Workflows designed to automate organizational processes should be designed to support approved risk management procedures. The potential for problems to arise from workflows designed without attention to these procedures is too great to proceed otherwise. Properly attending to this requirement means proposing applications of SharePoint’s out-of-the-box approval workflow not only “horizontally”, but also “vertically” within […]
Building Workflows for No-Code Solutions Using External Data with the BCS in SharePoint 2013
In the eleventh and twelfth units of a set of fifteen units of video training content on building workflows for external data, in either SharePoint 2013, on premises, or SharePoint Online, Office 365, Fabian Williams, a SharePoint Server MVP, presents a set of procedures, and their underlying components, most likely to be useful for an […]
Working with the OData Protocol, Web Parameters and URIs to Expose External Data in SharePoint
Expressions of the OData protocol are usually incorporated within Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). These expressions add parameters to Internet locations, at the application layer (hypertext). Once the syntax of a URI has been successfully completed, a web browser can be used as a “universal client” to parse data repositories for targeted segments of data, which […]
SharePoint-Videos Publishes a Set of Video Tutorials on External Data, BCS and Workflows for SharePoint 2013
Organizations in need of proven methods to surface external data in SharePoint 2013, and to work with it via no-code process development approaches, should consider a new set of video tutorials on BCS, External Data, and Workflows, led by Fabian Williams, SharePoint Server MVP. The set has just been published by SharePoint-Videos. A review of […]
Comments on Office 365 Network Architecture for Sites and OneDrive for Business
Over recent posts to this blog, this writer has explored OneDrive for Business as a uniquely featured SharePoint Online document library. An effort has also been made to report on some of the special features of this component of Office 365 and some methods of automating some tasks, associated with OneDrive for Business, likely to […]
When is Visual Studio the Preferred Tool for Building Workflows for SharePoint 2013?
Readers may not be aware of the special cases where Visual Studio 2012, rather than SharePoint Designer, 2013, is the best tool for building workflows for SharePoint 2013. Microsoft® provides some of this information in an entry to the MSDN Library titled Develop SharePoint 2013 workflows using Visual Studio. The version of Visual Studio, which […]
Implementing Workflows, and Document Imaging, as Policies, May Lead to Substantial Reductions in Paper Dependence for Regulated Businesses
In a case study titled Bank Innovates Work Environment, Boosts Performance with Social Collaboration, Microsoft® reports on the ambitious plan of a New Zealand bank, ASB Bank, to use SharePoint 2013 workflows in conjunction with Document Imaging (and what looks to be a formal records management procedure), to reduce paper dependence. As this case study […]
SharePoint 2013 Workflows Resemble State Machine Workflows — to the Benefit of Stakeholders
Computer software, regardless of whether it’s hard coded, or produced with no code methods, must be useful if it is to deliver on a value proposition. Workflows in SharePoint 2013 are better equipped to be truly useful as the result of a closer resemblance to state machine workflows. “Useful”, of course, is an abstraction requiring […]
Reduce SharePoint Development Costs with No Code Reusable Workflows
The biggest return on an investment in developing custom solutions can be found in the combined benefits of enterprise wide accessibility and utility. For SharePoint, reusable workflows are a great example of a method of delivering this high value benefit. In a video tutorial titled Intro to Workflow types, models, stages and app step usage […]
SharePoint Works Best as a Worflow Platform for Applications
In SharePoint-Videos’ set of video training content on SharePoint 2013 Worflows, SharePoint 2013: Workflows, Chris Beckett distinguishes between two types of workflow requirements: workflows for applications and workflows for Enterprise Systems Integration. Chris recommends using SharePoint as a platform for building workflows for applications. Stakeholders after a substantial return on their investment in SharePoint for […]