Cloudwell is Here to Help You Review, Assess, and Resolve the Impact of Retiring SharePoint 2010 Workflows
UPDATE: With the continued investment in Power Automate, Microsoft is retiring SharePoint 2010 workflows on November 1st, 2020.
Microsoft will begin implementing a new banner that will be displayed on multiple workflow pages to remind users about the upcoming retirement and beginning November 1st, 2020, Microsoft will remove the ability to run, or create, and or execute SharePoint 2010 workflows from existing tenants.
If your organization still uses SharePoint 2010 workflows, they will no longer function after November 1st, 2020. SharePoint 2013 workflows will remain supported, although turned off by default for new tenants starting November 1st, 2020. We recommend customers to move to Power Automate or other supported solutions. For a full timeline and information about retirement, visit https://aka.ms/sp-workflows-support.
On July 6, 2020, Microsoft announced in a blog post from Chris McNulty that as part of its evolution of the Microsoft 365 platform, SharePoint 2010 workflows are no longer a supported workflow solution. SharePoint 2010 Workflows are retiring! As a result, the short notice and time frame is leaving a lot of organizations scrambling.
When Exactly Are SharePoint 2010 Workflows Retiring?
On August 1st, 2020, SharePoint 2010 workflows will be turned off for newly created tenants. More importantly, starting November 1st, 2020, Microsoft will remove the ability to run, create, and/or execute SharePoint 2010 workflows from existing tenants.
Who Will This Affect?
The following Microsoft tenants will be affected:
Microsoft stated this applies to ALL environments, including Government Community Cloud (GCC) High and Department of Defense.
This impact WILL NOT AFFECT:
- SharePoint 2010 Workflows On-Premises
- SharePoint 2013 Workflows
What Will This Affect?
All user-defined SharePoint 2010 Workflows, including SharePoint Designer workflows, will stop functioning. In addition, the following built-in workflows are affected:
- Approvals: This workflow routes a document or an item to a group of people for approval.
- Collect Feedback: This workflow routes a document or an item to a group of people for feedback.
- Collect Signatures: This workflow routes a Microsoft Office document to a group of people to collect their digital signatures.
- Classic pages publishing Approval: This workflow is like the Approval workflow in that it automates the routing of draft pages to subject matter experts and stakeholders for review and approval.
- Three-state: Manage business processes that require organizations to track a high volume of issues or items.
Where Do I Start with My Retiring SharePoint Workflows?
In short, business critical change is never an easy conversation to have. More importantly, the decisions. Microsoft has provided a welcome first step with the SharePoint Modernization Scanner tool. The tool will scan your tenant for any legacy workflows and generate a report. Broken down by sites and lists, the report provides a wealth of information:
- SharePoint 2010 and 2013 usage
- Custom vs. Built-in workflow report
- Power Automate upgradability score – our next blog post will go in depth the usability of this
What’s Next?
Being advocates of modern technology and change for the better, we also understand that these are precarious times. Undoubtedly, the pandemic derailed many organizations’ technology road maps for the year. With hiring coming to a screeching halt, trying to find the right expertise to quickly migrate your retiring SharePoint 2010 workflows is not an easy task.
Consequently, an idea was quickly created in the SharePoint User Voice suggesting Microsoft Postpone Designer 2010 Workflow Engine Retirement. While there are no guarantees, this option may help you buy some time before the inevitable.
Moreover, Cloudwell is here to help you and your business! If you’d like to start taking steps in the right direction, reach out to us today and let’s create a plan that will get your organization prepared for change.
Cloudwell is a Microsoft 365 Business Applications Preferred Partner. With deep knowledge of the Power Platform, we will get your organization where it needs to be, quickly and efficiently!