UPDATE 12/10/07: Hotfix as described in MSDN KB929816 solved the problem for us mentioned below.  Obtain the hotfix and then install on each server on the farm.  Then, sharepoint configuration utility on each server.  Here is the MS Support link for that KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932816. 

Background:

We have a business requirement where an environmental engineering manager needs to ensure that 30 some-odd manufacturing locations located throughout the United States needs to ensure that those plants file for their various state-mandated permits in a timely fashion.  One approach we’ve investigated leverages the "Pause Until Date" activity available to us via SharePoint Designer worfklow.  The engineering manager (or her assistant) enters all the required permits and reminder dates at the start of the year.  The system then does all the heavy lifting.

Environment:

MOSS, 64 bit, virtual machine environment (development box), 2 servers (SQL on server #1, everything else on server #2).

Problems:

The Pause Until Date action seems like the perfect solution and it may well prove itself to be.  However, it does not work well out of the box (for us). 

1. The workflow job was not scheduled to run, ever.  I discovered this by reading through Christopher White’s (http://chrissyblanco.blogspot.com/2007/06/issues-with-delay-activity-in-moss.html) excellent write-up by using stsadm thusly:
   

   C:\>stsadm -o getproperty -propertyname "job-workflow" -url http://localhost

   <Property Exist="No" />

   C:\>

   That was a surprising result but easily solved:

   C:\>stsadm -o setproperty -propertyname "job-worfklow" -propertyvalue "every 1 minutes between 0 and 59" -url http://localhost

   Operation completed successfully.

   C:\>

   Upon doing that, the first "In Progress" workflow quickly fired up and did it’s job.

2. Sadly, the next one didn’t work as expected.  Thankfully, Christopher refers us here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932816).  As of writing of this entry, we’re waiting for the IT department to obtain that hotfix, but it does look promising.  Our copies of the affected .dll’s do not share the same byte size, so hopefully this will solve the problem.

Workaround:

Re-running the stsadm -o setproperty command seemed to prod the workflow timer awake.  It would, roughly 7 minutes later, actually wake up and continue along with the workflow. 

Questions / Issues Addressed:

Pause Until Date does not work.

Pause Until Date does not resume.

Workflow status does not change from "In Progress"

Workflow status stays "In Progress"