Digitizing Government Forms with formsflow.ai

The Background

In today’s world, companies are becoming more reliant on technology to streamline their processes, reduce workload, and increase productivity. This was no different for the Public Service Agency (PSA) of British Columbia, Canada. 

PSA provides services related to benefits, health and wellbeing, jobs and hiring, and learning and education to the public. The organization was facing significant issues with its paper-based forms system creating a considerable workload for their staff, causing delays in their workflow, with no data analytics to improve their services.

The Problem

In order to deliver a wide range of diverse programs and services PSA had always relied on paper-based forms which were proving increasingly difficult to manage and track. The manual process of collecting, sorting, and processing the data was time-consuming and prone to human error, causing a backlog of paperwork to be processed. Moreover, there was no way to track the progress of the forms, leaving the staff in the dark about the status of their work.

Another significant problem was the lack of data analytics. With paper-based forms, there was no way to collect and report on data like the time it takes to process a form or the number of submitted forms over a specific period. This made it difficult to optimize their services and improve their workflow.

The Solution

To overcome these challenges, PSA began exploring digital form solutions that could streamline their workflow, reduce their workload, and provide data analytics for their services.

The team carefully reviewed three different platforms before settling on formsflow.ai. It was the only one that offered full end-to-end forms, workflows, and analytics and also met the BC Government security requirements. 

 

Among the many powerful features of formsflow.ai, PSA saw a huge benefit for their use case in it being a low-code solution, which means there was no need for developers to create ad hoc forms and workflows. The ability to quickly set up a form and workflow was a key factor in the agency’s decision.

Another important benefit to the team at PSA was that there are no license fees to use formsflow.ai. There is a government initiative in British Columbia to use open-source technology where possible and move away from expensive enterprise solutions that lead to vendor lock-in.

Project Delivery

The initial development phase for PSA was handled by two project delivery vendors, TELUS and EY Design Studio (previously Freshworks), who worked with PSA to understand the business use case, identify possible solutions, and install and implement formsflow.ai.

AOT Technologies collaborated with the delivery team on the project, providing training and support for the vendors to ensure that the implementation was successful. AOT also worked with the business users at PSA, empowering non-technical staff to create and deploy forms and workflows as needed.

The Results

Since implementing formsflow.ai, all forms are now digitized and streamlined business process workflows are in place. Reports are provided on areas such as the number of requests, where the application forms are in process, and the number of forms over specific periods.

Staff users at PSA are able to design their forms and workflows very quickly. For example, they received an urgent request to provide a form for reporting cold and flu sickness, business users were able to design and build the required form and workflow in less than two days without the need for a developer.

Allison Buchanon, Project Manager at PSA, said:

“Our experience with formsflow.ai and the AOT Technologies team has been very positive, they have been very helpful when required to assist the vendors and provide training on the solution”

 

 

PSA ultimately chose formsflow.ai for its end-to-end low code forms, workflows, and analytics, and because it was the only capable solution that met the stringent BC Government security requirements.

The key benefits of formsflow.ai include being there no license fees or vendor lock-in and the drag-and-drop user interface which enables business users to design their forms and workflows quickly.

Conclusion

The powerful features of formsflow.ai and professional services provided by AOT Technologies resulted in the successful implementation of the solution at the BC Public Service Agency.

PSA successfully digitized all forms, implemented workflows, and generated reports to gain valuable insights into various aspects of the forms and workflows. What was once a laborious manual process, is now fully digitized and transparent.

Want to see for yourself? Try a free 14-day test instance of formsflow.ai.