Workflow-Driven Site Creation
A common SharePoint task is to create collaboration Web sites. In many cases, these sites share similar characteristics. Typically, they are created programmatically, in response to a business event or as part of a business process or workflow.
The SharePoint Guidance Library provides a subsite creation component. The subsite creation component creates subsites that are based on site templates and site definitions. This is a reusable component that you can include in your own applications. The component includes a SharePoint sequential workflow and configuration data that is stored in a SharePoint list. For more information about the SharePoint Guidance Library's subsite creation component, see Event-Driven Site Creation.
The subsite creation component implements the subsite pattern. This pattern is a series of steps that make up the entire creation process. The pattern can be adapted to fit a business's particular needs. For example, one or more of the steps can be customized or additional steps can be added. The process of creating subsites may require interaction with other systems or with users. This is why a workflow governs the creation process. The following figure illustrates the subsite creation process that is used for the Partner Portal application.
Subsite creation process
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Notice that all the creation steps are included within the workflow.
Note
Many businesses want to implement security restrictions that prevent users from creating subsites independently of the subsite creation workflow. For example, the Partner Portal application requires that incident collaboration sites can only be created by using a particular Web service. Because the site creation process relies on a workflow, administrators can restrict access to the Sub Site Creation Requests list to specific users. If you are using a service interface for the Sub Site Creation Requests list, you can restrict access to the list to only the service's service account.
The SharePoint Guidance Library provides a Web Solution Package (WSP) for deploying and installing all the components that are required for the subsite creation component. For more information about installing the SharePoint Guidance Library, see SharePoint Guidance Library in this guidance.
The MicrosoftSPGSubSiteCreationSite feature installs and activates the subsite creation workflow. The MicrosoftSPGSubSiteCreationWeb feature installs the Business Event Type Configuration and the Sub Site Creation Requests lists. It also associates the subsite creation workflow with the Sub Site Creation Requests list.
This section includes the following topics: