Operations concerning filling out and collecting forms become more and more important for large financial, service provider and government organizations. The amount of such information is growing both from the side of their clients and partners. The benefit of using forms is that the client can prepare data without connecting to large IT systems and structured forms still provide information in an organized way. Managing form-based information nowadays raises the following two problems:

To support such important tasks on a high level E-Group developed and implemented at several places its electronic form transmission system called transFORM. The application that builds on Microsoft tools and uses an Internet connection was designed taking the highest levels of security requirements into account and it can be implemented without significantly changing the existing applications. Users of this system need to modify the existing back office and data service systems only but a little. Our solution uses a digital signature-based authentication procedure, which provides the currently available highest levels of security and which is fully conformant to the regulations of the Hungarian Act on digital signatures, as a certificate from the state proves it. According to Hungarian law, documents created and forwarded this way are fully equivalent to vouchers and legal documents on paper.

Features of the transFORM system

Partial or full substitution of paper, floppy disk or e-mail-based form transmission

Electronic form filling makes it possible to transmit form data earlier on paper or in an electronic format without authentication (e-mail, floppy) electronically, via a Web-based interface to the organization, simply by filling out a Web-based version of the earlier form.

Electronic transmission of file-based forms

If data transmission was realized earlier by sending data in files, on floppy disks or via e-mail, the data fillers can keep using the same application to prepare the form files they used before, but instead of using postal services or couriers, they can upload the data files using a special page of the web site.

Identifying users on the web site

Users can log in using their names and passwords. All data providers have one pair of user name and password, generated by the E-Group system; these can be delivered to the users of the system using traditional methods (e.g. registered mail).

Ensuring the secrecy and integrity of data

During the electronic form transmission the system transmits all data via a secure (SSL) channel. The used data protection schemes make the possibility of data falling into wrong hands or being modified negligible. The built-in data compression procedure makes file uploads the fastest possible, making the life of the users of the system easier.

Pre-validating data

Both the web form-based and the file upload methods implement a certain amount of data pre-validation on the web page (or in the processing system behind the web page). This basically means performing certain structural and formal checks (e.g. for the existence of mandatory fields, following certain rules specified for the fields or meeting certain numeric conditions).
Using the electronic form transmission system allows performing checks not requiring master or historic data. If access can be provided to these (critical) data, checks on an even wider scale can be implemented.

Acknowledgments for data providers

Using electronic forms, validation is performed at once, upon attempting to send the data. The system does not accept forms with critical errors and informs the user about the error and how that can be corrected.
Those using the file upload method receive notification (in e-mail) both about the successful delivery and the result of the processing of the file.

Scheduled processing

The application receives the error messages generated by the system in a closed system and forwards them using batch (scheduled) processing to the recipients. It also documents these deliveries (via e-mail) to the recipients.

Business benefits

Speeding up form transmission

Using electronic form transmission the data transmission based on postal (or courier) services becomes faster.

Making form transmission more secure

The security functions used in the solution, that identify not only the person of the sender but also guarantee the authenticity and integrity of the information, realize a lot more reliable operation and make data impossible to forge.Identifying users on the web siteUsers can log in using their names and passwords. All data providers have one pair of user name and password, generated by the E-Group system; these can be delivered to the users of the system using traditional methods (e.g. registered mail).

Decreasing the error rate

The system can perform certain pre-validation tests in all upload modes, therefore the error rate decreases in the received data files. One important feature of the system is to detect the most frequent error already at the time of filling out the form.

Saving on working time

The decrease in the errors of the forms received results in less human work required to receive and correct the forms.

Meeting deadlines more easily

As forms are delivered usually in sudden bursts (monthly, quarterly or yearly), their related activities also concentrate to certain periods of time. Because of the savings in working time related to processing, receiving and correcting forms, even in these periods of heavy load it becomes easer to meet deadlines.

Cost reduction

Costs are reduced at three areas:

Description of the application

TransFORM allows any data provider to transmit regular, form-based information electronically to the processing organization.

The system offers three methods:

In all the three cases it is true that:

• The received information is not forwarded directly to the processing system but first to a consistent, temporary storage space, regardless how the form was sent. Form processing is easy for business applications and if there was some processing mechanism implemented, that can be further used without changes.
• To guarantee the authenticity (and integrity) of the documents, the system can implement a widely available Public Key Infrastructure. The SDX application used in the system implementation uses a digital signature solution certified by the state of Hungary. It guarantees that the forms sent via the transFORM system are legally binding, authentic documents of full power. No extra methods (secondary delivery via postal or fax services) are required.
• A special feature of the system is that unlike earlier systems, the organization processing of the data generates automatic acknowledgements using the system (one upon reception, one upon processing) for the user. Using authentic digital signatures, these acknowledgements can also be considered as documents with full legal power.

System requirements