How do Electronic Forms work?
We have touched on the topic of Electronic forms or “eForms” in one of our previous blog posts. We talked about what they are, how they can benefit you and what they can be used for.
However, you may still be unsure about how exactly electronic forms work, how you can use and implement them for your business and workflow processes.
How do Electronic Forms work?
Creator
Electronic forms are a very simple and user-friendly way to create, complete and process forms needed by a business.
Electronic forms allow the creator to compile a draft form in almost any word editor, with all the necessary field options that they require the filler to enter. This can be a simple field option, like their name and surname, a date field or a field for comments.
Once the draft has been completed, you can simply save it as a PDF, and upload it into your electronic form software (a single draft can be used multiple times, which can save you quite a bit of extra time).
With the draft in your eForm software, you can now start building your electronic form, adding the necessary field types to your document. When that is done, you can add recipients for the form, and send it out to be completed.
Another added benefit of electronic forms, is that they are embedded with time and date stamps for each part of their active workflow, to ensure they can be audited and remain untampered.
Submitter
The submitter will receive an email or link that contains the electronic form. They can then complete all the necessary fields, either on their computer or even using their mobile device.
When they are done, and the document is complete, it will then move to the next person in the workflow, or be returned to the creator for processing.
Processing
Processing electronic forms are far simpler than the standard paper-based methods. When the document is complete and returned to the creator, it is stored in a secure database, and contains all the embedded information, from each step of the workflow.
Since fields and field types are predetermined, and the document cannot be submitted without completing the necessary fields, there is less room for error. Making reviewing the document less time consuming and more accurate.
While the electronic forms are stored in a secure database, with the embedded time and date stamps for each step, this also ensures the validity of the form can remain intact for a longer period of time.
Conclusion
Electronic Forms are a very simple and user-friendly way of getting forms sent, completed, returned and processed digitally. They can save you quite an abundance in time, money and even effort, with less chance of errors, redos and incorrect filing. With electronic forms you can also track the date and time for each step of the workflow, to ensure nothing was missed and allow for thorough auditing when needed.