Migrating from Microsoft Windows Workflow - WWF

Last published at: April 26th, 2022

Well, if you are still using Microsoft Windows workflow, its time to switch to FlowWright.  It was another product from Microsoft, that was developer centric, with very little feature set, very little adoption, no long support and now replaced with Microsoft Flow.  Still, there were early adopters and implementers who implemented Windows Workflow.

Several of our OEM customer went down the path of Windows Workflow, and then migrated their products over to FlowWright.  And the main reason being that, Microsoft no longer supports this legacy product and product had to many walls or limitations.  Right from the beginning, I think the product really didn’t have a good direction, some times you need a really good bus driver to drive a bus.   It’s same with software, you need really good software architects and developers to make a software product happen.   But also, don’t forget, smart marketing people, who are able to market and bring in the customers and revenue for a software product.  I always believe, if you build good software, fills a purpose, and take care of your customers well, then customers will come to you.  The whole idea being INBOUND marketing.

Have your seen the XML?

Even for the most simple process flow Microsoft Windows Workflow will generate so much XML, that it will keep you scratching your head for few months or year.  XML is good when it’s organized and understandable, just like anything. So, that’s why FlowWright’s XML is very simple, very easy to understand.  It only has a bunch of figures, connections and comments.

 

Windows Workflow to FlowWright Conversion

Most prospects always ask us is there a conversion tool? Well, we don’t have one.  If we were to build one, it would take us a very long time, and I think you know the answer by now.  Anyways, here it is, it’s the very complex XML.  Most of our OEM customers who did convert over to FlowWright, simply built their workflow processes in FlowWright.  There’s also good news and silver lining, most of the c# code that you wrote behind Windows workflow activities can be simply implemented as FlowWright workflow steps.  So, there’s no magic bullet in the conversion, but it’s not that difficult either.  We have very large customers such as Lonza Pharmaceutical who has gone through this process of conversion.

In case you need help with this conversion, just ask, FlowWright team is here to help you.