I am just a beginner, but I thought I would share this simple workflow that does not rely on scripts or variables. It is basically a workflow designed to launch Microsoft Office applications and produce a new document from a template document. I have split the workflow by application so you won't be opening a slew of applications and files at once; I believe, in the real world, you may not really want to launch a bunch of applications and files all at once.
There is not much documentation to go with this workflow; it uses tools already accessible within the "All Workflow Objects"