram (ProjMgr on Apex)

The presentation (43m in duration) was a poorly done for the video medium so DONT watch it. You can get a better investment from your time by reading my raw notes below and/or studying the slides (at the link above). That said here were the notables.

1. Configuration Over Coding. They do this very well. You can see an example of the 5 UI steps to setup the approval flow they demonstrated. Not as strong as the visual solutions (read Sharepoint, BPMS vendors) that are emerging in the marketplace … but sometimes simpler drives better adoption as well as more refined processes. However, I believe (need to test out) that you can then extend that base set of tools w/ APEX code.
2. API or UI .. You Choose. So you can move approval processes stage to stage via systemic or manual intervention. In short, the SFDC API has full compatibility with the approval engine (or so they say).

I may try out their tools to see if it is good as it looks. Here is the flow / UI setup screen shot I mentioned above:

*** RAW NOTES ***
–Approvals Engine is new big thing
–3:00 — Still talking over BPM general concepts
–[no slides, that sucks]
–Key worklflows new – field updates, outbound messages, outbound delivery status, approval processes, approval routing
–Old ones – rules, tasks, alerts, addresses
–approval hierachary
–Field update – Field triggers basically
–~15:00 in
–Outbound message – XML packet to an endpoint
–[increased # of rules, advanced OR features, new filter options]
–[rules have a variety of field values that can pulled]
–Approval Demo – PTO Request
–global characteristics — if valid enter approval process (ie employees of this type)
–who send approval to … user object has field of hierarchy … drives approval hierarchy … not the role hiearchy … field called manager on user object … use value in mgr as person receiving approval request. who can edit approval while in process?
–all approvals have a single approval formal .. per process … four step will get same look and feel … you can define by process
–what displayed to mgr on send?
–wonder if these approval flows trigger on API update of a table]
–global rules, template, editability, flow …
–multi step w/ filters per step … so always send to a mgr … send to 2nd level if above X amount
–admin set when approver can delegate
–can control rejects at any step …
–25:00 still hitting this
–create start date on a saturday (for the rule to start)
–Approver logs in and sees ‘items to approve’ box
–30:00 still going on example of approval
–slide 20 in thier PPT is a good overview of SFDC rules engine
–partner discussion
–used for credit verification (aboveall software partner talks)
–scenario don’t sell to non credit worthy (revenue recognition issues)
–they use d&b, daysoutstanding from fin invoicing application (SAP), forecasted
opportunities (increase risk)
–35:00 – still going
–they use outbound message to SAP to lock customer
–40:00 – End of the Example of thier app
–41:00 – Q&A
–Any obj in approval process you can see as user / admin
–Via API you can view steps (who approved, when, why)
–New ‘verb’ of ‘proccess’ … can approve, reassign, reject a work item via remote system
–API – submit ID, next approver, comments, process request – work item id, action (remove, approve, reject) … get back ID process, ID of new work items, current status, PRM product uses this ..in short all things in UI can be done in API
–existing approval object on contract remains … or you can use this engine

MSFT: WWF – Primer

Watched this webcast today (still gearing on a specific estimate for a client that heavily involves workflow)

Getting Up To Speed with Windows Workflow Foundation (Level 200)

Interesting point I only watched it because it wanted to watch something while I ran. Turns out that a ton of insights came out of it (seems MSFT is gearing up on this topic as well – getting more robust examples each week).

1. Visual Designer (can be hosted outside of VS). Bingo. This is what I have been looking for. The ability for end users to not have to go into VS to edit workflows. They showed a sample application that can allow a user to edit specific areas of workflows defined in VS. Take that and add some G&R/FC special sauce and you have something pretty cool (think similar to ECM templates and global regions couples w/ user definable areas on a website – now think process flow). Huzzah!

2. Sneaky MSFT or shall I say Brillant. It also became evident on what thier angle is on bundling / offering all this power on workflow/rules for free (in effect) to developers. Get the applications hooked on this style of construct and then let the applications dictate when the BizTalk server is needed to support applications that flounder hosting the workflow services on thier own. Brillant.

3. Free Workflow Monitor. They showed a sample application that allows a workflow manager to (1) select a workflow (2) see the history of threads that have gone through it or active ones and (3) drill into one historical thread and see why it pathed the way it did. Huzzah again. More special sauce and you have a nice workflow manager dashboard + a customer service troubleshooting tool (why did transaction xyz process the way it did).

Man … talk about lucking out. I assume that there will be subsequent webcasts that drill into the examples above (typical MSFT style) but this one is definitely worth watching … for the technical and business sides.

