ENTERPRISE FORMS WITH K2 INTRODUCTION TO SMARTFORMS

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1 ENTERPRISE FORMS WITH K2 As the business process application space matures and companies start to build more complex applications that span the entire organization, we see our customers struggling with the best way to build forms and user interfaces that fit their application needs. Many organizations find they need to create forms that integrate with line-of-business systems that are on premises and in the cloud, are fully customizable and extensible, scale across the entire organization and can be reused across many applications. These requirements can be met by writing code, but that can be an expensive solution. Research from Gartner found that UI and forms development makes up 40% of the total solution development time, while some of our large enterprise customers indicate that number can be as high as 80%. Add to that the cost and resources required for long-term maintenance and companies quickly realize that code is not the answer. One-off forms solutions may ease the development burden in the short-term, but because they are typically focused on a particular need or type of solution, they re not flexible enough to be used across the entire organization. Instead, we find that many of our customers are looking for a complete enterprise forms solution to handle all their forms needs. As part of that evaluation process, it s important to understand what type of solutions your organization is building now as well as what your needs may be in the future. To help with the evaluation process, this document provides an introduction to SmartForms, an enterprise forms platform from K2, as well as some common enterprise forms scenarios that can be handled with SmartForms. INTRODUCTION TO SMARTFORMS SmartForms provides a platform for all your forms-based needs. Quickly build intuitive forms, using a browser-based, drag-anddrop design interface. An extensive rules framework gives you the flexibility to add business logic and data validation to your forms, without writing code. SmartForms aren t tied to a specific technology, so you can build your forms once and re-use them across all your applications. With K2 s patented SmartObject framework, you can combine information from existing line-of-business systems and external data sources into a single form. Your users have the visibility they need and IT is able to maintain the integrity and security of the underlying data sources. Once your forms are built, tie them to workflows to connect forms with tasks, people and information in business process applications and workflows that drive efficiency, consistency and visibility. SmartForms run everywhere on premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid solutions. Built on the latest technology, SmartForms can be surfaced just about anywhere within SharePoint or other line-of-business systems, as a standalone application in a browser, or on a mobile device. ENTERPRISE FORMS WITH K2

2 COMMON ENTERPRISE FORMS SCENARIOS SmartForms provide a single enterprise forms platform to build applications that span all your business needs. Below are some common scenarios where our customers are using SmartForms. FORMS IN SHAREPOINT As organizations mature in their usage of SharePoint, they often find that they need to build moderately complex, interactive forms that integrate with SharePoint lists and libraries, but also provide more intuitive layout, improved validation options and integration with other external data sources. This was a common usage scenario for InfoPath customers. Using SmartForms, you can auto-generate forms for any SharePoint list and library and then customize them to fit your needs. Customized SmartForms are seamlessly integrated with SharePoint, giving you enhanced forms capabilities within the context of SharePoint. With K2 s SmartForms, you ll get forms that: Are auto-generated for any SharePoint list or library in your environment, both on premises and in the cloud. Include advanced form logic including cascading dropdown lists and cross-field validation Incorporate and interact with data from external line-ofbusiness systems. Provide style options like themes and CSS support FORMS FOR WORKFLOW AND BUSINESS PROCESS APPLICATIONS When evaluating an enterprise forms solution, it s important to find a solution flexible enough to run forms applications on its own but also able to be integrated into workflow and business process applications. Providing users with an intuitive way to interact with business processes, whether to capture information or make a decision, plays an important part in successful user adoption. Since SmartForms are part of K2 s business process application platform, integrating forms into your business processes is a completely seamless experience. With K2 s SmartForms, you ll get business process applications that: Provide an intuitive interface that makes it easy to get work done efficiently. Integrate data from any line-of-business system to help make better decisions. Can run anywhere both on premises and in the cloud Can be accessed from any device FORMS FOR LINE-OF-BUSINESS DATA Organizations with data across multiple disparate line-ofbusiness systems often struggle with a way to combine all that information into a single view that can be used to help users make better decisions. To do this, organizations need an enterprise forms solution that can interact with all their LOB systems but can also deliver an intuitive experience for the user. With SmartForms, you can easily build forms that integrate with any LOB system. Data from multiple systems is combined into a single view, giving your users an interface to view, add or modify the data. Forms are connected directly to the backend systems so your users have the most up-to-date information they need to make better decisions. Using SmartForms, you ll get forms that: Combine data from any line-of-business system, both on premises and in the cloud, into a single view. Include advanced logic to add and update data across multiple systems based on criteria specified by the user. Are available anywhere in a browser, from within an existing application, or on a mobile device. p. 2 ENTERPRISE FORMS WITH K2

