K2 has long been part of the automated workflow or business process management (BPM) space.  Under their K2 brand, SourceCode has offered a workflow engine for a number of years.  Though many times quirky, it can be considered enterprise-class and it has been light-years ahead of anything else I’ve seen.  Their products have always integrated reasonably well with Microsoft InfoPath and SharePoint. 

BlackPearl, the successor to K2.Net 2003, has been released for some time now.  The feature-set is second to none in the space, is highly configurable and fully customizable.  It can reach into other LOB applications and play in the enterprise arena.  It includes tools to migrate from the previous version and tools to allow the business analyst to create complex workflows for processes using Microsoft Visio.  It offers up the ultimate in flexibility by allowing a developer to write customizations in .Net code.  It is also expensive.  Licensing costs for K2’s products is high enough to be out of reach for many smaller businesses or department-level purchasers.

Enter BlackPoint, currently in beta 2.  This is K2’s answer to market need by providing advanced workflows, without major development resources.  You are given access to make configuration changes through wizards but are not given access to make customizations through code. The idea is that, by limiting what the licensee can do, they can reduce the cost to support the product and thereby offer up it at a significantly reduced price.

In this article I’ll take a shallow dive into K2’s latest offering, BlackPoint, and highlight some of the differences between BlackPearl and BlackPoint products.  Specifically I’ll focus on the tools BlackPoint offers to create process workflows.  In the end you’ll need to ask yourself some question to determine if BlackPoint is right for your situation.

BlackPoint vs. BlackPearl

I see four major differences between BlackPoint and BlackPearl:

1. Design Tools.  BlackPoint provides K2 Web Designer and K2 Studio.  These tools utilize wizards and templates.  Though the BlackPoint templates are highly configurable through these wizards, you cannot customize them through code.  BlackPearl’s Visual Studio Designer and Visio Designer are not included. No Custom code in BlackPoint.  Below I dive a little deeper into the tools.
2. Microsoft Office SharePoint Services (MOSS).  BlackPoint requires MOSS to be installed as it is completely served up within MOSS.  The management and reporting are all contained within webparts viewed through a SharePoint site.  BlackPearl can be run under a standard IIS site or a MOSS site or a combination.
3. SmartObjects.  The only SmartObjects available in BlackPoint are ones created for SharePoint.  SmartObjects are a way to surface data within the workflow from systems outside of the workflow.  This is one of the most powerful features of BlackPearl and allows the workflow to include data from line-of-business applications and systems such as CRM, ERP, etc.  According to the documentation, it does appear that you can access SQL data through an abstraction of ADO.Net that supports basic select, insert and execute syntax.  The bottom line is that SmartObjects are limited in BlackPoint.
4. Legacy Workflows.  BlackPearl offers ways to either run existing process workflows under BlackPearl (interop) or tools to migrate the processes and/or active instances from K2.Net 2003.  BlackPoint is geared toward new installations with an easy upgrade path to BlackPearl.  

BlackPoint Design Tools

I was surprised to find out that K2 was including two designers in BlackPoint.  I was expecting only a web-based version.  The first is K2 Web Designer, a completely web-based tool.  It uses Microsoft Silverlight to provide a richer interface to the designer.  The second is K2 Studio, which is a more Office-like tool.  K2 Studio is an update to the previous version of K2 Studio .Net 2003 designer. 

K2 Web Designer

• Web-based, served up within MOSS. 
• Requires Silverlight to be installed in the browser.
• Accessed through the settings menu on the form library.

• Any user with a web browser can create simple workflows (though an order of magnitude more complex than SharePoint’s out-of-box).
• Wizard and Template driven. 

• No custom code. 
• Does not require Visual Studio 2005 to be installed on the client.
• Specifically used for building and sharing workflows around SharePoint lists and libraries.
• Only SharePoint users and groups are available, no direct connection to LDAP (like Active Directory).
• Some wizards not included (SharePoint Lists and Libraries, Sites and Workspaces).
• Based on a single K2 Process not a solution/application unlike that in K2 Designer for Visual Studio.
• Process workflow is stored in a K2 project – so it can be shared with other designers using other tools – including BlackPearl’s Visual Studio tool.
  • Accomplished by exporting the process, then downloading from the workflow site.

K2 Studio

• “Office-like” designer for creating K2 applications. 
• Visual design canvas for creating process flows. 
• An update to K2.Net 2003 Studio.  If you are familiar with K2.Net 2003, the transition to this tool should be relatively easy.
• Wizard and Template driven.  
• No custom code.

Conclusion

BlackPoint may be exactly what you are looking for…if you can answer yes to the following questions:

1. You are looking for something more than the five out-of-the-box workflows included with MOSS 2007.
2. You do not have an existing set of workflows to migrate or upgrade.
3. You don’t need to base your workflows on data from LOB applications.
4. You have don’t have a need for overly complex or customized workflows.
5. You don’t have the resources to develop and support custom-coded workflows.
6. You need to limit you’re up-front capital costs.
7. You are or will be using MOSS.

Still not sure?  Download the beta and give it a test-drive.