Advanced eForms Strategies for LiquidOffice

Information technology can improve operational efficiency and businesses are turning to forms processing for automating complex processes where information is often very dynamic and acted upon in parallel.  Many of our clients request very complicated multi-form rule based combinations that can be extremely complex and have data dictionaries exceeding 1,500 form fields.  There are two different ways to approach advanced multi-form development and design.  One is to use a method called form chaining or you can use tools such as Liquid Office Case Management.

Form Chaining is a method of displaying subsequent forms based on the submission of the original form.  This is done when field data from the first form is mapped to the 2nd form – chained forms open sequentially upon submission of a primary form.  Simple chaining can be achieved using out-of-the box features of the LiquidOffice Process studio.  Outside of a formal workflow, the same results can be achieved.  The following is code example for ad-hoc form chaining.  In this example, the ‘chained’ form that opens on submission is called ‘FormB2’.

function CSForm_OnSubmit()

{

var auth = CSForm.getField("Entry1").getValue();  //get value from 1st form = then on submit, pass this field value to the next chained form

CSForm.setResponseURL("http://servername/lfserver/FormB2?Entry1=" + auth );  //this loads the 2nd, chained form and populates one of the fields with a value from the 1st form

return true;

}

Alternatively, Autonomy Case Management (ACM) can be used for more complex multidimensional and nested forms.  ACM addresses the same need but manages forms and documents as packets or a case.   Items within a packet are able to dynamically exist as either standalone entities or as part of a collection depending upon real-time conditions which are automatically detected. Users are guided through the process using a Table of Contents to ensure completion at each step as shown below.

lo2

The ACM design studio is a GUI-based point and click tool which is integrated directly into the Autonomy Enterprise Information Processing platform.  This means that with a click all information that may contribute to the design of a case is available in real-time directly from within the design environment.  Complex rule sets can be developed and applied at any level of the case such as packet, form and field which allows for an extremely tuned process.

Leigh Woody & Peter Lang
Program Manager & System Engineer
ImageSource, Inc.