Workflow is a comprehensive term to explain a process by which members of an organization complete complex tasks. Whether your organization uses formalized or ad hoc workflows, there is a process or pattern by which work is accomplished. One employee begins a task and passes it along to someone else for review. That person gives the project to yet a third person to finalize and then it goes back to person number two for final review, and so on. Workflow software can automate workflow by providing automatic notification of responsibility, by presenting only appropriate options at each step in the process, and by assuring that items are acted upon in a timely manner.
The products, tools, and features Workflow Extensions provides to set up and maintain workflow processes are described in the following sections.