Chapter 4: Investigating InfoPath Forms Services

In This Chapter

Understanding InfoPath Forms Services

Configuring InfoPath Forms Services

Deploying and managing form templates

Paper forms are everywhere! You’d be hard-pressed to find a process or even an activity these days that doesn’t require the completion of a form of some kind. For example, in today’s litigious society, if your child happens to scrape his or her knee on the playground, most establishments provide you with a detailed report — which you must sign — of the event, along with how your child was comforted.

One of the biggest advantages of paper forms is that you can collect a physical signature on the form. Conversely, when it comes to electronic forms, the collection, authorization, and verification of signatures has been a big obstacle — ensuring the validity of an electronic signature requires interoperability from both a technical, organizational, and legal perspective. Fortunately, with the advances in digital signature technology, electronic forms are becoming broadly accepted, both from a legal and usage perspective.

In the modern world, people (and organizations) are becoming more environmentally friendly and aware. Large corporations and government entities are taking stock of the environmental impacts their products and processes have, and they’re making the appropriate changes. A common goal for these environmentally friendly organizations is to reduce the number of paper documents and forms that those ...

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