Enterprises Can Benefit from SharePoint's Underrated Electronic Forms Services
| Manoj Jasra - Thursday, July 17, 2008 0 Comments |
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 can offer very useful business forms creation and processing services -- but those capabilities tend to get soft-pedaled in the platform as a whole, according to research undertaken by CMS Watch.
Electronic forms can replace paper- and e-mail-based processes for more efficient processing of structured business data. Although sometimes lost amid broader SharePoint hype, the platform delivers solid capabilities in this area, especially for those customers who upgrade to the full MOSS platform, where SharePoint's "Forms Services" obviate the need to install the Microsoft InfoPath client on every desktop.
Unlike some of the more complicated configurations required for content management and search in SharePoint, businesses can create basic forms and define associated routing with comparative ease. An administrator or developer creates forms using InfoPath, or via web-based interfaces for defining basic fields. SharePoint's Forms Services then automatically translate these definitions into the appropriate web-based form.
Electronic forms can replace paper- and e-mail-based processes for more efficient processing of structured business data. Although sometimes lost amid broader SharePoint hype, the platform delivers solid capabilities in this area, especially for those customers who upgrade to the full MOSS platform, where SharePoint's "Forms Services" obviate the need to install the Microsoft InfoPath client on every desktop.
Unlike some of the more complicated configurations required for content management and search in SharePoint, businesses can create basic forms and define associated routing with comparative ease. An administrator or developer creates forms using InfoPath, or via web-based interfaces for defining basic fields. SharePoint's Forms Services then automatically translate these definitions into the appropriate web-based form.
"You can easily set up an approval process for a travel expense form, sparing the employee and supervisor from bouncing Excel files back and forth via e-mail," notes CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne. "That's very handy, and not always so simple in competing systems."
These findings come from CMS Watch's SharePoint Report 2008, a 190-page evaluation of SharePoint from an enterprise perspective, which assesses the platform's suitability for eight different business scenarios across various customer tiers. CMS Watch evaluates technologies from a buyer's perspective, testing tools and debriefing licensees about actual implementation experiences.
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