Microsoft Infopath 2010 (1-User/2-PC Retail Box)
Manufacturer : MICROSOFT
Part No. : S27-03304
WEB ID.: CMSA6168

Microsoft InfoPath 2010: An Overview

Welcome to Microsoft® InfoPath® 2010, a forms-creation and data-gathering tool that

organizations can use to streamline business processes. InfoPath 2010 is designed for both advanced business users and IT pros and developers, depending on the type of forms-based solution a user or organization wants to create. Users of all levels, however, can fill out forms.

For Advanced Business Users

With InfoPath 2010, you can design sophisticated electronic forms to quickly and cost-effectively gather information required for an immediate business need. You can customize forms with features such as calculated fields, setting default values, conditional formatting, and ScreenTips, all without writing code. If your organization also uses Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, you can create these forms for information stored in SharePoint lists. Storing information in a shared location (such as a SharePoint list) makes it easy for team members to use the information,facilitating collaboration.

In addition, with improvements to the form-filling experience in InfoPath Filler and interoperability with other Microsoft Office 2010 applications, including Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft SharePoint® Workspace (formerly known as Microsoft Office Groove®), you can give users more options when filling out forms, including completion online, offline, and on mobile devices. You can also use InfoPath 2010 to customize document information panels in Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft PowerPoint®, and Microsoft Excel® applications to collect metadata about documents.

For IT Pros and Developers

InfoPath 2010 provides a complete environment for the design, development, deployment, hosting (together with SharePoint Server), collection, aggregation, and integration of electronic forms. Built from the ground up using World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XML recommendations, InfoPath is designed to work with your existing infrastructure and process management environment.

For advanced forms for departmental and enterprise business processes, you can create composite applications and workflow sequences with InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010—using little or no code. InfoPath 2010 can be fully integrated with SharePoint Server 2010. You can connect InfoPath forms with other data sources and line-of-business systems such as Microsoft SQL Server®, Oracle, and SAP using SharePoint Server 2010 Business Connectivity Services, Web services, and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and REST (representational state transfer) Web services. Your InfoPath solutions can also be portable using SharePoint Foundation 2010 solutions file (.wsp) and SharePoint site template (.stp) formats, so you can easily move the application from site to site and server to server. In addition, InfoPath now stores URLs as relative (instead of absolute) to enable portability. These are just a few examples of InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 capabilities to help you create powerful forms-driven business process automation solutions.

InfoPath in Action

InfoPath in Action sections in this guide illustrate fictional scenarios of InfoPath 2010 in everyday business use. The first InfoPath in Action shows how a marketing professional used InfoPath 2010 to create a professional-looking form to gather data for a partner event. The second InfoPath in Action illustrates how a developer created a help desk application for employees and IT support technicians to use.

Quickly Design Forms with Easy-to-Use Tools

InfoPath 2010 makes it easier than ever to design and deploy sophisticated forms quickly and efficiently. You can create specialized forms to support informal business processes using the familiar functionality of the Microsoft Office system, such as fonts, styles, spelling checker, table design, and clip art. The familiar tools and environment help minimize training time and speed forms creation.

The Ribbon, introduced in many 2007 Microsoft Office system applications, is included in InfoPath 2010. Based on extensive usability data and recent advancements in hardware and software, the Ribbon is designed to make it easier for you to find and use the full range of features in Office applications—and get the results you want faster. Instead of traditional menus and toolbars that might require several steps to complete a task, the Ribbon displays the commands in a tab structure, organized by tasks that are related to a certain activity. a