forms, email, Access - basics

[NetworkTrade]

Have read the info on this product but have never used it and still unclear
on some aspects. Here is the scenario:
Company has remote field people but NOT considering going into a web server
solution.

The field people have repeat common info to send into HQ; i.e. expense
reports, sales visit info....seems ideal for infopath forms. All field
people have Office2003 Professional on their laptops.

Can the field people complete the forms at their own laptop PC...and email
them into HQ?

If so, then what does one do to consolidate all those forms data into an
Access database? The db already exists - and so the forms would be designed
to conform with the existing Access tables.

Some say - just use excel to send in the data - which would work but I
believe infopath might be better....but the key is to be able to email it
into HQ and consolidate into Access.

Would very much like common sense advice on this...would not want to go in
the wrong direction...plus also can one find the 03 version? don't want to
force everyone into an 07 upgrade....

 

[Gavin McKay]

Hello,

There are a couple of different methods to achieve this, but the one you
desribe for users sending in their forms via Email is probably the simplest.

You could write a component that would "listen" to the mailbox that the
forms are going to and then process the Xml and put it in an Access database.
A small .NET application could do that quite simply. You could even kick
this off as a manual process once-a-day if you wanted to, or on some sort of
schedule.

I know Access is able to import Xml, but I have never used it. I'm an
(average coder at heart, so I always like "ulimate control" when
importing/exporting data.

I would recommend Infopath 2007 if you can get it. You don't need to
upgrade the whole of Office to get this from memory Infopath 2007 is a
stand-alone install so this could live happily with your Office 2003
Professional installation. I don't Office 2003 Professional included
Infopath 2003 so I'm assuming you don't already have it. Infopath 2007 has a
number of improvements over the original 2003 version which make it
worthwhile.

Yes, you could use Excel, but Infopath is definitely the preferred tool for
quickly creating forms that assist users to enter quality data, whereas Excel
is much more difficult to "lock down" so users can only enter certain content
i.e. in Excel you had to protect cells, worksheets, lookup areas, etc.

HTH

Gavin.

 

[NetworkTrade]

appreciate the advice.

the need for custom code to bring Infopath data into Access would prevent
selection of Infopath.

the import of an excel sheet (into Access) is just too easy to have to
consider custom code for any alternative...

am left a bit baffled with Infopath's role; form's management is a logical
need but in the end all the data has to end up in a database and so if it
doesn't go easily into Access then that seems contradictory.

On the otherhand most would go with a server based solution for forms. So
maybe Infopath's role in the future is diminishing anyways.....but for small
companies a web server solution is still a more costly
alternative......especially for field people w/ a laptop - they don't want to
burn online time filling in the blanks...they want to complete the form off
line and then just email it in....

 

[Gavin McKay]

Hello,

It really depends on what your requirements are. Using Infopath you can:

1. Streamline the data-entry process (locking down Excel is very painful for
data entry - see below)
2. Distribute new versions of the Infopath form via email and have them
automatically upgraded on the client
3. Benefit from Infopath data capture (image/document attachments, ink
recognition for tablets, good user interface for capturing data quickly)
4. Send and receive via Email
5. Receive data as Xml and import into Access or other systems
6. Encrypt sensitive data within the form
7. Quickly develop the user interface without a lot of backend coding

I tend to shy away from Excel just because of the sheer amount of work you
need to do just to "force" it to be a good system for entering data. For
example you might need to:

a) protect the document/sheet (so people can't add/delete columns which
would wreck your data import)
b) write VBA macro code
c) process CSV files and its associated issues (someone putting a comma into
a cell could ruin your import process)

What Infopath does (capture data and submit as Xml), it does well. But like
I said, it isn't for everyone - depends on what you want to do

HTH

Gavin.

 

[NetworkTrade]

You give all the good reasons that I was considering InfoPath; but your
original advice was that to move data from InfoPath into Access would require
special custom programming....although part of your advice just now is:
5. Receive data as Xml and import into Access or other systems

.....and this is part of the confusion I am having with vague or somewhat
conflicting claims...

with excel (presuming it is structured correctly); one can simply link to it
with Access and apply an Access query to append it to an existing table;
very straightforward and I would not consider it to be special custom
programming....

I don't know what the process is if the data were in InfoPath.

 

[Gavin McKay]

I have never imported any data via Access (hence my component about
programming), but the process seems pretty straight forward i.e. File menu,
Import, change file type to Xml, select file, click OK...

Perhaps you could create a "test" infopath form, fill it out, save it as
xml, and then try and import the data into Access using the File Import
mechanism? As this seems to be an important point for you, this would soon
tell you if it will work in your circumstances. Then you could decide
whether Infopath or Excel is a better option for you.

Gavin.

 

[NetworkTrade]

does InfoPath have an internal DB? is one of the benefits of InfoPath that it
will consolidate individual form data submited?

my question revolves around whether to bring into Access that one must bring
in form by form....or a single consolidated import from InfoPath's internal
DB....

the latter would be preferred.....

 

[Gavin McKay]

Infopath forms are "single instance" by default i.e. a user fills out one
form and submits. The data is stored internally in Xml, so there isn't an
internal database as in Access or SQL Server. You would need to bring the
data in form by form.

 

[Clay Fox]

Just to chime in here.

What you describe is a good fit for InfoPath however you have to interface
to the backend.

This could be an admin person who justs audits the form and sends the data
to the database.

I am not sure what the current process is but this is probably way better
and less time consuming then the current process.

Another option is put the submission burden on the laptop users. They save
their forms locally toill they are back online then they go through and do
the final submit.

Using offline network folders works well since the documents sync back
automatically and if you have customer data or other source data they can get
an updated copy to take back offline again.

Or you could make some batch process that will do the submit for you. I have
a tool which you can do bulk submit with and schedule this or give them one
click to upload their forms.

If you would like to see an example you can email me here.
http://www.infopathdev.com/members/clayfox.aspx

I know what it is like to be a small company but the beauty of InfoPath that
you can quickly and easily create a workflow and information gathering system
that rivals the big boys and its can be completely tailored to your operation.

I am sure that if you looked at all of the cost of your current process that
ROI would be good to have a standardized, electronic process.