SharePoint Workflows: An Introduction

A SharePoint Workflow Is an Automated Tool

Like a checklist, workflows include all the steps that need to be completed. But they’re different from checklists in that they also include these key aspects:  

1. Defined, ordered steps: A clear sequence of tasks to be performed. 
2. Roles and responsibilities: Identifying who is responsible for each step. 
3. Timeline or schedule: When each task should be completed. 
4. Input and output: The information or resources needed for each step and what is produced. 
5. Decision points: Where choices are made that affect the flow of the process. 

A SharePoint workflow includes one additional element: 

• Automated: Built in, automatic steps such as sending reminders, forwarding documents, and generating notifications to move the process along. 

Having documented, consistent workflows to manage your processes works wonders for your operations. Everyone knows What, Who, When, and How a process must be completed. SharePoint workflows – as opposed to manual workflows – dial this up a notch by taking some of the effort off your plate through automated steps.  

What Does a SharePoint Workflow Look Like?

Okay, now that we generally understand what workflow is, we can discuss the magnificence of SharePoint workflows. To be clear, you’re already using some kinds of workflows at your organization. Maybe they’re not documented and formal, but you have them.  

Take the process of creating this article for example. We’ve simplified the steps a bit, but our workflow looks a bit like this: 

This workflow can be completed manually, where the content writer in marketing simply remembers to shoot the subject matter expert an email with a request to review the document. And during the feedback part of the workflow, the SME could decide to make changes in the document, add comments to the document, or email the writer back with suggestions, as their means of providing suggestions. That is, these steps could be performed manually. 

What happens within a SharePoint workflow is that the flow of the steps can be automated. For the workflow above, we could add a workflow to a document library in a SharePoint site that automatically sets this process in motion. 

A document workflow both manages and tracks the tasks involved in the process. In our example, the author of the draft is the owner of the workflow. When the owner initiates the SharePoint workflow on the document, SharePoint creates the approval tasks and assigns them to the other parties in the process. Therefore, when the author completes the draft document, the workflow kicks out an email to the subject-matter expert that includes instructions for the task and a link to the document to be reviewed and approved (or edited).  

When the SharePoint workflow is in progress, both the owner and the other participants in the process can monitor the workflow tasks by checking the Workflow Status page, which indicates where the document is in the process and who has completed their tasks. Once everyone has completed their tasks in the workflow, SharePoint automatically notifies the owner that the workflow is now complete.  

The Approval Workflow is just one of the pre-built SharePoint Workflows organizations leverage for automatically managing work. As we summarize key ways your organization can benefit from SharePoint Workflows, we allude to a couple of additional, built-in SharePoint Workflows below. In our next article, we will describe these and other pre-built workflows in greater detail.  

• Save Time and Effort: Automating tasks such as sending reminders, forwarding documents, and generating notifications saves time and can reduce human error (e.g, forgetting a task). Similarly, SharePoint Workflows helps organizations adhere to consistent business processes. 
• Improve Efficiency: SharePoint Workflows can help people focus on doing the work rather than managing the workflow. For example, there is a Collect Signatures Workflow which ensures all necessary sign-off are completed without anyone needing to manually keep track. 
• Support Collaboration: Workflows extend the ways in which people can collaborate and work with documents, lists, and libraries. For example, there’s a Collect Feedback Workflow that allows users to seamlessly gather feedback from members who need to weigh in.  
• Ease of Use: Using the pre-programmed SharePoint Workflows is so easy! SharePoint includes setup wizards and step-by-step guides that allow anyone to create workflows, even if they aren’t technologically advanced. 

Try a SharePoint Workflow 

If you work in a Microsoft 365 environment and currently use a manual document approval process, we suggest you try out the SharePoint Approval Workflow. It can save you time and help you to avoid making mistakes, missing steps, and delaying deadlines. (Which also means more peace of mind!) 

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