Description:

Long ago when computers were introduced we were promised a world in which most of our most mundane tasks would be taken over by a computer. However, if you go into most organizations you will still see many business processes being done by people. Meanwhile the computer sits idly by on a desk showing weather updates.

With SharePoint 2010 you are able to use not only the browser based out of the box Workflows but you can also use SharePoint Designer 2010 in order to edit those out of the box ones along with creating your own custom workflows. And as an added benefit Visio 2010 can also be used to prepare workflow templates to further create custom workflows.

This session will use actual business cases to show you how SharePoint has been utilized to automate business processes using workflows. I will show you how the out of the box workflows are powerful and can handle some of the more common of business processes. We will then progress to how the out of the box workflows can be modified using SharePoint Designer 2010.

Creating workflows will also be covered; this session will go into how SharePoint Designer 2010 can be used to quickly put together custom workflows in order to provide routine solutions for automating some of the more intermediate level business processes. The out of the box and SharePoint Designer 2010 workflows are great if you have an already established and documented business process. On the other hand, what do you do when the business process is not clearly defined or documented? This session will wrap up with how Visio 2010 can be used to flowchart a business process and then we will take this flowchart and use SharePoint Designer 2010 to create a workflow.

About Johnathan Lightfoot

Johnathan Lightfoot is the co-author of the books Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Plain and Simple along with the upcoming title SharePoint Foundation 2010 Inside Out. When he is not writing books he is the President/CEO of TechForce, Inc which provides IT consulting services to small to large businesses as well as to city, state and federal government agencies. His personal work experience includes over 20 years in IT; working in various roles including End User Support, Windows and AS-400 Server Administration and Development. Companies he is fortunate to have worked for include Electronic Data Systems, Hawaiian Telcom and Norwegian Cruise Line (yes he actually worked on the ships). However, some of the best experiences he says he has had were his nine years serving in the United States Navy. Johnathan is a Microsoft Certified Trainer along with holding various other Microsoft certifications focused primarily on the SharePoint platform.