​​Shar​ePoint Forms with Conditional Field Logic

I am delighted to announce that conditional logic functionality has been added to our Smart Forms Module for SharePoint​ product line.

This allows the form to respond dynamically based on answers which significantly improve the overall experience.

​It is often helpful to only show form fields if the person filling out the form answered a question in a certain way.  For example, if the person says the best way to contact them is by phone, you might want to display the "Business Number" and "Mobile Number" fields.  If they say the best way to contact them is by email, you might want to hide the phone fields and only display the "Email Address" fields. 

Adding this advanced functionality was in many ways at odds with our relentless ambitions of keeping this product easy to use.

I believe we have successfully infused a highly sought after and advanced feature while simultaneously holding the line on simplicity. 

Dynamic Display Conditions (Conditional Logic / Dynamic Fields)

Dynamic Display Conditions can be applied to dropdown fields.  You can show or hide parts of your form based on the answer. 

This includes any number of fields or widgets that are already on your form.

Note:  Dynamic Display Conditions may be enabled on any dropdown field.  ​

Kintivo's 'Build a Form' Contest

Form building is fun, at least we think so.

The rules to our 'Build a Form' contest are pretty simple:

The first rule of 'build a form' is… do not get caught at work building fake forms.  Consider building something your organization would actually benefit from.

Using ONLY native SharePoint and a free trial of our Smart Forms Module for SharePoint – build a fully functioning form that posts data to a SharePoint list.

You must be a registered participant to win (register here).

You must use a recent release of our free trial or any recent licensed edition (2015 release date). In other words, if you are running a version of our Smart Forms Module that was released in 2011, you should just download the latest free trial.

Kintivo employees may assist you with questions but only from within our LinkedIn Group discussion thread so that all contestants benefit equally.

You are encouraged to help your fellow competitors.  This is something we call "being a nice person".  You may ask/answer questions from within the safe walls of our LinkedIn SharePoint User's Group.  We have a specific Discussion thread for this contest called "Kintivo's Build a Form Contest".    

Steps:

1. Register here.

2. Download the Free Trial (if you do not already have it or if you do not already have a licensed edition).  Build your form solution.

3. Submit your form solution (submit your entries here) – You may submit as many entries as you wish.  In theory each entry will increase your chances of winning, unless all of your entries are just really bad.

1. Screenshots are fine, but weak.

2. Videos are better (Jing .swf's are good) or a YouTube URL.  Your video should clearly demonstrate the business requirement and exactly how you satisfied it.

3. Hyperlinks to live sites are best, but they must be anonymously accessible so be sure to use the ReCaptcha widget on your form to protect your site from bots. 

Contest Scoring

A panel will rate submissions based on the following:

1. Business requirements – how well does the form solution satisfy the stated business requirements?  Since you get to invent the business requirements, there's a good chance you can achieve a high score on this one.

2. Ingenuity – did the form solution leverage native SharePoint functionality, you know, things that SharePoint can already do, like workflows for example? 

3. Functionality – how much of the Smart Forms Module functionality was utilized?  For example, were widgets such as ReCaptcha, Attachments or Spacers utilized?  Did you make good use of default field values, field labels or insert field values in the form email?  Things like that.

Awards

We like keeping things simple.  The first 10 places will get a $100 Amazon Gift Card (you can finally get that selfie stick).  The 1st Place winner will also get one licensed copy of Kintivo's Smart Forms Module for SharePoint (MSRP $1,999).  You can only hold one place, in other words, if you're hoping to win the first 5 places – it's not going to happen (and stop being so greedy). 

1st Place – Licensed copy of Kintivo's Smart Forms Module for SharePoint (MSRP $1,990) + $100 Amazon Gift Card. 

2nd Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

3rd Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

4th Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

5th Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

6th Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

7th Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

8th Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

9th Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

10th Place - $100 Amazon Gift Card

Submission Deadline

Assuming you have a day job and not living in your parent's basement, we don't expect you to drop everything and build a fake form in hopes of winning a contest, unless you actually want to win ;)

Either way, to level the playing field a little, we will be announcing the submission deadline 1 month prior to the deadline. 

The deadline will be announced soon, but we want to make sure we have enough participants to make it fun and enough time to make it interesting. 

You should however get started now and submit as many entries as you wish.  If you're still reading this you are wasting time.  You could have already submitted at least 1 entry by now.

Have Fun & Good Luck!

​

Rethinking SharePoint Forms

When I started using SharePoint, I was overwhelmed. 

SharePoint was so very different from everything I had experienced before, and I had trouble understanding its core concepts.

I felt the forms were clumsy and absolutely hideous. I couldn’t fathom how a basic component that was so ugly would actually be used by anyone. For me, it took a while before the dots began to connect.

Fast-forward today—thirteen years and four versions of SharePoint later. I still think SharePoint offers more than other platforms, but it is still imperfect. 

Especially when it comes to FORMS. 

Forms are the basic staple for virtually everything you can do in SharePoint, and yet the out-of-the box forms regularly come up short.

The Form That Should Have Shipped With SharePoint
At Kintivo, we believe ANYONE should be able to create a beautiful SharePoint form without the need for special training or a large investment. 
 
We have spent the last 4 years meticulously working to solve this shortcoming. 
 
The answer is rooted in simplicity. 

It should be easy.
 
It should be smart.
 
It should be beautiful.

The Kintivo Smart Forms Module for SharePoint is the answer. 

The Form That Should Have Shipped With SharePoint
The Kintivo Smart Forms Module for SharePoint is an easy-to-use, no-training-required, intuitive web part for building beautiful forms in SharePoint. 

Why don’t you try it for free?

Some of its exciting easy-to-master benefits include:

• Intuitive Drag 'n Drop: Put the fields you want where you want them.
• Your Own Look: Add your own CSS, or use our beautiful Smart Styles.
• Easy to Insert: Just add a web part to any page.
• Keep Your Data Clean: Set defaults, show only the fields you want, even set some as Display-only.
• Instant Notifications: Send an email right from the form, without a workflow!
• Smart ReCaptcha: Great for external-facing forms to make sure a human is filling it out.
• Collect Files & Attachments
• Export Your Data
• Fun & Flexible & more...

