Making Repeating Sections Work in SharePoint

Introduction

Many business processes demand the ability to capture multiple related records under a single item. Think of line-items on purchase orders, project tasks under a project, asset checklists, or onboarding steps for new employees. While native SharePoint forms don’t handle this elegantly, the Associated Items column in Ultimate Forms enables the same parent-child or repeating-section behaviour found in databases — directly inside SharePoint lists. With this tool you gain the power to create, view, edit, and summarise sets of related items (child items) from within the parent item form — making applications feel richer and more like business apps. 

Below we walk through how this works, and more importantly how it is used across real-life scenarios, from operations checklists to audit task management to multi-phase projects.

What the Associated Items Column Enables

Key capabilities of the Associated Items column include:

• Displaying a full-featured list of related items (child records) directly on the parent form so you don’t have to leave context.

• Allowing users to create new child items or edit existing ones right from the parent form, enabling a true repeating-section experience.

• Summarising related items with summary columns (count, sum, average), giving quick roll-up insights inside the parent item.

• Supporting both same-site and cross-site relationships, and integrating with workflows or actions to automate child-item creation.

In effect, the Associated Items column transforms a flat list into a mini-relational form, supporting richer data modelling without separate forms or portals.

Real-Life Business Scenarios

1. Purchase Requisitions with Line Items

A procurement department may need to capture a purchase request that includes multiple line, items: item description, quantity, cost, supplier, etc. With Associated Items, the parent “Purchase Request” form contains a section where users add each line item dynamically. You can then automatically summarise the total cost, count of items, or show cost by category automatically. The child items are created and managed in the same experience — boosting data integrity and user-experience.

2. Project Initiation with Task Lists

When starting a new project, you often have a set of recurring tasks or phases (site survey, design approval, vendor selection, kickoff). Using Associated Items, the “Project” item automatically spawns its associated “Project Tasks” list where tasks are created, tracked, edited — all accessible from the project form. You get a holistic view: the parent project, its tasks, statuses, summaries, all in one place. This aids in project tracking and dashboards.

3. Asset Inspections and Maintenance Logs

Imagine you manage equipment and need to track multiple inspections per asset. Using Associated Items, each asset record becomes the parent, and you add inspection logs as child items (date, inspector, findings, next due). Summary columns could show “Total Inspections”, “Next Due”, “Last Reviewed” — helpful for maintenance teams. It’s much easier than creating separate forms and linking them manually.

4. Onboarding & New Hire Checklists

HR processes frequently involve checklists: new hire forms, equipment assignments, orientation sessions. With Associated Items, each “New Hire” record can list child items for each onboarding task (create AD account, assign laptop, schedule training). HR and managers see progress, complete tasks, mark items done — all inside a unified experience.

5. Audit Program with Multiple Findings

In audit environments, an audit engagement may result in multiple findings, controls tested, remediation actions. Use the parent “Audit Engagement” item, and let child items represent findings or control issues. Summaries can show number of open findings, high‐risk findings count, overdue remediations. With Associated Items you have immediate drill-down and history.

Implementation – How to Set It Up

Here is a simplified implementation path:

1. Prepare Parent and Child Lists

   • Create the parent list (e.g., Purchase Requests) with required columns.

   • Create the child list (e.g., Line Items) and include a lookup to Purchase Requests or out Associated Item content type.

2. Add the Associated Items Column

   • Click on Design in Purchase Requests list command bar to enter Ultimate Forms

   • Add a new column of type Associated Items.

   • Configure: choose child list, set view of related items, enable in-form editing of child items, enable summary columns if needed.

3. Configure Views & Summaries

   • Decide which columns of the child list should appear in the parent form.

   • Add summary columns to parent list if you need roll-up metrics (e.g., sum of child item values).

4. Auto-Generation of Child Items (Optional)

   • If your process always requires a set of child items when parent is created (e.g., onboarding steps), use the “Generate Associated Items” action or "Create associated item" button.

   • For example, add a Create list items Action to be triggered on parent creation to generate children, set default values, assign tasks, etc.

5. Use in Forms and Dashboards

   • In your Form Designer, adjust layout so the child items section appears neatly (tab, accordion, container).

   • In list views or dashboards you can show parent items plus summary columns, providing high-level visibility without drilling in. You can also click to view child items related to the parent, directly from the parent list view.

6. Governance and Performance

   • Monitor child-item volumes; large numbers of child items per parent can impact performance. Use filtered views or pagination.

   • Document your relationships and summarisation logic so future admins maintain clarity.

Best Practices & Things to Watch

• Use clear naming for lists and relationships so users understand “related items”.

• Design the child list schema with the end-user in mind — what columns matter, what summary should roll up.

• If children are large in number, consider batch operations, bulk edit capabilities, and summarisation to keep parent forms light.

• When using auto-generation of child items, include a way to skip or remove items if they’re not relevant — don’t force unused entries.

• Maintain consistent permissions: Parent → Child relationship should respect security boundaries (e.g., only assigned users see relevant items).

• Combine with Actions: child item changes can trigger parent status updates, alerts or notifications — thereby closing the loop in your process.

Benefits in Practice

By implementing the Associated Items column, organisations gain:

• A unified user experience where you manage parent and children in one form.

• Better data structure — avoiding disconnected lists or ad-hoc attachments.

• Visibility and roll-up analytics — since child items feed into parent summaries.

• Efficiency — fewer clicks, fewer manual links, less chance of orphaned data.

• Scalability — enabling more complex parent-child constructs without building custom applications.

The feature has matured and been proven across industries — you’ll find it in procurement, operations, HR, project management, audits and more.

Summary

The Associated Items column in Ultimate Forms is not a gimmick. It’s a cornerstone tool to bring parent-child data modelling, repeating-section behaviour and rich interactivity inside SharePoint lists. Don’t think of it just as a “nice-to-have feature” but as a design paradigm shift: one list becomes a full application shell, with rich, related details, roll-ups and interaction. Use the steps, scenarios and best practices above to model your next business process with confidence and no custom code required.