InfoPath Dev

Sorry if this has already been asked, but is there a way to use InfoPath for Document Approval? I've never used InfoPath so I'm not sure of its capabilities.

What I need is for one of our business areas to submit a form that includes a document. This form will then follow a path of approvers which can be a single person or someone that belongs to a group (where at least one person in a group needs to approve), once approved it goes to the next person/group, etc. I would also need to give the capabilities to the business unit to set the path of approvers since this path is always different for the type/content of the document, or have the option of choosing a preset path. Ontop of that, the ability to email the approver(s) would also be needed.

As I stated above, I'm basically trying to figure out if this is even capable with InfoPath or if what I need is too complex. If it is possible, does anyone have any examples or even know where I can purchase?

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

KSG

Hi KSG and welcome to InfoPathDev forums.

InfoPath can certainly be a part of this workflow and would be an excellent tool help you get this done, but I don't think you will find that InfoPath alone can do all this for you. Most solutions are going to require the addition of custom code or scripting within InfoPath in conjunction with other services such ast SharePoint or BizTalk to move the workflow along from user to user as part of your approval chain.

For an example of how this can be done with BizTalk, here is an MSDN training lab that is part of the InfoPath labs that demonstrates a similar workflow:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/odc_ip2003_tr/html/odc_INF_Lab_12.asp

Hope that helps!