On January 31, 2014, Microsoft announced that there would be no additional investment in Microsoft InfoPath. Four years later, Microsoft has released several forms-related products, including Microsoft Forms and PowerApps, but neither of these products covers all the common InfoPath scenarios. Without a clear direction forward, many customers are choosing to stick with InfoPath for their existing forms and in some cases, even doing new development with InfoPath. But, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to use InfoPath in support of today’s business needs. Microsoft has extended product support to 2026, but features like code-behind no longer work in SharePoint and no new features are being added.
Depending on your needs, a product like Microsoft Forms or PowerApps may work for you, but many organizations are turning toward a more full-featured enterprise forms solution that can handle many different use cases. Platforms like K2, that offer a drag-and-drop, no-code experience with the ability to connect to line-of-business systems, whether in the cloud or on-premises, support your business needs now and in the future, without limitations.
Common Enterprise Forms Scenarios
With 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day, it’s no surprise that organizations are dealing with more data than ever before. But not all data is created equally and most organizations have different needs for different types of data. Common enterprise forms scenarios found in many organizations include:
Simple forms for capturing data: Forms to capture data, even in simple scenarios like a survey or quiz, that require data validation or display logic.
Forms on SharePoint lists and libraries, with or without LOB data: This scenario is one of the primary ways that InfoPath has been used for many years. Organizations need to build moderately complex, interactive forms that might include multipart data from LOB systems.
Forms on LOB data: The need for enterprise forms goes far beyond SharePoint. Organizations need to build forms that combine data from disparate systems across the business. This need is about providing business users with all the information that they need to take action on a task or to make the best decision. More often than not, companies need these forms to draw information from multiple systems into a single view.
Forms and Data and Data Workflows: Enterprise forms and workflows are intrinsically linked. Business users interacting with forms are capturing information to take an action, whether that action is updating information or making a decision. Enterprise forms need to be flexible enough to be used by themselves or supported by an enterprise workflow platform.
Build business-changing solutions across a range of industries and departments
Verticals
- Legal: New business intake
- Credit Unions: Customer financial assessments
- Financial Services: Deposit management
- Health Care: Infectious disease control
- Education: Faculty accreditation
- Hit-Tech: Global marketing requests
Horizontals
- Software requests
- IT service request
- Leave (PTO) requests
- Expense claims
- Quote to cash
- Employee onboarding
K2’s SmartForms quell InfoPath fears
SmartForms — part of K2’s business process application platform — let you build mobile-ready forms that span all your systems. With little to no coding, you can create apps that let you work in ways that are aligned to your unique business needs. Don’t let the limitations of InfoPath hold you hostage.
Figure 1: K2 SmartForms let you create flexible, extensible, mobile-ready forms that connect to all your LOB data sources.
Figure 2: The K2 SmartForm framework enables users to build forms that pull LOB information from multiple, external data sources into a single form.
In addition, the patented K2® SmartObject framework enables users to build forms that pull LOB information from multiple, external data sources into a single form, as shown in Figure 2. The SmartObject framework offers out-of-thebox support for LOB systems and applications like Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SAP, Salesforce, DocuSign, and many others.
“Designing electronic forms is now a breeze. K2 SmartForms lets us create online forms, integrate data from our existing SharePoint platform and roll out a business form in a few weeks, when it used to take us a few months. Overall, it allows our team to do more with less.”
— Siva Kumar Nulu, Manager, Group Information Management and Technology, Ascendas-Singbridge
Read the full case study here.