Firstly, apologies for the nature of this question - I need to know this is at all possible BEFORE I begin to try to inderstand HOW!
We are looking to expand our SP2010 installation from a basic intranet site (about 10 pages and nothing else) to use workflows and more automation. The original SP developer moved on about a year before I joined and I have very little knowledge of SP...yet!
We require: A site where users can fill in one of a choice of forms. Each form has a pre-chosen set of workflow stages to go through...i.e. the user doesn't choose the person/group to approve the form, it's part of the workflow. Approvers/Managers/Implementers to add data at their stage in the process and save...workflow to move the form according to what they choose (as opposed to picking a name to send to) Workflow to send emails at certain stages. Forms to connect to a webservice (or a direct .net call, or another pre-populated list, whatever's best) to retreive additional data. Different views of the data e.g. Approvers view, Managers view (all forms), My Forms etc. etc.
We DO require to use as much native SP2010 functionality with as little additional components (Web Parts? .Net code?) as possible. e.g. Use the Designer or Web Pages, and Visual Studio ONLY as a last resort (since I understand that this would need to be installed ON the development server?)
We DON'T require Team working/collaboration (at this stage), shared documents/libraries, shared emails, meetings etc. etc.
Can anyone recommend a good book (or online training) that can get me started?
I am a pro .Net developer for more years than I care to remember, so I don't want a "Janet and John" level book!
