Creating Document and Form Workflow SharePoint Sites

To create sites:

• Designer software must be installed
• The user must have SharePoint site creation privileges

To create a Dorcument Workflow or Form Workflow SharePoint site:

1. Go to the SharePoint site under which you want to create the Document or Form Workflow site.

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2. Under Site Actions, click More Options.
3. In the Categories list, click Blank and Custom. To create a Document Workflow site, click Process Controlled Document. To create a Form Workflow site, click Process Controlled Form Workspace.

   The New SharePoint Site page appears.

4. In the Title text box, click More Options to see a list of existing titles, or type a name for your Document Workflow or Form Workflow site.

   For example, if you are creating a Document Workflow site to be used in an engineering department, you could name it Engineering_Documents. If you are creating a Form Workflow site to be used in a finance department, you could name it FinanceDesigner.

   NOTE: It is a good idea to use names that contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores. Avoid using spaces and non-alphanumeric characters.

5. In the Description area, type a description for the documents or forms that will be included in this site.
6. In the URL name text box, type a valid URL.
7. In the UserPermissions, Navigation, and Navigation Inheritance areas, select the appropriate options for your environment. (Refer to your SharePoint documentation for information about these options.)
8. Click Create. Your new Document or Form Workflow site appears, similar to the following example:
   

   

Using Winshuttle Designer

Winshuttle Designer allows you to automate business processes to meet the needs of your work environment. It leverages elements from SharePoint, including permissions, attributes, and user profile information. With easy-to-use graphical design, Winshuttle Designer can help you to implement processes that contain:

• Task assignments
• Assignment monitoring and management
• Reminders
• Email approve or reject
• Business process role abstraction
• Looping
• Conditional branching

This section provides information about using Designer to create workflows to represent your business processes.

Starting Winshuttle Designer

1. To start Designer for the first time, click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Winshuttle Designer.
2. The first time that you start Designer, the Select Application Mode dialog box appears.
3. Select one of the following:
   • Winshuttle Workflow with SAP extensions: Select this mode if you have a Winshuttle Enterprise license. This license includes Winshuttle CENTRAL and Winshuttle SERVER, and allows you to work with SAP.

     -or-

   • Winshuttle Workflow: Select this mode to design and publish workflows to SharePoint sites. This license does not allow you to use Winshuttle CENTRAL and Winshuttle SERVER to work with SAP.

Designer Basics

The following sections describe the Winshuttle Designer interface and how to use it.

Canvas

The canvas is where you layout the graphical framework of your workflow. This can include nodes and the transitions between them. The canvas is composed of swimlanes representing functional roles in a workflow. By default, every workflow has an Originator and a Process Owner, so these swimlanes are always present. You can add more swimlanes to your workflow as needed to represent additional roles.

Winshuttle Designer Process Guide Toolbar

Winshuttle Designer Process Guide Canvas

Toolbar

The toolbar buttons allow you to perform various functions as described in the table below. Each function is also available as a command from one of the Winshuttle Designer menus.

Toolbar Buttons

Properties Pane

The Properties pane in the Winshuttle Designer window lets you view and change the properties assigned to a workflow or individual nodes and transitions in the workflow. Each item has different properties and settings. To change a setting, click in the text box to the right of the property name. Some properties include a […] button, which you can click to specify more settings, or a drop-down list from which you can select a setting.

NOTE:

• For more information about workflow properties, see Appendix B.
• For more information about the properties for each node type, see Appendix C.
• For more information about transition properties, see Appendix D.
  

  

Swimlanes

Workflows are composed of swimlanes, representing the functional roles in a process. Each swimlane in a workflow appears in the Designer canvas. When a workflow is started, real people must be assigned to a swimlane and the swimlane behavior set. Swimlanes are associated with SharePoint groups, and tasks are assigned to (placed within) swimlanes.

Every process must have at least the following swimlanes, which are created automatically:

• Originator — the person who initiates the process.
• Process Owner — the person who has overall responsibility for the process.

WARNING: The Originator and a Process Owner swimlane are set as default participants in every workflow. Do not remove these swimlanes.

You can add as many swimlanes as you need for your work environment. Swimlanes are configured through the Swimlane Collection Editor, which allows you to add, edit, and delete swimlanes, and to set the assignment behavior for a swimlane.

Adding and Modifying Swimlanes

1. Start Winshuttle Designer.
2. In the Participants area of the Properties pane, click […] to the right of the Swimlanes property.

   The Swimlane Collection Editor appears.

   

   
   The Members area lists the current swimlanes in your process. You can add as many swimlanes as you need for your workflow. To assign tasks to a participant, the participant (individual or group) must be associated with the swimlane.

   NOTE: You must add the participants of the workflow as members of your SharePoint site and configure SharePoint site settings before you add participants.

