InfoPath Dev

Hi

I am using InfoPath 2007,  I plan to use DBXL for my solution with data shredded to SQL.

I have a collection of data I want to collect from my users (approx 120 fields for each instance) 

The workflow required for about 110 fields is route A (data entered by people in department A, and authorised by same department).... BUT about 10 fields need to go route B (people in  B, C, D, E  roles able to enter the data and authorise the data).  

Users in B,C,D, E etc cannot enter data until A has at least entered the key fields.  Once data has been entered by these roles, department A needs to be able to view the data with the rest of the fields.  (In a minority of occasions roles B,C,D,E are in department A)

This data needs to be kept evergreen - so departments A and 'the roles' need to be able to update the information during the life of the form (years....).  The authorisation flows are sort of parallel - data entered by A needs to be authorised by A, data entered by the roles need to be authorised by the roles.  At anytime either set of data could be in any status...... 

My question I guess, is, can this be achieved in one form.  Or is it best to create 2 forms one for the 110 group A stuff and one for the 10 'the rest' stuff.  

If 2 separate forms is the solution, how can I make sure that group A can see the latest information 'the rest' have put in within their form ?     I have thought of using a data connection to the xml document - but it is not one fixed xml document ..... each instance will be different (>2000 forms).  I could get the data from the sql db - but I had hoped to only shred authorised data to the db.  - group A need to see the data even if it has not been authorised and shredded....

Would be grateful for thoughts - questions for clarification.

Thank you

Catharine

Hello, Catharine:

My preference, if this were mine to design, would be to use a single form. I would make sure that Active Directory groups were set up for the the roles, because your forms have a long lifespan. That way you can set up User Roles in your form, and, when those users change (which will happen -- someone leaves the company, someone else moves departments) the Active Directory groups can be changed and your form left alone.

I would then start thinking about how to structure the form's data source. Structurally, for me, it would make the most sense to get my fields grouped by requirement -- that is, I would want to make sure those key fields that A has to fill out were in a group, and the other fields were in a group, possibly hiding that section until the key fields were completed (lessens that temptation to jump the gun!) Also, you can use those roles to conditionally mark key (or other fields) read only if a person isn't in a particular group.

I would not want to consider putting it in two forms. It sounds to me like the data belongs together, and I think that InfoPath has enough built in functionality to allow you to achieve the results you describe.

Hope that helps a little...