Contents x
    Windows Workflow Manager
    • 22 Jan 2019
    • 1 Minute to read
    • Contributors
    • Print
    • Comment
    • Dark
      Light
    • PDF
    Contents

    Windows Workflow Manager

    • Updated on 22 Jan 2019
    • 1 Minute to read
    • Contributors
    • Print
    • Comment
    • Dark
      Light
    • PDF
    Article Summary

    Workflow Manager is a hosting environment for Windows Workflow which was introduced to allow a common hosting environment for multiple technologies which wanted to implement Workflow within Microsoft but which could also be used directly by customers. It was intended to superseed AppFabric Hosting.

    At present the biggest remaining user of Workflow Manager we believe is SharePoint, but with the new release SharePoint 2019 they seem to have moved away from Workflow Manager as a shared offering to a Workflow Manager component which the SharePoint team would own and maintain moving forwards.

    I cant find a clear direction of what this means for customers who may use Workflow Manager directly themselves and if this usecase will still be supported by the SharePoint team or if the new WF manager capability is only to be supported as an embedded part of SharePoint.

    According to the Microsoft Product Lifecycle, the existing Workflow Manager is outside of mainstream support but is under extended support until 2023.

    Product Recommendation

    Recommendation
    Based on the current information available we feel that while WF Manager has been popular with those who have implemented solutions using it, the lack of product guidance for the non-SharePoint use case short, medium or long term means we have to mark Workflow Manager as a product to move away from. Fortunately the extended support gives you time to do this. It would also be worth keeping a close eye on the SharePoint eco-system to see if they will continue to support your use case however as the WF framework is still shared.
    Was this article helpful?
    What's Next