Just because you're working with forms and data, doesn't mean it has to be ugly and styleless. Gathering information from your users is exciting, why shouldn't your tools be exciting too? The Kintivo Smart Forms Module for SharePoint is filled with little details to keep a smile on your face.

Plus, the Kintivo Smart Form is easy to incorporate into your organization's workflow.

It’s a tool that belongs in every SharePoint Power User’s pocket. 

Just try it for free, I know you will love it! You’ll wonder why it didn’t ship with SharePoint in the first place.

Best Regards,
Sean Bordner

​

Update Smart Forms Module for SharePoint

The new Smart Forms Web Part is loaded with features which provide you with a super easy to use, yet very powerful SharePoint form building solution.  Download the latest Smart Forms update for exciting enhancements such as drag ‘n drop fields, professionally designed form styles and much more. 

Now let’s build some forms!

1. Add the “Kintivo Smart Forms” Web Part to the desired page. 
   It can be found in the “Kintivo Smart Components” category:
   
   
   
2. Now that the Web Part is on the page, you can tell it which SharePoint List to submit to, which fields you want and many other options by clicking “Edit Web Part” located in its dropdown:
   
   
   
3. Once the Web Part edit panel is open, specify which List to submit to, which fields you want, button types, Landing Page or Thank You Text, and many more options. 
   
   All of these options are visually described below. 
   
   Note:  Be sure the SharePoint List you want to submit data to already exists. 
   If the List doesn’t already exist, go create it and return to this step.

Web Part Edit Panel

Clicking the “Configure Smart Form” link in the web part edit panel will pop-up the Form Builder Tabs.

Form Builder Tabs

List Tab 

Use the List Tab to select the list you wish the form to post data to.  The list may reside anywhere within the current Web Application and is not required to reside in the same site as your form.  First, select the Site Collection, then the Site, then “Select Target List”. 

Form Modes:

Add New Item (Mode) – forms for posting NEW items to a SharePoint List.

Update Existing Item (Mode) – pre-populated forms for UPDATING existing items in a SharePoint List.  When using the update mode, be sure to fill in the “Url Parameter Name” field.  The web part will need to know where to get the Item ID value from.  It will always look in the URL for this value, but needs to know what to look for.  The “Url Parameter Name” field (sometimes called Query String Parameter Name) is used for just that. 

The below sample setting tells the web part to look in the URL for a parameter called “SF_ID”. 

In the above example, the web part will use the value of the “SF_ID” URL parameter to populate the form. 

For example, the following URL:  “http://www.SharePointFormWebPart.com/pages/UpdatePage3.aspx?SF_ID=725”

…would tell the web part to pre-populate the form with the List Item which has the ID of “725”.

Power Tip:  There are many ways to populate the URL with the List Item ID you wish to use, including using the Smart Forms Web Part itself!  For example, you may have the need to use multiple forms and multiple pages to satisfy your specific form based solution (think “wizard” based interfaces).  To do this, you would start with a form in “Add New Item” mode, and specify the “Landing Page” as your “Step 2” page.  You would also tell the first form (the one in “Add New Item” mode) to pass the “ID” to the Landing Page (this is a setting in the “Submit Options / Submit URL Fields” section).  When you do this, the web part will automatically append the URL Parameter titled “SF_ID” to the specified Landing Page URL, and set the value of the “SF_ID” equal to the ID of the new Item being created.  Your “Step 2” page would have the Smart Forms Web Part set to “Update Existing Item” mode, and you would fill in the “Url Parameter Name” with “SF_ID”.    Note:  When passing the ID to your Landing Page, the Smart Forms Web Part will pass it using the URL Parameter Name = “SF_ID”. 

Fields Tab

The Fields Tab is used to specify your form fields.  Drag n’ drop fields onto your form as you see fit. 

Mouse over the fields’ little colored square to view what it’s telling you about the field.  It might be a required field, which means if you place it on your form it will be required.  It might be telling you the field has a description or a default value. 

Required Fields:  Required fields are designated with an asterisk (*) on the resulting form.  To make a field required, simply set the respective SharePoint List Column to required.  You do not have to display a field on your form just because it is set to required within the respective SharePoint List.  However, when you display a field that happens to be required within the SharePoint List, it will also be required on your form. 

Field Validation:  The Smart Forms Web Part provides field validation based on the List Column settings you are using.  For example, if your list has a required field, that field will also be required on your form.  If your list has a date/time field, the field will automatically be represented on your form as a date/time picker.  The same is true for all SharePoint List Column types (text, yes/no, dropdowns, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc…). 

More sophisticated field validation may also be used such as comparing fields (example:  Email Address field needs to match the Confirm Email field).  This type of validation is handled using regular expressions on your SharePoint List.  If you are already using regular expressions on the Lists, rest assured the Smart Forms Web Part will honor your settings.  List validation settings can be found by navigating to your List, and then:  List Settings / Validation Settings (located under the General Settings section). 

This SharePoint List Validation setting would cause the Smart Forms Web Part to check on form submission that the “Email Address” field data is equal to the “Confirm Email” field data entered by the user.  If they are not the same, the Smart Forms Web Part will display the specified User Message (above) to the user, and it will not submit the data to your list until the validation is satisfied.

Edit your form field by clicking its “Edit” link.

Field Label(to show on form) – whatever you type in here will display on your form as the field label.  The default label is the List Column name.

Description – if you flipped the “Display field descriptions” toggle (lower left of “Fields” tab), the field description will also appear on your form below your fields (if your fields have descriptions). 

When ON, your form will display the List Column descriptions from your SharePoint List by default.  You can overwrite the default value by adding your own field description to the “Description” box.

Display Only (checkbox) – the “Display Only” checkbox makes the field non-editable yet still displays the field on your form. 

