By Chris Alliegro [bio]
Posted: Oct. 17, 2005

The following is an illustration accompanying an article published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. Each month we make one or more key articles available to non-subscribers.

The term workflow typically refers to the sequence of activities, interactions, events, and flow of information that make up end-to-end business processes, typically processes that involve both humans and computer systems or applications. The illustration shows a simple workflow for an equipment-ordering or requisition process. In the example, an employee submits a request for a piece of equipment (a laptop, for instance) by filling out a form in an application (labeled Equipment Requisition Application), which could be a Web-based application on the company's intranet site.

(1) The workflow starts when the application receives the form.

(2) Business logic examines the dollar amount of the request and compares it against the spending limit of the employee submitting the request.

(3) If the request is not within the employee's spending authorization, the workflow terminates and the employee is notified that the request has been denied. Otherwise, the application sends an e-mail to the employee's manager notifying him that an equipment request is awaiting approval.

(4) The manager connects to the requisition application, reviews the pending request and approves or denies it. If the request is approved, the application enters a purchase order in the appropriate equipment supplier's order-entry application, which in this example exposes a Web service that allows orders to be entered over the Internet.

(5) After the order is submitted, the requisition application sends an e-mail to the employee informing him that the order was placed.

Workflow platforms such as the Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) aim to make it easier for developers to automate such workflow by providing specialized programming languages, developer tools, and run-time engines to model and control workflow operations. For example, WWF could help a developer more quickly write code to handle participant communication (form input, e-mail notifications) and system communication (between the equipment requisition application and the supplier system); evaluation of business logic; and the sequencing of operations in the workflow.