Session #STP1455 from Australian SharePoint Conference - 16th July 2014

1. S H A R E P O I N T
CONFERENCES
2 0 1 4
Chris O’Connor
OBS (Melbourne)
STP1455

2. Chris O’Connor
Senior Consultant, OBS
Technical Specialist, Forms+Workflow
@GrumpyWookie
Blog : www.sharepointroot.com
** Melbourne SharePoint User Group (MSPUG)
#AUSPC
#NZSPC

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 InfoPath is dead being put out to pasture
Why !?
 Path ahead from Microsoft
 Alternatives from 3rd parties
 What does that mean for YOU ?
Today, tomorrow & the future

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 Introduced in SharePoint 2003
 Client side – required desktop installation (eg. MS-Word / MS-Excel)
 SharePoint 2007 – added browser based forms
 High adoption for e-Forms, business process, integration with workflow
 Client side – code behind
 SharePoint 2010 – minimal change, new controls (designer)
 High use continued, user productivity

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 Zero changes in SharePoint 2013 (!)
 Difficulties becoming apparent
 Doesn’t work well with ‘claims’ auth – eg. Getting “my manager”
 Some hiccups with Office 365 (cloud)
 Anonymous forms difficult (still)
 Not suited for mobile, iPad, etc
 The writing was on the wall….
 Microsoft recently announced end-of-life plan for InfoPath

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Cloud
Mobile
.

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 Industry trends and feedback from our customers and partners make it clear that
today’s businesses demand an intelligent, integrated forms experience that spans
devices. We are looking to make investments that allow you to easily design, deploy,
and use intelligent, integrated forms across Office clients, servers, and services—
forms that everyone can use on their PC, tablet, or phone. Our goal is to deliver tools
that are flexible and agile, so you can quickly connect to your data and processes in
new and exciting ways.
 So how are we evolving our forms technology? In an effort to streamline our
investments and deliver a more integrated Office forms user experience, we’re retiring
InfoPath and investing in new forms technology across SharePoint, Access, and Word.
 This means that InfoPath 2013 is the last release of the desktop client, and InfoPath
Forms Services in SharePoint Server 2013 is the last release of InfoPath Forms
Services. The InfoPath Forms Services technology within Office 365 will be
maintained and it will function until further notice.
 http://blogs.office.com/2014/01/31/update-on-infopath-and-sharepoint-forms/
.

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 Support until April 2023
InfoPath 2013 client
InfoPath Forms Services for SharePoint Server 2013
 Office 365
InfoPath Forms Services supported “until further notice”
 Microsoft SharePoint Conference
Las Vegas, March 2014

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 Excel Surveys (FoSS)
 Forms on SharePoint List Forms (FoSL)
 Structured Document Forms (MS-Word)
 Access Web Apps

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 Slide from SPC
 Application apps
 Document forms
 Etc

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 FoSS = Forms on Spreadsheets
 Available today in Office 365
 Data capture web based UI
 Row-by-row data added to Excel

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 FoSL = Forms on SharePoint lists
 Similar to customizing the list forms with InfoPath (!)
 Ribbon button : Customize This Form

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 Microsoft Word
 Document Information Panel (DIP)
 Document Properties + Content Controls
 Eg. Insurance claim, loan application, vehicle registration

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 Self contained apps
 Access Services

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 Visual Studio Light Switch
 SharePoint “Apps”
 Visual Studio
 ASP.NET / MVC
 HTML5 + JavaScript – eg. AngularJS, jQuery
 Develop, Debug, Test, Deploy
Slower to market + additional costs (time + money)
Developer skills required
.

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 Slide from SPC
 Application apps
 Document forms
 Etc

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 Rules
Validation
Show/Hide fields
 Connect to data
User Profiles
External data source
 Workflow
Business process
 Deployment
Dev / Test / Prod

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 ????
 Rumours about new forms platform for vNext
 End of 2014 – we should see BETA for SP2015 ?
 Migration strategy from InfoPath ?
 Tell Microsoft YOUR views/ideas !

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 Customer feedback, mentioned at SPC
http://officeforms.uservoice.com/
 86 posts/ideas since March
Committed to respond + provide a roadmap by end of 2014 (!)
 Top ideas – interesting to see :
 Microsoft needs a Browser based Forms Editor (691 votes)
 User Profile Information is very important for internal forms (415 votes)
 JSON payload, HTML Forms, SharePoint lists as a NoSQL store, OData
Queryable, SyncFx for offline (171 votes)

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SharePoint Consultant
InfoPath Tech BA

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 Existing forms / business processes
 Do nothing ! Just leave them ‘as is’.
 Supported until 2023 (Office 365 sooner)
 New solutions / forms / business processes
 Use InfoPath ! (SP2013 + Claims tips/tricks)
 Perhaps consider NOT using InfoPath
 Office 365
 Strongly consider NOT using InfoPath
 Look to 3rd party solutions
.

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Forms For Everyone On Any
Device
Quick and Easy
Forms Design
Seamless Workflow
Integration
Access Anywhere,
Anytime

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 Browser based designer
 List Forms
 Tasks Forms
 Mobile Forms
 Device app for iOS + Windows 8
 SharePoint 2010 + SharePoint 2013
 Office 365

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 Build forms for your apps and lists in
SharePoint using drag and drop design
 Combine existing data with SharePoint
List information on one form
 Integrate with K2 workflows
 Access it on any device

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K2.COM
Create K2 smartforms-based solutions that support
master/detail scenarios like purchase orders
BUILD COMPLEX FORMS

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K2.COM
Tightly integrate K2 smartforms-based applications with
your existing SharePoint, CRM and other platforms
INTEGRATE INTO OTHER PLATFORMS

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 Data oriented forms
 Define Service Objects + Smart Objects
 Back-end systems – eg. CRM, SQL, ASMX
 Generate Views (UI pieces)
 Assemble pieces into forms

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Run InfoPath forms in Formotus client apps
• Business logic, data validation, conditional formatting, multiple views
• Data connections to SharePoint, Web Services, email (XML, HTML, PDF)
• Rich custom controls (GPS, camera, touch screen ink)
• Integrated Formotus workflows for dispatch and job assignments
Design forms using InfoPath Designer and Formotus cloud console
• Formotus will always support InfoPath Designer forms
• Gradually moving more design features to the cloud console
• Eventually InfoPath Designer will not be needed
Optimized for offline form filling (Windows 8, iOS, Android)

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 Design InfoPath Forms – use on mobile device
 Work offline + sync later
 Apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows
 Ink capture for signature
• InfoPath -> Cloud + Mobile (!)

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 InfoPath
 Roadmap from Microsoft
 Don’t Panic
 Continue using InfoPath
 Consider alternatives
 3rd Party
 Nintex Forms
 K2 SmartForms
 Formotus

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chris.oconnor@obs.com.au
@GrumpyWookie
www.sharepointroot.com

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