In late 2006 Microsoft released the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) together with SharePoint Workflow Designer, Microsoft Vista operating system and Office 2007. WF is a part of .NET Framework 3.0 that is also available for Windows XP and Windows 2003 operating systems. Office 2007 and SharePoint 3.0 leverage WF to provide basic built-in workflow functionality.
With the release of WF, many customers have started asking about the difference between this new technology and a complete BPM solution such as the Ultimus BPM Suite. It raises the question: “Microsoft now has built in workflow, so why do I need Ultimus?” This whitepaper addresses the differences between the two. It first provides a brief explanation of WF provided by Microsoft. Then it answers a series of questions regarding WF and how it compares and contrasts with the Ultimus BPM Suite. The goal is to explain the differences between WF and the Ultimus BPM Suite, and also to address related questions that may be raised by customers. The white paper explains that WF, SharePoint Workflow Designer and BPM solutions are so different and complimentary that it does not make practical sense to compare the two. Instead, the discussion should be about how WF may be used to make more powerful BPM solutions.
Understanding WF
The best way to understand WF is to use the description provided by Microsoft, the creator of this technology. The following explanation of WF is reproduced verbatim from an official MSDN blog written by the Microsoft Technical Product Manager for WF:
WF is a software developer technology
- It's the programming model, engine and tools for building workflow-enabled software on Windows
- It gives software developers a model driven tool which is higher level but still integrated with .NET code
- It's seriously extensible to enable a wide range of software development projects that require process execution or business logic execution
- It's targeted at Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) both Microsoft products and external product developers. We spend a lot of time planning the features for this audience
- It's been successfully used by many MS products and customer projects despite only being released in Nov 2006
WF is not a software product
- It doesn't have a server process that you can directly run in a data center, you have to build this or integrate with IIS
- It doesn't have administrative tools, reporting tools, management tools or monitoring tools. We have some samples for these that you can work into your software products.
- The workflow designer is best suited to developers, NOT business analysts. Though I have heard of some projects using our designer with a business analyst teaming up with a software developer and our designer is freely redistributable.
- It doesn't have tools that IT Pros need or end users need. It's focused only on what software developers need
To review, WF is a great technology for building software that has process, workflow or business logic requirements. Software products can benefit from this by using a common low level engine and focus on implementing business value for their users. But don't think WF is a product you can directly deploy for an end customer.
How does Microsoft WF compare with the Ultimus BPM Suite?
Microsoft WF and the Ultimus BPM Suite are very different and there is no logical way to compare the two. In the description above, Paul Andrew, Microsoft Product Manager, already has elaborated upon the differences between WF and BPM products such as Ultimus. In addition there are several other important differences that need to be emphasized:
- WF is a set of .NET classes that developers can use to implement process and workflow functions in their programs.
- WF is not a complete, human-centric BPM solution with an integrated suite of ready-to-use and harmonized modules as offered by the Ultimus BPM Suite: Organization Chart, BPM Studio, Flobots, Adaptive Discovery, Rules Engine, BPM Clients, and Process Administration. All these capabilities have to be programmed and developed if one starts with WF.
