Pro Tip for building business applications using Power Platform

Successfully converting SharePoint 2010 and 2013 workflows and Infopath forms to Power Platform.

Microsoft has announced that they will be ending support for SharePoint 2010 workflows online and using SharePoint Designer 2013 starting from 1 August 2020. So, what does this mean for organisations whose solutions use this workflow component? 

Immediate Impact on Organisations 

The end of support announcement has the most immediate impact on organisations using SharePoint 2010 workflows in SharePoint Online services, hosted by Microsoft. Organisations using SharePoint Service products i.e. on premises are not affected until 2026. 

The end of support means no security patches, and the likelihood that organisations will need to organise with their IT team or vendor to maintain existing systems while planning either to upgrade or replace solutions before Microsoft’s deadline. 

Timeline until End of Support 

Organisations with roughly 3 months give or take to start planning their transition, starting from 1st August 2020, when 2010 workflows will be turned off for newly created tenants. From the 1st November 2020, 2010 workflows component will be removed from all existing tenants. 

If your organisation is using SharePoint 2013 workflows, Microsoft has also announced to deprecate these workflows in SharePoint Online as well. Key dates include: 

  • 1 November 2020, SharePoint 2013 workflows will be turned off by default for new tenants
  • SharePoint 2013 workflows will remain supported for existing tenants with no exact turn-off date

Microsoft announcement means the demise of SharePoint 2010 workflows. 

What are the options for organisations moving forward? 

Ultimately, the demise of SharePoint 2010 and 2013 workflows as Microsoft continues to invest and push organisations to adopt Power Platform – Power Automate, Power Apps, and Power BI. 

Naturally, many organisations will immediately plan to convert existing 2010 workflows and InfoPath forms into Microsoft’s Power Automate (for flows) and Power Apps (modern form/app builder). For the majority of business scenarios, this will likely be a smart solution. 

Depending on the use case, however, and how organisations want to move towards a ‘modern’ workflow there are new tools like Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, Dynamics 365 business flows.