Getting support for CMS Forms

Creating forms can be challenging at times. There are several options for getting support for your project.

On this page:

• Self-support options
• Community support options
• Expert support options
• Professional development

Self-support options

In addition to this manual, you can also explore the following resources:

• Orbeon Form Builder documentation for form authors
• Orbeon Services and Actions documentation for developers
• Refer to this manual's formulary for help with commonly used expressions
• Sign up to the Orbeon Forms Newsletter for tips, tricks and new features
• The W3C's XPath and XQuery Functions and Operators reference for additional expressions

You can also search the Orbeon Forms Google Group to see if your question has already been answered, though this group leans towards a developer audience.

Community support options

You're not alone. There are plenty of people with experience designing and building forms that you can reach out to.

• The Inter-Ministry Forms Committee (IMFC) meets monthly to talk about forms, and you can post questions on their Teams channel
• Post your question to the Orbeon Forms Google Group, especially if it's technical. Your question will most likely be answered by one of Orbeon's own developers
• Check out other Communities of Practice in government's digital space

Business and design questions may be better answered by the IMFC. Developers may prefer the Google group or other Communities of Practice.

Expert support options

Some questions or requests are best handled by Government Digital Experience. You can request support through our client portal for things like:

• Adding and removing users
• Changing user access permissions
• Questions about form-related policies
• Troubleshooting a particular form
• Requesting one-on-one or group training
• Reviewing and advising on forms you are transitioning
• Having your form or forms built or transitioned for you

Note that some of these will incur a charge. You'll be advised of this and receive a quote before work proceeds.

Professional development

Forms Management has been an organized profession for well over a century. For decades, training, certification, knowledge sharing and conferences have been supported by the Business Forms Management Association (BFMA), which went by other names in the decades before that.

After many years of close association and joint collaborations, the BFMA decided to roll its membership and communities into the Association for Intelligent Information Management (AIIM) in 2024. AIIM offers a number of courses and a certification (CIP). 

The education aspects of the BFMA were assigned to Essociates Group, which had a major hand in managing the development and delivery of training for the association. They offer a number of courses and resources on forms and Forms Management that apply to the full range of forms, from paper to digital:

• The Best Practices in Forms Management Program introduces you to key concepts through online sessions over the course of a year
• The Forms Education Certificate Program is a self-directed professional designation program with specialized certificates
• The Forms Management Book of Knowledge defines best practices and guidelines in delivering forms management services
• There is also a collection of introductory, management and eforms articles

If you have an interest in developing your understanding of forms and information from business, technical and strategic perspectives, consider the resources above.