Default Value Settings – prepopulate your form field by specifying:

• URL Value – provide the URL parameter name that will contain the default value for this field.
• Default Value – type in the desired Default Value for this field.

If the SharePoint List Column has a default value, it will be used unless you are using one of the above two options.

Spacer (widget) – drag ‘n drop as many Spacer widgets as you need to get your form looking just right.  You can also add text, including html, into the Spacer as needed.

Use the Spacer widget to separate sections of your form.

Click the “Edit” link on the Space at access its pop-up dialog.

Name - name given to your Spacer to help you keep them sorted out, does not display on form. 

Spacer HTML – text or html to be displayed on your form, empty space displayed on form if left blank.

Attachments:  Optionally, if the SharePoint List allows attachments, you can allow users to attach multiple files to a single form submission by flipping the “Allow Attachments if enabled” toggle to the ON position (lower left of “Fields” tab).

Field Descriptions:  You can optionally display field descriptions on your form.  By checking the box “Display field descriptions” – your form will display the List Column descriptions from your SharePoint List.

Default Values:  Form field default values may be manually set using the “Value” field.  Optionally, you may use the “URL Value” to capture the desired default form field value from a URL parameter, simply type the name of the URL parameter in the “URL Value” box.

Buttons Tab

The Buttons Tab is used to control your forms submit and cancel buttons. 

Submit Button

• Submit Button Type – submit button, text or image.
• Submit Button/Text/Image URL – text to display for submit button or submit link (text).
• Thank you text – Submit Behavior:  submits form data to list, resets to blank form and displays this text.
• Landing Page URL:  Submit Behavior:  submits form data to list and redirects user to this URL.
• Submit URL Fields:  Submit Behavior:  Submit data to list.  Passes these values in the query string to your Landing Page URL (Tip:  be sure to pass the ID if your landing page is part of a multi-part-form solution). 

Cancel Button

• Cancel Button Type – button, text, image or don’t display cancel button.
• Cancel Button/Text/Image URL – text to display for cancel button or cancel link (text).
• Landing Page URL:  Cancel Behavior:  does not submit form data to list, redirects user to this URL.
• Cancel URL Fields:  Cancel Behavior:  does not submit data to list.  Passes these values in the query string to your Landing Page URL (Tip:  be sure to pass the ID if your landing page is part of a multi-part-form solution). 

Display Tab

Use the Display Tab to control the look and feel of your form.  Select from one of the professionally designed “Smart Style” options or take full control with your own CSS file.

Form Title (Supports HTML Tags) – similar to normal web part titles found in the appearance section of most web parts, but this one allows HTML to be used within the title and you have more control over the display via CSS and Smart Styles.

Default Style (CSS) – CSS used to control the form appearance.

Smart Style – choose from one of our professionally designed form Smart Styles or go cowboy with your own CSS file. 

Select “Custom” to use your own CSS to control the form appearance.

Enable Configuration Output Details – ONLY used by our Support Team

Read more about customizing the look and feel of your forms in the “For Administrators” section of this document. 

Captcha Tab

You can ensure data being entered into your form is from a real human (and not a spam-bot) by optionally allowing Captcha Control Validation.

The Smart Forms Web Part uses ReCaptcha:  http://www.google.com/recaptcha - ReCaptcha is a free anti-bot service that helps digitize books. 

If you check the box “Allow Captcha Control Validation” – you will also need to supply your ReCaptcha keys (public and private).  You can very quickly get these free keys from:  http://www.google.com/recaptcha

Once you have your keys, paste them into the appropriate boxes.

Email Tab

Sometimes it’s helpful to send emails when a form is submitted.  Use the Email Tab to configure your optional email. 

Email Variables:  Double brackets “Field Name” may be placed around field names to reference form data within your email.  Variables ARE case sensitive. 

Publish Your Form

1. Click the “Save & Close” button from the Form Builder Tabs:
   
   
   
2. Click the “OK” button (if open still) on the Web Part Edit Panel:  (remember to save your page)
   

Please ensure the Smart Forms Web Part installation has occurred, and has been activated on the site you wish to use. 

1. Go to the site you wish to use.
2. Ensure the following Feature has been activated:  “Kintivo Smart Forms”

Go to:  Site Actions / Site Settings / Site collection features

Note:  If you go to Site Settings and don’t see the Site Collection Administration Section as above #3, it’s one of two things: 

1. You are not at the Top Level Site Collection – Go to the Top Level Site Collection from the Site Settings page by clicking on “Go to top level site settings.”
   
   
   
2. You are not signed-in as a Site Collection Administrator – Sign Out, sign back in as a Site Collection Administrator.

From the Site collection features page, scroll down to the “Kintivo Smart Forms” feature and ensure it says “Active” (see below). 

Note:  If it’s NOT active, click the “Activate” button.

Note:  If the “Kintivo Smart Forms” Feature is not listed on the “Site collection features” page:

1. Make sure you are not accidently on the “Site features” page, which is not the same as the “Site collection features” page.  You need to be a Site Collection Administrator to see the “Site collection features” page.
2. Ensure the solution has been deployed to the correct Web Application from your Central Administration site (see Installation Instructions). 

Import/Export Smart Forms

Smart Form configurations may be exported and imported as needed.  Each Smart Form export will generate an XML file that you should keep in a safe place.  This file should also be named in a way you will remember which form it represents. 

Look & Feel

The default CSS is diagramed below to help your designers more quickly make modifications.

CSS Diagram

Videos in SharePoint​

If you have the need to embed streaming videos on your SharePoint pages, you do have some options.  This post aims to assist in the decision making process of when to use which video option.

Possible solutions

YouTube:  If the video is NOT a private video, you can always use YouTube.  Embedding YouTube videos onto SharePoint pages is pretty straight-forward.  YouTube generates the embed code and you paste it into the “Script Editor” web part.  Be sure to use the “Script Editor” web part to avoid SharePoint stripping out the code you paste in. 

Pros:  It’s free.  Google will handle hosting and streaming your large video files.  Mobile friendly video player.  Highly compatible video player. 

