Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Unleashed

Defining Workflows in the Business Environment

In a business environment, workflows exist throughout the organization in formal and informal incarnations, and organizations of all sizes are increasingly concerned with formalizing and streamlining processes critical to the business. A key challenge in workflows is the combination of forms, the human element, time, and lack of defined processes. Consider the prototypical workflow involving an expense report form filled out by hand by User5, who then puts it in the mail slot of User2, who signs it, and puts it into the HR mail slot for processing. Consider then that User5 doesn’t get the reimbursement and the steps that need to be taken for him to try and figure out what happened.

SharePoint-based ...