3. Perform one of the following:
   • To add a new swimlane, click Add. A new swimlane appears in the Members area.
   • To modify an existing swimlane, click on its name in the Members area.
4. In the Description property of the Participant area, click […].

   The Edit Description dialog box appears.

5. Type a brief description of the role that the swimlane represents in the process.
6. In the Name property of the Participant area, type a name for the swimlane.

   For example, if the swimlane will represent a group of managers, you could type Managers.
   
   NOTE: It is a good idea to use names that contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores. Avoid using spaces and non-alphanumeric characters.

7. In the Group property, click the down arrow and select the SharePoint group that maps to the role represented by the swimlane.

   The options available in the Group drop-down list depend on what you have configured in SharePoint.

   NOTE: Groups are referenced from the SharePoint site associated with the current project. Groups must be defined in the SharePoint site prior to creating a workflow in order to be available in Designer as a participant in a project.

8. In the Type property of the Participant area, click the down arrow and select the one of the following:
   • Select Person if the swimlane represents a specific person in your workflow who will perform the role represented by the swimlane.

     NOTE: In most circumstances, this setting is not recommended, since if in the future the specified person is no longer involved in the workflow, you will need to modify the swimlane.

   • Select PersonFromRole to enable a selection from a mapped SharePoint group. This SharePoint group of people will be presented as the list of selections to assign the swimlane.
   • Select TeamFromRole to enable multiple selections from a mapped SharePoint group. This SharePoint group of people will be presented as the list of selections to assign the swimlane.
9. If you selected Person in step 8, in the User property list, select a name. Use the list to avoid errors in typing in names.

   (Note: If you selected PersonFromRole or TeamFromRole in step 8, the User property is irrelevant.)

10. In the IncludeSelf property in the UI Support area, select True or False to indicate whether you want your name to be included in the selection list if you are a member of the associated SharePoint group.
11. In the ParticipantResolver property, select a setting to specify how participants are assigned.

    If left blank, it will default to SelectFromRole. (See the Winshuttle Actions Reference Guide for detailed information about each Participant Resolver type and arguments).

12. If you specified a type other than Select From Role in step 11, use the ParticipantResolverArguments property to configure the selected Participant Resolver.
13. If you want, use the Up and Down arrow buttons to change the sequence in which the swimlanes appear in the canvas.

    NOTE: Changing the swimlane order changes how the participants assigned to the swimlanes function in the workflow. Workflow activities, however, are assigned to swimlanes and do not change their location.

14. Click OK.

    Your swimlanes appear in the Designer canvas.

Removing Swimlanes from a Process

1. In the Participants area of the Properties window, click […] corresponding to the Swimlanes property.

   The Swimlane Collection Editor appears.

2. In the Members area, select the swimlane that you want to remove.

   NOTE: You cannot remove the Originator or Process Owner swimlane.

3. Click Remove. Click OK.

   The corresponding swimlane is removed from the Designer canvas.

Creating a Workflow

A workflow is a graphical representation of the flow of steps in a business process. It can be simple, with only one or two steps, or complex with many steps and participants. You can create a workflow, and then modify it at any time if there are changes in your business process.

1. Start Winshuttle Designer.
2. On the File menu, click New, and then click Workflow.

   An empty canvas appears.

3. In the Definition area of the Properties pane, click in the Name property and type a name for the process.

   For example, if you are creating a workflow for routing a capital expenditure request form, you could type CapitalExpenditureRequest.

4. On the File menu, click Save As.

   The Save As dialog box appears.

5. In the File Name text box, type a name for your process. For example: CapitalExpenditureRequest.svp

   Navigate to the location where you want to save the file and click Save.
   NOTE: Although your new workflow has been saved, it is not available for use until you publish it. See "Publishing a Workflow (below).

Associating a Workflow with SharePoint for Legacy Files

Associating your workflow with SharePoint allows you to access lists and group memberships from within a SharePoint site. You must associate your workflow with SharePoint before you can publish and use it.

1. In the Publishing area of the Properties pane, click in the SharePointSite property and type the URL for the SharePoint site you want to associate with this process.

   Winshuttle Designer verifies your logon settings against the SharePoint site you have associated with this process. If the SharePoint site was accessed successfully, you can proceed with adding nodes to your workflow as described in the next section. If there is a permission error and you cannot access the specified SharePoint site, you must complete steps 2-7 below.

2. From the Tools menu, click Options.

   The Options dialog box appears.

   

3. Click the SharePoint tab.
4. You can choose from following Logon options:
   • Use the logged in Windows account
   • Use the specified account
   • Type User Name, Password and Domain to access Winshuttle SERVER and CENTRAL site.
5. Enter your User Name, Password, and Domain (if applicable) for the SharePoint site, you are associating with this process.
   
