eForms: Managing Documents and Data

When business process management is mentioned, there is often an “eForm” component, or the ability to submit forms electronically. Why is this a critical part of a content management system?  Often, it is about data being the driver of a business process as opposed to the documentation. Vacation requests are a great example of this. You don’t need the paper, you need the information to make a decision. 

While these data-driven processes are useful, other use cases create a need to create or share the documentation itself.  Now that teleworking is the norm and not the exception, users are creating content outside of shared workspaces and their teams still need to access the data.  Making this data available as it is created is a great way to reduce doubling up on work.  

eForms allow the creator to capture pertinent information or keywords so that documents and data can be retrieved easily. For instance, you can put in a project number, or description and a document type.  When users tag their documents with appropriate keywords, the retrieval rates are more successful. 

I’m currently working with an organization to help manage incoming documents relating to construction projects. These documents include drawings, material tests and purchase documents, and all need to be retrieved, even though the documents are created by various companies and departments. The eForm used to submit the document asks for the user to put in key information so that all the documents associated with that project can be stored centrally.

Because this is a construction example, with documents that are updated regularly, the user has the option to indicate that this is a revision of a previous submittal. This ensures that users see the most current revision of design specifications, or a draft of a document, again, reducing duplicate work. 

When an organization clearly defines the types of keywords used in a document, technology can be used to ensure that the data entered is correct. If a user puts in a project number, the system can check to see if the project number is valid.  This helps reduce human error factor and preserves the ability to retrieve documents. When the information is correct, it’s easier to work together, even when we are apart from our teams. 

If your organization is struggling to maintain control of content created externally, by vendors or teleworkers, Deau can assist in making recommendations about how to effectively manage these documents with eForms and other solutions.