Cons:  Your videos need to be “Public” videos on YouTube.  Google may put advertisements on your videos (you get what you pay for ;)

Native SharePoint Video Player:  The native SharePoint 2013 media player is aesthetically pleasing and works great – as long you don’t mind only using WMV video files, and hosting and streaming them yourself.  The WMV video file format is not that big of a deal in most cases.  Hosting and streaming videos, which by nature are large files measured in MB, not Kb – can be a non-starter.  Also, I’m not convinced the player is as compatible with the various browsers as other options.  Example:  iPad Safari, iPhone Safari (they are NOT the same Safari, believe it or not).   

Pros:  It’s native SharePoint functionality and it looks nice in IE.  You can control security on your videos, they do not have to be public videos. 

Cons:  Video files are big and they will live in a SharePoint Digital Assets Library, which means they will live in the SQL Server Database running SharePoint, which means you need to have a lot of space and a big pipe between SQL and SharePoint.  Also, it’s not actually “streaming”, but rather – progress downloading (two very different concepts that ‘appear’ to be the same thing). 

Brightcove Video Streaming in SharePoint:  Brightcove is a video streaming service that is becoming more popular all the time.  You can upload your videos to Brightcove (just like YouTube) with a pretty BIG difference vs. YouTube:  You can control security on Brightcove videos, where YouTube videos MUST be public.  Like YouTube, Brightcove will host and stream your videos as well as generate simple embed code for you to add to your “Script Editor” web part on your SharePoint page.  Unlike YouTube, Brightcove is not free. 

Pros:  Brightcove will handle hosting and streaming your large video files.  Mobile friendly video player.  Highly compatible video player.  Can host private videos and control access via the SharePoint page on which you place the video.

Cons:  It’s not free.

Customer Spotlight

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) website speaks for itself.  With modern responsive design, enterprise ecommerce, premium member only content, carbon calculators, interactive multimedia libraries and real-time dashboards - it's a poster child for superior website design and powerful capabilities working together in harmony. 

…like an exquisite European sports car, even more beauty awaits under the hood…

If you’re a Microsoft SharePoint nerd, keep reading.  Otherwise, just check out this Customer Spotlight website at:  www.AAR.org

Here’s how AAR did it…

Aesthetically the website is simply gorgeous on all screens (desktop, tablet, phone, TV).  This was accomplished by implementing a responsive design, also referred to as “adaptive design".  By leveraging SharePoint 2013’s HTML 5 and CSS 3 capabilities, the design is both modern and mobile friendly.  

Having your IT Team update your website is soooo 2004.  AAR leverages distributed content authoring provided by SharePoint workflows and publishing infrastructures.  Now the good folks in AAR's Communications Department enjoy full cradle-to-grave publishing process control, from content creation to content disposition. 

The Smart Forms Module for SharePoint is used for web forms.  This app has significantly reduced the time and effort required for adding or updating web forms. 

Backend data is surfaced on the website automatically to avoid wasted effort related to re-keying content they already have. 

Member profiles are stored and managed using Membership Manager for SharePoint.  Logging in grants members access to premium member-only content based on each member’s membership level plus any content they may have purchased.  Members also keep their personal profiles up to date and some members have permissions to keep their member company profiles current. 

Work groups such as councils and committees are also managed using the Membership Manager for SharePoint.  This includes specific roles within the work group such as “Committee Chair” or “Council Member”.  A person's role within a work group has a start and end date which controls permissions.

Website authentication such as login, logout, forgot password, change password, create account and profile management are accomplished using the Smart Login Module for SharePoint.  This turn-key claims based authentication provider supports AD accounts, SharePoint List based FBA accounts and comes with an ecommerce engine compatible role provider.

Ecommerce functionality such as inventory, product catalog, product pages, cart, checkout and secure order processing and fulfillment are all accomplished using the eCommerce Module for SharePoint.  This app also automatically grants permissions to people that purchase specific publications, reports, subscriptions and other premium content.

Email and social marketing activities such as sending emails based on the site visitors activity and behavioral targeting is accomplished using MailChimp Sync for SharePoint.  Automatically keeping their backend system in sync with MailChimp allows AAR to automate content recommendation messaging based on previous site visits or purchases and personalize emails based on the person’s interests.

AAR staff personnel may have full member contact information synchronized locally on their mobile devices thanks to Mobile Sync for SharePoint.  This is native integration people – and does not require some wonky one-off phone app to be installed.  Native integration means things like “Siri, call Jane Doe at work” just works.  Some staff prefer to only have a segment of the membership directory synchronized with their phones (you know, to free up space for Flappy Bird). 

Findability?  What can we say… it’s SharePoint 2013 Search – it’s considered one the most powerful and fastest search engines available, anywhere.  This search engine has also introduced certain advertising opportunities for AAR (think Google Sponsored Links, but it’s their own search engine).

The real-time dashboard reporting and interactive charts are powered by Tableau. 

A data mashup of railroad tracks on a Google Maps overlay pulls from actual data received and maintained by AAR.  This is a custom integration kind of thing. 

AAR energized their audience with anticipation leading up to the new website’s launch.  This included press releases, email campaigns, intro videos, social sharing and even office décor!

Bottom Line:  Hats off to AAR, they nailed it!

Indiana Hospital Association

Our customers rock! There’s just no better way of saying it. We are so blessed to be working with such great people. Our customers span the globe but the common denominator is they bring meaning to what we do.

​

The Indiana Hospital Association is a great example of the new approach nirvana that can be obtained. By consolidating their information into our SharePoint based Association Management Ecosystem™ they leverage the best parts of a unified platform approach, as well as the best parts of a best-of-breed approach. No other solution provides both.

