Why CMS Forms?

Learn the history of CMS Forms and the problems its designed to address.

On this page:

• The starting point
• A key enabler for the pandemic
• The many problems with PDF forms
  • They're not mobile-friendly
  • They're not accessible
  • Hundreds don't open
  • Many don't work
  • They're error-prone
  • They're hard to keep updated
• They still have some benefits, though
• A tool to modernize government services

The starting point

In 2017, Government Digital Experience (GDX) began work on choosing and developing a forms solution for the government website. This was in part because CMS Lite users requested one, but we also recognized that there were rapidly growing issues with government's use of PDF forms.

We developed a solution that could not only integrate with the website and CMS Lite, but could leverage the significant inventory of existing PDF forms so that ministries could transition to digital services with less effort and investment.

We piloted the application with a few ministry partners in late 2019 and made it available for other ministries to onboard onto in February of 2020.

A key enabler for the pandemic

A public health emergency was declared in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, just a few weeks after CMS Forms was officially launched. CMS Forms allowed government, mostly through GDX, to rapidly develop and deploy forms for addressing the emergency with as little as a couple of hours notice.

Example pandemic forms supported government in:

• Helping citizens identify the specific benefits they may be eligible for
• Helping citizens apply for those benefits directly and online
• Helping businesses apply for benefits available to them
• Helping businesses acquire support from workers for certain business benefits
• Helping essential workers locate childcare services
• Helping manage vaccine distribution by allowing citizen to report if they've already been vaccinated out of province
• Transitioning in-person or paper-based services into online ones

Most of these forms were for new, limited-term services and have since been retired. A few were modified to be of continued usefulness.

While the state of emergency was a great proving ground for our platform's capability, capacity and value, it delayed our goal of helping government end its dependence on PDF forms.

The many problems with PDF forms

Government provides around 4,800 services to citizens and uses tens of thousands of forms to deliver them and manage day-to-day business. Most of the citizen-facing forms are available as fillable PDFs. They've served us and the public well for decades, but as technology and expectations have changed, their limitations have become increasingly problematic.

They're not mobile-friendly

Over 50% of visitors to government web pages use a mobile device. In service areas - where people are likely to access a form - the percentage can be 90% or more. Mobile devices are a dominant technology, and PDFs provide one of the worst experiences possible for it.

They're not accessible

Forms are the primary interface between citizens and their government and need to be accessible. Making interactive documents such as fillable forms accessible requires considerable time, skills and trade-offs. Most of government's PDF forms were created before accessibility was a major consideration.

Hundreds don't open

Hundreds of PDF forms were designed to use a server-based technology to support certain functionality in browsers which was discontinued in 2015. Clicking a link to these forms opens a new browser tab and displays a "Please wait..." message because the needed server can't be found. Forms should just work without citizens having to install special software or follow extra steps.

Many don't work

Some PDF forms use embedded JavaScript or other coding to perform functions like calculations, but browsers often block or disable these scripts. Forms open in a browser window, but citizens won't have access to things like help text, automated calculations, and even some fields. From their perspective, the form is just "broken".

They're error-prone

PDF forms have limited ability to do things like make fields required conditionally, validate data entered, or perform calculations without the use of scripts or servers. The majority don't have any error-checking applied to them at all. In all cases, this increases the likelihood of forms arriving with errors and omissions, resulting in increased processing time and operational costs.

They're hard to keep updated

Without the right tools, skills and management practices, forms can quickly become out of date or compliance, decreasing the quality of the citizen experience.

For example, you can still find fillable PDF forms with instructions or content like:

• "Complete using a ballpoint pen with blue ink only."
• "Press hard. You are making three copies."
• To keep the "blue" copy and mail in the other coloured copies
• Outdated ministry names and contact information

For a lot of these forms, ministries will need to invest time and money to completely re-build them from scratch because the original design files have been lost, are not compatible with currently-available tools, or were password protected or encrypted.

They still have some benefits, though

The obvious solution to the above issue is to simply replace PDFs with web forms. However, PDFs still have some benefits and a role to play in government's processes and citizens' lives.

Benefits for government include:

• Maintaining existing manual processes, where someone handles a piece of paper at some point
• Providing a consistent presentation of information for processing or transcribing into a system
• Supporting long-term record storage and retrieval
• Helping build a consistent brand and experience

Benefits for citizens include:

• Improving trust with consistent appearance and branding
• Allowing them to store records digitally, on paper, or both
• Having "official documentation" for personal or business purposes
• Providing a medium for signature or processing through third parties, such as Notaries Public or law offices

None of these scenarios require that citizens use or complete a fillable PDF form. Instead, a PDF can be the end result of an online submission.

A tool to modernize government services

CMS Forms is designed to be a platform that allows you to transition away from paper and PDF forms while still supporting your existing process needs. It's adaptability and capability also allows it to be a key contributor to your strategy for digital transformation.