Course Description Contact Us
Learn how to automate business processes on the SharePoint platform using InfoPath and SharePoint Designer. In a series of custom modules featuring comprehensive lectures and hands-on labs, you will gain the skills necessary to make electronic forms and apply custom workflows to route requests for approvals through various stakeholders. These solutions can be generated at a low cost since these two powerful applications are included in the Microsoft Office productivity suite. Best yet, all this can be done without writing code.
Key concepts: Microsoft SharePoint - SharePoint Designer – InfoPath - Workflows – Electronic Forms – Deployment – Security – Data Connections – Rules – Calculations – Actions – Task Alerts – Escalations – Template Parts – Web Services – State Machines – Automating Business Processes – Custom Actions – Dashboards
How the online course is taught: • Lectures are presented live online each day from 9AM-Noon Pacific Time/Noon-3PM Eastern Time. You can take the course in comfort, wherever you have a good internet connection.
• Daily hands-on Labs are conducted and monitored by Robert from 1PM-3PM Pacific Time/4PM-6PM Eastern Time.
• You get a virtual training environment, a software sandbox where you can practice and test what you’re learning, without causing any problems with your real server or critical business activities.
Course Modules, Goals & Key Concepts the Student will Learn Sign-up
1. Overview of InfoPath
Before diving into creating the application, the big picture is covered.
- Describe what InfoPath is.
- Recognize problems it can solve and appropriate scenarios for its use.
- Contrast the Rich Client and the Web Form.
- Understand InfoPath Task integration across both the Rich Client and the Web Form.
2. Laying Out and Publishing a Form Hands-on lab included
Dive into InfoPath by building a professional looking form and publishing it to a SharePoint Form Library.
- Use Tables, Controls, Color Schemes and other basic features of InfoPath to layout a professional looking form.
- Use the Design Checker to ensure Web Form compatibility
- Work directly with the Data Source to access the form schema and comply with best practices.
- Publish the form to a SharePoint Form Library.
3. Rules and Calculations Hands-on lab included
Bring the form to life by adding rules, defaults, and validations. Then add logic to control the format of the form content and when and how it’s displayed.
- Use Data Validation to ensure data input fidelity.
- Use Default Values to produce defaults and calculations.
- Use Rules to invoke actions including updating field values and calculating the current row number in a Repeating Table.
- Group collections of form elements in Sections to be able to configure them as a set.
- Use Conditional Formatting to update the form presentation—bold elements, change their font color, and even determine whether they appear on the form.
4. Automatic Form Submission and User Selection Hands-on lab included
Continue adding form functionality by adding automatic submission logic and adding a custom control to allow SharePoint and Active Directory User selection.
- Add a Submit Button the user can click to save the form the form library.
- Add the Contact Selector Control to the form to enable SharePoint and Active Directory User selection.
- Add a button to calculate the current row number in a Repeating Table.
5. External Data Connections and Web Service Hands-on lab included
Employee and product data are retrieved from external data sources ending their manual input. The form is now functionally complete and ready for business.
- Use External Data Connections to access SharePoint List data.
- Use Universal Data Connections to supply cross-site SharePoint List access, centralized Data Connection access, and because they are a best practice.
- Access the SharePoint User Profile web service to retrieve profile data for the selected user.
6. Advanced Deployment and Lifecycle Management Hands-on lab included
With the form functionally complete, it’s time to think through enterprise deployment, versioning, and other lifecycle aspects. One of the main goals in this section is deploying the form in a way that it can be reused in multiple SharePoint form libraries.
- Deploy a form as a Content Type so that it can be activated and used as a SharePoint Feature.
- Deploy a form through Forms Service which also results in a Content Type.
- Access the form from a Web Part and retain the SharePoint menus.
- Use Forms Services Quiescing option to update a form version.
- Learn of the many settings in Forms Service to control Session State, Authentication, Scalability, and other items.
7. Security and Digital Certificates
There are many aspects necessary to properly securing an InfoPath form.
- Learn to configure the form to specify rights the form needs on the server.
- Apply SharePoint privileges to the Form Library.
- Apply a Digital Certificate to the Form Template so that its source and fidelity are guaranteed to those filling out the form.
- Apply a Digital Certificate to each Form Instance so that is source and integrity are guaranteed when the form is submitted.
- Integrate Digital Certificates with Direct Form Approval .
8. Template Parts
Learn to create reusable form parts that can be reused across many different forms.
- Create Template Parts and install them on the InfoPath form.
- Integrate Template Part with existing form data.
- Update InfoPath forms when Template Part changes.
9. Other Hands-on lab included for selected topics
There are a number of other topics important to InfoPath development that are covered at a quicker pace to make the student aware of their existence.
