I've been using SharePoint 2007 since it was in Beta.  However, it's not until recently that I've really come to understand the hidden potential of workflow in SharePoint.  The realization is profound - Workflow plus SharePoint equals the potential for astounding business solutions on the fly.

Many of you, like me, may have initially discovered workflow in SharePoint through the approval and collect feedback default workflows.  These are useful workflows for documents to be sure.  However, my big interest in SharePoint is through the use of lists.  Structuring data will always be more useful in the long run than storing the data in an unstructured format such as a Word or Excel document.  And so when you try to use the out of the box Approval workflow on a list item the result gets a bit (or a lot) confusing.

I then turned to SharePoint Designer.  And sure enough you can customize workflows.  However, I found the interface to be poor and the process to make meaningful workflows unclear.  More importantly, I refused to invest too much time in learning SharePoint Designer in detail because the last thing I wanted to do was to introduce a client to something that was not intuitive to use. 

And then I discovered Nintex Workflow 2007.  I have previously blogged on this tool, and that we are now a reseller.  However, once I really dug into this tool the realization dawned on me: Nintex have made the hidden potential of workflow in SharePoint very accessible.  And in turn have provided businesses with astounding opportunities.  The most significant point - you don't need Nintex Workflow 2007, you could use Designer. The workflow was there all along and Nintex does not add anything to the workflow foundation implemeted by Microsoft.  However, by greatly improving the interface and making Workflow actions so much easier to understand a business can really begin to uncover what workflow can do. 

What do I mean by this?  Well, imagine using a list to track opportunities for customers:

1. You started by creating Site Columns and a Content Type for Opportunities
2. You might have created a Choice column called Area of Interest (that has a list of services and products you offer) and a Business Contact column (that lookups a contact list of your customers)
3. You would then make the Content Type Title field 'hidden' and renamed the title field to Opportuity in the list (not the content type - do not rename the out of the box columns!)
4. Now here's the cute part.  You build a workflow that kicks in when an item is created, picks up the Area of Interest and Contact name and inserts them into the hidden Opportunity column. 
   • Opportunity will never appear on the form (and is one less field for the user to enter) but it will appear in views.  
   • And more importantly, you've now controlled the manner in which your title field displays with categorical data.  

This is just one of many, many interesting examples we're playing with.  A part of the reason I've not been blogging much is that I've been spending any spare time I'm not delivering building up our business infrastructure.  The potential we're unlocking is, quite frankly, staggering (it's becoming obvious to me that some vendors are building add-on solutions for SharePoint 2007 that Workflow could address without the need for additional code in your environment). 

If you're using SharePoint 2007 I strongly recommend you explore workflow in more depth.  And if you're curious about what Nintex Workflow 2007 can do do not hesitate to contact us.  I cannot stress how much easier Nintex has made workflow in SharePoint!

I've been using SharePoint 2007 since it was in Beta.  However, it's not until recently that I've really come to understand the hidden potential of workflow in SharePoint.  The realization is profound - Workflow plus SharePoint equals the potential for astounding business solutions on the fly.

Many of you, like me, may have initially discovered workflow in SharePoint through the approval and collect feedback default workflows.  These are useful workflows for documents to be sure.  However, my big interest in SharePoint is through the use of lists.  Structuring data will always be more useful in the long run than storing the data in an unstructured format such as a Word or Excel document.  And so when you try to use the out of the box Approval workflow on a list item the result gets a bit (or a lot) confusing.

I then turned to SharePoint Designer.  And sure enough you can customize workflows.  However, I found the interface to be poor and the process to make meaningful workflows unclear.  More importantly, I refused to invest too much time in learning SharePoint Designer in detail because the last thing I wanted to do was to introduce a client to something that was not intuitive to use. 

And then I discovered Nintex Workflow 2007.  I have previously blogged on this tool, and that we are now a reseller.  However, once I really dug into this tool the realization dawned on me: Nintex have made the hidden potential of workflow in SharePoint very accessible.  And in turn have provided businesses with astounding opportunities.  The most significant point - you don't need Nintex Workflow 2007, you could use Designer. The workflow was there all along and Nintex does not add anything to the workflow foundation implemeted by Microsoft.  However, by greatly improving the interface and making Workflow actions so much easier to understand a business can really begin to uncover what workflow can do. 

What do I mean by this?  Well, imagine using a list to track opportunities for customers:

1. You started by creating Site Columns and a Content Type for Opportunities
2. You might have created a Choice column called Area of Interest (that has a list of services and products you offer) and a Business Contact column (that lookups a contact list of your customers)
3. You would then make the Content Type Title field 'hidden' and renamed the title field to Opportuity in the list (not the content type - do not rename the out of the box columns!)
4. Now here's the cute part.  You build a workflow that kicks in when an item is created, picks up the Area of Interest and Contact name and inserts them into the hidden Opportunity column. 
   • Opportunity will never appear on the form (and is one less field for the user to enter) but it will appear in views.  
   • And more importantly, you've now controlled the manner in which your title field displays with categorical data.  

This is just one of many, many interesting examples we're playing with.  A part of the reason I've not been blogging much is that I've been spending any spare time I'm not delivering building up our business infrastructure.  The potential we're unlocking is, quite frankly, staggering (it's becoming obvious to me that some vendors are building add-on solutions for SharePoint 2007 that Workflow could address without the need for additional code in your environment). 

If you're using SharePoint 2007 I strongly recommend you explore workflow in more depth.  And if you're curious about what Nintex Workflow 2007 can do do not hesitate to contact us.  I cannot stress how much easier Nintex has made workflow in SharePoint!