Steve Ayres, Systems and Data Consultant at The University of Manchester Innovation Factory, shares his experience using Plumsail public forms and SharePoint Forms to improve the organisation's internal processes.
The University of Manchester Innovation Factory tested several tools, but none could meet all requirements. One of the key challenges was finding a single solution that supported both customized SharePoint list forms and external public forms with the needed integration and security. This case study shows how the team addressed this problem using Plumsail Forms to unify their internal and external forms.
In this article:
In addition to the article, watch the interview with Steve Ayres from The University of Manchester Innovation Factory on our YouTube channel:
The University of Manchester Innovation Factory, a wholly owned subsidiary of The University of Manchester in the UK, is dedicated to translating groundbreaking research from the lab into the real world.
The Innovation Factory commercializes intellectual property through licensing, creating spinout companies, forming strategic partnerships, and helping academics and students turn discoveries into valuable products. Currently, its portfolio includes over 100 active companies, with £158 million invested in the last three years and a combined economic value of more than £600 million since 2004.
Before using Plumsail Forms, different tools were tested, but none could meet all requirements. The biggest challenge was the absence of a single tool that could cover all the requirements from different teams, including security requirements, SharePoint integration, and external sharing. Each team used their own solution, which caused a great deal of confusion and inconsistency in user experience, management, and system standardization.
Colleagues knew they wanted more from a form/automation solution and that efficiency gains were possible, but were quickly hitting limitations with the platforms like MS Forms.
Platforms that offer both public and internal form solutions for SharePoint within a single product are rare.
We chose Plumsail Forms for its simplicity yet powerful capabilities. The key factor was the combination of internal and public forms, as well as the ability to go way beyond basic forms and create secure, custom apps within SharePoint.
Deep integration: We use Plumsail Forms for SharePoint when we need a high level of integration with SharePoint: lookups across lists, access to the Graph API, multi-level approval flows, etc. We integrate Plumsail forms as a trigger for a broader process, which is often run via MS Azure Logic App or MS Azure Function.
External sharing: We use Plumsail public forms to collect data from external users, such as academics, consultants, and partners. The forms are integrated with SharePoint lists and libraries.
High level of customization: We extensively use JavaScript and CSS to customize forms and extend its functionality.
Security and compliance: Plumsail Forms passed security and compliance reviews by the Information Services, data governance, and university IT teams.
Plumsail Forms is the perfect combination of customization without being too big, too scary, or too difficult to manage.
One of the systems we've built with Plumsail Forms was a Purchase Order system.
The nature of our business requires us to work a lot with external consultants and do a lot of patent work, not to mention general office purchases. All of that is tracked and managed through a Purchase Order system. Our 15-year-old SharePoint PO system was creaking under the load.
It would have taken months with Power Apps to build something similar. With Plumsail Forms it took us about four weeks to go from the idea to a working solution
Purchase Order form
The form is integrated with Power Automate, and the whole order process is multi-stage, with approvals built in, and is quite complicated and complex.
Purchase Order workflow in Power Automate
For external sharing forms, to collect data from academics or consultants, we use public forms that are integrated with SharePoint.
Founders Questionnaire form
On the form, we ask the user to answer three security questions; each question is selected from a drop-down, and the user adds the answer into a text field. For each, they can choose from a selection of about 10 predefined questions in the drop-down. We use JavaScript to remove the already chosen questions from the second and third drop-down boxes.
Founders Questionnaire form — Security Questions
We use Plumsail Forms increasingly now, there are several reasons for that:
Unified Platform: We have one tool for external and SharePoint forms, which eases maintenance and support.
Consistent UX: All forms have a unified style and logic; it all looks like one whole system now.
Rapid Development: Plumsail Forms is a contained solution that allows us to go from idea to production-ready solution under tight deadlines.
Extended Functionality: We use JavaScript, integration with the Graph API, and Power Automate to build complex workflows. Essentially, we can do whatever we want on the back end.
Plumsail Forms addresses all the challenges we had before, and we now have one tool we can stick with for the long term.
Inspired by this case study? Start building secure, flexible forms with Plumsail today — with a free public forms plan or a 30-day SharePoint trial.
For a complete solution, a bundle featuring both Plumsail Public Web Forms and SharePoint Forms is available directly through Microsoft Marketplace.
If you have any questions, feel free to book a quick call with our team or contact Plumsail support.
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