There are a variety of ways to identify a form, both electronically and physically. At a minimum, a form should have a unique and non-changing literature number.

Literature Number

QUIK! TIP: Include a unique literature number that never changes on every form.

Purpose

The purpose of a literature number is to ensure that the form can be uniquely identified amongst a form author’s entire set of forms. The literature number is unique and should NOT change over time. The literature number should not contain a version number – the version number is best satisfied by a revision date only.

Design

The actual literature number format should be a unique set of numbers, letters or combination thereof. The literature number itself should NOT contain a revision date as this will cause the overall literature number to change whenever a new version of the form is released in order to reflect the new revision date. If a revision date must be included with the literature number, then try to separate the date portion with a space or two to show a separation between the core literature number and the revision date elements. Literature numbers should appear on either the first, last or every page of the form in the lower right or left corner in small print (8 pt font).

Revision Date

QUIK! TIP: Include the date the form was last revised on every form.

Purpose

Revision dates indicate the date the form was last revised and published by the author. Because dates are unique values, the date serves as the version number and easily shows the age of the form design.

Design

The easiest way to show a revision date is to put the abbreviation for revision in front of an actual date (e.g. ―rev 03/15/2006‖. The date itself ideally includes the month, day and year, not just the month and year. While forms should not be revised every month, in case the form is revised, a day will ensure that a new version is identifiable.

An actual date format is the least confusing for the user of the form, but other date formats are acceptable as long as the value is obviously a date value (e.g. ―03_15_2006‖, ―03.15.2006‖, ―03 15 2006‖ and even ―03152006‖). The revision date should be placed next to the literature number with enough space to show that the revision date is not part of the literature number.

Barcodes

QUIK! TIP: Barcodes are useful for automated systems to distinguish the form and page of the form.

Purpose

Barcodes are best used by document imaging systems when automating the processing of paperwork. When a paper form is delivered for processing and scanned by the processor, the barcode can also be scanned to identify the form’s literature number. In an ideal process, the barcode will include both the literature number and page number of the form to allow the processing system to identify which pages were submitted.

Design

A barcode should be designed using the standard barcode style 39 and should display both the barcode and the value it represents. Ideally, the barcode represents the literature number and is placed in the lower right or left corner of each page where the literature number would normally appear. 

Quik! Form ID

QUIK! TIP: Quik! FormIDs can be used by customer processes to identify the form electronically in place of the literature number which is used to identify the paper version.

Each form built for automation by Quik! is assigned a unique identifier called a Quik! FormID. Quik! FormIDs are numeric, unique from form to form and never change. The FormID is used by customers to identify the forms they are working with. Quik! does not visually place the FormID anywhere on the form itself, but when the form is processed electronically, the FormID is available as a hidden value.

Quik! Signature Line

QUIK! TIP: Quik! Signature Line is the Quik! Seal of Quality that ensures the form was built for automation by Quik!.

Purpose

The main purpose of the Quik! Signature Line is to distinguish forms built by Quik! with an identifying mark to help resolve issues related to forms built by Quik! versus forms not built by Quik!. Additionally, this line also tells Quik! users that the form is a Quik! Form built to the same high level of quality they have come to expect from Quik! Forms.

Design

The Quik! Signature Line is the small text that appears at the bottom of one page in each Quik! Form that says: ―Quik! Forms - www.quikforms.com - Take The Work Out Of Paperwork(TM)‖. This value only appears electronically and does not print on the form when printed on paper.

PDF Meta-Data

QUIK! TIP: Meta-data is useful for identifying a form electronically.

Purpose

PDF allows for information about the PDF document to be stored internally without placing the data in the actual document representation. Meta-data is only accessible with a PDF viewing tool (e.g. Adobe Reader). Meta-data values can contain virtually any information. The most typical use of meta-data values show the date the PDF document was created and modified, and how the PDF document was generated. The image below shows meta-data for a given form as displayed by Adobe Acrobat version 5.0.