Here are my detail notes:

Quote:

MSDN Webcast: Getting Up To Speed with Windows Workflow Foundation (Level 200) Pasted from <http://www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/calendar/MonthView.aspx?audience=Developer&gt; …………○ 1:00 – Agenda …………○ 2:00 – What is a Workflow ……………………§ Coordinations of People and Software ……………………§ Like a flowchart (sequential diagram … good for workflows that are know flows simple) or diagram (state machine / diagram … adhoc workflow) ……………………§ Rules Engine. Complex rules to get a credit score, pricing. It is a workflow since the rules are organized in a similar structure. …………○ 5:00 – Arch ……………………§ Part of WinFX ……………………§ Set of Assemblies ……………………§ Needs to be hosted in another process (exe, iis, SP server, etc) ……………………§ Components ………………………………□ Base Activity Library ………………………………□ Runtime Engine ………………………………□ Runtime Services ………………………………□ Visual Designer (can be hosted outside of VS) …………○ 9:36 – Activity Arch ……………………§ Fundamental Building Blocks ……………………§ Composite Activities ……………………§ Extendable (especially activities) ………………………………□ Composition (assemble of other activities) ………………………………□ Author new ones ………………………………□ Extend existing ones ………………………………□ Build Activity Libraries for domains (compliance, crm, rosetta, etc) …………○ 13:30 – Runtime Extensions ……………………§ Persistence Service (allows workflows to sleep – out of mem) ………………………………□ Default is Writing to SQLServer could go to file ……………………§ Tracking Service (manages profiles and tracked info) ……………………§ Scheduler Service (threads, timers, transactions) ……………………§ [bauer comment: strategy is WWF is the loss leader. Get them using the workflow / rules power then realize it can’t run embedded well. Require upgrade to BizTalk Server. Brillant] …………○ 20:00 – Demo (types, out of box, host interaction, conditional logic, etc) ……………………§ Add code activity. ………………………………□ Smart tags on object saying what needs to be set ……………………§ Show how host application holds workflow ……………………§ Show pass in of parm to workflow. ………………………………□ Create property on workflow class ………………………………□ Adjust workflow call to pass in (use hash table) ……………………§ Add if/then/else condition and show rules designer ……………………§ Create Activity by Composition ………………………………□ Drop code activity, sequential component, etc ………………………………□ Can see composition in fulll or roll up …………○ 33:00 – Scenarios ……………………§ Focus on long running process ……………………§ Complex rules ……………………§ AdhocWorkflows ……………………§ Customizing in flight ……………………§ Surface process info to users ……………………§ Allow users to customize …………○ 34:00 – Demo ……………………§ Long running process ………………………………□ Oob – Timeouts, persist out of memory ………………………………□ Expense report process – submit, approvals (auto vs manual), ………………………………□ 3 apps – submit, mgr review / approve, host (listen/exec wwf on msdn) ………………………………□ RuleSet – Have that policy executed to drive values that workflow uses to run ………………………………□ Host process is done a variety of ways ……………………§ Rules functionality in workflow ………………………………¨ Example of a form where all events are handle by workflow snippets. The form application doesn’t know anything about what is going on. ………………………………¨ All the app does is exec rules (2-3 lines of code) ………………………………¨ RuleSet are stored in DB. Exposed via designer. Think of them acting against objects in workflow BUT could be acting against the form. Rule Engine handles complex forward chains. ……………………§ Ad Hoc – Human Workflows – Use State Machine ………………………………¨ IVR. Based on State set values. State set by pathing of usiner ………………………………¨ Each prompt is a state in state machine ……………………§ Surfacing Workflow Information ………………………………□ Sample in SDK (workflow monitor) …………………………………………¨ See threads (history) that have gone through …………………………………………¨ See detail steps in each thread (history) …………………………………………¨ This is not VS based …………………………………………¨ Allows for good information on what is in process ……………………§ Allow Users to Customize Process ………………………………□ Allow users to put specific activities into specific points in workflow ………………………………□ Via a non VS based GUI ………………………………□ Save to XOML ………………………………□ View XOML. MSDN Search Activity ………………………………□ Not clear if its possible to set values of activities …………○ 53:00 – QA ……………………§ Links for WCF? ……………………§ Bug in ASP.NET for waking up slumbering process (beta 2.2). He points to a blog. ……………………§ Host image of process external? Yes, can save to BMP. Get that file out. John Flander’s blog has a good example of that. ……………………§ Host WWF application on Webservice? Yes ……………………§ Design Shell Source Code? Yes on WWF.net later today ……………………§ SQL Server Svc Broker Use This? No. Six products in development using WWF. Office, Biztalk, MSFT Dynamics. Paul Anders Blog talks about that. ……………………§ Latest Version? Beta 2. WWF.Net has that. ……………………§ Replace BizTalk Orchestration? No. BTS is a full featured platform. Could build a lot of it in WWF. BTS has adapters, mgmt, distributed hosts, etc. ……………………§ Is XOML simliar to XAML? Same thing … just named to allow VS to open it.

