Electronic form applications vary widely regarding the organization of their supporting database. It is important to do your research on their data retrieval tools and their ease of use before you buy. To this point, an article in the November, December 2008 INFONOMICS magazine titled, Enterprise Content Management Forecast 2009, stated:

“In a recent AIIM survey, 40% of respondents said that finding the information they need to do their job is ‘difficult and time-consuming’. The same study asked users how many hours per week they typically spend looking for information. Among AIIM members, 28% reported spending two to four hours per week; 27% reported spending four to six hours per week; and 24 % reported spending eight or more hours-i.e. one full business day-per week, just looking for information. “

With eForm-Connect, the ability to quickly find needed information is easier than ever. eForm-Connect users avoid the hassle of navigating through the database in search of what they are looking for. Instead, a helpful organizational tool bar has been added to the application. Once logged in to the application, the user sees a list of recently completed forms as well as forms still in need of completion on the left hand side of their screen. With a quick drag and click, previously completed forms can be re-opened or new forms may be selected and opened.

Another excellent forms management tool included with every eForm-Connect package is called the Account Management Tool. This component of their Desktop Application Console allows the Forms Administrator to have full control over the forms. A few examples of forms management features available with the Account Management Tool include its ability to: Determine what forms the users have access to; Run reports on specified data; Map users to specific supervisors; Pull specific users or forms using a search engine tool; and much more.

With eForm-Connect, finding needed information about forms in progress is no longer a problem. Don’t waste time searching for data. Make your forms management job easier and save time with eForm-Connect!

A major concern of company executives and forms managers is security. The security requirements for electronic forms processing with or without signatures, is similar to the security requirements for online banking systems. To provide this enhanced on-line security, the latest forms processing applications utilize the following process. First, a user in need of completing a form will begin by entering the application via a web browser. Then by clicking on the new user option, the user enters their identifying information and their email address. The forms system will send an email confirmation to the user providing them with their new user name and password. This unique email identification is only sent to the user. When used, it indicates that the user is the correct person. With the login and password, the user can now log into the application, fill out the form, and is legally bound to the information to which they have provided.

If an additional level of security is desired, most systems may further provide the option to include test question authentication, such as requiring the user to enter their Mother’s maiden name, a birth city, favorite car, a key date, etc. Such questions can be asked at user login and/or when submitting their signature to further insure identity of the signer.  

How does OCR/ICR compare to an Electronic Forms Solution such as eForm-Connect?  Dictionary.com defines Optical Character Recognition (OCR) as “The process or technology of reading data in printed form by a device (optical character reader) that scans and identifies characters.”  Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) has all of the features of OCR, but is more advanced as it recognizes both printed form as well as hand writing.

Although OCR/ICR can be very useful in recognizing data from completed paper forms, electronic forms are more cost efficient and increase the speed of the workflow process much more than OCR/ICR capabilities.  OCR/ICR still need users to either manually fill out a form by hand or print the completed typed form and then be scanned for character recognition.  This process does not eliminate the massive amounts of paper  and although OCR/ICR may reduce time spent manually transferring the data into a database, one would still need to manually process the forms into the character recognition engine.

Electronic forms would eliminate both of these issues.  An electronic forms software offering such as eform-Connect allows users to simply go online, complete the form(s) including an electronic signature(s), submit the form(s) and the data is automatically stored in the database.  Electronic forms have additional features such as integration abilities with other databases, email and print capabilities, run reports on the data, and much more.

OCR/ICR software is less expensive than most electronic forms packages, but the return on investment is exceptionally higher with electronic forms.  Electronic forms can save an organization huge costs from the excessive amount of paper previously used as well as the administrative costs to employ staff to manage the forms processing.

How could you implement electronic forms in your organization?