The Process of Making Forms Fillable with theTraditional Method
1. All Possible Steps to Make Forms Fillable
What are all possible steps to make forms fillable by traditional field-by-field method used by government agencies?
Step 1. To draw fields
Step 2. To add field properties
Step 3. To set field tab order
Step 4. To adjust the sizes of the fields: width & height
Step 5. To align the fields: horizontally (line by line) & vertically (column by column)
What does Step 2 include?
Step 2A. To create and type (short string of characters)
Step 2B. To create and type (long string of characters)
Step 2C. To select field properties
Step 2D. To check field properties
What does Step 2A include? To create and type:
field name
field short description
limit of characters
password
default value
export value
noncustom validation script
noncustom calculation script
combo items
list items
button face text attribute
What does Step 2B include? To create and type:
field actions (when this happen... do the following...)
custom data format
custom validation script
custom calculation script
list box selection changed script
What does Step 2C include? To select:
field type
border color
background color
text color
border width
border style
text font
text size
text alignment
display
orientation
data format category
value is not validated
value is not calculated
check style
radio style
button highlight
button layout
button face when
button face icon attribute
What does Step 2D include? To check:
read only
required
multi-line
do not scroll
do not spell check
field is used for file selection
default is checked
sort combo/list items
combo items editable
list items editable
nothing happens when list box selection changes
2. Steps that Usually Can Be Avoided for Most Fields
Are there any field properties that are usually repeated from field to field? Yes.
Which properties? All field properties to select and all field properties to check.
Are those field properties usually set automatically when fields are created? Yes.
Does this mean that Step 2C and Step 2D can usually be avoided for most fields? Yes.
3. Steps that Can Never Be Avoided
Are there steps that can never be avoided? Yes.
Which steps?
Step 1. To draw a field
Step 2A. To create and type field name
Step 3. To set field tab order
Step 4. To adjust the size of the field (width and height)
Step 5. To align the fields: horizontally (line by line) and vertically (column by column)
4. Steps that Can Be Performed Only Field-by-Field
Are there steps that can be performed only field-by-field? Yes.
Which steps?
Step 1. To draw a field
Step 2. To add field properties
Step 3. To set field tab order
Step 4. To adjust the size of the field
5. Steps that Can Be Performed on a Set of Fields
Are there steps that can be performed on a set of fields (line by line, column by column)? Yes.
Which steps? Step 5. To align the fields
6. Step that Is Always Done Manually By Government Agencies But Can Be Done Automatically
Is there a step that is always done manually by government agencies but can be done automatically? Yes.
Which step? Step 2A. To create and type field names.
Is the automatic process faster? Yes.
How much faster? About 20 times faster.
Is there another step that is always done manually but can be done automatically? No. To the best of our knowledge.
7. Step that Is Often Done Manually By Government Agencies But Can Be Done Automatically
Is there a step that is often done manually by government agencies but can be done automatically? Yes.
Which step? Step 2D. To check 'do not scroll' property.
Is the automatic process faster? Yes.
How much faster? About 100 times faster.
Is there another step that is often done manually but can be done automatically? No. To the best of our knowledge.
8. Step that is Sometimes Done Manually by Government Agencies but Can Be Done Automatically
Are there steps that are sometimes done manually by government agencies but can be done automatically? Yes.
Which steps? Step 2. To add the same field property to a set of fields.
Is the automatic process faster? Yes.
How much faster? Depends on the property and the number of fields.
9. The Average Time To Make A Form Fillable By Methods Used By Government Agencies (The automatic Processes Are Not Involved)
What is the average number of fields in a form? 100.
What is the average total time to make a form fillable (by methods used by government agencies) with respect to breaks (telephone, coffee, smoking, lunch, etc.)? About one working day of one government employee.
What is the average total time to make 1,589 forms of the U.S. Department of Army fillable (by methods used by government agencies)? A team of six government employees (plus supervisor) must work for about a year.
10. The Average Time to Make a Form Fillable by Methods Used by Government Agencies (if the Automatic Processes were Involved)
What is the average total time to make a form fillable (by methods used by government agencies, if the automatic processes were involved when possible) with respect to breaks (telephone, coffee, smoking, lunch, etc.)? About a half of a working day of one government employee.
What is the average total time to make 1,589 forms of the U.S. Department of Army fillable (by methods used by government agencies, if the automatic processes were involved when possible)? A team of six government employees (plus supervisor) must work for about six months.
11. The Average Time Errors
Is it possible that the average working time is in fact much longer? Yes.
Why? People are not robots. They usually are unable to work all the day, all the year with the same productivity.
Is it possible that the average working time is in fact shorter? Yes.
Why? Usually, the lower the quality -- the faster the work.
What does the low quality usually mean?
1. Bad adjustment of field sizes.
2. Bad field alignment
3. Incorrect tab order
4. Scrolling affect.
5. Incorrect field properties.
12. Possibility to Make All Government Forms Fillable by the Methods Used by Government Agencies
Is it sometimes faster to publish a new version of form than to make the old version fillable? Yes.
Is it the reason why government agencies sometimes offer two version of the same form: old version (fillable), new version (nonfillable)? Yes.
Does this mean that it is practically impossible to make all government forms fillable by the methods used by government agencies (even if the automatic processes were involved when possible)? Correct.
13. The ITAOP Method
Is there a solution? Yes.
What is the solution? To use a method other than field-by-field.
What is the name of the method? ITAOP (Insert Text Anywhere on Page).
14. The Average Time to Make a Form Fillable by ITAOP Method
How long can it take to make 1,589 forms of the U.S. Department of Army fillable by ITAOP method? About a hour (one person involved).
That is all? That is all.
Does this mean a hour instead of a year, one person instead of seven people? Yes.
