S H A R E P O I N T CONFERENCES

2014

Chris O’ConnorOBS (Melbourne)

SharePoint Forms Futures

InfoPath and all that jazz

STP1455

Chris O’ConnorSenior Consultant, OBS

Technical Specialist, Forms+Workflow

@GrumpyWookie

Blog : www.sharepointroot.com

** Melbourne SharePoint User Group (MSPUG)

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Agenda 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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InfoPath – A Brief History 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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InfoPath – A Brief History 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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The world has changed…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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** don’t panic

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Where to from here ? 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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Microsoft SharePoint Conference (Vegas) Excel Surveys (FoSS)

Forms on SharePoint List Forms (FoSL)

Structured Document Forms (MS-Word)

Access Web Apps

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Types of Apps Slide from SPC

Application apps Document forms Etc

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Excel Surveys FoSS = Forms on Spreadsheets Available today in Office 365

Data capture web based UI

Row-by-row data added to Excel

>>Demo

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List Forms FoSL = Forms on SharePoint lists

Similar to customizing the list forms with InfoPath (!) Ribbon button : Customize This Form

>>Demo

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Structured Documents Microsoft Word

Document Information Panel (DIP) Document Properties + Content Controls

Eg. Insurance claim, loan application, vehicle registration

>>Demo

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App Forms Self contained apps Access Services

>>Demo

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Other options / developer level solutions Visual Studio Light Switch

SharePoint “Apps”

Visual Studio ASP.NET / MVC HTML5 + JavaScript – eg. AngularJS, jQuery

Develop, Debug, Test, DeploySlower to market + additional costs (time + money)Developer skills required

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Types of Apps Slide from SPC

Application apps Document forms Etc

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Reactions ?

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What ELSE to consider ? Rules

Validation Show/Hide fields

Connect to data User Profiles External data source

Workflow Business process

Deployment Dev / Test / Prod

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Reactions ?

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What’s next from Microsoft ????

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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Tell Microsoft -> UserVoice 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 ConsultantInfoPath Tech BA

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Where does that leave me ? 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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Alternatives (3rd Party)

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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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Nintex Forms Browser based designer

List Forms Tasks Forms

Mobile Forms Device app for iOS + Windows 8

SharePoint 2010 + SharePoint 2013 Office 365

>>Demo

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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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K2 Smart Forms 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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Formotus 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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ZERO migration effort from InfoPath

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Closing + Summary InfoPath

Roadmap from Microsoft

Don’t Panic Continue using InfoPath Consider alternatives

3rd Party Nintex Forms K2 SmartForms Formotus

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THANK YOU ! (QUESTIONS ?)

chris.oconnor@obs.com.au

@GrumpyWookie

www.sharepointroot.com

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