8 reasons to add eForms to your capture strategy

Electronic forms are often overlooked when it comes to capture, as people think it’s easier to look at getting rid of file cabinets versus changing processes and adding technology. In my opinion, that is like treating the symptoms of the problem, rather than treating the problem itself. With that in mind, here are 8 reasons to add eForms to your capture strategy.

Thanks to John Mancini for this format.

1.       Reuse existing forms

Many eForm products allow you to reuse your existing PDF and word documents, rather than having to create them from scratch. This allows your users to feel immediately comfortable, and ensures continuity with the look and feel of your forms.

2.       Capture information

Paper forms are nothing more than data trapped on a physical page, and they require extensive labor to process and extract that information. With eForms, data can be exported as .CSV, .XML, and sent directly to databases as soon as they are created.

3.       Reuse data and eliminate manual data entry

If you already have data like customer information, or contact information in a system, most eForm packages will allow you to connect to databases like your CRM or HR system and reuse it. For example, if you are an employee renewing your insurance enrollment, by typing in your social security number you can complete all of the form data. Capture traditionally has been a manual process, requiring extensive labor to key in information, and scan paper. With electronic forms, all of these middle steps are eliminated, saving a great deal of time and money on processing.

Complete, sign, and automate with LincDoc for example

4.       Collect signatures

One of the main reasons people are reluctant to adopt electronic forms is the perception that electronic signatures aren’t valid. They’ve been legal for over a decade in the USA, and are widely accepted globally. (Source) Some of the common ways of collecting signatures on forms are through signature pads, using password challenges, and by signing directly on a touchscreen.

5.       Route and approve forms

Forms often kick off workflows and approval processes. Since eForms are captured electronically, sending e-mail notifications and handling approval processes digitally is a given. It’s much easier to track things in a workflow system, than trying to track down paper files and lost documents.

6.       Integrate with your other systems

Electronic forms are typically stored in formats like PDF or TIFF, giving you a digital copy of the form itself. The data from the form should also be available for you to integrate with other systems. If you are looking to add electronic forms in your organization, make sure that the software you choose has the ability to integrate seamlessly with your applications.

7.       Version Control

Version control on paper forms is a nightmare, and imprecise at best. With electronic forms, you can track who filled things out, know when they did it, and have a complete audit trail of all user activity, with line of sight into the business process. Customers regularly tell me this is one of their main headaches with paper forms.

8.       Provide access on mobile devices

The holy grail of electronic forms and mobile capture is not only eliminating paper, but being able to process information anywhere in the world. The best of breed applications support things like iPad applications, and let you access forms from any mobile device. If you are in the market, plan ahead and consider how your customers and team members use things like Blackberry’s and tablet PCs. 

Capture customers from hell

I've been reading a lot of the website Clients From Hell on my vacation, and it inspired me to share some of my personal horror stories. These are some of the most unreasonable requests I've ever heard. (Yes, these are all 100% true).

1. “We want to automatically capture things using a camera that does a 360' around the room, and sees all of the objects in it, then fills out some inventory forms for us. Don't tell me that technology doesn't exist, we saw it on TV.”
   
   
2. “Can the OCR engine also handle drawings? You know, when someone draws something in the margin. We want those automatically recognized.”
   
   

3. 

   "You can't be serious."

   “We want to ICR about 100,000 documents, but some of them are 75 years old on rice-paper, and in a language that that no one here speaks. You can handle that, right?”
   
   
4. “We want users to login using their hand print on their monitor. Our thought is they just place their hand on their screen, we scan it, and then they start their work.”
   
   
5. “Capturing data on an iPad is too expensive. Do you have any of that special paper that just sends what people write and captures all the information without any extra work? Manual labor is expensive.”
   
   
6. “Dan, we received the proposal for work. Can you recommend someone else who can handle the design, data entry and scanning with all of the quality, but at 20% of the price? Times are tough. Do you know any students or unemployed people?”
   
   
7. “This should be easy.”
   
   
8. “All you have to do is make the capture program output to all of our applications automatically. You can do that right?”

To avoid making similar gaffes, you can visit http://www.aiim.org/capture and learn from capture experts. So all you crazy people, what is the worst thing you've ever heard from a team member or customer?

Capture Forms on your iPad? As Steve Jobs Says, “BOOM!”

Hello fellow Apple lover! Tired of using your iPad for marathon session of Angry Birds and streaming Netflix? Are you ready to put it to work? The iPad is the perfect device to help eliminate paper, capture information, streamline your electronic forms, and look cool while doing it.

