My workflows won't fire ... what's up?

There are several reasons why your workflow may not be firing automatically.  The most common reason is that the edit to the SharePoint list item was initiated by the "System Account".  This is easy to check, simply open the SharePoint list item that was created and scroll down to the bottom of the window.  You will see who last edited the item.  If it say's "System Account", there is your answer.

You might be thinking, "But this was edited by editing a SQL item, U-LINC updated the SharePoint list item ... not the system account".  If that is the case, then you need to see what user the U-LINC Web Service Application Pool Account is referencing.  If it is a SharePoint system account, you will need to change it to an account that has "Contribute" access to SharePoint and has "sysadmin" priveledges to the SQL instance hosting your SharePoint content database.

To check this, launch IIS Manager, and select the "Advanced Settings" for the U-LINC site.

Make note of the Application Pool name.  Then open the "Advanced Settings" for that Application Pool Account.  You can change it to your new account and voila, your workflow fires ... hopefully ;-).

 If not, you might check your workflow settings in SharePoint Designer and ensure the "Start Options" are marked correctly.

Hope this helps ...