“Our main goal was to have everything integrated and I am happy to report that we have achieved this goal.” –Jennifer Hurtubise, Director of Communications

The Indiana Hospital Association was established in 1921 to provide Indiana hospitals with leadership, representation and support as they work to improve the health of Indiana citizens. Members include nearly every Indiana hospital, and our leaders are former and current hospital executives and industry experts. They are here to represent the collective interests of their members before policymakers, legislators and regulators. They connect hospitals with the business community and health care organizations that include the American Hospital Association. They also collect, analyze and distribute data to help their members and policymakers to understand what needs to be done to improve the health of the communities they serve. In addition, they provide opportunities for hospitals to share ideas and information on the challenges every hospital faces, from patient safety to reimbursement.

See more at: www.IHAConnect.org

Demystifying SharePoint Forms Strategies

InfoPath is dead.  Microsoft is asking for your feedback, but what is real? What is a company to do?  In this talk, we'll look at Microsoft's guidance on forms strategies and the SharePoint forms roadmap.  We'll provide guidance and review common best practices. 

Joel Oleson, SharePoint Evangelist, and Sean Bordner, CEO Kintivo, dig in on forms strategies. 

Microsoft announced an end to development on Infopath.  In fact those familiar with the product found it hadn't been changed since the 2010 release.   As a result, many customers have questioned, "What do we do?" Is there any guidance?  You may have seen the charts, but "what's realistic?"

Developers have a variety of strategies for forms with innovation in Visual Studio, but end users and forms builders in the business have never been more confused. 

We discuss the guidance provided by Microsoft at the SharePoint Conference as well as share best practices from the community and look at a variety of out of the box strategies.  We also look at the roadmap and more recent guidance since the announcement. 

Kintivo has built a Smart Forms webpart, and we analyze what that is and what it does and doesn't do in addition to what you get out of the box with a variety of Microsoft solutions for SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013, and Office 365 for building forms solutions for the business.

Free Trial - Forms Module for SharePoint

Meet the Presenters

About Joel Oleson

Blogger, traveler, and top social media influencer, Joel has built communities all over the world and travelled to over 140 countries since 2008, including keynotes on all continents. He currently works at BA Insight as Director of Search Strategy.  He has worked in the IT industry for over 18 years including software, non profit, telecoms and startups. He was the first SharePoint administrator ever and spent seven years at Microsoft, including a few years on the SharePoint team.  In the past few years, he was awarded top SharePoint blog and recognized as a top online influencer in the community by a Forbes study. Joel is co-founder of many community efforts—SPYam Yammer community (6000 members strong) and Sharing The Point (a community building and training group designed to help under served countries around the globe).   You can find his popular technical blog at http://www.collabshow.com and his travel blog at http://travelingepic.com and on Twitter @joeloleson.

About Sean Bordner

Sean Bordner, CEO, has worked extensively with SharePoint through the past decade. He has a technical background with past positions ranging from Sr. Programmer and Technical Manager to Sr. Solution Architect and Engineer. His specific areas of expertise include public websites (WCM), community sites, SharePoint and FAST Search, search engine optimization (SEO), information architecture (site structure and taxonomy), SharePoint governance and best practices related to planning, architecting, and deploying high visibility SharePoint solutions. He holds many Microsoft certifications; including MCT, MCTS, MCSD, MCP, MCAD and co-author of SharePoint for Nonprofits, the Definitive Guide to SharePoint for your Nonprofit, Association, Charity and .ORG. He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer who excels at communicating sophisticated concepts in an easy-to-understand and usable format.  Sean has recently been listed in the "Top 25 Microsoft SharePoint Influencers." Read more at Forbes.com.

​

Brand Change Announcement!

​A message from CEO and Co-Founder, Sean Bordner

Introducing:  "Kintivo" 

Our brand is changing!  After 4 years, we've evolved, offering more than just SharePoint® based products and solutions. And we're thrilled to have you grow with us!

To make things easier for our customers we are consolidating into one brand:  Kintivo [pronounced:  kin (as in “next of kin”) tivo (as in “I can fast forward past commercials on my tivo”)].

Until recently, we only offered Microsoft SharePoint® based products and services, adding Office 365® and Azure® in just the last year. In the near future, we're extending our brand to include even more options and benefits.

That's why I'm writing you today. We've outgrown our name and our singular product offering.
We are retiring the “SharePoint®AMS” brand.

And our new brand, Kintivo is taking its place.

SharePoint Technology Conference 2014

BZ Media’s SharePoint Technology Conference 2014 in San Francisco delivered on the promise.  The conference had excellent speakers, great topics and was well organized.  The unofficial body count was over 1000 people, many of whom we had the opportunity to meet for the first time and many we enjoyed seeing again.

Most of our conversations were predictably about SharePoint forms.  We demonstrated the Smart Forms Module every hour to a new group of fellow SharePoint brothers and sisters – many of whom downloaded the free trial later that evening. 

If you missed this one there’s still hope…  BZ Media has another SP Tech Con 2014 in Boston later this year (during the fall). 

#SPC14 Session on Forms

If you made trip to Las Vegas for the 2014 SharePoint Conference and attended the session about forms which addressed the retirement of InfoPath and possible replacements, you may have been left wondering “what just happened”.

The message was that Microsoft really doesn’t have a vision for replacing InfoPath, let alone a clear vision.  Kudos to the softies for admitting it, but… really? 

We saw some work-in-progress type ideas that weren’t too shabby in concept, but concepts don’t solve real-word problems and even the concepts left some serious questions on twitter unanswered. 

The good news is that InfoPath support will continue into the foreseeable future.

This should give you plenty of time to start replacing your forms with a suitable replacement.  I am personally very partial towards the Smart Forms Module by SharePoint AMS. 

Sure I happen to work for SharePoint AMS and sure, I happen to have been heavily involved in the product architecture and roadmap – but we didn’t make this product because InfoPath was awesome ;) 

The Smart Forms Module was born out of necessity.

If you think filling out a form is boring, try coding forms from scratch over and over and over.  It’s this lifeblood depleting exercise that drove the creation of what we believe to be a better way. 

…a simple to use web part that posts form data to a real-world SharePoint List (not a backend database, not an xml file) but to a List. 