MSFT: Sharepoint – Workflow, Wiki/Blog, Personalization

Whew, this MSFT ‘partnercast’ (my name for a webcast done by a 3rd party vendor, in this case MSFT, for it’s employees and partners only) to show Beta 1 of Sharepoint was a journey. They had technical issues galore and the presentors didn’t have a tight story. However, I was intrigued in that we do see clients beginning to poke at what SP and o12 can do for them.

The presenters covered workflow (1hr), wikis/blogs (15 min), and mysite/personalization (15 min). I have to admit (as you could infer from the above i didn’t take too much away from this — outside of getting to see SP 2007 for the 1st time) but here were some keys:

1. I see the sizzle, where is the steak. The presenters went through alot of stuff but didn’t convey the powerful reason for clients to leap to this. While they spent an hour on workflow (where I suspect the compelling event is) they didn’t achieve any momentum in my view of why this could help businesses more than what they have today around workflow

2. They have fixed alot. For our clients using SP 2003 it is much improved so an upgrade is compelling. Search is supposedly relevant now. Wiki’s and Blogs are a nice add. Ability to synch any SP item to outlook for office usage is nice (fixes problems when the network goes down), etc.

3. BETA 1 Performance DOESN’T Rock!. Man oh man was beta one chugging in this demo. Hears to them improving that.

For those still curious, I uploaded the webcast to here:

https://grip.gr.com/sites/SPDC/Internal%20Training%20Itiatives/SPS_2007_p1.wmv

Here are my detail notes:

Quote:

