Things to consider when designing forms

Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) are normally conducted at a program or service level and apply to all personal information collected and managed by the program area. Forms are just one method through which personal information may be collected. Others include email, telephone and in-person interactions.

You do not need to conduct a PIA for an individual form, but you should verify that information collected through a form complies with the constraints of the program area’s PIA. If it is not permitted to collect certain pieces of information, then you should not ask for those in a form.

Ministries should also be aware that emailing a copy of the completed form to citizens is generally not recommended. Sending a completed form to their email potentially provides that information to a third party, such as Google. In addition, many email providers have size limitations for messages, and sending a copy of the form, especially if there are any attachments, will likely result in an error. Citizens can download a completed copy of their form for their records, which is more secure.

Government Digital Experience does not receive, store or have access to any information collected in forms.

A Security Threat and Risk Assessment (STRA) was conducted for the Content Management Framework. The forms application is one of the many products and services covered under this STRA.

Ministries do not need to conduct an STRA before using the forms application. An STRA may need to be completed for any system form data is integrating with, however.

The application is configured in such a way as to protect government from malicious files, but there are size and format limitations. If you have forms where you would like citizens to upload files, contact the GDX Service Desk for more information.

Forms are conversations between programs and citizens, and the tone and phrasing of your questions will have an impact on the citizens’ experience. Should you be conversational? Compassionate? Tonally neutral?

Choose a voice that’s appropriate for the interaction. A business filing corporate documents would expect a different experience than someone in crisis, for example.

There are three common categories of field question approaches that can help guide your choice:

• Interrogative fields are the most common traditionally as they make efficient use of space. They are phrased like, “First name”.
• Conversational fields are phrased more like questions a person might ask another such as, “What is your first name?”
• Narrative fields are embedded in a story or phrases such as, “Hi. My name is (field) and I am …”. This type of narration is usually seen in things like affidavits or form letters.

Don’t forget that section headings can also have a voice, and you can blend styles for your desired effect. For example, you could have conversational headings followed by interrogative fields, such as:

How do we get in touch with you?

First name

Last name

…

 

You may need some additional tools to help you create and edit forms. For example, if you plan to use PDF templates, you’ll need a tool such as Adobe InDesign and Acrobat Pro to edit fields or design the ‘paper’ form to receive data.