Introducing Microsoft Forms - A New App for your Business Process Toolbox
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The document introduces Microsoft Forms, a cloud-based tool for creating surveys, quizzes, and polls aimed at enhancing business process automation in Microsoft 365 environments. It outlines the various types of questions that can be employed, their functionalities, and the integration capabilities with other Microsoft products like SharePoint and PowerApps. Best practices and limitations of utilizing Microsoft Forms for data collection and process management are also discussed.
Introducing Microsoft Forms - A New App for your Business Process Toolbox
- 1. Introducing Microsoft Forms - A New App for your Business Process Toolbox Real-life scenarios that leverage Microsoft Forms for your business needs Haniel Croitoru March 29, 2018 #spfestdc
- 2. HANIEL CROITORU I’m passionate about process automation, and I work at . LEAD CONSULTANT | OFFICE 365 MVP | SPEAKER
- 3. OVERVIEW USING MICROSOFT FORMS MICROSOFT FORMS AND OFFICE 365 FORMS ALTERNATIVES BEST PRACTICES
- 4. FORMS A way of collecting information • For Business Process Automation • Starting point of many business processes • Provide input(s) into a process • May be used throughout a process • For Surveys • Collect structured and free-form feedback • Data collected is the process • For Quizzes • Assess user’s knowledge • Control tightly to ensure adequate and equal opportunities for all evaluees
- 5. WHY BOTHER WITH BPO??? Why do we need business process automation anyways? • Reduce wasted effort on repetitive tasks • Reduce risk of errors • Increase employee satisfaction
- 6. POWER USERS IN OFFICE 365 AND AZURE Several options today for creating business process solutions in the Microsoft Cloud
- 7. OVERVIEW USING MICROSOFT FORMS MICROSOFT FORMS AND OFFICE 365 FORMS ALTERNATIVES BEST PRACTICES
- 8. MICROSOFT FORMS Cloud-based survey, quiz, and poll solution • Originally created for the Education community to deliver online tests • Responsive, browser-based interface • Share within organization or publicly • Similar to other cloud-based solutions, the forms are automatically saved and available for sharing
- 9. QUESTION TYPES Cloud-based survey, quiz, and poll solution • 6 types of questions available • Forms can use many questions using a combination of question types available • Incorporate multimedia into questions (images, videos) • Survey can contain up to 100 questions and 5,000 responses per form
- 10. TEXT QUESTIONS Short and long free-form text questions • Lets user provide short (single line) or long (multi line) answers • Restrict the input type based on various validation rules for numbers
- 11. TEXT QUESTIONS Short and long free-form text questions • Points can be assigned to each question • Several correct answers can be defined (only one can be provided) • Mathematical formulas can be added for the questions
- 12. CHOICE QUESTIONS Single or Multiple choice answers • Choice questions can have single or multiple answers • Allow for “Other option” (for Surveys only) • Options can be shuffled
- 13. CHOICE QUESTIONS Single or Multiple choice answers • Allow for automatic rating of responses • Can include up to 60 options per Choice question
- 14. RATING QUESTIONS Great for surveying user feedback • Display rating as stars or numbers • Options for rating out of 5 or 10
- 15. DATE QUESTIONS Single or Multiple choice answers • Capture dates only • Year range is ±100 years from today (e.g.1918-2118)
- 16. RANKING QUESTIONS Sorting results by order • Ranking is established by dragging items up/down the list • Each ranking question can include up to 10 options
- 17. LIKERT QUESTIONS Sorting results by order • Matrix-like set of ranked questions • Up to 10 statements and 7 options per question
- 18. BRANCHING Leverage branching if you want the user to only answer relevant questions • Only supported for single option Choice questions
- 19. ADDITIONAL SETTINGS Control when surveys can be completed, by whom, and in what way • Determine if the survey/quiz will be anonymous or not and how often it can be completed • Set when users can submit their responses • User can get notified via email for each submission
- 20. ADMINISTRATION Control when surveys can be completed, by whom, and in what way • Determine whether users can send a Form or share a Form for collaboration, as a template, or view results with users outside of your organization
- 21. REPORTING Gathering and working with the results is the ultimate goals of the forms • Three options • Get immediate Results - Online • Export to Excel • Leverage Microsoft Flow to get results
- 22. OVERVIEW USING MICROSOFT FORMS MICROSOFT FORMS AND OFFICE 365 FORMS ALTERNATIVES BEST PRACTICES
- 23. WORKFLOW INTEGRATION Manipulate survey data as it’s submitted • Workflows can be initiated as soon as a form is submitted • Act on last submitted form or the entire set • For each form submission, each answer can be accessed separately
- 24. STORING FORM DATA IN SHAREPOINT Mapping responses from Forms to SharePoint field types Question Type Notes Limitations/Issues Text and Long Text • Those two question types work well in SharePoint, where information gets copied in the proper format. • However, Forms doesn't limit the length of a string in a standard text field. • If the text is longer than the maximum supported 256 characters, then the workflow will hang and eventually fail Ratings • Ratings are represented as numbers in Forms. • When stored in SharePoint, you can use either a text field or Number field to store the numeric value of the rating in it. Date • Date fields captured in Forms can be mapped directly to date fields within SharePoint without any issues. • Currently, there is no way to enter time in Forms. • So if you use a Date field and configure it to show Date and Time, the time will always be 12:00AM.
