The document provides insights into building effective workflows, emphasizing best practices such as clean design layouts, externalizing data, and limiting process size. It discusses common pitfalls like large log files and performance issues, suggesting methods for handling them, as well as the shift from InfoPath to SmartForms for attachments. Additionally, it includes guidance on SQL server broker management and offers PowerShell examples for K2 process management.

1. JOHNNY FANG
Managing Consultant, K2 APAC
ANATOMY OF A GOOD WORKFLOW

2. How Do I Build Good
Workflows?

3. ANATOMY OF BUILDING APPLICATIONS
DATA
REPORTS
FORMS
WORKFLOW

4. ANATOMY OF BUILDING APPLICATIONS
DATA
REPORTS
FORMS
WORKFLOW

5. ANATOMY OF BUILDING APPLICATIONS

6. ANATOMY OF BUILDING APPLICATIONS

7. ANATOMY OF BUILDING APPLICATIONS

8. ANATOMY OF BUILDING APPLICATIONS

10. BEST PRACTICES
 GOOD/CLEAN DESIGN LAYOUTS
 COLOR CODING YOUR PROCESS
 EXTERNALIZE DATA USING REFERENCES
 DATA ON DEMAND AND KEEP AUDIT
 EXCESSIVE ESCALATIONS
 REDUCE GOTOACTIVITY USAGE
 AVOID SUPER SIZED PROCESSES
 NAMING CONVENTIONS (HTTP://HELP.K2.COM/EN/K2LS-QRS023.ASPX)
http://help.k2.com/en/kb000352.aspx

11. SECURITY
 HAVE A SEPARATE INSTALLER ACCOUNT WITH APPROPRIATE
PERMISSIONS (SQL/SHAREPOINT/WINDOWS)
 INSTALL BEFORE OS HARDENING (DO BACKUPS BEFORE OS HARDENING)
 PROCESS PERMISSIONS – VIEW PARTICIPATE VS VIEW (PERFORMANCE
IMPACT)
 WORKSPACE SECURITY LOCKDOWN
 SMARTOBJECT ACCESS LOCKDOWN
 LOCKING DOWN WORKSPACE SECURITY/SMARTOBJECT PUBLISHING
(HTTP://HELP.K2.COM/EN/K2LS-QRS002.ASPX)
 LIMIT IMPERSONATION RIGHTS TO THE RIGHT ACCOUNTS (THIS IS A
POWERFUL RIGHT!)

12. What Else
Is There?

13. WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN SCHOOL
 FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPINGS

14. FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPING
 1 TO 1

15. FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPING
 1 TO 1

16. FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPING
 MANY TO SOME

17. FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPING
 MANY TO SOME

18. FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPING
• Standardize URLs
• Standardize
Notifications
• Minimize flow
exceptions
Getting it to work
• Non-dynamic Templates
(SmartObject Events)
Things that don’t
work so well

19. WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN SCHOOL
 FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPINGS
 HANDLING LOG FILES

20. HANDLING LOG FILES
COMMON PROBLEM#1
HELP! MY LOG FILE HAS GROWN TOO LARGE TO BE OPENED!

21. HANDLING LOG FILES
COMMON PROBLEM#1
HELP! MY LOG FILE HAS GROWN TOO LARGE TO BE OPENED!
TIP
Use GVIM or ULTRAEDIT for very large log files

22. HANDLING LOG FILES
COMMON PROBLEM#1
HELP! MY LOG FILE HAS GROWN TOO LARGE TO BE OPENED!
TIP 2
Large logs usually indicate issues. Do regular checks!

