Types of Workflow Automation using SharePoint

Table of Content:

1. Introduction

2. What are SharePoint Workflows?

3. Built-in SharePoint Workflows

3. 1. Approval Workflows

3. 2 Publishing Approval

3. 3. Collect Feedback Workflow

3. 4. Collect Signatures Workflow

3. 5. Three-State Workflow

4. Custom SharePoint Workflows

5. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Nowadays several companies use predefined methods for the effective business processes of necessary tasks. For example, custom reports from employees who visit various countries for company business. During the market execution travelling to three cities during a week, these processes become instantly known and simply utilized.

But, most businesses have several employees who visit less oftentimes, perhaps once or twice annually. These employees usually need to re-learn how to lists and libraries their custom reports every time, particularly if any modifications have been done to the business process.

The conclusion is that there is a common employee in accounting who uses a large part of their time, daily retraining users, on the account report procedure.

However, let’s say what if employees, whether regular users or not, can click a link that would lead them immediately into the process, and it could further create an expense record in the most effective way possible every time? And that’s when using workflows in SharePoint can help you to organize all of the expanses.

Automating business processes is crucial for being competitive in the market. Around 40 per cent of employees use at least a fourth of their workweek on standard, repetitive tasks.

SharePoint workflows provide the IT department with the devices to analyze business processes and automate simple tasks. In this article, we’ll go through various types of SharePoint workflows you can practice to improve productivity for your business.

2. What are SharePoint Workflows?

Consider SharePoint workflows as short mini-programs that work within your SharePoint environment. Ranking from collecting signatures to tracking stations, workflows are meant to protect your time and energy, while also inducing flexibility and adaptability tasks that your company performs regularly.

There are several kinds of SharePoint workflows, as we’ll explain in the upcoming segment of this post, however, eventually, you can consider workflows as the series of cases that occurs after you create something with a record or document library that resides in your SharePoint environment.

Let’s understand each of this SharePoint Workflow and how it can e beneficial for your business process.

3. Built-in SharePoint Workflows

3. 1. Approval Workflows

The first one in built-in workflows is the approval workflow, which allows arranging an approval process for documents such as agreements, statements, policies, etc. and lists and libraries in an organization.

You can do the task by setting up by computing a document to a file, library or content prototype. Settings allow defining workflow members, several approval actions and other parameters.

3. 2. Publishing Approval

This automates the SharePoint workflow, which is routing the content subject topic specialists and owners for discussion and approval. Although the publishing approval workflow is different because a SharePoint designer creates it especially for publishing sites with completely established publishing and editing ways.

The workflow automatically routes websites, allows analysis tasks and gives suggestions and information to approvers whenever requires.

3. 3. Collect Feedback Workflow

The Collect Feedback workflow acts quite likewise to the approval workflow in which the document or item is over to analysts who then automatically get a responsibility to evaluate the item and then traces how every reviewer counters, and if needed, sends the document on to the next analyst.

The foremost variance is that the collect feedback workflow doesn’t end in approval or rejection, instead, it completely stops after collecting feedback.

3. 4. Collect Signatures Workflow

Manually transporting documents from one to another can be complicated and time-consuming. This workflow automatically uses a Microsoft Office document or application built-in Word, Excel or InfoPath for different people to accumulate their digital signatures.

3. 5. Three-State Workflow

The Three-State workflow acts like another workflow in that assignments are automatically distributed to users as the workflow proceeds.

Though the three-state workflow is not regarding practicing through to finish on a particular design, and more of keeping a record of a comprehensive volume of tasks that work on one overall workflow.

In several ways, a three-state workflow resembles a project management device. There are, as required, three separate states in the three-states workflow, which are as follow:

• Active
• Ready for Review
• And Complete

Utilizing this template, many tasks can be exported to various users simultaneously.

As a user performs the task for their business, the status replaces Ready for Review and automatically informs the user who requires to complete the review.

4. Custom SharePoint Workflows

Custom workflows are utilized to automate more complicated and particular business processes. Samples of custom workflows that can be performed in SharePoint involves:

• Weather forecast SharePoint workflow: The custom workflows enable the automated forming of weather records on a regular basis. It is applicable for, for example, production operators whose security according to weather situations.
• A sales tax calculation workflow: This workflow allows automating business processes determining a sales tax based upon a product’s first-rate and a sales tax price for a place where a result will be traded.
• An inventory tracking workflow: This workflow benefits to following the status, place, users, maintenance necessities of a company’s media, fittings, office supplies, etc.

Designing custom workflows in the SharePoint site needs implementing special devices that vary in functionality and IT abilities required to operate with them.

Therefore, if you require to automate simplistic linear processes, you will require IT professionals who understand how to operate with SharePoint Designer and Microsoft Flow.

5. Conclusion

SharePoint workflows can increase your company’s productivity, reduce down incompetence and leverage automation to evade repetitive tasks. And possessing the technical abilities to identify process gaps and create effective SharePoint workflows is the answer to a thriving implementation.

For that, you need to be associated with the world’s leading IT companies, as they offer comprehensive SharePoint development services for every ability standard and business requirement. Professional SharePoint practice will provide you with the experiences and confidence that can create SharePoint workflows and websites for every industry.