- 25. STORING FORM DATA IN SHAREPOINT Mapping responses from Forms to SharePoint field types Question Type Notes Limitations/Issues Choices (Single) • When you create a Single Choice question in Forms, the results need to be stored in a text field in SharePoint. • Trying to save the result in a Choice field (with the same options) will result in empty results. • Interestingly, if you were to try and convert the SharePoint text field to a choice field later on, it will actually recognize the values. Choices (Multiple) • With multiple choice questions you also need to store the results in a SharePoint text field. • Parsing of the results requires extra work Ranking • Ranking generates a JSON structure for all the results • Parsing of the results requires extra work Likert • Each Likert option generates a JSON structure for all the results • Parsing of the results requires extra work
- 26. FORMS IN MODERN SHAREPOINT SITES Surface forms and responses directly on your site • Generate a new Form or insert existing forms into your site • Existing Forms can be personal Forms, Forms shared by someone else, and Forms created in Teams
- 27. FORMS IN TEAMS Surface forms and responses directly on Team Channel • View Forms and responses directly from within Team Channels
- 28. FORMS IN TEAMS Surface forms and responses directly on Team Channel • Create/Edit/Respond to Survey • Form is created in Channel, not user account • For user, shows up under Recent Group Forms • Cannot create Likert Questions, but can fill them in
- 29. FORMS IN TEAMS Polls are 1-question mini-surveys • Create polls in one line directly from within Team Channels
- 30. OVERVIEW USING MICROSOFT FORMS MICROSOFT FORMS AND OFFICE 365 FORMS ALTERNATIVES BEST PRACTICES
- 31. SHAREPOINT FORMS AND SURVEYS Leveraging native SharePoint functionality • Supports multiple field types • Surveys support branching • Browser-based interface • Export results to Excel • Store data directly in SharePoint lists
- 32. FORMS FOR EXCEL Same Forms based functionality • Created via Excel Online in OneDrive for Business • Results are automatically stored in an Excel document in OneDrive for Business • Form shows up in Forms app
- 33. POWERAPPS Your optimal flexibility for forms in Office 365 • Highly customizable user interface • Mobile first design • Integrate with many types of data sources/destinations • Use PowerApps as default form for SharePoint lists
- 34. POWERAPPS Elevate your forms to the next level with rich content • Build PowerApps using web browser or dedicated app • Incorporate rich media, such as images, videos, various UI controls, charts, and more • Easily integrate with device hardware, such as camera and GPS
- 35. OFFICE 365 FORM OPTIONS Know when to use what SPO Forms Forms / Forms for Excel PowerApps Structure Multi-question Variety of question types Logic (e.g. branching) Default Answers Pre-load fields User Experience Browser support Dedicated Client App Responsive Customizable Design (OOTB) Anonymous Responses Responses Export Results Integrate with Flows Usage Cost Free Free Free Version* * Limited functionality. Enhanced functionality requires paid subscription
- 36. OVERVIEW USING MICROSOFT FORMS MICROSOFT FORMS AND OFFICE 365 FORMS ALTERNATIVES BEST PRACTICES
- 37. BEST PRACTICES Points to consider when using Forms • Limitations • If over 5,000 results expected, break into multiple surveys • Can be fed into same SharePoint list • Leverage for browser-only forms • For customization or branding beyond what is available OOTB, consider using alternative solution, such as PowerApps • Automation • Leverage Flow for maximum flexibility of managing responses • If you want to automatically capture results in Excel, there are two options • Create survey first in Forms for Excel (OneDrive for Business) • Setup a Flow to add results to Excel as they are submitted
- 38. SURVEY TIME! How did I do?
- 39. LEAD CONSULTANT | OFFICE 365 MVP | SPEAKER Thank You! Organizers, SponsorsandYouformaking thispossible. Let’s continue the conversation linkedin.com/in/hanielcroitoru @hcroitoru