23. HANDLING LOG FILES
COMMON PROBLEM#2
MY LOG FILE IS CLUTTERED WITH A TON OF ENTRIES. HOW DO I MAKE
SENSE OF IT?
SOLUTION
 LOG FILES
 Excel to parse (rename to .csv)

24. HANDLING LOG FILES
COMMON PROBLEM#2
MY LOG FILE IS CLUTTERED WITH A TON OF ENTRIES. HOW DO I MAKE
SENSE OF IT?

25. HANDLING LOG FILES
COMMON PROBLEM#2
MY LOG FILE IS CLUTTERED WITH A TON OF ENTRIES. HOW DO I MAKE
SENSE OF IT?
TIP
RENAME TO .CSV AND USE EXCEL

26. HANDLING LOG FILES

27. HANDLING LOG FILES

28. HANDLING LOG FILES
COMMON PROBLEM#2
MY LOG FILE IS CLUTTERED WITH A TON OF ENTRIES. HOW DO I MAKE
SENSE OF IT?
TIP
RENAME TO .CSV AND USE EXCEL
TIP2
USE SQL LOGGING AND SMARTFORMS*
* http://peterblommendaal.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/create-a-k2-host-server-log-viewer-with-k2-smartforms/

29. HANDLING LOG FILES
* http://peterblommendaal.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/create-a-k2-host-server-log-viewer-with-k2-smartforms/

30. WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN SCHOOL
 FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPINGS
 HANDLING LOG FILES
 AVOID INFOPATH ATTACHMENTS

31. INFOPATH FORM ATTACHMENTS SIDE EFFECTS
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
K2ServerLog (GB)

32. INFOPATH FORM ATTACHMENTS SIDE EFFECTS
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
K2ServerLog (GB)
Where it all started

33. INFOPATH FORM ATTACHMENTS SIDE EFFECTS
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
1) INFOPATH IS DEAD! USE SMARTFORMS!
2) EXTERNALIZE ATTACHMENTS USING SMARTOBJECTS (E.G. TO SQL
OR SHAREPOINT)
3) DO ARCHIVAL
4) LAST RESORT – BUMP UP YOUR HARDWARE (IOPS – MAGIC
NUMBER 2 X TARGETED GB)

34. WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN SCHOOL
 FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPINGS
 HANDLING LOG FILES
 AVOID INFOPATH ATTACHMENTS
 WORKFLOW AND CASES

35. WORKFLOW AND CASES
 DETERMINE IF THE WORKFLOW IS STARTING POINT OR THE CASE IS THE
STARTING POINT
Case

36. WORKFLOW AND CASES
 DETERMINE IF THE WORKFLOW IS STARTING POINT OR THE CASE IS THE
STARTING POINT
 AVOID GETTING INTO THIS!

37. WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN SCHOOL
 FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPINGS
 HANDLING LOG FILES
 AVOID INFOPATH ATTACHMENTS
 WORKFLOW AND CASES
 SQL SERVER BROKER AND SCHEMAS

38. SQL SERVER BROKER AND SCHEMAS
 HELP! IT TAKES FOREVER TO REFRESH MY SQL BROKER INSTANCE!
 HMM…. MY TEAM BUILT 1000+ TABLES AND STORED PROCEDURES…

39. SQL SERVER BROKER AND SCHEMAS
 SCHEMAS IS A GREAT WAY TO MAINTAIN SQL SERVER BROKER
PERFORMANCE

40. SQL SERVER BROKER AND SCHEMAS
 SCHEMAS IS A GREAT WAY TO MAINTAIN SQL SERVER BROKER
PERFORMANCE

41. SQL SERVER BROKER AND SCHEMAS
 SCHEMAS IS A GREAT WAY TO MAINTAIN SQL SERVER BROKER
PERFORMANCE

42. WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN SCHOOL
 FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPINGS
 HANDLING LOG FILES
 AVOID INFOPATH ATTACHMENTS
 WORKFLOW AND CASES
 SQL SERVER BROKER AND SCHEMAS
 PERFORMANCE TWEAKS

