simultaneous users on an Access/InfoPath form

[orangeman2003]

Hello,

I am brand new to this forum so if I'm asking a repetitive question I'm sorry ahead of time. I am stuck on a form issue but it is more strategic than tactical at the moment. I want to design a form in InfoPath or Access that I can publish to SharePoint and have business users fill out, hitting a 'submit' button and then having that data stored in an Access DB. Seems simple enough but the problem is simultaneous users. I need to be able to have multiple users have the ability to fill out the form at the same time or my entire form automation effort is worthless. I'm pretty sure I read InfoPath cannot do on SharePoint but what about Access? Is there any workaround other than developing a large number of flat file DBs that I would have to email to each individual user to fill out? What is the best tool for my needs? Access, Adobe LiveCycle? How would I go about allowing a user to save their changes on a form prior to completing it? How would I configure access so that every time a change is made Access captures only that change as a new record.

Thanks,
Evan

[NTC]

Infopath traditionally was a vehicle suitable for an organization - where all users are internal & using outlook.... think Expense Report or Vacation schedule.... so that the data could flow direct from the infopath form into a database and not have to be re-keyed but also where all the end users did not have Access front ends - so that the email could be the data entry vehicle. I think of Infopath as an email vehicle that it was originally but it has probably evolved with the development of sharepoint and would refer you to a forum specifically for that product for better assistance.

If your users are internal, on the same LAN then it could be feasible to give them Access front ends perhaps and there will not be a problem with simultaneous activity.

If they are external - not on the same LAN or not part of your same company - then it needs to be web based. Access now does have web form capability though it is not as robust a development environment as ASP.net it may be adequate for your need. Then of course leaving the Microsoft family there is a bunch of web development environments all with their own fan base.......

[Dal Jeanis]

Is there a reason you can't store the data in a Sharepoint list and then use Access as an additional front end to process & report on the data? That appears to be the basic design philosophy behind Sharepoint/Access interfaces.