Essential SharePoint 2007, 2nd Edition

Creating Workflows

The Problem Reports sample in Chapter 3 is a simple type of workflow based on an Issue Tracking list: the user submits a problem report, it's automatically assigned to the department manager, the manager reassigns the task to an employee; and the whole process is tracked through views of the list, as shown in Figure 8-13.

Figure 8-13. The Problem Reports sample as a simple workflow

To handle more complex requirements, add a SharePoint workflow to the list or library. A SharePoint workflow is a set of steps that define a business process. For example, Figure 8-14 illustrates how a business processes employee expense reports.

Figure 8-14. The employee expense-reporting process

The requirements for expense reporting are more complex than the Problem Reports sample because:

• You can't skip steps; expenses are always submitted, approved, and processed in that order.

• The approving manager varies based on who is submitting expenses.

• The final step is always handled by the Accounting department.

• Employees want to be able to track the progress of their expense report.

The following sections describe how to create a workflow for the expense report process that meets all of those requirements. You can generalize this example for other approval processes in WSS. MOSS includes its own approval ...