Can you really have “too much of a good thing”? Here at Bamboo, we don’t think so (if you don’t believe me, just look at how many great products we offer). That’s why we keep on adding new features to Workflow Conductor, and version 2.5 is no exception. 

Our workflow team has been keeping busy the last few months putting the finishing touches on some great new features, as well as alleviating some pain points for our existing customers. The end result is a product that is both more stable, and more flexible than ever. Here are some of the new features:  

• Customizable InfoPath Forms – The special task forms used for  Request Approval, Request Feedback, and Collect Data from User widgets all have InfoPath versions (displayed automatically if InfoPath Forms Services are present), and those forms can all be customized using InfoPath Designer.   

• New Workflow Template Features – Designers can now decide whether each of their workflow templates is shared with everyone else in the organization, or is private and can only be seen them. There is also an additional section for “Featured Templates” that administrators can control to promote company-sponsered templates.  
• Site Workflows – In SharePoint 2010, workflows no longer have to be tied to a specific list or library item, and in the newest release, we’ve added the ability to publish templates as Site Workflows.
• Advanced Error Handling – Error handling can now be set at the individual widget level. This means that skipping a step or cancelling a workflow is now a granular decision. More importantly, cancelling and skipping are not the only options anymore. Now, workflows can be “paused” when they encounter errors. Once the underlying cause of the error is fixed, the workflow can be restarted at the same same step where it left off. 
• Create Column – We already had the ability to add a predefined site column to a list using Add Column, but now we’ve upped the ante with a new Create Column widget. This one lets you add any standard  SharePoint column to a list ort library, and define each of the columns settings using workflow logic.
• Move Item – Want to move something to another list or library? Now you can do it in one clean step. Just define what’s getting moved, and where it’s going.
• Subscribe User to Alert – You can already create/manage users with Workflow Conductor. Now you can let them know when things happen subscribing them to alerts for lists and items. 
• New Conditional Logic – Now you can branch your workflow in even more ways. We’ve added the following conditional checks:
  • Is a role assigned to a user
  • Is a date/time within a date range
  • Is a user a member of a SharePoint group
  • Is a user a member of an Active Directory group
• Request Feedback (updated) – OK. This widget isn’t completely new, but we have added a pretty cool new option. Instead of waiting for feedback from everyone before this widget completes, you can define how many of the reviewers need to complete the step. Want to assign a bunch of people, but only need a few responses? You can do that now.

In addition to the new features, we also spent a lot of time bug zapping for this release, including a fix for an issue some users were having Cut/Copy/Paste/Delete misbehaving. You can check out more of items we fixed in our release notes.  If you’re on SharePoint 2010 and you want to see what 2.5 has to offer (or you’re on 2007 but haven’t checked out 2.1 yet) download a free 30-day trial version of Workflow Conductor now and see how quickly you can simplify work. 

For those of you still hanging onto SharePoint 2007, fear not. We’re currently working on the 2007 version of Workflow Conductor 2.5, and hope to have it out soon. Stay tuned to Bamboo Nation for details.