Is is just me or is anyone else finding that there are missing instrucitons with this HR Onboarding.

1. The setup provides a detail list of site columns to create but later the instructions are referencing a few that were not in the creation list. eg New Hire Tasks Due Date, New Hire Status, New Hire Master ID.

1. The “New Hire Task Description” list and content type are discussed on a few pages including p39 but there are no instructions on their creation.

I have several other examples but just wanted to see if others noticed this? I can probably guess what they were wanting to do but I find it strange to have a Step-by-Step guide then miss out key parts of the setup.

I find it even more confusing when it comes to the "New Hire Tasks" section starting on page 44.

If I am reading it right it is saying I will not use a oob Task list but build a custom one from scratch? Is telling me to use a Custom list or a Content type to create the HR New Hire Task?

You are then told "This task includes the following site columns:"
- All business fields of the New Hire content type
- New Hire Task Due Date (covered in fig 3-2)
- **New Hire Task Status (covered in fig 3-2 but says its an lookup? To what? If above I was to create a "Task list" from a custom list am I to assume they wanted me to also create a Status column and with what options (Not Started, Complete).
- New Hire Master ID (not covered in any fig and I assume its a number and should be created in the site column section)

Later in the Create Workflows on page 46/47, in the Perform Initilizations section, it talks about "to obtain the appropriate descriptions of the tasks". Which in step 3 instructs us to "Look up" in the "New Hire Task Description" (I am assuming list, which was vaguely discussed but no instructions were given.
I can assume at this point that there are at least 2 columns in this "New Hire Task Description" list, Title and New Hire Task Description but can in no way guess what these descriptions are.

Then on page 48 in the Create the Tasks section, fig 3-10 shows the list New Hire On-Boarding Tasks which is contrary to page 44 where it is listed as HR New Hire Task?

Now assuming the "New Hire On-Boarding Tasks or HR New Hire Task" is a custom list, I am also confused to what functionality this custom list item will other than listing a "non SharePoint Task" item for somene to change the status manually. The workflows will be completely separated from this sudo task and unless you write another workflow this sudo task list it will have no effect on the primary list.
Its really not a task in the sense of MS Task but maybe a to do list.

If I am wrong please tell me what I am missing from the book. Thanks.

Reached the same point in Chapter 3, there would seem to be a number of setup steps missing.

I read chapter 4 and I am now on chapter 5 and this book is riddled with mistakes and missing instructions.
Screenshots with the wrong items or blatant mistakes. I am a very disappointed with the lack of editing and review before publishing this book. I bought this to hopefully learn new concepts and approaches to design and I am often left guessing what the author was trying to do. Fortunately I have a bit of experience with the product and can make some educated guesses for some of the issues but others I am not able to confidently guess what to do.
These guys are paid to get it right, we are not talking about a spelling, punctuation or grammar but instructions and important details to a technical publication.

I am considering asking for my money back from Amazon.

Hi, I'm sorry for taking so long to respond here on these forums. I dind't realize you were posting here (the system didn't notify me of new posts).

The editors reached out to me. I'm going to start looking at all of your comments in the next 8 to 24 hours.

Please give me a little (more) time to research and respond.

Regards,

--Paul Galvin

PaulG: In this case, you will use a SP custom list as your starting point. That's what "custom one" meant and I'm sorry that it's unclear.

PaulG: New Hire Task Status should not be a lookup in this chapter, it should just be a single line of text. At one point in this chapter's evolution, the statuses were driven by another custom list, but in the course of writing it, it felt like too much to add in this chapter because of the ;# separator issue which is discussed in the next chatper. This artifact obvioulsy survived the multiple editors who reviewed later.

PaulG: As for New Hire Master ID: This is the same thing. It was originally "in scope" for the chapter but that whole bit was pulled and this artifact survived editing when it should not have.

There are some more questions in your original post. I'll respond to those later.

I am confused on page 46 - where a new workflow is being generated. Doesn't that workflow have to be attached to something like a list? how does the GP Instance run count know what to look at if it isn't a list? Is there missing directions that tell me to create a list based on the New Hire columns? That would make sense - a list of all new hires. I think my lack of knowledge is hurting me here - does anyone know how to get through this?

If I understand correctly how this is intended to work for the workflows, "GP Instance Run Count" should be included in this figure.

Then it would be included in each of the inherited tasks. Then it would be there to be modified by the workflow I THINK....

Can anyone verify that?

I gave up on that chapter as there were too many discrepancies in the instructions and left too much guessing to really know what to do.
Unfortunately there are similar problems in the following chapters. I stopped at chapter 6 to take a break and wait for some response from the author.

I have not gone back yet to see if the suggestions clears things up or if its still a problem.

I am having the same issues. The author has left out some important steps and for some reason, has ceased to provide the detail required to follow his instructions. Also, there are some obvious errors.

I have found many other Wrox books to be error filled and I was reluctant to purchase this one, but it was the only one of its kind. Wrox, in its hurry to put out books that are new on the subject, often does not insure that they are accurate. This is the last WROX book I will ever purchase