The assumption of course is that if you have the desire to have a form on a SharePoint page, you must be using SharePoint.  So use it.
While it’s possible to use the Smart Forms Module to post to external databases and web services, the spirit of the product has always been to get the data into a SharePoint List because once it’s there you can do a lot with it (think workflows, alerts, Excel, Access, Outlook, etc.).

The Smart Forms Module is not a magic bullet.  It has limitations which is a tradeoff to achieve simplicity.  Still yet, it’s very powerful and worthy of living in your SharePoint toolbox for the time saving factor alone.

Consider taking it for a test drive.  Let us know what you think:  Smart Forms Module free trial download.

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We have given away several crisp new $100 bills to lucky attendees wearing our gear.  Hopefully some of this cash escaped the casino. 

Hands down our most popular product for good reason – it’s a pretty slick alternative to building custom forms with code. 

This webinar will demonstrate how the Smart Forms Module by SharePoint AMS lets you to easily create new forms for both internal and external uses.

You will learn how to:

• Use hidden form fields.
• Pre-populate your form fields.
• Automatically send emails on form submission.
• Post form submissions to SharePoint Lists without granting permissions to the submitter.
• and much more…

If interested you can sign-up here.

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SharePoint Forms

Forms are important. 

SharePoint Forms are used for nearly all end user data input.  We use forms for capturing vacation requests, timesheet entries, sign-ups, opt-ins, opt-outs, registrations, feedback, comments, reviews, ideas, expenses, help desk information, contacts, applications, speaker submissions, polls, tickets, tasks, and just about anything that requires user input.

You name it, and chances are a form is used to capture the information.

So why is creating a simple form and putting it on a SharePoint page something we need "sweet skills" for? 

Why can't someone do this without understanding HTML, SharePoint Designer, InfoPath or Visual Studio? 

It's such an innocent request.   "Hey SharePoint-person, we need a form that captures (insert field names here), and we need it yesterday."

I needed a way to create SharePoint forms quickly and easily.  It needed to be as easy as adding a Web Part to a page.   I wanted it to post data to a SharePoint list, and I wanted it to land the user on a pre-determined landing page, like a "Thank You" or "Confirmation" page.  I wanted to be able to teach someone how to use it in 15 seconds.  I wanted anyone to be able to create a new form in 15 seconds.  I wanted to be freed from the task of creating forms for everyone that needed one! 

The Form That Should Have Shipped With SharePoint.

I've personally been using a custom Web Part for years to save myself a serious amount of "form building" time.  Here's how it works:

1. Add Web Part to page.
2. Point it to a list.
3. Pick the fields I want to be on the form.

This web part can be found on several pages of this site (our site runs on SharePoint 2013 and all forms were created using this web part) and you may download the free trial of this SharePoint form builder tool. 

For me, simplicity was imperative.  I needed a bullet-proof solution, and I needed it to protect users from themselves.  For example, if the list has required columns, then these required fields are honored by the web part so the user can't unselect them.  If it's a required field, it shows up!  Of course, the ID field doesn't show up on the form because that would be lame and no one would use it.

Every form that I was asked to build was 'a beautiful and unique snowflake'.  Each form needed slightly different things, so my web part allows me to optionally specify things like a custom Thank You Message, a specific Landing Page URL, different submit/cancel buttons (even hiding the cancel button), and URL parameters to pass to the Landing Page if I want to get all fancy and personalize the Landing Page.  The Landing Page can be any URL and is not limited to only SharePoint pages. 

I was hoping that SharePoint 2013 would already have such a web part built-in, but alas – no such luck.  You need to be a developer or a SharePoint Designer guru to achieve this type of form wizardry.

This secret little time saving web part has been refactored into a product so that it might also save you some serious time. 

The Smart Forms Module has received some noteworthy improvements.

• Email – auto-email form submissions.
• Forms with 1,2,3 or 4 columns – full control of form layout.
• New Form Builder Interface – improved interface for building your forms.
• Hidden Form Fields – pass hidden form fields with your form submissions.
• Default Form Field Values – easily set the default values of form fields.

Building SharePoint forms using the improved form builder interface.

Update:  Wow, I just grabbed the walkthrough video to put at the bottom of this post and noticed it’s been watched over 15,000 times.  That’s crazy for a 13 minute video. The updated SharePoint form building video is near the top of this page. 

Learn more about SharePoint Forms.

You do need a single source of data-truth.  This fact is without question a best practice to ensure data consistency and information continuity.  Choose your authoritative platform wisely.  Start on a platform that is aligned with the things your association staff is clamoring for.  This approach requires a platform that has a massive global community and is highly extensible with strengths in areas such as internal and external content management, collaboration, workflows, powerful search, document management, security, business intelligence and reporting, records retention and affordability.   

One platform to consider as your authoritative data source is Microsoft SharePoint.  SharePoint excels in these areas and many others. Microsoft has many solutions but none even come close to the capabilities of SharePoint.  The SharePoint ecosystem is the largest in Microsoft product history and continues to grow at a healthy rate.

While SharePoint may not be a magic bullet, nothing else even comes close.

The platform has evolved and continues to be advanced by the world’s largest software manufacturer. If you have not seen SharePoint in a while, you should.

This best-of-breed approach positions Microsoft’s most powerful platform to do what it does best.  Meanwhile, integrating non-Microsoft LOB’s with SharePoint involves straight forward API calls.   

Realizing the DoesEverythingAsaurus is not only alive and well, but actually thriving across the association landscape, more associations are considering a modern approach to association management activities.  The resulting Association Management Ecosystem™ is a re-invention of something that simply couldn’t work 5-10 years ago.  It works today because we not only have the ability to easily integrate SharePoint with non-Microsoft API’s, but the SharePoint platform itself has its own thriving ecosystem.

Real Ecosystems Have 3rd Party Apps

Relying on a single vendor to advance your solution is expensive, non-sustainable and does not scale.  Regardless of your vendor’s size, the result is a hopeless reliance on a single point of failure.  Not a great game plan. 

