And the winner is…
The InfoPath Solution Video Contest is over! We assembled the team last Friday, and screened the final submissions, debated, re-watched, debated, re-screened again, and finally voted to determine the winners.
The Contestants
Before we announce the winners, let’s review the contestants. At final count at the close of the contest (midnight on March 1st ), we had received three submissions:
(1) Leave Request form
Author: Clayton Cobb
Company: Planet Technologies
Clay’s solution allows members of his “company” (including his 3 year old son!) to submit a request for time off. Employee information, including vacation balances, are stored in a SQL server database, which is modelled in Business Connectivity Services and exposed on SharePoint as an External List. Clay used an InfoPath Form Library form, which queries data from the external list using a SharePoint List data connection. A SharePoint workflow routes approval and other notifications via e-mail, and then updates the External list with a new vacation balance once the request is approved.
Click the image to view Clay’s submission
(2) Elle Knowledge Management
Author: Eric Raarup
Company: Inetium
Elle is a knowledge management solution which uses a cool Silverlight interface to knit together a complex solution involving projects in Dynamics CRM and employees in Dynamics GP, exposed in SharePoint using Business Connectivity Services, with InfoPath forms for data input.
Click to view the Inetium submission:
(3) Grant Proposal
Author: Estyn Edwards
Company: Iomer Internet Solutions
Estyn’s submission is a prototype created for a client of the Edmonton-based Iomer solutions. The grant proposal system features a multi-view InfoPath form, and a Word document which uses content controls to populate a custom XML document in an OpenXML file. The Word document allows users to author large amounts of rich content, including ad-hoc commenting and change tracking. At the end of the process, custom code in SharePoint shreds the XML out of the Word document and injects the content into the InfoPath form for final verification and printing.
Click below to view Estyn’s submission:
The Winners!
After several viewings and a lively discussion, 17 InfoPath team members voted on the three submissions to determine the final prizes. There were passionate proponents of each of the submitted videos. When the votes were tallied up, the standings were as follows:
Overall Best Solution
Eric Raarup of Inetium takes the top prize and walks away with the Xbox 360 Elite! The slick presentation of the video, the impressive solution to the knowledge-mining problem, and the clean integration of a bewildering array of Microsoft technologies makes Inetium the clear winner here.
Best use of InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint 2010 features
Clayton Cobb of Planet Technologies takes this prize for his clever integration of external lists with SharePoint workflow and InfoPath forms. Because Clay was the runner-up in two categories, he takes his choice of either an InfoPath-branded North Face jacket, or a Zune HD.
Most Elegant Solution Design
Estyn Edwards takes this prize for his attractive InfoPath forms and the innovative use of Word to enable collaborative authoring of a large volume of rich text. Estyn will have second choice of either the InfoPath-branded North Face jacket or the Zune HD.
Thanks to our three participants, and congratulations!
For those of you who did not submit a video for the contest, we’re still interested in seeing the great solutions you build using InfoPath and SharePoint 2010. Post your videos on any public video hosting site, and send a pointer to the e-mail address listed in the official contest rules. The best videos will be showcased in this blog.
-Nick Dallett
Program Manager Lead
Microsoft InfoPath