3 Common Questions About SmartForms What are some of the key benefits of SmartForms? Browser-based design and runtime - With a browser-based design environment, SmartForms give your users a quick and easy way to build forms using drag-and-drop tools. Access any line-of-business system With out-of-the-box integration with many common LOB systems including SAP, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Salesforce.com, SQL Server and Oracle, K2 s SmartObject framework provides you with data access capabilities that provide both data integrity and security. And, with support for Web services and API calls, you can extend your solutions to integrate with virtually any line-of-business system you may have in your organization. Reusability and Flexibility SmartForms provides an extensive set of forms capabilities to help you build forms quickly, but also gives you the flexibility to extend these capabilities to provide company-specific functionality as you need it. On premises, Cloud, Hybrid K2 s forms platform has been architected so that SmartForms-based solutions run equally well on premises or in the cloud, giving you the flexibility to run your applications anywhere. Why did K2 decide to add an enterprise forms solution to the K2 platform? Traditionally, K2 has been forms agnostic, allowing our customers to use any forms technology they preferred in their business process and workflow apps. In addition, we worked with our technology partners, like Microsoft, to provide deep integration with common forms technologies, including InfoPath, to make it easy for customers to build apps that included those forms technologies. However, it is important to evaluate what your future forms needs might be to determine whether SmartForms are the right fit for your needs. This document provides you with some guidance on things to consider as part of that evaluation. For more information or to discuss your specific requirements, please contact your local K2 representative. The K2 platform provided deep integration with InfoPath. Now that it has been retired by Microsoft, should we switch to SmartForms? All of our existing integration with Microsoft InfoPath 2013 and earlier will continue to be supported per our regular support guidelines, so you can continue to run your existing InfoPath-integrated applications as you do today. However, it is important to evaluate what your future forms needs might be to determine whether SmartForms are the right fit for your needs. This document provides you with some guidance on things to consider as part of that evaluation. For more information or to discuss your specific requirements, please contact your local K2 representative. What are the key differences between SmartForms and Microsoft InfoPath? Originally, InfoPath was created to provide a way to collect and store data in a single structured document. Starting with SharePoint 2007, InfoPath began to be used as an interface for some SharePoint-based workflow scenarios as well. SmartForms are designed to be a full enterprise forms platform, giving you an interface for interacting with data and tasks, as part of any business application. p. 3 ENTERPRISE FORMS WITH K2

4 KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SMARTFORMS AND MICROSOFT INFOPATH Design environment: SmartForms use a web-based design environment for assembling forms. InfoPath is a thick client designer, requiring installation on individual user s machines. LOB integration: Because SmartForms make use of the K2 SmartObject framework, data used and updated in a form is never stored as part of the form, but instead resides in the system of record, ensuring data integrity across both K2 and non-k2 applications. Reusability: SmartForms are assembled using Views, reusable building blocks that can be used in any number of forms, across all applications in the organization. Extensibility: K2 s SmartForms provide a greater level of extensibility, allowing for custom controls, custom themes and styles, and the ability to embed forms in any application. SharePoint support: Based on Microsoft s announcement at SharePoint Conference 2014, a replacement for InfoPath is still in the works and won t be available for at least 3 6 months. At that time, functionality will be limited (see below for more details on the announcement). SharePoint integration is a key component of the SmartForms platform and is already well established and in use by many K2 customers. Has Microsoft announced a new forms solution to replace InfoPath? During the recent SharePoint Conference, Microsoft announced the following plans for forms technologies tailored for use by Information Workers. SOLUTIONS FOR FOUR TYPES OF FORMS: Excel Surveys: Lightweight survey forms used to capture data in an Excel spreadsheet. TIMELINES FOR EACH FORM TYPE ARE: Online: Available in Office 365 today, with updates shipping continuously On-prem: Available in Office 2013 today. List Forms (aka FoSL) Customized forms for SharePoint lists Online: Targeting an initial release in Summer 2014, with additional releases in 2015 On-prem: SharePoint vnext, releasing at the end of 2015 Structured documents Capture and storage of information in a structured document Available Now App forms Forms as part of an application built in Microsoft Access Online: Available in Office 365 today, with updates shipping continuously On-prem: Available as part of Access 2013 today p. 4 ENTERPRISE FORMS WITH K2

