nintex partnerday from infopath to nintex
TRANSCRIPT
Knut Relbe-Moe
My Experience: SharePoint evangelist, mentor, speaker Old developer, turned Architect / ITPro Have worked with SharePoint since the 2003 version. Worked with several clients upgrading their solution from 2007/2010 to 2013. Works as a Lead Architect and advisor creating SharePoint Farm
architecture/infrastructure on many projects. With up to 25.000 users. Worked with automating the installation and configuration of SharePoint.
Chief Technical ArchitectKnowledge Factory, Oslo, NorwayOffice 365 MVPMigration ExpertEducator for GlasspaperNintex Virtual Technical Evangelist
http://www.sharepointblog.no @shareptkarm +47 982 24 609
• POC for Norwegian People’s aid to check if we can replace the InfoPath forms with Nintex Forms, and to give an estimate on the workload to do that, and the benefits that the end users will get from moving form InfoPath to Nintex.
Case:
• Mobility / bad network• Forms is filled out in
«office» and not on site.• Alot of forms• Not to many workflows• Powerusers that builds the
forms today
Challenges
1. InfoPath was supposed to make it easy for Business Users to create their own forms. However, in practice it was difficult for Business Users to edit and deploy InfoPath forms, save for the simplest of tasks. For example, business users had to know XML to create a form with any complexity.
2. Deployment was a pain for any forms that were slightly complex (and thus needed code-behind). Updating existing forms was also tricky, as you could easily break existing saved forms.
3. Playing with the front-end was finicky – you had to get the rules and fields right, or you could get some very cryptic error messages.
4. We encountered performance issues on forms with many fields and rules.
What were the challenges in our experiences with InfoPath?
5. We could not re-use components or style guides across forms – there was a lot of copy/paste.
6. Mobile device rendering was not the most pleasant experience – if it happened to work, great!
7. Integrations to third-party services was not as simple as it first seemed. There was no OOTB way to easily connect to Twitter, Yammer, CRM, Biztalk, etc. All connections had to be manually set up.
What were the challenges in our experiences with InfoPath?
1. Nintex is built natively on SharePoint and leverages the existing SharePoint infrastructure and Workflow engine. There is no additional infrastructure needed.
2. It can be deployed with no downtime.3. When a workflow is kicked off, it loads in the
definition, which means that as you publish your workflow changes the next instance of the workflow will use it.
4. It is designed to be used by Business Users – no code is required to build any workflows.
Why do we recommend Nintex?
5. It comes OOTB with workflow actions that give you the ability to update social sites like Yammer and Twitter.
6. There is mobile support, with offline access.7. It works in the cloud with Office 365.8. It supports multiple integration points, including CRM
and Biztalk.
Why do we recommend Nintex?
Drag-and-drop workflow designer for Microsoft SharePoint
QUICK & EASY• Workflow for Everyone• Reusable templates and modules• Rapid ROI
BUILT ON SHAREPOINT • Simple deployment and management• Easy Adoption• No additional infrastructure costs
CONNECTED• Internal and cloud integration
INTELLIGENT• Real-time workflow status
Workflow
Web-based Forms Designer for Microsoft SharePoint
QUICK & EASY• Forms for Everyone
• Empower business users• Enhance developer productivity
• Design once• Customize quickly • Publish in an instant
ACCESS ANYWHERE, ANYTIME• Secure access to SharePoint Users• Publish to Public• Publish to Mobile
WORKFLOW INTEGRATION• Transform workflows into business applications
Forms
Mobile
Workforce Productivity, Anywhere, Anytime
QUICK & EASY• Design workflows and forms in SharePoint• Publish to multiple devices• No Code
INTUITIVE & CONSISTENT• Native device apps• Familiar user experience
FROM SHAREPOINT TO MOBILE• Real-time synchronisation of business process• Secure Interaction• On and Off-line
• Option 1: Create a powershell script/windows app to recreate all form libraries to lists
• Option 2: Use a tool to do this for us.• Qdabra's InfoPath to SharePoint List Tool • ShareGate, create a script to create all columns and
the lists in code, and then map all the fields from the forms to the fields in the lists and do the migration with ShareGate.
Solution
Solution
Use a tool, «Qdabra's InfoPath to SharePoint List Tool” or custom code:
•If you wish to import repeating data, simply check Data is from repeating group box.
Solution
•Click on the small browse icon to browse for the repeating group.
•Expand the form’s schema in the task pane.
Solution
•In the Schema Tree, double click the repeating group that you want to use. •The form will then get the XPath value of the selected group.
Solution
•Finally, select all the fields that you want to display in your SharePoint list:
http://www.infopathdev.com/blogs/jo-anne_alfafara/archive/2009/04/04/how-to-use-qdabra-s-infopath-to-sharepoint-list-tool.aspx
• None at the moment, but playing with the idea of reading the XML from InfoPath and automatically draw the Nintex forms in a Windows app.
Solution
http://mwssummit.com/you-are-invited/
Thank You!• Knut Relbe-Moe• Chief Technical Architect
• [email protected]• [email protected]
• http://o365fb.help• http://sharepointblog.no
@shareptkarm