Manufacturers use them to order materials and register
customers. E-commerce companies use them for stock ordering,
product returns and customer relations. Financial institutions
employ them in the management of customer accounts, mortgage
applications and to perform a swathe of other
transactions.All industries make use of some variety of
form.
Most companies and institutions are admin driven and require
forms to be submitted, processed and of course acted on. And
because all these organisations are so dependent on forms, it is
unsurprising that so many are now seeking to escape from the
tyranny of paper formats - which I think we all agree are
unreliable, time consuming to process and painstaking to amend.
Electronic forms
The transition from paper to electronic forms must be seen as a
given. Considerably faster and easier to process, electronic forms
are more intuitive; they reduce labour costs and improve
reliability and precision.
Electronic form solutions enable companies to collect data from
customers, store it electronically and then process it with
automated systems. This enables those responsible to edit data more
easily, and to maintain customised processes locally or across the
entire enterprise.
Electronic forms can’t do anything about antiquated business
rules. But they provide a more accurate, intuitive replacement for
paper forms than standard HTML forms or cold data entry screens.
Organisations looking to streamline form processes should consider
a total solution that can effortlessly manage the creation and
storage of both electronic and paper forms.
Using XML-based forms to make it easier for your people to
gather, store and share information is currently the optimum
solution. XML-enabled forms simplify business process automation by
enabling organisations to define how they want information captured
and entered through rich forms they create and also to decide how
the information is used by back-end systems throughout the
organisation.
With XML-enabled forms, workers can group, sort and track data
from a large number of forms without having to open each one. This
makes information gathering and sharing in a shared workspace
easier and more efficient.
The Microsoft solution
Using InfoPath™ 2003 enables the creation of rich, dynamic forms
that company teams can use to gather, share, reuse and manage
information.
Entering the data electronically means no repetitious,
ineffective and tedious data entry, freeing time to do more
interesting and important work. Validation - with lookups and pick
lists in the forms - means that the data is consistent and
accurate. Data captured in forms is stored as XML, making it easy
to integrate with other systems.
InfoPath integrates with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint™
Services to provide a quick and easy way for teams to collaborate
using Windows SharePoint Services form libraries.
The server-based deployment model makes InfoPath forms available
to everyone in your organisation - and built-in version control
detects when the solution has been updated so that users always
have the most up-to-date forms.
Case study
"This whole process meant we took a much deeper look, and
questioned the way we operate. As a result, the department runs
much more smoothly and is more strongly unified."
Sharon Adkin, Project Manager, Department for Education and
Skills
Click here to learn how the DfES implemented an innovative solution
to centralise and streamline its booking and logistical
activities