The design of most business processes began with paper forms, applications and surveys used to capture data and transport the data to the person performing the process. As tools, technologies and methods have advanced the maintenance of paper forms has been neglected. The result is that forms have become a primary source of errors, bad information and out-of-date processes. Companies that rely on forms to perform transactions need a way to distribute their documents with consistency and reliability to ensure users always have the correct form in their possession.

Assumptions

This paper is a high-level discussion of how to distribute forms and does not require a technology background. The intended reader of this document is a forms manager, forms user, forms designer or business process operator who is interested in streamlining how users obtain, use and distribute forms.