When To Use Work Flow instead of plugin

When to Use a Workflow Instead of a Plug-in

Most operations that can be accomplished by using workflows can also be accomplished by using plug-ins. However, you should use workflow processes instead of plug-ins when:

• Changes in the business logic must be performed by people who are not developers, or the changes should not be dependent on the availability of a developer to do the work. When custom workflow activities are defined as Workflow .NET assemblies, a person who is not a developer can use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to define the conditions when the custom actions are performed and the parameters that will be passed to the assembly.
• It is acceptable to have a delay between when the event occurs and when the workflow rule runs. Unless applied manually, workflow rules run asynchronously and run after the event occurs. If you need synchronous processing, use plug-ins.
• You need the ability to let users apply your workflow logic manually. With workflow processes, users can trigger the processing of workflow rules by clicking Run Workflow on the form or from a grid. You can’t run the plug-in manually, it will get executed only if the event where it is registered is triggered.