Chapter 28: Implementing Microsoft Windows Workflow Services

Overview

A workflow is a natural way to organize and run tasks, procedural steps, or activities, and it can involve people either within the same organization or belonging to multiple organizations. In software, a workflow can be seen as an executable representation of a work process.

Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation provides a programming framework and tools for developing and executing a wide variety of workflow-based applications. Imagine, for example, an insurance company that wants to ensure that a request for proposal is handled efficiently from the draft version to the final version. A workflow can take care of this process and make certain that every person involved in handling the request for proposal uses the correct document and successfully completes their part in the process before allowing the workflow process to continue to the next step, to the next person.