• BETA 1 Load of Sharepoint (aka MSFT Office Sharepoint Server – MOSS) • • Chris Fox – Portals TS North Central ………..○ 6:30 – Search, CM, Workflow ………..○ Use case demonstrating that ………………….§ Create PPT, route for approval, goto records ………………….vault after demo ………………….§ 9:12 – Tech difficulties. ………………….§ 10:00 – Windows Workflow Foundation ………………….§ 11:00 – ToDo Bar in o12 2007 (tasks and calendaer hybrid). Moves date to date … allows allocation of time to accomplish them. ………………….§ 12:30 – MOSS 2007 (SPS new name) ……………………………□ Better UI ……………………………□ UI is more secure / personalized (only see links that have access to) ……………………………□ Recycle bin now in Sharepoint (so delete you can restore in doc libs) ………………….§ 14:30 – WSS Site ……………………………□ Content Types … central to ECM story. Template of a doc ……………………………………..¨ meta pre pop ……………………………………..¨ Workflows defaulted ……………………………□ Permission available at item level (woot) ……………………………□ Default workflows (via right click on doc) … pulled from content type template ………………….§ 20:00 – Into o12 ppt ……………………………□ Review of ribbon and why designed that way ………………….§ 23:00 back to wss ……………………………□ Search tool same on SPS and WSS sites ……………………………□ Search scopes (default filters) ……………………………□ Business data catalog … lets you hit or crawl another system … define viaxml and return via search ……………………………□ Review of navigation (new) ……………………………□ Breadcrumbing now available ……………………………□ (bauer comment – notable speed issues) ………………….§ 26:30 search example (find content) ……………………………□ Example of how to put search filters into the search field (ie suffix filetype:pptx) ………………….□ 28:30 – Collegees lists created by default (find contributors to help) ……………………………□ lOoks at who is subscribed to docs, sites, security lists as you are ……………………………□ Nice people finder function ………………….□ 30:00 – PPT Slide library (build ppt) ……………………………□ Reuse decks, assembling to a new one. Trouble both decks open. Each slide can be an item in a list .. Don’t need to open the doc (can drag the pieces) ……………………………□ See a screen of slides shots and can do a insert to the open PPT from the SPS Slide Lib w/ one click ………………….□ 36:30 – Workflow Example (now that ppt is done) ……………………………□ Kick off workflow from workflow area … ……………………………□ See integration of Forms Services (infopath). MOSS allows rendering of infopath forms in any browser. See the fields availlable in the browser. ……………………………□ Workflow is more of a template … then at run you can tweak on unique run needs (more people, more steps, etc) ……………………………□ WWF is focused on managing content, moving information (docs) between people. Biz talk is more about transactions (overlap is there) ………………….□ 41:03 – Receive email that automatically goes to his task list. ……………………………□ Email links to SP ……………………………□ Also could update item in outlook (no need to go to SPS) ……………………………□ Tasks rollup to ‘mytasks’ in his ‘mysite’ so that is where the aggregate task list of all sp sites goes to. ……………………………□ ?. Do workflows run in the WSS thread or separate? Not sure. Believe its separate. ………………….□ 52:30 – Now that approved ppt (above) … archive ……………………………□ Records vault (doc lib type) ……………………………□ Send to there via rick click … it will then sort, in vault, automatically into folders by on content type (get different policies). ……………………………□ Unique copy is made (so it could be change control related). ……………………………□ In a standard doc lib you can get policies but you wont get the detailed auditing, or integration of expiration of content and destroy, that you get in a vault (special doc lib type) ……………………………□ They believe this is ‘records management’ … ……………………………□ Same functions in records vault in WCM ……………………………□ You can (force?) associate (?) to a doc all the policies of the records vault when its downloaded ……………………………□ 58:00 – Discussion of policies on documents (example) ……………………………………..¨ Any interaction you have w/ the doc you can tie auditing to. Barcodes (on docs) is supported ……………………………………..¨ Discussion of how to destroy (options). Time frames that can be managed. • 1:01 — Blogs, Wikis ………..○ High level overview … South Central. ………..○ Wiki, blog is being requested by clients. ………..○ Beta 1 refresh. ………..○ Easy to create blog or wiki … same path as site creation ………..○ 1:04 – Blog example. Create categories is possible. Blog is typically serial (date) however in their model ………..○ WSIWYG editors tied to content. ………..○ RSS is tied to this (so you can get subscribers) ………………….§ Show how blog rss feeds will be in o12 native. ………………….§ Will also auto update (you will see the ‘new’ # count in outlook). This functionality is also possible w/ any list or doc lib in SP. ………..○ 1:12 – WIKI ………………….§ Still using camel case (surprised, expected wysiwyg) • 1:19 – Personalization / MySite ………..○ David 4 slides ………………….§ Search component. 2007 better integrated people information in search (to find resources). Relevance ranking more honed in 2007 ……………………………□ Transparency (why items hit the result list) ……………………………□ People search (dedicated tab for any item in a doc … see who has contributed to a doc) ………………….§ MySite. My point of aggregation in SP. Blogs (may have a teamsite blog, but typically here), Wiki, Aggregation of tasks to mysite, ………..○ 1:24 — Demo ………………….§ Ability to login as another user and then grant them powers. ………………….§ Search page review … look at it in a new way .. Click on people tab … people tied to search results … then refine people results by job types … etc … then toggle back to search and only see items by that person (?) … goto mysite of person you found ………………….§ Ability to add people to your colleagues list ………………….§ KPI webpart shown … amusing ………………….§ Better ability to manage your information … some of which could be out of active directory. ………………….§ Can control by personal attribute (ie home phone) what user groups can see what on my site ………………….§ 1:31 – Offline story? Use o12 for sp content offline. ……………………………□ Go into a doc lib … can open that doc lib in outlook. Bring those docs into the outlook environment. View docs in disconnected model. • 1:33 – Q&A ………..○ Blogs and Wikis seem bland. Options to jazz up? ………………….§ Can change background colors. Can modify as you do SP sites. SP designer. ………..○ Import profiles from AD (occurs once a day). So it is synching … not getting them real time.

MSFT: Workflows in Office / Sharepoint

Nicely done webcast. Worthy review for system analysts and business analysts that are wanting to be aware of one way of automating processes that are primarily manual today in clients. Here is a link:

WEBCAST LINK

That said here are my rough notes as I watched and ran:

Quote:

