Workflow types

All of the predefined workflows can be created by following the steps outlined previously in this chapter. The predefined workflows are stated in the following table:

Workflow Name

Brief Description

SharePoint Edition

Three-state

Designed to track the status of a list item through three states (phases).

Foundation

Collect feedback

Routes a document or item to a group of people for feedback.

SharePoint Server

Approval

Routes a document or item to a group of people for approval.

SharePoint Server

Disposition approval

Manages document expiration and retention by letting participants decide whether to keep or delete expired documents.

SharePoint Server

Collect signatures

Routes a document that was created in a Microsoft application to a group of people to collect their digital signatures.

SharePoint Server

Translation management

Manages manual document translation by creating copies of the document to be translated and by assigning translation tasks to translators.

SharePoint Server

Issue tracking

Routes an issue to team members for resolution.

SharePoint Server

Collect signatures

Routes a document that was created in a Microsoft application to a group of people to collect their digital signatures.

SharePoint Server

Three-state

This workflow is specifically designed to track the status of a list item through three states or phases. It can be used to manage business processes in which organizations need to track a high volume of issues or items. For example, this workflow can be used to track a document through three different states: New, Pending Review, and Completed.

This workflow is only supported on lists and any other workflows will need to be manually developed and deployed using custom code.

Note

SharePoint Foundation only supports the predefined Three-state workflow template.

SharePoint Server 2010 includes the following three-state predefined workflow templates that can address common business scenarios. These are described as follows.

Collect feedback

This workflow routes a document or item to a group of people that have been selected to provide feedback. The reviewers can provide feedback, which is then consolidated and sent to the initiator of the workflow in an e-mail. This workflow type is useful for document review and collecting feedback from co-workers. Instead of individual e-mails from each reviewer, it is all consolidated. By default, this workflow is associated with the Document content type and therefore it is automatically available in all document libraries.

Approval

This predefined workflow routes a document or item to a group of people that have been selected as approvers. The Approval workflow is sequential in nature. The first set of approvers can undergo the review and approval process, then the next set of approvers, and so on until completion. Each stage or approval set can also have its own specific behavior. For example, members of the first group of approvers can do their review in serial order (one after the other), members of the second group can do their review in parallel (in any order), and so on.

By default, this workflow is also associated with the document content type and therefore it is automatically available in all document libraries. A variation of the approval workflow is also associated with the pages library on a publishing site, and can be used to manage the approval process for the publication of web pages.

Note

The employee requisition form described at the beginning of the chapter can be created and deployed in minutes with this predefined workflow.

Disposition approval

This workflow manages document retention and expiration by letting participants decide whether or not they want to keep or delete expired documents.

The disposition approval workflow supports record management processes. It is primarily intended for use in a records center site. This workflow can be started automatically, manually, or when an item changes and the approver is presented with the following screen, with the options to either delete or retain the document.

Disposition approval

Collect signatures

This workflow allows you to route a document that was created in a Microsoft application to a group of people to collect their digital signatures. This workflow must be started in applications in the 2007/2010 Microsoft Office suites such as Microsoft Word. The participants must complete their signature tasks by adding their digital signatures (login) to the documents in the respective client programs. By default, the Collect Signatures workflow is associated with the Document content type, and therefore is automatically available in all document libraries. However, the Collect Signatures workflow appears for a document in the document library only if that document contains one or more Microsoft Office Signature Lines.

Translation management

This workflow manages manual document translations by creating copies of the document to be translated and by assigning translation tasks to translators.

This workflow is only available for Translation Management libraries.

Issue tracking

This workflow routes an issue to team members for resolution. It presents a web page to the user who is then able to enter new issues as they arise. As an issue progresses through the different workflow states, the web page that the user sees will change to reflect appropriate events.

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