Streamlining Data Collection and Management with Microsoft Lists

In today's fast-paced business environment, simple collaboration solutions and efficient data management is crucial for success. Microsoft Lists in Microsoft 365 / Office 365 offers a powerful solution to streamline your workflow, enhance collaboration, and improve productivity. In this blog post, we will explore how Microsoft Lists compares to other tools like Microsoft Forms, Power Automate, and SharePoint, and why it's a new option to be considered for creating simple business process automation solutions quickly and efficiently.

Microsoft Lists is a powerful tool for organizing, tracking, and managing information. It offers a user-friendly interface and integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 apps, making it ideal for collaboration. Microsoft Lists are incredibly versatile and can be tailored to fit a variety of use cases:

1. Job Candidate Tracking: Create a list and Kanban-style board view to track job candidates and their status in your identification and interview process visually, making it easy to see progress at a glance.
2. Event Planning: Use a list with a calendar view to organize and manage event dates, deadlines, and milestones, ensuring nothing is overlooked.
3. Work or Lab Requests: Implement a list with a grid view to manage and sort work requests or lab requests by priority, status, or assigned resource / team, helping streamline tracking and responses.
4. HR Onboarding: Create a list and a custom view to track new hire progress through various onboarding stages, ensuring all necessary steps are completed.
5. Asset Inventory Tracking: Utilize a gallery view to display item images and details, making it easier to manage and update asset inventory.

Key capabilities that Microsoft Lists provides:

• Integrated Forms Experience: Microsoft Lists includes a built-in forms experience that allows you to create and share forms directly within the Lists app. This eliminates the need to create separate forms in Microsoft Forms and then link them to SharePoint. The forms in Microsoft Lists can be customized to include only the necessary fields, making the data collection process more streamlined
• Direct Data Entry: With Microsoft Lists, the data collected through forms is automatically entered into the list without the need for additional steps. This removes the overhead of writing Power Automate flows to transfer data from Microsoft Forms to SharePoint lists. The data is immediately available for use, reducing the time and effort required to manage and process information
• Enhanced Customization: Microsoft Lists allows for extensive customization of forms, including the ability to add custom logos, themes, and user-friendly questions. You can also hide fields that are not required and add new fields directly within the form designer. This level of customization is not available in Microsoft Forms
• Multiple Forms for a Single List: You can create and manage multiple forms for the same list in Microsoft Lists. This is particularly useful for scenarios where different forms are needed for different purposes, but all data needs to be collected in a single list. For example, a business operations department can create separate forms for new employee arrival, departure and move forms in a single SharePoint list, which inherits the functionality of Microsoft Lists.

• User Information Collection: Microsoft Lists forms can automatically gather information about the form submitter, which can be useful for tracking and managing responses. This feature is not available in Microsoft Forms
• Integration with Teams: With Microsoft Lists, you can work together in real time with conversation and lists side by side. Track what matters most to your team using rules, reminders, and comments.

Microsoft Lists also offers several advanced features that enhance productivity and collaboration:

1. Customizable Views: You can view your data in various formats, such as calendar, grid, gallery, or custom views, to suit your needs.
2. Smart Rules and Alerts: Automate notifications and actions based on list changes to keep everyone in sync.
3. Templates and Customization: Start quickly with ready-made templates and customize them to fit your specific requirements.
4. Power Platform Integration: Use Power Apps to create custom forms and Power Automate to build workflows, enhancing the functionality of your lists.
5. Offline Access: By leveraging the Lists desktop app and the Microsoft Sync Client, access and edit your lists even when you’re offline, ensuring continuous productivity.

Achieving Everything via Microsoft Lists

Microsoft Lists can achieve many of the functionalities provided by Microsoft Forms, Power Automate, and SharePoint, often with greater efficiency:

• Data Collection: Just like Microsoft Forms, Microsoft Lists allows you to create forms for data collection. The forms can be shared via a link, and responses are automatically added to the list. This makes it easy to collect and manage data without needing to create separate forms and workflows.
• Automation: While Power Automate is still a powerful tool for creating complex workflows, many common automation tasks can be handled directly within Microsoft Lists. For example, you can set up rules to automatically send notifications or update list items based on certain conditions. This reduces the need for additional Power Automate flows.
• Data Management: Microsoft Lists provides robust data management capabilities, including the ability to create views, apply filters, and sort data. You can also use formatting options to highlight important information and make the list more visually appealing.

In summary, Microsoft Lists simplifies the process of data collection and management by integrating forms directly into the Lists app, reducing the need for separate tools and workflows. This not only saves time but also makes it easier to customize and manage your data.

Some online resources for Microsoft Lists:

• Lists Resource Center – http://aka.ms/MSLists
• Lists Adoption Center – http://aka.ms/ListsAdoption

If you have any questions or need any help, please contact Spyglass MTG to help or plan for your next steps in migrating away from the Microsoft Forms and associated Power Automate to simplify and streamline your processes.