Solution Templates: Build Once, Deploy Everywhere

Introduction: The Power—and Pain—of Replicable Solutions

Building business applications in SharePoint often involves crafting lists, forms, logic, branding, permissions, and automation. Ideally, once you design a process—like a help desk, leave request system, or project tracker—you’d want to reuse it without reinventing the wheel.

While SharePoint supports site templates, the default approach misses key customized elements like smart forms, actions, alerts, and automation. Moreover, the classic site templates are being phased, without a truly user-friendly replacement in sight. That’s where Infowise Ultimate Forms shines with its Template Manager, delivering a consistent, code-free solution for replicating business applications across site collections and even tenants.

SharePoint vs. Ultimate Forms Site Templates: What’s the Difference?

• Native SharePoint Templates: These support basic replication of lists, pages, and web parts—but do not include advanced configurations from Infowise (e.g., forms, alerts, custom logic).

• Ultimate Forms Enhancements:

  • Custom forms, columns, actions, alerts, print options, automation rules, signature columns—all preserved.

  • Ensures once you build your business logic, you can create a template out of it. Then you can deploy it to any tenant with a click, and never rebuild it again.

Key takeaway: With Ultimate Forms, site templates become intelligent, comprehensive solution cartridges—not just blank shells.

How It Works: Template Manager

If you're using SharePoint Online with Ultimate Forms installed:

1. Design Your Solution: Build your lists, forms, logic, views, alerts, roles—everything your business scenario requires.

2. Launch Template Manager: In the Ultimate Forms toolbar, open Template Manager. Create a new template, optionally choosing which components or lists to include. You can even filter to relevant areas of your solution.

3. Apply in Destination Site: Install the Ultimate Forms app on the destination site. Open Template Manager, enter your credentials, and apply the template. Templates work across site collections, tenants, even disconnected environments.

4. Monitor Progress: A detailed log appears on screen, and an email is sent when done. All your forms, logic, navigation, and automation are replicated. 

From blank to full-featured site in seconds—exactly as intended.

Benefits That Transform SharePoint Development

1. Efficiency & Time-Saving

Save hours (or even days!) by avoiding repetitive manual configurations. Deploy complex solutions with a few clicks. 

2. Consistency

Every deployment uses the same logic, form structure, and UX. Ideal for corporate-wide standards, policy-based dashboards, or replicated training environments.

3. Cross-Boundary Flexibility

Deploy between site collections, different tenants, or even between environments (QA, staging, production). Ultimate Templates will ensure that the list, column and component structure are identical between source and destination.

4. Detailed Reporting

Every template application generates visible progress and email reports—ensuring clarity and accountability. 

5. Pre-Built & Extensible Library

Need a jump start? Choose from a library of over 400 (and growing!) pre-built templates spanning project management, HR, quotes, training, and more. Modify as needed. 

Advanced Scenarios for Solution Templates

Multi-Department Deployments

Large organizations often struggle to maintain consistency across departments. One HR site might use a custom onboarding form, while another builds its own version with different logic and rules. With solution templates, leadership can ensure every department uses the same standardized process, dramatically reducing support overhead and ensuring compliance.

Client or Subsidiary Rollouts

Consultancies, agencies, or parent companies can build solutions once and roll them out across multiple clients or subsidiaries. This ensures every tenant benefits from the same high-quality solution while allowing for minor local adjustments. For example, a project tracker template can be distributed to multiple clients, ensuring a consistent dashboard and reporting experience.

Common Challenges and How Templates Solve Them

Challenge: Rebuilding Workflows from Scratch

Without templates, new sites require manually recreating forms, workflows, and automations. This increases time-to-deployment and often introduces errors.
Solution: Templates replicate every Infowise Ultimate Forms configuration—saving dozens of hours per rollout.

Challenge: Inconsistent User Experience

Different teams might design their own SharePoint sites with varying naming conventions, form layouts, and branding.
Solution: Templates enforce consistency across the organization, so employees experience the same UI, no matter the site.

Challenge: Limited IT Bandwidth

IT teams can’t manually configure every site request.
Solution: Power users or department admins can apply templates without IT intervention, empowering self-service while maintaining control.

Integration with Ultimate Forms Features

Solution templates aren’t just about duplication—they integrate seamlessly with all Ultimate Forms features:

• Dynamic Forms: Tabs, containers, rules, validation logic—all preserved in templates.

• Business Logic: Automated actions, scheduled jobs, and approval flows deploy exactly as configured.

• User Experience: Branding, themes, and navigation elements replicate, ensuring every site feels professional and on-brand.

• Security Settings: Permissions, field-level rules, and visibility logic are included, reducing the risk of misconfiguration.

Automation with Ultimate Forms Actions

Template Manager templates can be automatically applied to new sites created using the Create Site action. Create a brand new project site complete with advanced logic by simply adding a new item to the main Projects list. All the rest is taken care for you!

Use Cases: From Concept to Cross-Site Rollout

Best Practices for Template Management

• Use Naming Consistency: Uniform list and column names ensure smooth propagation.

• Modularize: Build templates for discrete use cases (e.g., form logic, branding, or automation) that can be combined.

• Secure Template Access: Define roles like ‘creator’ vs. ‘applier’ to control who can deploy templates.

• Test Before Production: Always trial new versions in test environments.

• Set Standards: Use templates to enforce standardized UX, compliance rules, or branding across the organization.

Template Distribution as a Strategy

Think of solution templates not just as a tool, but as part of a deployment strategy.

• Central Library: Maintain a catalog of tested templates for HR, finance, operations, project management, and more.

• Training & Adoption: Employees learn once and apply across different business functions.

• Rapid Innovation: Teams can experiment in sandbox sites, save successful designs as templates, and push them organization-wide.

This transforms SharePoint from a static repository into a living ecosystem of reusable, scalable business applications.

Future-Proofing with Templates

Business needs change—but rebuilding every site to keep up is unsustainable. With templates, organizations can:

• Iterate quickly: Update a master solution, save as a new versioned template, and redeploy.

• Scale seamlessly: Roll out to dozens or hundreds of sites without exponential IT effort.

• Stay competitive: Respond to regulatory changes, market shifts, or new business processes faster than ever before.

Summary: Template Manager is a Game-Changer

✔ Build once—you don’t rebuild again
✔ Deploy anywhere—across tenants and site collections
✔ Preserve form logic, navigation, automation, UI
✔ Accelerate productivity and ensure consistency

Ultimate Forms’ Template Manager transforms SharePoint from a collection of painstakingly hand-crafted sites to a true, repeatable business applications platform.