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The FormFiler^® Process
 

FormFiler is a patented process for handling any electronic form that requires a pen-and-ink signature for business, legal, regulatory, or compliance reasons while directly addressing many of the costs and time delays arising from completing paper-based transactions over the Internet. FormFiler does this by leveraging computer-readable data entered by end users into Web forms. Once a signed paper document is received by your business via U.S. Mail or fax (or email), it can be matched back to the original online transaction using a pre-printed bar code. Even before the signed document arrives, data associated with it can be fed into your line-of-business systems and databases for immediate processing.

From your perspective, no time is spent waiting for the signed form to arrive in order for processing to begin. Furthermore, all the costly, labor-intensive, in-house paper processing and data entry has been eliminated. From the end user’s perspective, the transaction is complete after a single, online interaction with your company.

FormFiler uses Web-based forms to capture customer-entered data and then submits that data to your servers. On your Web server, FormFiler generates a unique bar code and inserts both the bar code and the captured data into a PDF form (Portable Document Format) that is sent back to the end user’s computer. The end user prints, reviews, signs, and mails or faxes (or scans and emails) back the form. Upon receipt of the signed form, the bar code is scanned and used to match the signed document with the computer-readable data previously keyed in by the end user.

Process Diagram

FormFiler Technology

FormFiler applications will generally be implemented with a three-tier structure, where data is accumulated in HTML Web pages at the end-user's browser, then that data will be processed at the Web server (or Web-application server), which in the course of that processing communicates with a back-end database server.

Business logic in the middle tier generates a unique ID that identifies the transaction. This ID is the value of the barcode that will appear on the printed form. This generated barcode then becomes a data item, that along with the data items collected from the user, will be composed into Form Data Format (FDF). The FDF is then sent back to the user's browser, where it is combined with a PDF template to compose a populated, signature-ready PDF form.

The FormFiler SDK provides the core functionality, including PDF barcode generation, FDF generation and manipulation, and a robust set of XML manipulation routines. FormFiler is implemented as a standalone COM component that can easily be integrated into existing server solutions.

The SDK encourages the use of industry-standard technologies for transporting data between the tiers in the multi-tier environment. The user is presented with an HTML form for filling in personal data online. ASP pages are used at the Web server to coordinate the transfer of collected data between successive Web pages. The user's data can be accumulated as an XML data object that is carried forward from one HTML page to the next.

Adobe Systems' Portable Document Format (PDF) is the format used for the blank printable form template, and for the rendition of the unique barcode. The associated Form Data Format (FDF) is used to compose a personalized version of the bar-coded form that is downloaded to the end user for printing.