(This article is part of a series on Workplace efficiency tools and software)

What is Sharepoint Workflow? Or how about what is Document Workflow? I have received many questions on this topic, and I think it is worth exploring. Before we talk about Sharepoint Workflow specifics, lets review the concept of Document Workflow in general.

Document Workflow is a concept that mandates predefined business rules or process on a category of documents.

Each company and industry will have its own unique business rules across many different categories of documents. For instance, lets use a common  example from a typical University research grant.

In this scenario, a professor writes a grant proposal looking for funding for their research from either a government or private foundation. There are many complex steps in this process, and document workflow will mandate certain steps to automate the process. After the grant is written, it must go to the department chairman for approval. At this step, it can either go back to the professor for more comments and revision, be rejected outright (very rare but possible), or onto the next step for approval which in this case say its the Grants and contracts office. Again after their review, it can go back to the professor, back to the dept chair, or finally be ready to be sent to the sponsor (either government agency or foundation). Typically this process will have even more steps then outlined above, but I removed a few to keep it simple.

In the old world (without workflow), this process would be manual, and the document would need to be emailed as an attachment back and forth. This is less than optimal because:

• Comments could be lost.
• Hard to keep track of approvals (especially one or two years later, where did that “approved email go?”) 
• Deadlines are often missed.
• Lack of accountability (I didn’t know it was waiting on “my” approval”
• Attachments are sometimes too big for email servers to handle.
• Documents clog inboxes, and incorrect versions can accidentally be forwarded for review or approval

It is a tough process, and mistakes are easy to make when email is the only solution employees have at their disposal.

In the new world (with Sharepoint Workflow or some other system that has document workflow), the system is setup to know about certain document types, in this case a grant proposal. The professor starts this document type, uploads his first draft, and clicks next. The document is routed to the dept chair for approval automatically, because that rule was pre-defined. The department chair’s comments are captured, along with his approval or rejection, and send on to the next step.

In this way, once a certain workflow is setup, it is next to impossible to miss a step in the approval process, and all comments, suggestions, and revisions to that document are not lost. It can also serve as an official record where approvals are mandated by industry or government regulations, easing compliance workloads. Other benefits include a reduction of email attachments, less confusion among staff members as to the next step, and more accountability when it comes to where the bottleneck is on any particular document within an organization.

On the downside, workflows do take time to create, and must be modeled successfully and with both exceptions and delegates (in our previous example, if the department chair was on vacation or sabbatical, the right person would still need the ability to sign-off on the document in order to move the process along).

Creating workflows with Microsfot Sharepoint can sometimes be challenging. With Sharepoint 2003, its next to impossible. With Sharepoint 2007, they have added an interface that allows you to graphically create workflows for either lists or document libraries.

Another solution that allows workflows is called Central Desktop. While not as well known as Sharepoint, it is a great solution that is especially powerful for small to mid-size businesses that do not want to spend $40,000+ on a Sharepoint installation, but still want all the benefits of a collaborative solution. Their enterprise version, which is hosted and includes all upgrades, servers, and bandwidth, starts at only $10 per user per month, and can save your organization thousands over Sharepoint. To get a free Central Desktop Trial, click here.

 Regardless of the solution you choose, using Sharepoint Workflow or Central Desktop Workflow, the process itself can help your organization increase efficiency as well as compliance, while ensuring your documents are backed-up and stored in a central library.