Now consider the extensive ecosystem of just SharePoint specific 3^rd party apps for iPhones, iPads, Windows, etc. such as “BoardPacks for SharePoint” by eShare which gives Board Members a collaborative iPad solution while also keeping IT folks happy about content living in a secure centralized and controllable location.

Board Members use iPads – BoardPacks for SharePoint by eShare

Naturally Integrated - Sometimes the best way to harness a platforms speed of innovation is with natural integrations as with this one with iPhones and Android phones.

“Siri, call a CEO from our member directory”
   
SharePoint Mobile Sync by SharePoint AMS

“Yammer” which makes your environment more social for a very important audience, your staff! 

Get Social - Yammer for SharePoint by Yammer/Microsoft

There’s even a SharePoint App store,
not to mention the thousands of companies selling hundreds of thousands of SharePoint add-on’s.

SharePoint App Store

API administration by your IT Team involves pasting 3rd party API keys into lists.

3rd party Windows Apps already exist allowing your staff to access key membership information stored in SharePoint.

GimmalPoint by Gimmal

Breathe life into your membership data using any of the several best of breed BI and reporting tools
already integrated with SharePoint.

SharePoint data visualization via GeoFlow

Create, deliver and track learning with SharePoint LMS.

With SharePoint LMS you can offer an online course catalog with access to learning content for your entire organization. A complete overview of learning results is available with single sign in to your portal and makes learning and learning management easy and simple.

Summary

This post merely scratches the surface of the advantages of a true ecosystem approach. 
(sorry about the surface link, couldn’t resist ;)

There’s an exciting new world out there full of fantastic choices but you can’t get there while riding the DoesEverythingAsaurus.

We believe one tool cannot possibly deliver greatness across all functional landscapes.  Our unique Association Management Ecosystem™ approach incorporates the best of all landscapes.  

With an API centric architecture, you are assured your solution is usable, sustainable, integratable and highly relevant.

If you are looking for a single tool that claims to do everything, you will find it, but not here.  There’s hundreds of DoesEverythingAsaurus systems making that claim and we truly wish you the best – we can still be friends ;)

However, if you are trying to identify a superior approach to your association management activities, we invite you to consider our Association Management Ecosystem™.

SharePoint makes it easy to keep a nice clean house, but there are a few things beyond regular maintenance which should receive proper attention.  The SharePoint Recycle Bin can quickly transform you into a card carrying hero.  Usage Audits can reveal under-utilized areas as candidates for archival or removal.  Information Management Policies may be used to automate content policies in your org.  Facilitate content organization by properly configuring Document Libraries. 

Document Library Tips

Document Libraries have so much flexibility it can be difficult for an org to define exactly how they should be used.  Since planning is critical, here are some tips which will have a positive impact on your collaborative environment.

Require Check Out

Use the Require Check Out option on your Document Libraries.  This is especially important in the Document Libraries where multiple people have permissions to modify the files.  Require Check Out forces users to Check Out any file before making changes and saving it back into the Document Library.   This prevents multiple authors from editing the document simultaneously.  There are times you may elect to disable Require Check Out – make that the exception and not the rule.  The entire concept of Check Out may be new for many users.  Before implementing anything related to Check Out, make sure users understand how (and what it means) to Check In, Check Out, and Discard Check Out. 

We're trying to focus on SharePoint, but know that Microsoft Office  introduces simultaneous document authoring or co-authoring – allowing multiple authors to edit the same document at the exact same moment.  Just because the technology is capable does not mean your users are ready.   

The View below displays four columns:

• Type (icon linked to document)
• Name (linked to document with edit menu)
• Modified
• Checked Out To

Document Library View

This View shows the Checked Out files in three ways:

• The icon changes to display a small green arrow indicating Check Out.
  
  
• When a user hovers over the icon, a dialog will appear showing the Document Name and Checked Out To.
  
  
• The Checked Out To column indicates the file is Checked Out by showing a user's name.
  
  It's useful to add the Checked Out By Column to the default View of the Document Library to make it clear who has the file checked out.  
  
  Ensure someone on the working team (other than IT) has the Permission to Override Check Out.   You don't want to bother the IT team with non-IT tasks just because someone forgets to Check In an Item before going on vacation!

Versioning

Use Document Version History capabilities.  It really is that simple: use Versioning. 

When using Versioning, only use Minor Versions when you have a need to hide Draft Versions.  Set version retention limits which strike a realistic balance between usefulness and the amount of available database space. 

Versioning

Views

Configure Views to help users quickly find what they are looking for regardless of the number of files contained in the Document Library. 

Create a Public View

Users should be trained to create and utilize Personal Views to maximize effectiveness of Lists and Libraries while minimizing user interface clutter.

Structure

Do not replicate your shared drive hierarchy in SharePoint.  SharePoint is more powerful than a drive share.  Do not configure SharePoint as you did with your file share just because that's the way things have "always been done."   Use SharePoint for more than just document storage.

Folders are safe and easy.  People understand using Folders.  The concept of using computerized folders to organize files logically has been used for more than 50 years.  Folders do have their place. 

Don't go crazy creating Folders. 

Folders can be used to control permissions on a group of Files contained within a Document Library, but use Folders sparingly.  Use metadata instead. 

Metadata can be used to group files together in Views.  This can give the appearance of Folders.  This is a powerful way to facilitate user adoption.  Using metadata instead of Folders is largely accepted as a best practice.

Finally, integrate your SharePoint metadata (Columns and Site Columns) directly into Microsoft Word 2007 or  using Quick Parts to link content from your document to SharePoint metadata. 

Content Types

A Content Type is a reusable collection of metadata, which SharePoint refers to as Columns.  A Content Type may have associated workflows, behaviors, and other settings for use as Items or documents in Lists or Document Libraries. Content Types provide a powerful centralized tool to manage the structure of information in a reusable way.

Use Content Types for commonly used information and file templates, and associate these Content Types with your Document Libraries.  Document-based Content Types allow you to upload and associate the template file into the Content Type. 

