SharePoint Workflow: SharePoint Designer vs. Visual Studio

Category	SharePoint Designer	Visual Studio
Supported WF Hosts	WSS/MOSS	WSS/MOSS/Others
Development Model	Wizard based	Graphical Designer
Types of Workflows Supported	Sequential	Sequential and State
Workflow Type	Markup only; markup file, rules and supporting files are uncompiled	Markup with code behind compiled into an assembly
Code Behind	No	Yes
Activities	Built-in and use custom	Built-in, use and develop custom
Forms Technology	Autogenerated, customizable ASP.NET Forms	Design forms in any technology including ASP.NET or InfoPath
Association	Associated automatically with a single list at design time. No other associations possible.	Can be associated with multiple content types, lists, and document libraries
Initiation	Initiation forms are supported	Initiation forms are supported
Modification	Cannot modify workflow using modification forms	Can modify workflows
Tasks	Supports custom task forms	Supports custom task forms
Deployment	Automatically deployed to associated list, live changes	Must build package and deploy workflow using SharePoint feature technology
Debugging	No Debugging	Visual Studio Debugging

via: MSDN

New Suite of Tools and Templates Ease Transition

Microsoft continues its commitment to help customers transition from Lotus Notes/Domino in a manageable fashion to Microsoft’s unified communications and collaboration platform. This year’s release of tools and templates focuses on providing a simpler user experience and increased automation for IT administrators. These tools and templates include the following:

•Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Notes. This new suite leverages a simple, unified interface, allowing customers to plan, prepare and transition their messaging and directory services as well analyze their Notes application infrastructure, determine the best course of action for applications, and move data from template-based applications to Windows^® SharePoint Services 3.0. These tools ease the migration process, even for applications, and provide a great opportunity for partners to extend the tools for advanced migration needs of customers.

Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Domino configures Directory synchronization and Free/Busy lookups between Lotus Domino 6 or 7 and Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. SMTP is used as the mail routing transport between Lotus Domino 6 or 7 and Exchange Server 2007.

The suite also migrates users, mail databases and applications from Lotus Domino 5, 6 or 7 to Exchange Server 2007, SharePoint 2007 and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory.

•Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites. Drawing on SharePoint Server’s rich personalization capabilities and integration with line-of-business data, a set of new Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites provide a quick and cost-effective starting point to create customized portals where different employees can go to find the information and tools they need to do their jobs. They include templates for the following roles: sales account manager, financial analyst, staffing specialist, administrative assistant, customer services representative, IT engineer and marketing manager.

•Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Application Templates. To provide organizations with a starting point for creating their own custom applications, Microsoft has developed a set of 40 templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The templates make it easier for IT personnel to roll out customized applications for common business workgroup processes, allowing them to focus on more mission-critical tasks. The templates include scenarios for sales and marketing tasks, HR and finance processes, business and IT operations, project management needs, and vertical applications for education, healthcare, professional services, retail and financial organizations. In addition, organizations can use the Microsoft Transporter Suite to migrate data from template-based Notes applications to these Windows SharePoint Services application templates.

In the next 30 days, customers will be able to download these tools and templates at no charge from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/interopmigration/collaboration/default.mspx. Customers are also encouraged to visit Channel 9 for demonstrations of the transporter suite at http://channel9.msdn.com/go/mscolab/transporter and the templates at http://channel9.msdn.com/go/mscolab/rolebased.

via: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-21LotusDominoTransitionPR.mspx