InfoPath & SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows Together. Laura Derbes Rogers Senior SharePoint Consultant Rackspace Hosting

Transcription

1 InfoPath & SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflows Together Laura Derbes Rogers Senior SharePoint Consultant Rackspace Hosting

2 About Me Laura Derbes Rogers, Microsoft MVP I live in Birmingham, Alabama From Baton Rouge, went to LSU GEAUX TIGERS! Company: Rackspace Hosting Author of 6 SharePoint 2007 and 2010 books (SharePoint 2013 book in progress) Blog: Follow me on

3 My Latest Books Beginning SharePoint 2010: Building Business Solutions with SharePoint Using Microsoft InfoPath 2010 with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Step by Step

4 Agenda Introduction SharePoint Designer Workflow Tasks Building the Approval in InfoPath Getting the right people as approvers Pros and Cons

5 Introduction

6 InfoPath Keep it in the form Create an Approvals View Use Sections and Rules Capture user and date info Form is easy to modify compared to SharePoint list forms. Can be done in 2007 and 2010

7 DEMO InfoPath 2010 Approval Process

8 DEMO Adding the Signature

9 Submit New Form Hidden fields used: Current Status (CurrentStatus) Approval Number (ApprovalNum) Next Approver Name (NextApproverName) On Submit New: Set fields Current Status= Supervisor hard coded 1st approval level name Approval Number = 1 Next Approver Name = Manager (from AD) Save and Close

10 Workflow in Form Views Submit the New view Approvals All approval sections Read Only After approvals, it s read-only Form Load Rules Rule: Approvals Condition: If Current Status is not blank Action: switch to view: Approvals Rule: Final Condition: If Current Status = Final Action: switch to view: Read Only Don t run remaining rules

11 Approval Section Fields Each approval level has a set of fields Approval Approved or Rejected Comment text box Approver Approver s username Approval Date Date of approval

12 Approval Submit Set Approver = Current UserName() Set Approval Date = Today() Set Current Status = whatever the next level is, such as Supervisor, or Controller. Set Approval Number = whatever the next increment is. Set Next Approver Name = This will be who the next is sent to.

13 Approval Section Dissection Disabled if CurrentApprover doesn t equal Supervisor Hidden section if ApprovalNum is less than 1 Hidden if CurrentApprover equals Supervisor Hidden if CurrentApprover doesn t equal Supervisor

14 Getting the Approvers Data connection = SharePoint list Set the Department Code query field (set field value) Query the data connection Result = one row of data

15 Getting the Manager Data Connection = User Profile Service web service There is already a property called Manager Value is stored as domain\username Option: Create a field called Manager in the form, and set the name in it. Option: Use this manager name to set as NextApprover

16 DEMO Querying, getting people

17 Reusable Workflow Add the 5 site columns as association columns. If the Current Status is not Rejected or Final Send an to the Next Approver If the Current Status is Final Send an to Created By and Employee Name, to say the form has been approved at all levels If the Current Status is Rejected Send an to Created By, letting them know their form was rejected.

18 Workflow Screenshot

19 Task Pros and Cons Pros Automatic Content Type Generation Automatic Custom Forms Task form UI is locked down to assignee only editing certain fields. Nice looking Complete Task button Can customize the form in 2010 Can t complete other users tasks The nag factor Cons Can create fields, but no variables in default values in 2007 or 3 old task actions. Workflow must wait for task completion No title customization in 2007 or 3 old task actions. Extra place to click in the UI.

20 InfoPath Pros and Cons Pros Highly customizable Disable controls per conditional formatting Hide and show sections per conditional formatting Did I mention highly customizable with no programming needed? Cons InfoPath 2007 doesn t play nice with SPD workflows in Regarding InfoPath attachments, they aren t indexed/searchable

21 Thank you for attending! Come see us at our booth! Laura Rogers

22 Session / Event Time InfoPath and SPD Workflows Mon 3:15 Beginning SharePoint Book Signing Tue 11:30 Rackspace Booth InfoPath Book Work Book InfoPath Book Tue 3:00 Rackspace Booth Tue 5:15 O Reilly Booth Wed 11 am O Reilly Booth Using Report Builder. Wed 11:30 InfoPath and SPD Workflows Wed 1:45