Associate Template with Content Type

When a user clicks the "New" button on the Library, they can choose the appropriate Content Type based upon the correct template. 

Create New Document

When a user starts a new document using the New Document button in a Document Library, that Document Library will be the default location when saving the document.  If a document is started directly in Word, the user will need to navigate to the appropriate Document Library using the Save As dialog.

Save to SharePoint Document Library directly from Word

Recycle Bin

Membership directors and executives at orgs often express concern about giving members and volunteers tools and permissions to work on content in a full collaborative model.  Distributed volunteers don't have access to the same training as staff, and they may not have a full understanding of the capabilities they have been given.  What if they change a document?  What if they delete something?

The SharePoint Recycle Bin is your safety net.  It catches the deleted documents, Items, Lists, Folders, and files.  When an authorized user elects to delete an Item, SharePoint prompts the user with a familiar message: "Are you sure?"

Confirm Delete

The SharePoint Recycle Bin has two stages, cleverly named Stage One and Stage Two.  Stage One is located at the Site (or Subsite) level and is accessible to users with Contribute, Design, or Full Control permissions.  The Stage Two Recycle Bin is at the Site Collection level (root) and is only available to Site Collection Administrators. 

How the Recycle Bin works

Deleted Items go to the Stage One Recycle Bin in the Site the Item was deleted.  After a pre-determined time period (default is 30 days), the Item is sent to the Stage Two Recycle Bin.  This second stage keeps the Item until the Stage Two Recycle Bin reaches its storage capacity limit, at which point the oldest Items are deleted. 

You can control how much disk space is available to the Stage Two Recycle Bin at the Web Application level (Central Administration Site).  The Recycle Bin storage space does not count toward the Site Quota (the allocated storage space).  The specified size does, in fact, increase the total size of the actual SQL Content Database for that Site.  It is considered a best practice to express this value as a percentage of the Site Quota allocated. 

Items cannot be restored over an existing Item with the same name.  This conflict is handled by Versioning.  The Recycle Bin does not store deleted Versions.  Items in the Stage Two Recycle Bin can only be restored by a Site Collection Administrator.  Turning off the Recycle Bin will permanently delete all Items it contains at the time.  Do not turn off the Recycle Bin without thoughtful consideration.  Better yet, do not turn off the Recycle Bin.

Restore from Stage One Recycle Bin

Items from either stage of the SharePoint Recycle Bin can easily be restored by authorized users.

Stage Two Recycle Bin

Site Usage

SharePoint can bring complete transparency to an org.  The auditing and reporting features in SharePoint provide various windows to see what's really happening in your org.  The Site Usage Reporting capabilities provide a way to review general web analytics information.  There are also Search Usage reports which show what users are looking for and clicking on as well as what they are looking for and not finding.

Site Usage Summary

Search Usage provides insights which are incredibly useful both inside and outside the org.  When designing the Information Architecture and related navigation, orgs put a great deal of effort in trying to determine what users will want when they come to the site.  The Search Usage reports show us exactly what the users are actually looking for.  Maybe even more important to an org is the Search Usage report showing what they are looking for and not finding.  

There could be hot new topics or key legislation which you don't have available on your website –maybe you should!  There could be a lot of searches for content which IS on your website, but users aren't finding due to terminology discrepancies. 

Search Usage reports are a great way to stay in touch with how people are actually using your site.  Don't just peruse the Search Usage reports - use this information to assist with the management of your site.  Give your members what they are looking for.

Search Usage Reports

SharePoint analytics are included, but you can also use third-party web analytics packages such as Google Analytics (which is free), Adobe Omniture, WebTrends, or any other package to provide additional capabilities to the reporting available with SharePoint. 

Audit Log Reports

Everyone loves reports.  What if you want reports which are more specific to content activities or information management?  Who is downloading, updating, or deleting a particular file?  Why did a document disappear and then reappear later?  Enter Custom Audit Log Reports.

Custom Audit Reports

Custom Audit Log Reports may be configured to analyze user behavior transparently.  These reports reveal what happened, when it happened, and who did it.  It's as if 'Big Brother' is watching... 

It's straight forward to set up a new report.  You specify what Library to save the report in, set the date range, set which specific users to watch (if necessary), and select the type of events you wish to monitor.  The one thing you really need to remember: you must enable auditing prior to using these types of reports.  If auditing is not enabled, you will not have the information to report against.  Custom Audit Log Reports are only available to authorized users.   

Configure Custom Audit Report

Your report will be generated and you can open it using Microsoft Excel.  Use Excel to slice, dice, chart, and present these reports the way you want.  This information helps with troubleshooting "mysterious" occurrences such as a user deleting a file and restoring it later.  You will have a report showing who did what, and when they did it.  This type of information is very helpful with keeping user confidence in the solution.

Information Management Policies

SharePoint Information Management Policies are used to automate who has access to content, what they can do with it, and what the content retention rules are.  Many orgs utilize Information Management Policies to ensure compliance with regulations, standards, and even internal processes. 

Orgs may have a need to keep copies of documents for seven years, or delete documents 24 months after creation.  SharePoint may be used to set up, enforce, and monitor policies to track documents, control access to documents, and control how long to retain these documents. 

Information Management Policies establish rules for the different types of content being used within your org.  These rules are called Policy Features.  You may create a Policy Template and associate it with an entire Site Collection, a specific Content Type, Document Library, or even a specific List.  You have the flexibility to control different types of content and at what level you wish to enforce this control. 

Summary

Continuity may be sustained with proper organization and minimal disruption.  Use the following concepts to ensure continuity and instill user confidence.

Don't settle for the default settings.  Configure Document Libraries to optimize organization and maximize findability.

Configure the two-stage Recycle Bin to optimize the balance between Item restoration timeframes and available hard drive space.

Use Site Usage Reports to review general web analytics information, and Custom Audit Reports for precise usage monitoring.

Use Information Management Policies for automating organizational policies such as content retention and records management.