There’s a growing expectation for digital services among the public. Digital services shouldn’t just reduce the use of paper forms and manual processes – they should also result in user-friendly services for citizens and more efficiency for the organization.

The Pandemic created new needs

Let’s take a look at one need that emerged for all municipalities in 2020:

In March 2020, the coronavirus hit Norway, and the spread increased rapidly. The healthcare system wasn’t prepared for the pressure this would bring and quickly realized they lacked enough resources. The need for emergency personnel who could be called upon arose immediately. Fortunately, digital services could help streamline this process.

Easy distribution

By creating a digital form for registering volunteers, the problem was already solved. Municipalities could easily distribute the form on their websites and other digital channels. This made it simple for healthcare personnel to sign up as available, and the personal information provided could be verified against public records.

This allowed the municipality to feel confident that the information they gathered was correct.

The information submitted was automatically transferred to a professional system where it was structured as data. This gave the municipality an accurate and clear overview of available resources.

Already the day after Norway went into lockdown, Kongsvinger municipality shared this post on Facebook:

Kongsvinger municipality – March 14, 2020

Are you available healthcare personnel? Register here!

Due to the coronavirus, there may be a need for more qualified hands than we currently have in the municipal healthcare service. If you have a healthcare background, can you help?

Kongsvinger municipality is reaching out to you if you are retired, on leave, or working in a sector where activity has slowed down. We are also looking for healthcare students.

At this point, there is no urgent need for assistance, but we must be prepared for the situation to escalate quickly. If that happens, we need to mobilize additional resources. Please register via the form linked below – and we’ll get in touch!

All healthcare personnel must present valid identification, and we will help you obtain it.

The municipality had recently upgraded its toolbox with a solution that allowed them to build digital forms on their own.

This saved them a lot of manual work and ensured they could easily register available healthcare personnel.

Corona Hotline vs. Corona Form

Another need that arose was ordering corona tests. The corona hotline quickly became the standard for booking tests. Thousands of nurses answered phone calls just to schedule the tests.

Fortunately, many municipalities quickly introduced digital solutions for booking tests. The form was created by Eigersund municipality and made available to all municipalities through ACOS Interact’s sharing service with over 800 forms.

What Do You Gain by Moving from Paper to Digital Services?

• Quality and assurance that the data received is correct
• Structured data that can be read by systems and reused in case processing
• Better services for the public
• Services available around the clock
• Efficient data transfer directly into the right system
• When the need for a digital service arises, it doesn’t always take long to roll it out to the public.

However, it does require that the organization is prepared and has the right tools in place. A key enabler for digitalization is a form tool that lets you build your own form dialogues and workflows.

The low hanging fruits

Whether your digitalization project is large and complex, or you just want to realize the quick wins first, a good form tool can be useful.

Think about everything stored in your organization’s archives. Anything entered manually in some way or another – a digital tool can help you capture that information directly.

Internal forms that provide value

Most organizations already have systems for vacation requests and travel expense reports. But there are many other processes, requests, and data collections that might not be covered by a dedicated system.

Do you need a form solution for processes like applications, orders, or other data collections?

Inside any organization, there are countless requests, orders, reports, contracts, and more being handled daily. Much of this can be simplified with an internal form system.

Examples include:

• Registering absences
• Submitting agreements for signature
• Ordering a new computer
• Timesheets for substitutes
• Reporting expenses
• Submitting health and safety notifications

Think about it: How are these processes handled in your organization today?