eForms Checklist: Find the Right Automation Solution For Your Business

“Work faster.”

“Get everything right the first time.”

“Outperform our competitors with better service.”

In challenging economic times, these goals are imperative. Yet achieving all three simultaneously is improbable unless you have the right tools to assist you.

Fast, accurate, friendly service helps you to be viable and competitive. At the same time, being effective is vital to cost-efficiency and customer loyalty. Unfortunately, however, fast work often generates mistakes, while meticulous attention to detail slows progress. Whether you are investing in technology and growth or are focused on doing more with fewer resources, electronic forms (eForms) and intelligent automation can help you get ahead.

According to AIIM’s State of the ECM Industry 2010 report, 41% of businesses aren’t confident that their digital information (except emails) is accurate, accessible, and trustworthy — a severe obstacle to efficiency. Forms are a small part of the web of business information. Yet when content is captured accurately and managed properly, eForms address the challenges of accuracy, accessibility, and trustworthiness while transforming service, increasing profitability, and encouraging sustainability. How? By:

• Capturing data quickly, consistently, and cost-effectively. This eliminates the burdensome process of correcting incomplete or faulty information.
• Offering self service. This empowers customers to provide their own information, which increases accuracy and reduces operational expenses.
• Making information useful instantly, enterprise-wide — specifically, the content captured on forms. This accelerates service delivery and reduces costs.
• Helping you establish a framework for information governance by securing content appropriately at the point of capture.

eForms — particularly when you automate the processes that rely on them — let you gather, share, and act on relevant data quickly. Instant access to content that is collected according to your rules and presented consistently helps you work faster and smarter, enabling quicker turnaround (better service). However, just implementing eForms software doesn’t guarantee results. You must understand your business objectives and make sure the solution you choose will meet those needs.

Determining what you need

Businesses are steadily advancing toward fully automated business operations. When you’re ready, choose a quality solution with reliable features you will use rather than one with options you will never call upon. Demand solutions that will grow and adjust to your changing business requirements. Choose a solution that will adapt to your workers’ preferences rather than forcing them to make alterations according to the vendors’ rules.

This checklist will help you to develop a customized requirements list to ensure the forms software you choose will meet your unique needs.

Form Design

Useful forms begin with good design, so the design function of the software you select must be user friendly, flexible, and adaptable. Even if you implement eForms in a single department, examine your broader organizational needs so the product you choose will meet your requirements as the installation expands.

Will your solution let you:

___ Design custom forms, or will you be restricted to templates?

___ Add unlimited form components to the design canvas, with form length expanding according to your needs?

___ Align, match, select, delete, or erase form components during the design process?

___ Decide the order in which form-related actions will be completed?

___ Save unfinished forms designs so you can work on them later?

Also, are online user guides and helpful tool tips available to guide you through every step of the design process?

Applying Form Controls

Form controls help the designer to ensure standardized documents are filled out correctly and completely. Ideally, they enforce behind-the-scenes rules that are customizable to the user’s needs, dictating how each form should be completed and used.

Can you apply:

___ Form controls wherever you want them, so you can regulate how forms are completed?

___ Data entry controls for each of the fields you create, so you can ensure quality data input?

___ Validations that compare the data entered on a form with pre-specified criteria for each data field, so you improve data entry accuracy?

___ Data sources to the eForm, so data captured in pre-specified fields can be extracted from (or pushed to) other databases and applications, recycling information meaningfully and eliminating errors?

Data Management

Data — the specific fields of information that you collect on a form, such as name, contact information, dates, terms, and more — drives business processes forward, enabling smart and timely decision making.

Can you:

___ Apply validations that compare entered data on a form against specified criteria and alert users when entered data is invalid?

___ Extract pre-specified form data as variables within a business process, allowing specific content to be available without making entire forms visible to users? (This is essential if sensitive information is stored on the form, and some of the data needs to be processed by employees who shouldn’t see every detail.)

___ Configure your ECM system to store form data in a third-party database or other external location after a form has been completed or submitted?

Form Administration and Security

HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the Sarbanes Oxley Act, and other regulations and internal policies demand controlled access to sensitive information. eForms that are part of an integrated electronic document management (EDM) solution let you secure sensitive information while making sure those who need it have appropriate access.

Will your solution let you:

___ Assign forms to specific groups, controlling who can access, view, delete, annotate, or sign them?

___ Hide specific text on forms so only specified user groups can view it?

___ Configure actions that should occur whenever a specific type of form is submitted (send an email, launch a business process, send data from a form to another source, convert a form to PDF), based on the needs for that form?

___ Configure validation criteria and specific datasources for each form type?

___ Apply hot keys to certain actions as desired, to make work more efficient?

Form Use

End user needs vary greatly, and an eForms product should be adaptable enough to meet diverse requirements.

Will your forms product:

___ Convert forms to PDF when desired?

___ Provide helpful online user guides and tool tips to guide you through form completion and submission?

___ Apply drag-and-drop design components to assist end users in completing forms?

___ Index completed forms as PDFs, forms, or both, as desired?

___ Add a form (or its PDF) into a package of documents and send the complete package into a business process?

___ Search for completed forms?

___ Resize your windows and workspaces so you can work efficiently?

Launch a Business Process

Ultimately, you will most likely want eForms to launch routine business processes and exponentially increase efficiency. Will your solution:

___ Automatically launch a pre-specified business process when a form is submitted?

___ Amend/manage form data within a business process?

___ Make specific forms viewable at the correct time within a business process?

___ Use a submission to trigger an email message, accompanied by a link to the form?

___ Create drop-down menus to guide data entry and ensure relevant, accurate data is collected?

End the content chaos

As part of an integrated ECM solution, eForms help to keep content secure, organized, retrievable, and useful from the start. A convenient way for customers and staff to provide essential information, it also reduces staff demands by eliminating cumbersome manual entry from paper forms and the errors that result. eForms are a major step forward toward quality governance, effective knowledge sharing, efficient processing, and cost savings.

If you are already implementing EDM, eForms will help you to gain control over your content at the point of capture, where benefits are greatest. If you’re evaluating EDM for the first time, consider eForms and business process automation as part of your strategy from the beginning so you can extract the full value of digital information. Regardless of where you stand, understand your short- and longer term needs so that the technology you buy will support your unique goals. Make sure your vendor is as committed to your success as you are, since a strong partnership dramatically improves business outcomes.

Fast, accurate, and customer-friendly service is the aim of any business. eForms, EDM, and good planning can help you to achieve all three. Now…get started!

Optical Image Technology offers an integrated suite of imaging, document management, and workflow software, including document archiving, lifecycle management, electronic forms, and email management products. To learn more about our products and services visit our website at www.docfinity.com, email info@docfinity.com, or call us at 800-678-3241.

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