Workflows in SharePoint Foundation

Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2010

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 provides a robust, customizable work environment for users to create, collaborate, and store valuable business information. SharePoint Foundation now enables you to attach custom business processes to these documents or list items.

Custom business processes are represented by workflows. A workflow is a natural way to organize and run a set of work units, or activities, to form an executable file representation of a work process. This process can control almost any aspect of an item in SharePoint Foundation, including the life cycle of that item. The workflow is flexible enough to model both the system functions and human actions necessary for the workflow to complete.

Workflows can be as simple or complex as your business processes require. You can create workflows that the user initiates, or workflows that SharePoint Foundation automatically initiates based on some event, such as when an item is created or changed.

Use the following links to learn more about developing custom workflows to control the life cycle of your documents.

In This Section

Introduction to Workflows in SharePoint Foundation

Learn more about the conceptual architecture of workflows, including how the various technologies interact.

Workflow Changes in SharePoint Foundation

Learn about the improvements and additions that have been added to the new workflow model, including new workflow actions and site workflows, expanded events and the ability to create custom events and event receivers, as well as reusable, declarative workflows.

Workflow Development for SharePoint Foundation

Learn how to develop workflows, including using the Visual Studio 2010 Workflow Designer and forms technologies such as Microsoft ASP.NET.