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Choosing the right workflow implementation with BizTalk Server 2004
BizTalk Server 2004 has a three-pronged strategy for integration of people inside processes, commonly termed workflow. The purpose of this document is to explain the three approaches and also to enable users to qualify which approach is most suitable for their particular workflow scenario.

Business processes invariably include interactions between applications, trading partners and people. While one of the key value propositions for business process automation is the reduction of unnecessary manual steps, even the most automated business processes require people to manage exceptions. For example, in a “fully automated” purchase order process, people may need to make decisions on whether a purchase order should be approved despite the fact the order may exceed a limit stored in a computer. For this reason, including people inside processes is very important in business process automation.

Typically the people involved in business processes are information workers who rely on productivity tools such as Microsoft Office for much of their work. Rather than requiring information workers to learn and maintain new technology, it is critical that business process automation technology leverage the desktop tools that are already in use.

As described below, the key qualification questions to determine which scenario is most appropriate are:
· Is the workflow structured and designed a priori or is it built adhoc on the fly within a set of parameters?
· Does the workflow involve specific users or user roles for a particular step?
· Is the user interface to the workflow a form, a portal or both?
· Who creates or modifies the workflow – is it a power user or a developer?

Solution I: Orchestration with user interfaces such as InfoPath and portals such as SharePoint.
BizTalk Server Orchestration enables developers to graphically create business processes which include steps that send and receive information from applications and people.

In combination with InfoPath, developers can design structured workflows including form based information. BizTalk Server has native support for InfoPath enabling users to:
· Submit InfoPath documents to BizTalk Server through web services
· Manipulate the InfoPath form contents to create new forms
· Update information in an existing form within BizTalk Server.

In combination with the SharePoint Portal Server adapter sample, available as a web download, developers can design structured workflows for collaborative portal scenarios. Specifically documents, such as InfoPath documents, can be sent to or retrieved from SharePoint document libraries as part of a business process.

Solution I enables a significant number of workflow scenarios including:
I) Simple Expense report approval. For example an email notification is sent to Scott referring him to a SharePoint site containing an expense report for approval. The expense report is opened inside InfoPath, the approved flag is set on the form, the document is saved back into Sharepoint and the business process takes the approved report and automatically updates the reporting system.
II) Simple Purchase order approval. Jane uploads a purchase order to a SharePoint site for approval. The business process retrieves the order and sends it to Jane’s manager for approval.
In these scenarios there is no role-based hierarchical escalation, nor any visibility into the process outside of orchestration.

It is expected that orchestrations will migrate to future product versions.

Solution II: HWS with user interfaces such as InfoPath
Human workflow services (HWS) build on top of the BizTalk Orchestration functionality specifically adding the ability to create workflow paths at runtime in an adhoc manner within specific constraints, and direct workflow to people in roles for role based hierarchical escalation.

HWS is an API exposed as a web-service and is very developer centric with typically a longer learning curve and development cycle than Solution I. HWS does not provide a design-surface targeting non-developers such as power-users. Customers requiring power user design tools should investigate option III below.

InfoPath SP1 provides support for HWS through a task-pane plug-in that enables users to surface workflow specific information directly inside the product. The ROI of an HWS and InfoPath solution is greater than a stand-alone HWS solution because of the built-in integration inside InfoPath SP1.

HWS functionality should be considered for tactical implementations with specific current requirements for the functionality described above. HWS will remain fully supported with no feature enhancements in the next version of Biztalk Server. The API set will be supported by PSS for at least ten years. However, the HWS APIs will likely be removed in the Longhorn Server timeframe. In the Longhorn Server timeframe concepts from HWS will be incorporated into the next generation orchestration technology for BizTalk Server and the broader platform. It is very likely that conversion from HWS to the Longhorn Server offering will be non-trivial as no automated migration is currently planned.

Scenarios for Solution II include:
I) Adhoc & Proposal Process with hierarchical roles using InfoPath: Jane, Scott and Imran collaborate on the contents of a proposal. The scenario involves multiple steps that are not predefined by the workflow model, but rather chosen by users as they progress through the workflow. The status of the workflow and participants involved can be queried at runtime and surfaced through the InfoPath taskpane.
II) Adhoc or Modeled Content approval Process with hierarchical roles: Content is uploaded to SharePoint and multiple users interact with the content to approve it. The user interface is a custom developed web part for SharePoint which in general is developer intensive.

Solution III: Workflow ISV Partner Offerings
ISV Partner offerings such as Sourcecode’s K2, Ultimus, and Captaris TeamPlate provide graphical design surfaces that target power users, rather than developers. In the case of K2 the product embeds BizTalk Server 2004 and therefore includes all of the capabilities described in solutions I and II and additional advanced Human Workflow capabilities. The key criteria for the choice partner products include: graphical design, graphical workflow debugging, Office integration, and in some cases a priori simulation.

Scenarios for workflow ISV partner offerings include:
I) Power-user graphical design, debugging and tracking of any of the workflow process described above.
II) Support for hierarchical roles: This is similar to scenario two for HWS but with the addition of graphical organization viewers, simulation and workload balancing.

With BizTalk Server 2004, Microsoft provides 3 levels of workflow support enabling people, trading partners and applications to be connected inside a single business process.

Ciencias de la Computación e Inteligencia Artificial.: "Ingeniería en Informática: Universidad Sevilla"