Innovative Technology Weblog

Recently K2.Net presented the next release of their Workflow application K2.Net 2003. The new product is codenamed “K2.Net BlackPearl”. The people present in the meeting were quite impressed on the new developments and I want to share some of the highlights of this product that will be come available on the market end of Q1-2007. Please note that these impressions are based on a so called alpha-4 release of the product so things might change a bit.

Putting workflow with the business
Currently it takes some time before a process is translated in to a workflow in K2.Net. The business needs to provide the process and input on what actions should be taken in a step, specifying data that should be captured and/or processed. Then IT people need to design the workflow in K2.Net Studio and a Developer need to code the user interfaces (typically ASP.Net web pages or InfoPath forms).

With K2.Net BlackPearl the business users are given some powerful tools to create a process themselves, with addins in MS Visio it’s possible to convert an existing process flow into a K2.Net workflow. Alternatively a web interface (based on AJAX) can be used to create workflows. Also the web pages necessary for a task can be easily created via drag and drop via this interface. .Net developers are only necessary to provide more complex building blocks. A .Net developer can continue to use his familiar tool Visual Studio, also to design workflows. The nice thing is that it doesn’t matter which tool is used, any other tool can be used to make updates as well. This allows everyone to use the tool they are familiar with.

Creating Reports
Currently there are limited reports made available out of the box. Creating additional reports requires specialists’ skills. With BlackPearl it has been made easier. It is like the Pivot Table Wizard in MS Excel, select what data you want and how to present it. Options are available to export it to CSV, Excel or PDF format. It can also be easily transformed in graphs as well.

Document the workflow
BlackPearl will have a feature to create a set of documentation on how the workflow is constructed, no need to manually create a separate document with all the activities, events, line rules, destination queues, etc.

Simulate the workflow
Workflow routing can be tested for various scenarios quickly.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 integration
It will be possible to store and retrieving documents, editing lists, etc. within a workflow. Also documents can be linked to workflows and these K2.Net workflows will be integrated just like the build in workflows provided by Microsoft. Big advantage is that K2.Net will make it possible to build (more) advanced workflows while Microsoft only provides very basic ones.

MS Live Communications Server
BlackPearl will also work with MS Live Communications Server, it will be possible to do round-robin routing that takes note of the status of a person in LCS. That could mean, no tasks when someone is out of the office for a day or when out to lunch.

Migration
Also a very important topic is the migration route to the new version. It is promised to be seamless which means that any existing workflow created by K2.Net studio 2003 can be load with the new tools in BlackPearl.

Beta releases will be expected early 2007 so probably more news then.