Understanding forms management

Forms are complex and need to meet many internal and external business requirements continuously over the course of their lifecycle. Forms Management is the operational capability that supports this business function. The work is typically carried out by a Forms Management Unit that operates the ministry’s Forms Management Program.

Forms Management has a significant history and body of knowledge. This section is intended to help you understand some key concepts and is not comprehensive. If this subject area interests you, consider professional training.

• Certificate programs from the Business Forms Management Association

Introduction to forms management

Forms Management is the business discipline concerned with the whole lifecycle of forms including their:

• Creation
• Modification
• Usage
• Destruction

Forms Management Programs seek to ensure that forms are:

• Efficient to process
• Effective in supporting service delivery objectives
• Economical to produce and distribute
• Easy to use for all who interact with the form
• In compliance with internal and external policies and standards

They do this to avoid undesirable results such as:

• Significantly increasing the service delivery costs
• Inadequately protecting citizen information
• Introducing or increasing barriers to service
• Causing service delivery to be interrupted or halted

They must do this in the context of continuously changing:

• Policy and legislation, both internal and external
• Technology and system architectures
• Business and service delivery requirements
• Citizen and staff expectations

Forms Management Programs are often centralized in a ministry and usually have their own service delivery and budgetary objectives to meet. To assist in this delivery, they usually employ a forms project workflow.

The forms project workflow

Forms are complex business tools that need continuous monitoring, modification, and governance to ensure they continue to accomplish business objectives and comply with related policies and legislation. Forms Management Programs will usually use a consistent workflow like the one illustrated below to help achieve this.

A description of this workflow and how it affects your form design work is covered in our Orbeon training.