Electronic Forms

[Max Wyss <prodok -at- prodok -dot- ch>]

Suzanne,

As platform for the forms I would strongly recommend PDF. This gives you
the most possibilities desing-wise and security-wise. PDF allows to set up
complete workflows, using digital signatures.

Now, for designing the forms, you have several possibilities. Which one is
the most suitable for you depends on the number of forms, the complexity,
the distribution channel, the total forms workflow (creating, distributing,
receiving, reading in, processing, archiving), and -- of course -- the
budget.

For _creating_ PDF forms, I can see the following workflows/toolsets:

* Cardiff Software (they have an extensive set of tools for designing,
distributing, reading-in, processing and archiving the forms). I have seen
their product, and it is very convincing, as it is able to bring quite a
bit of basic "intelligence" into the form without any post-processing in
Acrobat. Highly recommendable, and IMHO worth its price. The same designer
allows to design web based forms, as well as the GOP (good ol' paper)
versions.

* PageMaker + PageForm plug-in (another combo which does pre-define the
form fields in the source document and reduce the workload in Acrobat
itself). The PageForm plug-in is made by Mapsoft (http://www.mapsoft.com).

* InDesign + InForm plug-in (similar to the one above, but based on
InDesign as layout tool -- with its superior handling of text and almost
everything). The InForm plug-in is made by Mapsoft too.

* Framemaker + Component database toolkit (allows structured approach to
forms design). Framemaker has its enormous strengths in structured
documents. So, if you have many forms with a modular set-up, it is possible
to put together a master document toolkit containing all the predefined
form modules, including the definition for the form fields. Using this
toolkit to actually generate the forms then becomes very efficient, and it
allows to add specific customized "intelligence" to the fields as well.

* Any forms generating tool having decent PDF output. They say that
Jetforms is among them, but it seems more that Jetforms is an insular
solution, and a business partner of mine who used to be a real fan of
JetForms is now phasing it out in favour of PDF base.

* Any forms generating tool allowing placement of EPS files, or having a
PostScript frame + Component database toolkit (similar to the Framemaker
solution, but would not allow a structured approach). You would put
together your forms in the forms generating tool and have the fields
predefined.

* Any forms generating tool + Acrobat (lowest end). Here you create the
form, and bring it to PDF (via Acrobat Distiller), and add the fields in
Acrobat. You can create "toolkits" where you have defined the fields and
copy them to the appropriate locations on the form.

Note: Unless, it is for a quick and dirty prototype, scanning existing
forms and slapping some fields on it is not a solution, and such a workflow
should be forgotten faster than it came up because it produces too big
documents, and their printing quality is way below usable.

Among the other products/bases you ask: here is no Microsoft tool for
prime-time-ready forms management.

If it gets really serious, you might also look around at the BFMA (Business
Forms Management Association) website (http://www.bfma.org), and have a
look at their mailing list.

Hope, this can help.


Max Wyss
PRODOK Engineering
Low Paper workflows, Smart documents, PDF forms
CH-8906 Bonstetten, Switzerland

Fax:  +41 1 700 20 37
e-mail:  mailto:prodok -at- prodok -dot- ch
http://www.prodok.ch



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We are in the process of making most of our company forms available on our
Intranet. Most of these forms have multiple pages and some have links to
other forms (that also have to be filled in). We would like the forms to be
fillable and to have a Send button.

I've been considering doing the forms in VB, FrontPage or perhaps PDF. Are
there any recommendations?