- Roles and Views
- Outlook Publishing
- Form Merging
- Excel and Word form Conversion
- Direct form approval
- Reporting and Excel Conversion
- When and how to apply code to an InfoPath form.
10. Overview Workflow and the SharePoint Designer Hands-on lab included
Before diving in, big picture topics such as what is workflow and what are the major pieces of the SharePoint Designer are covered.
- Understand workflow in general and Microsoft’s workflow offering.
- Summarize the SharePoint Workflow Landscape as it applies to the SharePoint Designer
- Recognize the SharePoint Designer workflow functional components.
11. Create a SharePoint Designer Workflow Hands-on lab included
Now you create a workflow and connect it to the Hardware Requisition Form Library. The workflow evaluates individual Hardware Requisitions and approves them or calls for further review.
- Create a SharePoint Designer workflow that evaluates and updates SharePoint list content using common actions and conditions, such as send email.
- Learn to create custom links to the form in the email and ensure the Web Form is opened rather than the Rich Client.
- Lookup values from a workflow from lists on the current SharePoint site.
12. Adding Human Input to the Workflow Hands-on lab included
Time to add people to the process by permitting a member of the Hardware Requisition Review queue to approve or reject the Hardware Requisitions that require further review.
- Assign tasks to the Hardware Requisition Review Queue for Hardware Requisitions that require further review.
- Claim tasks applied to groups.
13. Adding Task Escalation Hands-on lab included
Now we need to ensure the Hardware Requisition Review Queue responds to their assigned tasks in a timely manner.
- Using secondary workflows to monitor tasks.
- Updating the task Due Date and other fields.
- Waiting for the tasks response and periodically sending an email or reassigning until it’s responded to.
14. Customize Task Alerts and Embed them in the Form Hands-on lab included
Learn to create your own task emails on your own schedule with your own content, in place of the standard ones found unwieldy by many.
- Turn off standard Task Alerts
- Construct a custom email that includes form and task data within the workflow you already created to monitor tasks.
- Create custom emails with links to the form.
- Embed links to the standard task and custom task in the form.
15. Add Jumps and State Machine Functionality Hands-on lab included
Most real-world workflows that involve people do not execute in a straight path. Participants requesting feedback from prior participants is the norm not the exception. Learn to model these state machine workflows in the SharePoint Designer, permitting unlimited forward and backward jumps among process participants.
- Learn to define, understand when applicable, and to apply best practices for secondary workflow usage.
- Learn to create state machine workflows that respond to events rather than only those with a predefined path.
- Learn the implications to standard SharePoint workflow logging and how to work around them when using secondary workflows.
16. Create a Digital Dashboard to Monitor the Process Hands-on lab included
The flexibility delivered by state machine workflows can make tracking the process difficult. Learn to build a custom digital dashboard in the SharePoint Designer that produces a unified view across the entire Hardware Requisition process and all of its workflows. With this view, you will always know the current step of the process and the path taken to get there.
- Learn to create a custom web page in the SharePoint Designer from a Master Page.
- Learn to add Data View Web Parts to the web page you add to display data from SharePoint lists and document libraries.
- Learn to add parameters and filters to determine which data displays in the Data View Web Parts.
17. Using Custom Actions to Extend the SharePoint Designer Hands-on lab included
Learn to extend the baseline functionality provided with the SharePoint Designer by utilizing third-party actions. Moreover, learn the awesome power of creating your own custom domain actions.
- Understand how custom actions can be used to both extend baseline and to add custom domain functionality.
- Use custom actions to modify SharePoint list item security—to both grant and remove permissions.
18. Working Directly with the Workflow Files
There are a number of times it’s necessary to work directly with the workflow files to supply capabilities Microsoft does not directly make available.
- Learn to specify a custom task list.
- Learn to backup the workflow files.
- Learn to copy workflows across lists on the same site.
- Learn why it’s very difficult to copy workflows across sites or servers.
19. SharePoint Workflow Landscape Review: SharePoint Designer, Visual Studio, and Third-Parties
You will now know how to create and operate a sophisticated workflow in the SharePoint Designer. Let’s contrast it to other SharePoint alternatives.
- Differentiate between the capabilities of SharePoint Visual Studio workflow and SharePoint Designer workflow capabilities.
- Differentiate between the capabilities of Third Party SharePoint workflow products and those of the SharePoint Designer.
- Understand appropriate scenarios for SharePoint Designer, Visual Studio, and Third Party products.
20. Add a New View to Enhance Form Usability Hands-on lab included
You will learn how to add an Approval View to the form, presenting information in a view that will be useful for reviewers and other knowledge workers.
- Create new combinations of fields in new sections, and add useful buttons and links.
- Create links from an InfoPath form to SharePoint tasks.
- Understand how Views can be configured and used to extend form functionality.
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