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Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

bsuwidji — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:00:28 GMT

so maybe I'm designing the form incorrectly for the excel.

Let me describe what I tried for the repeating sections.
1. One App with mulitple servers
Main repeating section contains:
App questions (for one app)
Server questions (repeating horizontal sections for each server)

2. One server with multiple apps
Main repeating section contains:
Server questions (for one server)
App questions (repeating horizontal sections for each server)

So with those two together (app and server questions), it's a long page. If I repeat the whole repeating sections, it would be very hard to read?

suggestions? I'll have to look up how to do collapsing sections..

Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

warrtalon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:58:57 GMT

You wouldn't do repeating views. You'd do repeating sections on the same view so that they can request as many apps as they want. You definitely don't want to repeat pages - that would get confusing and cumbersome. Why do you consider it too many questions on one page? It's the same # of questions no matter what, and you can collapse the sections to hide them without affecting the data.

At some point, you're going to have to compromise. If you want to make folders to avoid the ID grouping and want to make your users fill out 4 separate documents in 3 separate applications, then you can do that. Or, you can try to streamline and consolidate it all while making it fully-automated with InfoPath and workflow (all with no code) while accepting a few nuisances.

At this point, it's up to you, but we have many possible combinations that can easily work, imo.

Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

bsuwidji — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:41:21 GMT

I was trying to create the excel file in infopath as separate view but it's not going well.

So for the excel, here is what I need.
I have two tabs acting as templates.
1. One app with mulitple servers
2. One server with mulitple apps

So if customer wants to request for 5 apps and each app has 2-3 servers each, they would copy the #1 tab 5 times and fill out the questions on that tab for each application.

I tried that with different views but could not figure out a good way to create repeating views as needed. there are a lot of questions so it was too much to scroll through if I repeated the whole section on the same page.
how can I make the two templates repeating in different views/page? or at least adding tab like views on one page?

Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

warrtalon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:52:11 GMT

Adding the ID to each doc is far less of a hassle than having a bunch of folders that segregate your info and keep you from doing any sort of data manipulation across the board.

big question. Why do you have to have 4 separate documents? Why can't those other 3 docus just be built into the single InfoPath form as different views? Why would you want all that info in separate forms that requires your users to fill out 4 separate things that don't even share data? That's manual entry X 4 with no association between docs. What part of the Excel template and Word templates cannot be done in your InfoPath form?

Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

bsuwidji — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:58:34 GMT

ok here is some background..

Request is coming from outside customer for request of service. (using Infopath form to submit)
Approver is using internal case tracking system to log the request. The case number is the unique ID.
So for internal reference, we are going to use that unique ID to help track all the documents related to the request.
Currently I have 4 documents that need to be filled out by customer and get approval from both sides before request can be executed.
1. the original form with additional views for approver(s) write comments, notes etc.
2. An Excel doc used to gather specific information about their environment (uploaded as content type to be used as template)
3. A word doc for summary and special needs (uploaded as content type to be used as template)
4. A word doc for final approval signatures. (uploaded as content type to be used as template)

Where are these other docs coming from, and why are they just being "uploaded"?
So I'm struggling on how to make the docs 2-4 available inside the original form, so customer can click on them and save them up to the same forms library. But ultimately, I want those three docs to be saved in the same forms library as the original form. This would make it easier for the approvers to review the 4 docs and make their decisions. So I need help on the "upload" piece too.. still can't figure out how to make content types available in the form.

Where are they originated and where do they exist before you put them in this form library?
I have uploaded them as document content type. So in my forms library, they currently show up in the New button pull down.

How is the unique ID assigned to those?
So the original form has a field for the unique ID and I'm carrying that in as field when submitting the second time by approver.

Is it something the approver makes up for the form and then upon uploading the associated docs, s/he manually adds that unique ID as metadata to the other docs, too?
The other three documents, I added a new column in sharepoint to manually assign the numbers from editing properties. I was doing this to try using the grouping method. but it's going to be cumbersome to have to edit the properties for all these docs. any suggestions here?
I might also put the unique ID in the name of the doc when they save it. Maybe to help when sorting.
I was looking for folders to avoid this manual piece with adding the unique ID.

So hope that helps give you a better idea.

Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

warrtalon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:15:47 GMT

Yeah, folders are the old way of thinking and are like using shared folders, which are very limited. The new way is to use metadata. If you think about it, your folder name is nothing more than metadata that describes each document in a set. So, your unique ID that will be manually entered by the approver is the piece of metadata that you can use to group your document set for that ID.

I can explain how to do that, but really quickly, I'd like to understand why you're using a form submitted to a form library and then uploading other random docs to it? That may not be the best way or maybe it will. It's just not the most common way to use a form library. Explain this unique ID. Where are these other docs coming from, and why are they just being "uploaded"? Where are they originated and where do they exist before you put them in this form library? How is the unique ID assigned to those? Is it something the approver makes up for the form and then upon uploading the associated docs, s/he manually adds that unique ID as metadata to the other docs, too?

I'm asking all of these questions in an attempt to reallllllly get down to the heart of what you're trying to do, because the bits and pieces you've mentioned so far don't seem to be the whole story and don't seem to be efficient ways of utilizing SharePoint. That may just be due to not yet knowing all the ways to leverage it, which I can help you with.

Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

bsuwidji — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:06:52 GMT

Hi Warrtalon,

I'm open to suggestions if folders is not the way to go..

I thought a folder would be better since I will need to upload additional documents that are related to the initial request form.

So I have one form that the customer will initiate the request. Then the approver will need to open that form and enter in additional info and a unique ID. I will be using that unique ID for other documents that will be uploaded to relate it to the initial form. And I can't add the unique ID until the approver updates the form on second save/submit. How can I keep these documents together? I was thinking of a folder to help keep them together easily.

Suggestions?

Re: Resaving or resubmitting form

warrtalon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:39:09 GMT

Why do you want to "move" it and why do you want to use folders? Folders are not recommended if they can be avoided. It's best to use metadata and grouping/filtering within views to get the full use of MOSS 2007 content management abilities.

Is it possible that you explain your true goal as opposed to asking for specific ways to do something? It may be that your end goal could have a more efficient way of being achieved.

Resaving or resubmitting form

bsuwidji — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:26:39 GMT

Hi,

I'm trying to create a infopath request form which a customer can submit. The form will then be opened by approver and approver has to enter in additional data. The additional data will include a unique ID to identify that request. I would like a folder to be created using the unique ID and the form to be moved and saved in the new folder. the approver may then have to go back into that form and update it from time to time.

Does this require three buttons?
1. Submit form to form library by customer
2. Folder is created in forms library and form is moved and saved in new folder
3. Approver updates form and resaves to library

How can I set this up?

thanks,