SharePoint offers 3 different ways to build workflows:

• Out of the box workfows: you can customise action values, e.g. who gets emailed to approve a doc
• SharePoint Designer (SPD) 2010: Rules-based declarative workflows, you can combine available conditions and actions\
  Can now also edit the workflow forms using InfoPath (Enterprise edition)
• Visual Studio: Full customisation including the ability to develop your own conditions and actions, and integration with Line of Business (LoB) systems, e.g combining human and system-based workflows

3 types of workflow:

• Workflow – Attached direct to a list
• Reusable workflow – can be associated with many lists or content types
• Site workflow – not associated to a list or content type: define Initiation Form Parameters that will match columns in a list or library later in the workflow <- note: not available when designing in Visio, Visio can do list or reusable only

Other quick notes:

• Don’t forget to refresh SPD if you’ve made changes to a list or library you want to reference in a workflow
• Use site workflows to create an item in a list (if use list/library workflow, it is triggered once an item is created or modified)
• When using Initiation Form Parameters, look up from Workflow Variables and Parameters as data source in events
• Workflow Context as a data source: i.e. who initiated the workflow
• Visio for designing workflow: Add start and end terminators; update workflow status for each step; use stop workflow action to log a stop (i.e. as well as the terminator that literally stops the workflow). Save file, but then need to Export (under Process) to be able to import into SPD – file type VWI, Visio Workflow Interchange
• Adding manager to workflow: Workflow Lookup – Data Source – User Profiles, choose Manager attribute… (new to 2010). Match attribute to account name of person currently signed in, i.e Data Source – Workflow Context – Initator. Match login names
• If adding fields to an email as part of the workflow, with paragraphs (i.e. columns of type ‘multiple lines of text’) stick with plain text. If you use rich text, looks messy in email (takes up lots of space)

Links

• Workflow conditions in SharePoint Designer 2010, a quick reference guide – Microsoft.com
• Overview of human workflow in SharePoint 2010 – MS SharePoint team blog, Feb 2010

• Great article in MSDN Mag (Nov 09) about improvements to workflow in SharePoint 2010 including walkthrough example (Visual Studio) - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/magazine/ee335710.aspx
• SharePoint 2010 Designer improvements, including workflow changes – MSDN PPTX (2Mb file)

• Using SharePoint Designer to create workflows (by Asif Rehmani, did great workflow talks at SPC09) -

• Using Visio 2010 (Premium edition) to create SharePoint workflows – Wictor Wilen bog
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• Configure item-level permissions in document libraries using workflows – SharePoint Use Cases blog, Mar 2010
  (note: couldn’t be done in 2007 in libraries but could for lists
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• Implementing roles in browser-based forms – Infopath Team blog, Jan 2007
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• Use multiple views in a customised list form – Infopath Team blog, Apr 2010