H
Henry Clifford
I'm hoping to get some recommendations for basic approaches (as well
as tutorials or books) that would be helpful in completing the task of
developing electronic equivalents for our business forms: Packing
List, Letter, Purchase Order, FAX Form and an
Expense Report.
There are a maximum number of 35 potential users with about a 50-50
mix of Office 2000 and Office XP versions. It would be rare that
anyone would need to generate more than 4 forms in a day. The average
employee might generate 12 forms in a year. Nonetheless, we want to
maintain a consistent look as well as minimizing the time spent
creating such forms. We will be migrating from a UNIX-PC network to a
MS SBS 2003 system within the next 30 days.
Up to now, there have been WP templates used. Most people have been
opening an existing form and using the Save As command once the
required changes are made. With WP 5.1, the template approach using
fields, bookmarks et. al. seemed necessary. With a GUI, its possible
and perhaps acceptable to edit 'as-you-go'. E.g., it can be desirable
to be able to enter a part number before you know the name of a
salesperson.
My impressions thus far are that there are several ways to skin this
cat...
One approach would be to save an acceptable .doc to a .dot and
distribute accordingly. Then open a new doc based on the .dot. Another
approach might involve (or require) using the address book or VBA to
auto fill various sections of the forms. Since I'm clueless how to
develop such a form, evaluating various potential methods is
impossible. I do have some programming experience.
What solution do you see as most appropriate?
Advance thanks,
Henry C
as tutorials or books) that would be helpful in completing the task of
developing electronic equivalents for our business forms: Packing
List, Letter, Purchase Order, FAX Form and an
Expense Report.
There are a maximum number of 35 potential users with about a 50-50
mix of Office 2000 and Office XP versions. It would be rare that
anyone would need to generate more than 4 forms in a day. The average
employee might generate 12 forms in a year. Nonetheless, we want to
maintain a consistent look as well as minimizing the time spent
creating such forms. We will be migrating from a UNIX-PC network to a
MS SBS 2003 system within the next 30 days.
Up to now, there have been WP templates used. Most people have been
opening an existing form and using the Save As command once the
required changes are made. With WP 5.1, the template approach using
fields, bookmarks et. al. seemed necessary. With a GUI, its possible
and perhaps acceptable to edit 'as-you-go'. E.g., it can be desirable
to be able to enter a part number before you know the name of a
salesperson.
My impressions thus far are that there are several ways to skin this
cat...
One approach would be to save an acceptable .doc to a .dot and
distribute accordingly. Then open a new doc based on the .dot. Another
approach might involve (or require) using the address book or VBA to
auto fill various sections of the forms. Since I'm clueless how to
develop such a form, evaluating various potential methods is
impossible. I do have some programming experience.
What solution do you see as most appropriate?
Advance thanks,
Henry C