Electronic form – what is it?

An electronic form is a structured digital document in which the user enters data into designated fields, and the system saves it and forwards it for further processing. It replaces paper forms, fillable files, and emails requesting additional information. The most important difference from a regular document is that the data from the form is not text in a file, but separate pieces of information stored in the system. This means it can be searched, totaled, filtered, and used to guide the case through the rest of the process.

How does the electronic form work?

A form consists of various types of fields: text, numeric, date, drop-down lists, checkboxes, and attachments. The person designing the form specifies which fields are required and what data they can accept. Thanks to validation, the system will not accept, for example, a date in the wrong format or an application without the required attachment. Fields can also be interdependent: once the type of request is selected, only the questions relevant to that request appear, and the system automatically calculates values such as the total amount or the deadline. The form can also retrieve data from other systems, such as to populate employee or vendor information.

Once the form is submitted, the data is sent to the system, where further processing of the case begins: the request is forwarded for approval by successive individuals, and the submission is assigned to the appropriate team. In this way, the form serves as the entry point to a process that integrates with workflow and electronic document circulation. This distinguishes it from a fillable PDF or Word file, which must be emailed back after completion, only for the data to be manually transcribed anyway.

What are electronic forms used for?

Electronic forms are ideal whenever a company regularly collects the same information in the same way:

  • employee requests, such as vacation time, business trips, or advance payments,
  • internal requests and orders for IT, administration, or purchasing,
  • purchase and budget requests,
  • surveys, such as employee evaluations or compliance reports,
  • forms for customers and business partners, such as registrations or complaints.