Why Word Forms Don't Really Work

OUR CLIENTS CURRENTLY DOWNLOAD WORD DOCS OFF THE INTERNET AND EMAIL THEM TO US.
What is the problem with doing this?

The main problem with working with forms in word documents is that you cant re-use the data you collect because it is locked into the form. Although the information is recorded digitally it is not in a format which will allow it be accessed programmatically without the effort of transposition.

Employees are then required to monitor what's in the form and then physically manage how the information is used. In many cases you have a situation where skilled staff spend a lot of time needlessly doing administration and use the computer to help them do 'the paperwork' rather than letting the computer do it for them.

With forms in word documents:

• The response to the user is not immediate.
• The user cannot track the progress of their forms.
• You cant do inline calculations.
• All parts of the form have to be sent. You can't selectively display parts of the form as determined by previous user inputs.
• Help to complete the form in a meaningful way is patchy.
• There's no input error checking.
• You can't ensure that the form is completed properly.
• Its difficult to search for information contained in form without repeatedly opening them.
• There's problem search for groups of documents which contain the same response.
• You can't easily generate reports out the documents.
• Invariably the forms have to be printed off.

CLEARLY THE ANSWER IS TO START COLLECTING THE INFORMATION PROPERLY USING ONLINE FORMS.

But HTML forms are time consuming to create and manage aren't they?

IT Form Developer uses a program to generate forms. This means that the form building process is faster (read cheaper) and more reliable than the usual method of coding the forms separately. Because our program includes a lot of extra functionality the forms which are created are already feature rich. We then customise the forms to meet your individual requirements.

We are working towards putting our form building software online so that you are able to modify your forms. Significantly the web application to do this is being built using IT Form Developer.

   IT Form Developer: Rapid form creation, data capture, information tracking & work process development.