SharePoint as a content manager and business process automation engine

Question

We are considering to re-implement or change our product (implemented in C#) to use SharePoint as a content manager and business process automation engine at the backend. This software mainly handles all the mailings, manages organization's various business specific worklfows and documents, and all these are connected (ie. from a mail a new workflow can be created etc.) in the organization hierarchy. We are using IBM content manager and IBM websphere process server at the moment. If decided, we are planning to make it happen this or next year, hence will be able to use sharepoint 2010. What are pros and cons of such a change? Do you have such experience? Please share your thoughts.

Answer 1

I don't have experience in IBM Content Manager and Websphere Process Server. But SharePoint does provide a powerful content management feature and workflow system. For most business scenarios, you can use out-of-the-box SharePoint features and workflows. Power users can design their own content types within SharePoint UI, and can even create custom workflows with SharePoint designer.

If you really need to extend SharePoint by writing custom codes, it should be quite since you already use C#. There are some Visual Studio extensions to help you create new SharePoint features. You can leverage Windows Workflow Foundation also to build custom and complicated workflows.

If your company uses Microsoft Office product, then it will be even better. SharePoint can work seamlessly with products such as Outlook, Word, or Excel.