A few months ago, I was at the dentist for my regular checkup, and had to update some of my paperwork. After 15 minutes of painstakingly filling out paper forms, I handed back the clipboard to the office manager, who spent another 15 minutes sitting and typing my information back into their patient system. There is nothing like using a $5 clipboard to fill out forms before taking an X-Ray on a $95,000 machine. We've all been there right?

Now, look at your own organization and the capture scenarios you face. In terms of forms, how many could you replace with not only eForms, but with your iPad? They have Wi-Fi and 3g, weigh less than 2 pounds, and cost less than a laptop. For scenarios like patients or client intake, field reps, attorneys, or battlefield commanders, the iPad allows us to capture information and extend the functionality of this incredible device.

So based on my unpleasant experience, what we wanted to build was an application that guides a user through filling out forms and capturing data, integrates with a ton of different repositories and systems, collects payment and digital signatures, and “just works” so that anyone could use it. The result of this dream is called LincDoc mobile, and is available for free today in the app store. You can download it today for your iPad.  You can also check out Zosh.  

In the new reality when you walk into your doctor’s office, you are handed an iPad or walk to a kiosk, spend 2 minutes being walked through a dynamic eForm that captures all of your information and your signature, and then transmits the data to an EMR system, puts a copy of the form in your SharePoint repository, and e-mails you a PDF copy.  BOOM Indeed!

Mobile capture on your iPad is happening now, and it’s amazing.

The Art of Capture, Step 2: Convert from Paper to Electronic Forms

Part two in a series that examines the process of electronically capturing in Web-based forms the information trapped in today’s paper-based processes.

As Sun Tzu says, “Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose. By persistently hanging on the enemy's flank; we shall succeed in the long run in killing the commander-in-chief. This is called ability to accomplish a thing by sheer cunning.”

You gotta love Sun Tzu.

Capture warriors, today we flank the enemy, and in doing so, fundamentally alter the rules. If your problem right now is the paper capture, we turn the tide by eliminating paper capture entirely. That’s right. Entirely.

So here is the question: If your forms and documents start as electronic documents and eventually get scanned and archived, then why do you need to have a paper lifecycle for them? (If this just blew your mind, go ahead and take a minute.)

If your goal is to capture information rather than paper, your first step will need to be preparing your documents to convert them into electronic forms. Creating a fillable PDF or converting from paper forms to a Word document is really easy. Chances are, you already have your forms in these file formats anyways. This is how we change the fight, this is our “sheer cunning.”

Based on my experience with LincWare, here is what I recommend as a best practice:

1.       Avoid proprietary tools. Unless you loved getting locked into long-term agreements with vendors, you should focus on using your existing forms and programs. Make it work first using your existing tools and resources before assuming a new tool will make things easier.

2.       Take inventory. Look at what forms you have and note those that create the most headaches. Focus on those forms first.

3.       Analyze the form’s life-cycle. Currently, where is that information being captured? Are you scanning? Doing manual data entry? Do you need to collect payments or signatures?

4.       For a Word document, make sure that you have all the relevant fields that you want to collect and process. Focus on things that will become metadata; SharePoint content types, for example. When you are done, save the document as an .ODT or .DOC to ensure portability. The  formats of .DOCX from Office 2007 and 2010 are not universally supported. And, make sure you take into account pagination, so if someone enters a lot of text, the format stays consistent.

5.       For a PDF document, you will be limited to the actual document itself unless you are able to modify things. Most likely though, the PDF will be more aggressively locked down. Again, ensure that you have all the relevant fields. You can then save the document as a PDF-A if you prefer that format. A fillable PDF is only a partial solution, since you still need to access the data, and avoid manual data entry.

6.       Save all of your newly prepared forms in a secure, version controlled repository. We use a combination of our ECM system and a repository built into our eForms application that we access using a Subversion (SVN) client to manage check-in and out and all revisions. That way, if we need to make changes, we can easily update forms and maintain an audit trail.

Complete forms on your iPad with LincDoc

7.       Next steps: What do you plan to do with your newly built forms? I suggest over-taking the enemy. But that’s up to you.

Next week, we’ll talk about the different methods of capturing signatures electronically. One of the most common reasons I hear from people about sticking with paper is the FALSE assumption that a handwritten signature is required. (Man, that is getting to be a tired discussion.)

So AIIM community, how did you prepare your first eForms project? Did you blow millions on a proprietary product before realizing you could have done it using Open Office and a summer intern? Still trying to figure out how to transform paper into electronic?