People drive business processes. More specifically, teams of people. No other software feature reflects this reality more than workflow (a.k.a. governance).

For the sake of this blog, workflow means commanding:

1.       The right action/attention

2.       At the right time

3.       In the right way

So, when teams change, workflows change. It follows then that great software facilitates this change.

Ta-da… SiteExecutive 2011 does.

With SE 2011, we’ve introduced a new workflow engine which lets developers (for now) easily add workflow to custom SiteExecutive development, as follows:

·         Model workflows: imagine defining a workflow process in the same way you’d draw it - boxes and lines with arrows. Create processes that branch, loop and have multiple endpoints. 

·         Track Versioning: track information changes. Know who made changes, approved or rejected; and capture why.

·         Communicate Outcomes: automatically generate template-driven email in response to business events (e.g. publishing). Populate those emails with values based off of the data in workflow.

·         Integrate: multiple points for reading, writing and transmitting data between databases and external systems. 

The workflow engine also works independently of SiteExecutive, e.g., as a Web service, so developers can take advantage of the engine with external applications too!  And yes, we eat our own dog food, as the new workflow engine is already used in SE 2011 for:

1.       Profile Directory versioning

2.       Event Calendar approval tab

For a bit of background, we’ve battle tested the workflow engine in production on a large and somewhat unique SiteExecutive deployment where it’s used for managing a non-linear content approval process. In this case, the customer is a large retailer using SiteExecutive for an intranet application that conveys store policies (AKA standard operating procedures) to its million+ associates.

As we move forward with SiteExecutive 2011 enhancements, our plans call for updating the page and template approval process with the new workflow engine. More on this in the coming months.

In the short term, you can learn more about the new engine and how it works by contacting your SAI representative. You can also sign up for our three-day API / developer training course to get hands on experience with our APIs, modules and application framework.