Microsoft’s Information-Gathering Application
Scheduled to be available in mid-2003, Microsoft Office InfoPath is a new application in the Microsoft Office system that allows business users to streamline and control the gathering of information so it can be leveraged across business processes for maximum impact. Built from the ground up on industry-standard XML, InfoPath simplifies business process automation by allowing business decision-makers to define how they want information captured and entered, as well as how it will be used by back-end systems throughout the company.
InfoPath was created to provide users with an information-gathering solution that would enable them to accomplish the following:
-
Gather information efficiently and accurately
-
Manage information flexibly
-
Share information across business processes
-
Take advantage of existing IT investments and skills
Organizational processes:
InfoPath
allows IT professionals and developers to create rich dynamic forms that
aid information workers in capturing data across the organization, such as
forms for human resources, help-desk requests, sales-data collection,
procurement and inventory management.
Workgroup collaboration:
InfoPath
also can be used to enable workgroup collaboration between smaller groups
of information workers by allowing them to easily create and modify forms
such as status reports and team surveys.
Key Features:
Familiar Office-like environment for editing forms.
InfoPath provides a Microsoft Office-like environment in which users can fill out forms while the XML code is created behind the scenes. This allows users to work with structured documents without needing to know anything about XML.
WYSIWYG design mode:
The InfoPath
design mode makes it easy to customize existing forms or build a custom
form from scratch using customer-defined XML schemas. It provides a view
of the underlying XML schema, drag-and-drop insertion of controls, content
modelling and editing, data validation, an interactive preview so users
will know exactly how the form will behave and look when it is being
filled out, and a publishing wizard that simplifies form deployment.
Rich offline functionality:
InfoPath
is designed to allow users to save forms to their desktops and work
offline without any loss in functionality. Data validation rules, for
example, are built into the form so users working offline will be alerted
to potential errors in the same way as if they were working online.
Sample forms:
InfoPath provides 25 sample forms that are ready for immediate use or, in
the design mode, can be customized to suit a specific business need. In
addition, InfoPath provides sample forms and resources for developers and
demonstrates how to integrate the forms into various business processes.
Programmability:
For programmers who prefer to write and edit their
own script, InfoPath includes a script editor, object model, editing
controls and a clear text XML format for various form files, to aid
developers in designing views, adding custom scripting, controlling the
runtime behaviour, and integrating custom forms directly with a server or
Web service.
Availability
The public beta of the product will be available in March 2003; the final product will be available in mid-2003.