Visual Guide Design and customize a SharePoint workflow
Jan 15, 2016
Visual Guide
Design and customize a SharePoint
workflow
Before you begin• Contact your
SharePoint site administrator if you have any questions.
• Make sure that you have SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Client Access License (ECAL), Visio Premium 2010, and SharePoint Designer 2010.
In this guide
Create a SharePoint workflow diagram in Visio Premium 20101
Customize the SharePoint workflow in SharePoint Designer 20102
Create a SharePoint workflow diagram in Visio
In Visio, click File, and then click New.
Create a SharePoint workflow diagram in Visio
Under Choose a Template, click Flowchart, and then double-click Microsoft SharePoint Workflow.
Create a SharePoint workflow diagram in Visio
With the SharePoint workflow template open, …drag a Start shape onto the drawing page, …
and then drag a Terminate shape onto the page.
select the SharePoint Workflow Terminators stencil, ...
Create a SharePoint workflow diagram in Visio
Drag additional shapes from the SharePoint Workflow Conditions and SharePoint Workflow Actions stencils onto the drawing page to build the SharePoint workflow.
Create a SharePoint workflow diagram in Visio
When the workflow diagram is complete, …
click Process, ...
and then click Check Diagram.
This scans the diagram using the SharePoint Workflow diagram validation rules.If any errors are found in the diagram, correct them and re-check the diagram. A diagram must be successfully validated before it can be exported to SharePoint Designer.
Create a SharePoint workflow diagram in Visio
After the diagram is validated, …
In the Export Workflow dialog box, enter a file name for the workflow, ...
on the Process tab, click Export.
and then click Save.
Customize the workflow in SharePoint Designer
In SharePoint Designer, open the SharePoint site you want to publish the workflow to.
Customize the workflow in SharePoint Designer
In the Navigation pane, click Workflows.
Customize the workflow in SharePoint Designer
In the Import Workflow from Visio Drawing dialog box, select the workflow, ...
On the Workflows tab, click Import from Visio.
enter a name, select a type of workflow, ….
and then click Finish.
Customize the workflow in SharePoint Designer
Customize the workflow by clicking each setting and specifying new values.
In this example, the workflow begins when an item is created in a SharePoint list titled “Expense report.”
It checks a field in the item and, depending on the field value, it either creates a new item in another SharePoint list titled “Orders” or it begins an approval process.
Customize the workflow in SharePoint Designer
When the workflow is complete, on the Workflow tab, in the Save group, click Check for Errors.If any errors are found, fix the errors.
Customize the workflow in SharePoint Designer
On the Workflow tab, in the Save group, click Publish.
For more information
• “Create, import, and export SharePoint workflows in Visio”
(article)
• “SharePoint Workflow template shapes guide” (article)
• “SharePoint Workflow validation issues in Visio” (article)
• “Create an approval workflow in SharePoint Designer 2010”
(video)
• “Introduction to designing and customizing workflows”
(article)
• "SharePoint Workflow Authoring in Visio Premium 2010 (Part
1)”
(blog post)
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