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Video Walkthrough of the Out of the Box Sample Proposal Workflow

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Out of the box, Project Server 2010 comes with a “Sample Workflow” which highlights many of the new features found within Project Server 2010 Workflows. The Sample Workflow was designed to help our customers not only just understand what our new workflows can do, but also give customers and partners the initial building blocks to create their customized workflows.

The below videos is a step by step walk through of our Sample Proposal. It will show the end user experience, and highlight the different areas an admin must setup in order for this workflow to fully function.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=d2edf819-8e66-43fe-81cd-14a83a83cde3

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=d8231d5c-bd22-4c8a-a951-590c0a92895a

In addition to the posted videos, attached to this blog you will also find the Visio Diagram of the workflow. Please feel free to use this diagram to assist in traversing the workflow, and as a template for when you are creating your own custom workflow Visio diagrams.

The source code for the Sample Proposal Workflow has been posted within our SDKs.  Please download the SDK to get access to the source code.  Once you have downloaded the source code, you should be able to modify the workflow logic and upload your own modified version of this sample proposal.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments of this blog.

Thank you,

Sam Chung

RTM Out of the box Workflow.vsd

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 19, 2010
    This webcast is pretty interesting but actually we're looking for a sample of how to manage documents within workflow stages. In our case we should assign documents to the project depending on the project stage and could not find a way to do that. Probably you could point us where to look for documentation on that matter or simple present one more video? Thanks Alexey

  • Anonymous
    March 21, 2010
    Thanks Sam. This is very helpful.

  • Anonymous
    March 23, 2010
    First, can the project initiation form be used to allow end users to submit project requests although they won't be managing the projects (a manager within the delivery organizaton will be responsible for it)? That is something we would need within my organization. If not, is there a plug-in that could be used? Second, can different projects or different project types have completely different sets of users that are the approvers?  For example, a particular set of individuals approve all HR projects, a particular set of individuals approve all Telecom projects, etc.? Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2010
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 29, 2010
    If I may, a few follow-up questions concerning workflow.   I had asked previously if you can have different approvers for different project types.  Can you have different approvers for different project types USING THE SAME BASIC WORKFLOW or do you have to create a separate workflow for each project type to have different sets of approvers?   Also, can you define (or override) the approvers for a SPECIFIC project when its created (if different from or an addition to the original approver group initially defined)? On the project request form, you had mentioned that end users can create (request) projects but not necessarily open them which could serv our purposes. Are the project form attributes customizable?  That is, if I needed to add attributes that would, when included, better represent the contents of a Project Charter, can that be done and are they table driven like the outline level codes (w/multiple "nodes" if needed) and all reportable via the reporting database?

  • Anonymous
    April 05, 2010
    Hi Andy, Please find my responses. "I had asked previously if you can have different approvers for different project types.  Can you have different approvers for different project types USING THE SAME BASIC WORKFLOW or do you have to create a separate workflow for each project type to have different sets of approvers?"

  • Yes you can have different approvers within the same workflow.  Each approval point within a workflow is a seperate object.  And you can set whoever you wish to be the approver at each approval point. "Also, can you define (or override) the approvers for a SPECIFIC project when its created (if different from or an addition to the original approver group initially defined)?"
  • This is not really easy to do. You define who the approvers are when you are creating the workflow itself.  Normally this is done through Visual Studio.  As such, if you want to change who the approvers are, you'll need to re-open the workflow definition from within Visual Studio, change the list of approvers, recompile the workflow, redeploy the workflow, and then restart all the workfows.  And by doing this, you will change the approvers for ALL projects, not for just a specific one.   Now, if you wanted a way to just do it for a specific project, it is possible, but you would need to do some fancy workflow coding, in order for it to accept dynamic changes during run time.  Not easy to do, but it is possible.  One possible solution (but not the only solution is to use "Dyanmic Update" feature found within windows workflow foundation. I would recommend you do a quick Bing search on "Windows Workflow dynamic updates" to see how you can create a workflow that dynamically changes during run time. "On the project request form, you had mentioned that end users can create (request) projects but not necessarily open them which could serv our purposes. Are the project form attributes customizable?  That is, if I needed to add attributes that would, when included, better represent the contents of a Project Charter, can that be done and are they table driven like the outline level codes (w/multiple "nodes" if needed) and all reportable via the reporting database?"
  • Permissions are set at the project level.  So at the project level you can set a user to be allowed to create a project but not be able to open/edit the project.  Setting permissions is completely customizable.  You would do this through Server Settings.   As for the form iteself, you can always change what fields are shown within the form at any time.  You can do this through server settings, it as easy as selecting the fields that you would like to show. I hope these answered your questions.  Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Sam

  • Anonymous
    April 05, 2010
    Hai sam,,, I created workflow. But i didnt set any approval point. I dont know How to create approval point between the stages. Please canu describe me how to create approval step for this sample basic workflow.. Thank you in advance...

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2010
    Hi, I just tried out the workflow and it looks really great. At some point during my tests I had an odd point and I'll hope that you can clarify it. As soon as I added a Task using "fixed work" (the standard in my organisation) to the project and published it, I was no longer able to edit any project detail pages in the PWA ?   Is this "by design" or did I do something wrong ? Because if I get the implications right, this means that as soon as the project manager plans a task with fixed work, the whole workflow get stuck because other people can't edit/enter information in the detail pages ? I hope you can point out my mistake :-) Best regards, Paul

  • Anonymous
    April 20, 2010
    When you created the tasks list (you did it manually) - is it possible to upload a predefined project to populate the list?  For example (a bad example) we have a library of Service Catalog projects which create demand and should be part of the overall portfolio workflow. How would we upload this predeined project? Thansk and regards

  • Anonymous
    April 28, 2010
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 17, 2010
    Hey Sam, How to set up a view in Project Center to group or differenciate all projects by their EPT?

  • Anonymous
    August 25, 2010
    Hi Sam, I watched your video and just tried to modify the sample proposal workflow!

  1. Is the source code of the sample proposal workflows somewhere available?
  2. What I want to do is to turn of the automated rejection of projects     >100.000$. How is the best approach to do this? Thanks for your answers in advance! best Steve
  • Anonymous
    August 26, 2010
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    September 27, 2010
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    November 08, 2010
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    November 08, 2010
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    November 09, 2010
    @sachung Thank you very much sir for your prompt response, it really helps. It is sad to hear that you're leaving the Project Team : ( But life must go on, so good luck with your new role and also new product : ) syidie77