Introduction To Nintex Workflows and Forms 2010

I have recently attended a 3-day training ‘Introduction to Nintex’ and thought to share what I learnt, I have created a mindmap, it was easier to do this then writing an article and i think it would be easier for you to read too. (click the image below to view it in full-size)

Update: Besides Nintex Forms, I have posted another review blog post on KwizCom Forms,as infopath forms alternative 

Nintex workflows and Forms - 2010

 

 

What

Main features

• A SharePoint integrated workflow tool

• Offers a visual WF Designer with ootb 130 actions, a form designer, cloud based Nintex Live services visual workflow monitoring

• Out of the box workflow actions, inlcude actions for sql, web services, MS CRM, AD etc

Key Components

Workflow Designer

• Visually design workflows that are attached to 'content types, sites, lists & libraries

• support for single value and collectional variables

• supports reusability through workflow templates, action snippets, action sets and user defined actions,

Forms Designer

• Develop forms that are integrated with list/libraries

• Develop forms for famous mobile phones/tablets using out of the box layouts

• Publish the form on Nintex Live to make them available through internet

Nintex Live (cloud services)

• Set of specialised Nintex services that can be integrated with your workflows

• It is like a 'service store' where free/trial/paid services are being added

• Some example of currently available services are translation, EMail verification, Sms, audio conversion tools, weather, news, facebook posts, twits, amazon ec2 services, dropbox/bing/google-drive/sky-drive services, office 365 services

• make nintex forms accessible from mobile devices/tablets

Licensing Costs (approx, needs verification)

• Workflow standard: $10,000 / WFE . $15,000/wfe for enterprise

• Nintex Live is included with all versions of Nintex Workflow 2010 and Nintex Forms 2010 •Nintex Live requires a Software Assurance subscription

• Nintex Forms 2010: seaprate license is required

• $3000 / server support costs

Why

• next step from out of the box SharePoint Designer workflows

• Easy to use, fully integrated with SharePoint (features, ribbon menu )

• Visual designer with visual flow monitoring

• Nintex Live cloud services

• 130+ actions plus for/if-then controls can automate a lot more than just workflows. can be used to avoid developing custom even handlers to perform actions like delete a list item on create etc

• 130+ actions plus for/if-then controls plus scheduling options can help in implementing timer job functions without any coding

• connect.nintex.com with high user participation. 60,310 users have contributed to 23,766 threads and 25,429 posts.

Limitations

• Expensive for farm with multiple WFEs, may costs close to K2 Blackpearl costs

• Sometime workflow won't work for no apparent reasons and you will have to find some workarounds (this is what was expereinced during the training)

• No workflow debugging, you have to rely on notifications (old js days) or uls logs (out of the box log entries, you cannot add your own)

• Does not support calling web services asynchronously

Resources

http://connect.nintex.com/ Nintex Connect allows you to discuss technical issues related to Nintex products , to ask questions, to share answers and to provide feedback. It also gives access to our Nintex product knowledge base (for Software Assurance customers), learning materials, whitepapers and RSS feeds.