43. GENERATEPUBLISHEREVIDENCE TAG
 NORMALLY SET WHEN NO INTERNET CONNECTION FROM THE SERVER

44. GENERATEPUBLISHEREVIDENCE TAG
 NORMALLY SET WHEN NO INTERNET CONNECTION FROM THE SERVER

45. GENERATEPUBLISHEREVIDENCE TAG
 NORMALLY SET WHEN NO INTERNET CONNECTION FROM THE SERVER

46. GENERATEPUBLISHEREVIDENCE TAG
 NORMALLY SET WHEN NO INTERNET CONNECTION FROM THE SERVER

47. WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU IN SCHOOL
 FORM TO WORKFLOW MAPPINGS
 HANDLING LOG FILES
 AVOID INFOPATH ATTACHMENTS
 WORKFLOW AND CASES
 SQL SERVER BROKER AND SCHEMAS
 PERFORMANCE TWEAKS
 HAVING FUN WITH POWERSHELL AND K2

48. POWERSHELL AND K2
 GREAT WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE .NET DEVELOPMENT TOOLS HANDY

49. POWERSHELL AND K2
 GREAT WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE .NET DEVELOPMENT TOOLS HANDY
 INBUILT ISE (POWERSHELL_ISE) – DEVELOPMENT/DEBUGGING

50. POWERSHELL AND K2
 SAMPLE#1 – TIMING OPEN/CLOSE CONNECTION SPEED
[System.Console]::WriteLine("Open Connection")
Add-Type -AssemblyName ('SourceCode.Workflow.Client, Version=4.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=16a2c5aaaa1b130d')
$conn = New-Object -TypeName SourceCode.Workflow.Client.Connection
$s=Get-Date;
$conn.Open("localhost")
$conn.Close()
$e=Get-Date;
[System.Console]::WriteLine("Close Connection")
[System.Console]::WriteLine("Time: " + ($e - $s).TotalSeconds.toString() + "
secs")

51. POWERSHELL AND K2
 SAMPLE#2 – STARTING A PROCESS INSTANCE
[System.Console]::WriteLine("Sample code to start a K2 process")
Add-Type -AssemblyName ('SourceCode.Workflow.Client, Version=4.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=16a2c5aaaa1b130d')
$conn = New-Object -TypeName SourceCode.Workflow.Client.Connection
$conn.Open("localhost")
$pi = $conn.CreateProcessInstance("FolderProcessName")
$conn.StartProcessInstance($pi)
$conn.Close

52. POWERSHELL AND K2
 SAMPLE#3 – GENERATING NOTIFICATIONS FOR ERRORS
[System.Console]::WriteLine("Starting to check for Process Errors")
Add-Type -AssemblyName ('SourceCode.Workflow.Management, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=16a2c5aaaa1b130d')
$wms = New-Object -TypeName SourceCode.Workflow.Management.WorkflowManagementServer("localhost", 5555)
$wms.Open()
$el = $wms.GetErrorLogs($wms.GetErrorProfile("All").ID)
if($el.Count -gt 0){
[System.Console]::WriteLine("Error Count is " + $el.Count)
$emailFrom = "system@domain.com"
$emailTo = "admin1@domain.com", "admin2@domain.com"
$smtpServer = <your SMTP mail server>
$subject = "K2 Process Errors"
$body = "{0} Process Errors found`n`n" -f $el.Count
foreach ($els in $el){
$body +=
"Folio:{0}`nProcInstID:{1}`nStartDate:{2:D}`nProcess:{3}`nErrorDate:{4:D}`nSource:{5}`nMessage:{6}`n`n" -f $els.Folio,
$els.ProcInstID, $els.StartDate, $els.ProcessName, $els.ErrorDate, $els.ErrorItemName, $els.Description
}
Send-MailMessage -To $emailTo -From $emailFrom -Subject $subject -Body $body -SmtpServer $smtpServer
}
else{
[System.Console]::WriteLine("No Errors Found")
}
http://www.k2underground.com/blogs/johnny/archive/2013/12/03/using-powershell-and-task-scheduler-to-notify-for-k2-errors.aspx

53. DEMO TIME

54. THANK YOU