Cruising with SharePoint

How is planning for a SharePoint Workflow project like a trip to Bermuda? Let’s take a cruise and discover the 3 key areas involved in both.

While returning from a cruise to Bermuda and reflecting on the trip I found that it was very similar to a project I was working on regarding the use of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) for the approval of documents prior to publication. The key between these two unlikely topics for me was the process required for the selection of and enjoyment during the cruise, and the successful implementation and use of SharePoint workflows by the users.

The following are the key areas I considered when reviewing the similarities between the cruise and the SharePoint workflow project:
1. Identify and list the requests of places to go
2. Review, rationalize, and prioritize requests
3. Select the cruise line, level of accommodations, and types of activities.

Identify and list the requests of places to go

For the cruise, selecting the type of weather during the trip, and the places where the ship departs from and travels to make up the core considerations. We wanted a warm destination and easy access to the point of departure.

During the SharePoint Workflow project, the identified requests were the business drivers that defined the business need and value to be provided by the effort, in business terms, as well as description of the critical success factors that would be delivered. This request included a simple, broadly accessible workflow for the approval of documents prior to publishing that could be re-used by any group in the organization.

Review, rationalize, and prioritize requests

Since there are always multiple ideas generated for a trip, there needed to be a narrowing of the requests to remove any overlaps or ideas that are nice to have but not of the highest priority, or fit into other constraints like available time or vacation funds. We selected a trip to Bermuda that left from our home state of New Jersey as this met the requests for a trip to a place with warm weather, water-based activities, and included some types of adventures (look for upcoming details on my www.InformationZen.org blog).

As with any IT effort, the business drivers needed to be reviewed to ensure that they would apply to the core value statements of the solution. Additionally, the business drivers needed to be rationalized to ensure there were no conflicts or contradictions that would cause inconsistency and ambiguity during the effort. Some of the requests included complex assignment rules for who approves which types of documents based upon various considerations such as region, product, division, or other criteria. As it turned out, several of the business drivers that were thought to be high-priority were moved to “nice to have” capabilities when related to the cost, time to availability, and the validation of integrations to authoritative data sources. By presenting the solution options to the business early-on in the project, the business was able to prioritize and categorize what they really NEEDED versus what they thought they WANTED.

Select the cruise line, level of accommodations, and types of activities

We researched the cruise lines that were departing locally from New Jersey, the dates they departed, as well as the amenities and activities the ship provided. Based upon these guidelines, we selected a ship and the accommodations to meet our needs for a 5 night cruise, had all-inclusive activities, and enabled discounted excursions at the destination that we were interested in. Yes, I included a +/- 25% high-level estimate and a list of assumptions and constraints.

Lastly, the workflows that were needed for the solution could be implemented in several manners. To provide the maximum value to the stakeholders, the rationalized processes were evaluated first against the list of out-of-the-box (OOB) workflows that come pre-built and ready to use as part of MOSS. This saves time in the definition, development, testing, administration, and ongoing support of workflows, and provides for wide usage across global stakeholder organizations. If OOB workflows were not able to fit the requests, two other options are available for SharePoint Workflows including
1. Configuration of an existing workflow
2. Customization to create a new specific workflow.

Customized solutions are always considered as a last resort due to the increased time and cost required to produce, maintain, administrate, and support the end product. However, when custom workflows are developed to meet the needs of a global user population and deployed as MOSS “features,” the value to the business becomes similar to that of the OOB MOSS workflows as they are added to the list of available workflows that can be leveraged across the organization. I consider this the addition of capabilities to the organization’s “Bag of Tricks” or common services framework.

Summary

Microsoft Office SharePoint Services (MOSS) is an effective and useful tool to ensure that collaborative business activities are effectively and consistently performed. Leveraging the OOB workflows that come with SharePoint provides high value, low development and implementation costs, and provides for common ongoing administration and support. However, tradeoffs exist between providing for general process enablers at a low cost, and highly customized processes that provide for only a limited set of uses. These considerations need to be weighed carefully when planning which of the workflow approaches to use in providing the solutions an organization will use in the operations of its collaborative business processes.

So, SharePoint Workflow: Business Tool or Life Lesson? You decide.

Allan P. Spina, MIT, (908-852-1019 or allanspina@iaassociates.net) is the founding Principal of Information Asset Associates, LLC, an organization that is focused on the advancement of document imaging, document management, workflow, BPM, and collaborative applications and architectures. Allan has been an AIIM member since 1988, and has held various offices for the Garden State Chapter of AIIM; and has been the Treasurer since 2000. Allan is also one of the earliest recipients of the Master of Information Technology Certification from AIIM International, receiving this designation in 1999.