If there were a Lotus Workflow fan club, I would be the first member. It was a great application with its flexibility, ease of use, customization capability etc. I know lots of customers that are still using... But nowadays, many are stuck with their applications and looking for non-Lotus alternatives to move out. Why?

Because IBM does not seem to have a decision on Lotus Workflow.

This is going to be another 'Dear IBM' post I think.

Image:Don’t ask me about Lotus Workflow...

I am tired to give the political answer: "IBM will eventually make a decision about it..."

Image:Don’t ask me about Lotus Workflow...

No information about the life cycle. The last release is almost 6-year-old.

Dear IBM,

Please, either:

- Announce that Lotus Workflow will be terminated at a specific date,

...or...

Never mind. I am just emotional :)
Serdar Basegmez   |   June 7 2011 03:51:37 AM   |    IBM  Lotus Workflow    |  
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Comments (14)

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John Ballard    http://www.ballard-group.com    02/11/2015 2:39:16 PM

Lotus Workflow has been in use in our organization since 2003. Some of the workflows built then ARE STILL RUNNING! This product is the best combination of cost, technology, features and ease of use for end users. Since IBM has not put this into XPAGES and refuses to suggest either it's death or re-birth, we are actively converting it ourselves. First to go was the action bar applets 'cause they don't work on mobile phones. It's a work in progress.

2015-02-11 and the connectors to SAP are still running 12 years later...

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Ridge    http://na    04/23/2014 4:06:02 AM

We still use Lotus notes workflow ... can any one help us how to implement LWF in xpages, as in web we have aleady working applications on LWF

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Serdar Basegmez    http://www.developi.com    06/07/2011 10:19:59 AM

Appreciated for all comments...

Lotus Workflow actually doesn't seem to be a part of the new Social Business strategy. There are different stories behind this issue that I don't want to argue here...

I'm with Micheal about I won't buy 'it's still supported' thing. No signifcant feature has been developed on LWF since 2002. You can't sell this product with great confidence.

Rolf, I'm aware of Espresso Workflow. I analyzed it and talked with Pavone team about it. I'll also blog about it.

Non-emotional action will be looking out other products :)

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Rolf Kremer    http://www.r-k.net    06/07/2011 10:07:39 AM

If you are looking for an alternative you should try Espresso Workflow. It has an XPages user interface and the architecture is similiar to Lotus Workflow. You find a demo here: { Link }

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Michael Ruhnau       06/07/2011 9:51:36 AM

I was once in contact with IBM re LWF strategy and future. The answers were extremely wishy washy and since then nothing even has happened. They even do not have a strategy for that product.

@Simon: It is good that the software is still running and works properly. But what about innovation, new features etc? The architect really could do with a face lifting / bug fixing / improvement. IBM really falls behind other solutions - and this does not strengthen the domino platform...

I still think it is a good product, but for years nothing has happened except it is still tested and supported.

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Henning Heinz       06/07/2011 9:05:23 AM

Lotus Workflow isn't going anywhere and there won't be another major feature release in the foreseeable future. But if you are still using Workflow you can happily continue to do so.

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Okio Luna       06/07/2011 7:51:03 AM

Like other IBM product, the future very unknown and the direction is unclear. I am loosing faith in Domino, after xpages, I dont see any major improvement (and ibm, please fix the interface :)

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Simon O’Doherty       06/07/2011 6:32:45 AM

As for DGW, I am not aware of this ending support.

It will most likely be the same. In that if it ships with a release of Notes/Domino that is supported then it is supported.

I am the wrong person to ask for future plans of these products.

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Simon O’Doherty       06/07/2011 6:22:59 AM

To add to my comment. Here is the tech note detailing the current support level.

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21293563

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Lars Berntrop-Bos       06/07/2011 5:15:36 AM

Huh, try Domino Global Workbench...

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Femke Goedhart    http://www.silverside.nl    06/07/2011 5:02:55 AM

The silence on the IBM side on the future of this product is deafening but we still have a client implementing new solutions on Lotus Workflow 7 as we speak.....

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Simon O’Doherty       06/07/2011 4:54:45 AM

Hi,

You are not the first customer to ask this and I have spoken to Development on the issue.

Workflow 7 at this time is currently supported with the matching release of Domino.

So if you have an issue on Workflow 7 with Notes/Domino R7.x, then this is no longer supported (unless you have a special support contract, and then in a limited fashion).

However if you experience the same issue in R8.x with Workflow then this is supported and will continue to be investigated by development.

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions on what I wrote. Thanks.

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Serdar Basegmez    http://www.developi.com    06/07/2011 4:53:18 AM

I saw the light on the bright side, Bill :)

Actually, there is no big difference between 3.0.1 and 7.0. So I can extend my *emotional* feelings from 6 to 10 years. LWF is 10 years of mystery...

BTW, you have a great repository of extreme situations. After xbox hosting, you should have an extra blog named as 'Extreme Lotus' :)

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Bill Buchan    http://www.billbuchan.com    06/07/2011 4:46:30 AM

Look on the bright side - we - at the client who cannot be named - are still on workflow 3.0.1... Because Workflow 6 truncated long @Formula..

---* Bill