InfoPath Dev

I am sorry for what is probably one of the "newest" questions that can be asked.  We lost our IT person a few months ago and with a lot of technology going unused.  This week we are in the midst of a much-needed server upgrade and with it we are installing sharepoint server 2007.  Most of the office has been running Office 2007 with infopath for more than a year now, though some are still using XP or 2003 and some of the office will be accessing the server through terminal services.

 I have played around with IP in the last month and I see that I can create a simple reimbursement form that staff can fill out that will calculate mileage or other things, but I'm wondering what else we can do with it once the upgrade is complete.  I know that the forms can be created for a browser, but can they be created in such a way that they can be filled out by internet visitors?  For example, we have a lot of brochures that we send out, generally at no cost, can it be used to create an online order form that is then emailed to the person who pulls the brochures?  Or can it be used, either via email to organizations we work with (who don't have IP) or by internet visitors to fill out a registration form to attend our trainings?

 Any examples of how non-profit organizations use info path?  I want to push my coworkers to a more user-friendly, paperless office and I think we can begin to do that with IP and sharepoint server 2007.  I just don't know what all it can do.

To simply answer your questions, my response is, "yes."  However, these are advanced things that will require advanced knowledge and ARCHITECTING of SharePoint.  You say you "lost our IT person" as if you only have one in the whole organization?  Who is doing all the server installs, software deployments, and architecture planning?  I would highly, and I mean HIGHLY, advise against "installing" MOSS 2007 randomly.  It requires proper planning, a robust architecture with multiple servers, and the InfoPath integration that you're talking about requires MOSS Enterprise, which is the highest level of SharePoint with Enterprise-level CALs. 

Everything you're talking about can be done, but if your company is simply installing MOSS without a full-scale implementation plan designed by a SharePoint Architect, then you are setting yourselves up for failure, in my opinion.

Thanks for your response.  To answer your questions, we are having a professional IT company doing the install.  We are a small organization of 15 to 20 employees in two different cities that provides services and support to member organizations across the state and to the general public.  Only one person had the responsibility of dealing with IT issues and he was self-taught which is why we never did anything with Sharepoint 2003 or with IP in the past.  Now that we are contracting with an IT company and making these investments I would like to see what we can do with what we have bought.

 As for the equipment, our server has multiple quad core processors, running on 32 gig of memory and about 800 gig of usuable hd (x2 with the mirroring hd's).  We will likely be running 3 servers in this architecture and yes we have MOSS 2007 enterprise.  The Windows Server is WS 2008 Enterprise and we are also installing Small Business Server as well.

Excellent.  Powerful servers and a farm architecture planned (assuming all 3 are dedicated to SharePoint), though small, but that's ok due to the small # of users.  Using a consultant to build it out is great.  Knowing this, you should be able to accomplish everything you want, although you will need a much more robust architecture if you are going to also be Internet-facing.  This will be a separate set of servers...in addition to the internal ones, so keep that in mind.  It also is a different version of SharePoint called MOSS for Internet, which is $40k flat, because it doesn't have user licenses unlike your internal one, which will leverage Enterprise CALs.  Nonetheless, that company should be able to take you down the path of how to properly use Forms Server (included in MOSS enterprise) and hopefully will teach you how to build browser-enabled forms for both internal and external use.  I do this stuff for a living and absolutely love doing it, so hopefully they have someone similar who can get you rolling.

It sounds like you have a good start - having someone with a good solid Sharepoint background is important. One thing I would sure caution against is rushing into deploying it internally. As Warrtalon mentioned, making sure the infrastructure is solid is important, but you also mentioned your users are used to doing everything with paper. Sharepoint and InfoPath are complete paradigm shifts from the way your users are used to doing business. You are going to be asking a lot of your users - namely to change the way they do their jobs. I would sincerely recommend a great book called SharePoint Server 2007 Best Practices by Ben Curry and Bill English. This is not a 'how to' book, but it addresses the unforeseen problems you can run into when you are deploying Sharepoint in an organization - like the factors that drive user adoption and other 'people factors'. It focuses on the governance of your entire project and makes recommendations accordingly. Good luck and let us know if you need any help!