Eilene Hao – Program Mgr Office George Hatoun – Program Mgr Office • Workflow authoring scenarios • Sample business processes • Demo • Describe Dev Steps • How to build out in Visual Studio • 2:30 — Workflow authoring solutions …………○ Out of box – ……………………§ Routing & Approval: Review/Approve, Sig Collection ……………………§ Office Server Features: List Moderation, Publish Process, Doc Expire ……………………§ Tracking Apps: Issue Tracking …………○ MSFT Office Sharepoint Designer 2007 Workflow (not in this presentation) ……………………§ Info Workers … simple flows … ……………………§ Custom tracking apps: Service Requests, Asset Track ……………………§ Custom forms actions: Email Notification, Exception Handling ……………………§ Doc Processes: Spec Review, Wkly Status …………○ MSFT VS & Workflow Software Dev Kit (SDK) (Focus of this presentation) ……………………§ LOB Integration ……………………§ Industry Specific Processes-PO, Prod Life Cycle Mgmt • 4:30 – Sample Approval Process • 6:00 – Demo Workflow (User Experience) …………○ In Sharepoint Site …………○ Start a workflow, based on an infopath form data …………○ Shows how you open doc and have a workflow ‘tab/task’ in doc. Also can do in server (not in doc). • 9:30 Steps to Build …………○ Model in VS …………○ Create & Bind InfoPath Forms ……………………§ Association Form ……………………§ Initiation Form ……………………§ Task Completion Form ……………………§ Modification Form …………○ Deploy to Sharepoint …………○ Debug running workflow • 15:00 – Entry points to trigger 4 steps above (infopath forms) reviewed (o12 and sharepoint) • 18:30 – Deployment Process …………○ Webpart process used (WSP files) …………○ Full deployment (not shown here) is to use the solution/feature mechanism vs batch file. …………○ Activate in sharepoint or in cmd line …………○ Restart IIS, use • 21:30 – Debug Overview • 22:00 – Demo of Building …………○ Model in VS ……………………§ Windows Workflow Foundation ……………………§ GUI or Code based steps ……………………§ Schedule it in Designer …………○ Create & Bind InfoPath Forms ……………………§ Template designer in Infopath ……………………§ Drag and drop functionality ……………………§ Ability to interact w/ server, XML files, DB much like standard ASP forms ……………………§ Create a class on form to enable access to data of form ……………………§ Workflow post puts data into workflow properties bag … create a handler for that activity ……………………§ 44:10 – Deploy ……………………§ 46:30 – Debug • 48:30 – Additional Resources …………○ WS310 – Next Step Class …………○ From Lendl ……………………§ Beta1 Refresh ……………………§ Office BetaPlace Access Eilene Hao – Program Mgr Office George Hatoun – Program Mgr Office • Workflow authoring scenarios • Sample business processes • Demo • Describe Dev Steps • How to build out in Visual Studio • 2:30 — Workflow authoring solutions …………○ Out of box – ……………………§ Routing & Approval: Review/Approve, Sig Collection ……………………§ Office Server Features: List Moderation, Publish Process, Doc Expire ……………………§ Tracking Apps: Issue Tracking …………○ MSFT Office Sharepoint Designer 2007 Workflow (not in this presentation) ……………………§ Info Workers … simple flows … ……………………§ Custom tracking apps: Service Requests, Asset Track ……………………§ Custom forms actions: Email Notification, Exception Handling ……………………§ Doc Processes: Spec Review, Wkly Status …………○ MSFT VS & Workflow Software Dev Kit (SDK) (Focus of this presentation) ……………………§ LOB Integration ……………………§ Industry Specific Processes-PO, Prod Life Cycle Mgmt • 4:30 – Sample Approval Process • 6:00 – Demo Workflow (User Experience) …………○ In Sharepoint Site …………○ Start a workflow, based on an infopath form data …………○ Shows how you open doc and have a workflow ‘tab/task’ in doc. Also can do in server (not in doc). • 9:30 Steps to Build …………○ Model in VS …………○ Create & Bind InfoPath Forms ……………………§ Association Form ……………………§ Initiation Form ……………………§ Task Completion Form ……………………§ Modification Form …………○ Deploy to Sharepoint …………○ Debug running workflow • 15:00 – Entry points to trigger 4 steps above (infopath forms) reviewed (o12 and sharepoint) • 18:30 – Deployment Process …………○ Webpart process used (WSP files) …………○ Full deployment (not shown here) is to use the solution/feature mechanism vs batch file. …………○ Activate in sharepoint or in cmd line …………○ Restart IIS, use • 21:30 – Debug Overview • 22:00 – Demo of Building …………○ Model in VS ……………………§ Windows Workflow Foundation ……………………§ GUI or Code based steps ……………………§ Schedule it in Designer …………○ Create & Bind InfoPath Forms ……………………§ Template designer in Infopath ……………………§ Drag and drop functionality ……………………§ Ability to interact w/ server, XML files, DB much like standard ASP forms ……………………§ Create a class on form to enable access to data of form ……………………§ Workflow post puts data into workflow properties bag … create a handler for that activity ……………………§ 44:10 – Deploy ……………………§ 46:30 – Debug • 48:30 – Additional Resources …………○ WS310 – Next Step Class …………○ From Lendl ……………………§ Beta1 Refresh ……………………§ Office BetaPlace Access * 50:00 Q&A.