5 Will the new forms technologies from Microsoft include the same level of functionality provided in InfoPath? As of SharePoint Conference, there were not a lot of details available for exactly what functionality will or will not be included going forward. Microsoft is requesting feedback from customers regarding important features and capabilities. From there, they will make decisions on what will be included and what release timelines will be. For now, the only information they provided was for FoSL forms. FOSL FORMS RELEASE INFORMATION 2014 (summer release may include) 2015 (releases may include) (releases may include) Auto form layout from Schema Lookups between lists Cascading combos SharePoint list workflow support Information Worker-friendly interface Rules, business logic Hide/show of form sections Personal profile information Office 365 objects Web service calls Enterprise data esignatures More information will be forthcoming over the next several months as Microsoft solidifies their plans. For now, if you are an existing InfoPath customer, we recommend taking time to evaluate your current and future needs, provide feedback to your Microsoft reps and evaluate your forms options to find the solution that works best for you. Copyright SourceCode Technology Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Patents pending. SourceCode, K2, the K2 logo and logotype are registered trademarks or trademarks of SourceCode Technology Holdings, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. K2.COM

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7 FORMS K2 provides a faster, easier way to create forms for business applications. With our dragand-drop tools, code isn t necessary, and a powerful rules framework allows you to stay in control. WORKFLOW Intuitively design workflows that connect people to information and work from basic task routing to complex enterprise-wide solutions. DATA Use visual tools, not code, to build reusable objects that use line-of-business and webbased data, regardless of where it lives. REPORTS Get real-time insight into process status and track the progress and performance of your applications. Easily create reports that combine business and workflow data. Copyright SourceCode Technology Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Patents pending. K2.COM

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11 WORKFLOW FEATURES DESIGN Multiple drag-and-drop design environments including browser, Visual Studio and desktop-based tools Collaborate by sharing designs across K2 design environments Quickly assemble apps with an extensive list of out-of-the-box events and tasks Extend any K2 designer to include domain-specific functions and steps Save workflow steps as a template that can be reused across applications Start process instances based on events that occur in a line-of-business system or application, upon receipt of a form, or document Start a process as part of a step in another workflow Schedule recurring processes BUSINESS LOGIC Use advanced routing to include rework, parallel, sequential or conditional routing Escalations, including , go-to and custom escalations, can be added to any user task Use K2 s extensive list of Inline Functions to include calculations and formatting Save the configuration of commonly used functions for reuse across applications INTEGRATION Use K2 SmartObjects to integrate workflows with any line-of-business system Out-of-the-box wizards for Active Directory and Exchange to create and manage user and accounts Out-of-the-box wizards that integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Build applications that interact with almost any SharePoint asset including lists, documents, libraries, forms and site collections both on-premise and in the cloud and across multiple versions of SharePoint Out-of-the-box document management capabilities to create and update Microsoft Word documents and automatically generate PDFs using workflow and data TASK MANAGEMENT Provide users with a single view of assigned tasks with the K2 Worklist, a personalized, global to-do list Tasks can be searched and filtered based on user-defined criteria Respond to tasks using a mobile worklist, forms or Allow users to redirect or delegate tasks to other users Out-of-office functionality allows users to assign an alternate user to receive all tasks Set working hours and time zones for task routing and task notifications Assign tasks to multiple people, groups, roles or based on rules in the workflow Automatically notify users when they have been assigned a new task ADMINISTRATION Manage application deployment across multiple environments Process approval allows administrators to approve workflows before deployment Keep track of all deployed versions of a workflow and roll back if errors occur Error handling including retry, integration with Visual Studio debugging, process instance modification and notifications Update running process instances Set security at the workflow, event or action level Authentication mechanisms include Kerberos, claims-based authentication, Windows authentication and other custom authentication providers Copyright SourceCode Technology Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Patents pending. K2.COM