Skip to main content

O365: Moving Stuff Around

O365: Moving Stuff Around



Earlier Posts have demonstrated how to make SharePoint data containers (Lists and Libraries), how to populate them and how to use the data across the business.

We've also touched on collecting data via mobile phone and tablet and how the data can be used both on site, at the computer desk, and off site via mobile or tablet. This is all the same live data with little duplication and only occasional need to synchronise between devices. 

That's fine for static or semi static data like contact names and addresses. These only change when something changes in the real world and the data need updating to reflect the new reality.

Dynamic Data


However, some data needs to change because it is by nature dynamic.

For instance, a sales query may become a quotation, and then an order and then a delivery note and then an invoice.
A telephone conversation with customer may become an email confirmation, which may become dormant. But, such leads should not be left dormant, they should be followed up in line with your sales policies. 

The first thing to decide about such data is what makes it dynamic. What event triggers a change that causes the data to be brought from the background to the foreground, what is it that makes this item change in priority?

This trigger is going to be different for each category of data, but common for each process. The data held does not necessarily need to be duplicated, just flagged for status and sometimes moved to a different data container.

 In a simple sales query to invoice scenario -
  1. A user takes a telephone enquiry from a new contact. The contact details are recorded in a SharePoint List along with details of the requirement and any offer made.
  2. The record is automatically flagged for follow up after a number of days. 
  3. The contact calls again and requests a quotation for supply. The details are already recorded and are available to anyone who has been granted access. The contact details are moved across to a SharePoint Library which generates a quotation from a template to include products or services, delivery dates and prices. This is sent to the contact.
  4. The quotation is stored in the SharePoint Library, flagged as a quotation and also flagged for follow up after a number of days.
  5. The contact becomes a customer by confirming the requirement and agreeing to the terms on the quotation. The item in the SharePoint Library now is flagged by the user as an Order, and if required, an order can be generated from a template.
  6. Details of the order can also now be automatically sent to production or supplier.
  7. When goods or services are delivered a delivery note can be raised, as can an invoice. 
  8. This all comes from the same data.

Workflow

Triggers to cause an event are specified in a workflow. These can be automatic, such as those triggered by the date, or scheduled, or by entry of an action date. Alternatively, triggers can be manual, when a user changes the content of a field.

Office 365 accommodates workflow requirement with Power Automate. This is simple to use and workflows can be based on templates, or designed by users from a blank 


or can be launched from any list or library


just by clicking on Automate in the top menu.



What it does

Power Automate enables you to copy or move data from SharePoint List to SharePoint Library, from List to List, from Library to Library. It can also move or copy the document in a Library to a different Library. Power Automat can also automatically fill SharePoint data fields by calculation.

  
We can show you how, or we can do it for you.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Acquiring Market Share. MD, MD, how does your business grow?

Gaining an increase in market share may become necessary for a number of reasons. You may need to shift focus from one product line to another in the face of a declining market, you may wish to expand to fend off a market place squeeze or you may just be growing towards your planned capacity. Whatever the reason, you will need to form an acquisition strategy. There are three ways to obtain an increase in market share – Earn it. Use competitive trading to buy it. Acquire a competitor. Each of the three approaches bring along its own strategy requirements and its own issues. Selecting the best approach depends entirely on circumstance. Outperform the competition. Earning market share by supplying a better product, better service, better support, better delivery is an honorable way of expanding a customer base. It is steady, progressive and undemanding in that production/purchasing is not subject to stresses caused by sudden up-shifts in supply/delivery. Even so, there are issues. Attaini...
Post a Comment
Read more

The New Computer Age: Office 365 Vs Google, Dropbox and Others

Differences in Software as a Service ( SaaS ) This is the 21st century, the New Computer Age. Cloud services and SaaS are available for all to use. Word on-line, Excel on-line and Power Point on-line are just such services. They are available to all who want them, they are free, if taken via One Drive Live, and they enable the creation, editing and viewing of Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PP presentations on ANY device that has a browser installed. This without any need to install software on the device used. The on-line software that is used to create the files is the same on-line software used to view them. There can be no incompatibilities and no missing fonts. Open Document Standards, to which these most office applications conform, requires that any document file should contain the properties of style, layout, font etc. These elements are the property of the document file and will travel with it wherever it is stored or sent. However, issues can still aris...
Post a Comment
Read more

O365: Mobile Apps - the easy way

 O365: Mobile Apps - the easy way See also -  Other Office 365 Posts Anyone following these posts will now know how easy it is to create data stores in SharePoint for documents and files and for listing data, such as customer details. We've also looked at making this data easily findable, how to flag items for the attention of individuals and teams within the Office 365domain and moving work through the system in a controlled manner. We've also seen how we can access this content when away from the office via mobile apps for Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. Occasionally the standard apps aren't really convenient and fail to lend themselves to mobile use. I'm thinking here of functions like stock lists, customer contact lists and the like, when the standard app delivers too much detail for a small screen, or where links and buttons are small and difficult to use. For these functions it would be better to deploy an app that is designed for fast, effective use on a mobile. ...
Post a Comment
Read more