   NOTE: If this workflow is for routing a form, you must first publish the form before you can select the appropriate SharePoint list. For information about publishing Designer, see Publishing a Form.
6. On the Others tab, enter the TCP Communication Port as a Custom Control. In the Properties pane, click the SharePoint List property and select the SharePoint list that is relevant for this workflow. Click OK.
7. On the Tools menu, click Refresh Site Info.

Adding Nodes to a workflow

A node is a point within a workflow that represents a step in a business process, such as a task or activity, a decision, or a request for approval. Nodes are assigned to participants by placing them within a corresponding swimlane in the Designer canvas. For some nodes, the swimlane placement is important. For other nodes, it is not. Each node has configurable properties that define the behavior of the node.

NOTE: For detailed information about each node type and its properties, see Appendix C.

1. On the Winshuttle Designer toolbar, click Start to select the Start node type.
2. In the Winshuttle Designer canvas, drag in the appropriate swimlane to add the Start node.

   NOTE: We recommend placing the Start and End nodes in the Originator swimlane. However, depending on your workflow, you may choose a different swimlane.

3. On the Designer toolbar, click the button representing the type of node you want to add, then drag in the appropriate swimlane.
4. Repeat step 3 to add as many nodes as required for your workflow.
5. On the Designer toolbar, click End and drag in the appropriate swimlane.
6. On the File menu, click Save.

Setting Node Properties

You can set Node properties to define settings for each node in your workflow.

1. Click on a node in the Designer canvas.

   The Properties pane displays properties for the selected node. The available properties depend on the node type.

2. Use the Properties pane to set properties for the node as needed.

   For information about the properties of each node type, see Appendix C.

3. Repeat steps1-2 to set properties for each node in your workflow.
4. On the File menu, click Save to save your changes.

Adding Transitions between Nodes

Transitions are used to define the sequence of steps in a workflow by connecting one node to another node or nodes. Each node can have an unlimited number of transitions originating from it or going to it. You can set properties for a transition that define the conditions that must be met before moving from one node to another.

1. Click in the center of a node and drag to the center of the next node to which you want to connect.
2. A transition edge appears to connect the nodes. In the example below, a node called Begin Process is connected to a node called Manager Team Review. The transition edge includes an arrow, which represents the direction of the flow from one node to the next, and handles that you can drag to move the transition on the canvas.

   

3. Repeat step 1 to connect nodes as desired for your workflow.The following example shows a workflow that includes many nodes and transitions between the nodes.

   

4. On the File menu, click Save.

Deleting transitions from between nodes

1. Select the transition.
2. Press Ctrl+Delete.

Setting Transition Properties

Transition properties allow you to define conditions that must be met before moving from one node to the next. For example, you can set conditions based on SharePoint column values such as Priority or Amount, or based on the current workflow state such as Approved or Rejected. Before you can use form fields on your condition, the field must first be promoted to SharePoint through InfoPath Designer Form Options section.

NOTE: See Appendix D for detailed information about transition properties, including shortcuts you can use when setting transition properties.

1. In the Designer canvas, click on the transition for which you want to set properties.
2. The Properties pane displays properties for the selected transition.
3. Click in the Condition property, and then click […].
4. The Edit Condition dialog box appears.
5. Right-click in the Edit Condition dialog box and use the Function and Nodes pop-up menus to further specify your transition conditions.
6. See Appendix D for a list of available transition functions and their descriptions.
7. In the Edit Condition dialog box, type a Boolean expression to specify the conditions for the transition. You can use the following operators:

   Relational Operators	Description	Logical Operators	Description
   ==	Equal	&&	And
   !=	Not equal	||	Or
   >	Greater	!	Not
   >=	Greater than or equal
   <	Less
   <=	Less than or equal
   =	Assignment

   See Appendix D for examples of frequently-used conditions and their Boolean expressions.

8. Click OK.

   Your workflow is updated to include the transition properties you specified.

9. Repeat steps 1-5 to set additional transition properties in your workflow as needed.
10. On the File menu, click Save.

Integrating SharePoint Data into Your Processes

Data from SharePoint in either SharePoint columns or form data can be used in many different contexts in your workflows. For example, you can use SharePoint column values as follows:

• To drive transitions in your workflows
• Use them in email message contents
• Use them as arguments to plug-ins

In general, referring to the value of a SharePoint column is done by surrounding the SharePoint column name with square brackets. For example, if you have a column named "Invoice Number," you could compose an email message with that data in the email as follows:

Your invoice with number [Invoice Number] has been approved.

In FormEx, if you have a form field that you want to use in your workflow, promote the field to be a SharePoint column and then refer to it as previously described.

In addition to referring to SharePoint column values, there are also several pseudo fields that represent values in the current environment. They are:

NOTE: You can also use Windows environment variables. For example, the syntax for a variable named MY_ENV_VAR is [%MY_ENV_VAR%]. You can also use values from the sharevis.config file in your plug-ins. The syntax for a sharevis.config file value is [$Key$], such as [$TempDirectory$].