Here's an example:
We currently have a "Send to DA" workflow that runs on a schedule and looks for the "Send to DA" field in the template. We tried having the users add the field themselves, or setting a tag, but that didn't end up working for the ones who only did it occasionally. Having workflow search for the documents on a schedule and do the integration with the DA's system takes a couple of minutes, and we can't really have it running every 15 minutes due to the nature of the integration.
This is actually running just fine the way it is, and wouldn't benefit from any new functionality. However, now they are asking to be able to also send documents to multiple other agencies and parties as part of the same process. Some of these would be through other integrations, and others would be simply emailing a PDF. I could just have them email the documents out from the client, but I need to be able to standardize the list of people and their email addresses centrally. Trying to pull together this information into distribution lists in Exchange wouldn't really be feasible.
So, I'd like to be able to have them select one or more agencies to whom the documents should be sent. Workflow would work out how to contact each agency.
Another example:
The expungement BP is much like the scenario I hinted at in my initial post. The user finds the document that they are looking for, and does their redactions. There's some mess in the middle involving QF. To finish the process they need to have a different template assigned to the document. The existing fields get added as standalone fields below the new template It then goes into a holding folder waiting for the user to fill in the information for the new template. It would be nice to have them able to do their work and fill out the new template ahead of time and not have to do anything additional after initially invoking the BP.
I'm thinking that one way to present the parameters to the user would be with the existing template UI. In the BP definition, I could select an arbitrary field (in the case of something simple), or a whole template that I want presented to the user. This has the advantage of presenting a familiar UI to the user. It also brings along field constraints, dynamic fields, and the ability to use the parameters with standard Workflow tools.
For my first scenario, I'd create a template that had a multi-value field for the person or agency to send the data to. This would be a list field, and possibly a dynamic field as well. I'd also add a field for introductory notes. The "Send to" field would be required. In the workflow itself, I'd have a way to figure out which selections went to specific integrations, and I'd handle it from there.
For the second, I'd use the template that normally goes on expunged documents. The user would fill it out and submit. On the back-end, I'd just apply the new template to the document, and the user wouldn't need to have any more involvement.
I know there's a couple more times we've wished to have parameters. I'll see if I can write them up a little later.